UP to 1,500 East Lancashire businesses could be suffering from a shortage of staff with the right IT and internet skills.
According to a survey from internet service provider Netscalibur, the skills shortage is starting to hit bottom line profits.
The survey said that the whole of the North West region was struggling from an acute shortage of staff with the the telecommunication skills needed for modern business.
An estimated 18,000 companies in the region are struggling to find suitably-qualified staff.
DTI statistics show that 60 per cent of businesses in the region now have a website for marketing, yet just one in four are using the internet for on-line trading.
Adair Turner, ex-director general of the CBI and now a director of Netscalibur, argues that businesses in the North West could help solve their IT problems by outsourcing the management of their websites and e-mail to web-hosting companies.
He said: "Outsourcing the management of internet services to experts is the way to open up the true cost benefits of the internet for the North West's small and medium-sized businesses."
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