The study, commissioned by internet performance monitor Dyn, found that 64 of 100 IT decision makers surveyed experience unreliable internet performance.
"The internet has become a major part of every business network and these companies must have insight and understanding of the entire landscape to ensure an exceptional end user experience," said Jeremy Hitchcock, CEO of Dyn.
"End users have never had high standards and more options. Companies must rise to these expectations or risk missing out on the opportunities increased performance offers."
Seventy-four percent of IT decision makers said they knew there are factors outside of their network that can impact internet performance. However, only 52 percent said they attempt to actively monitor these external variables.
The research revealed that the retail sector is most focused on internet monitoring, with 56 percent of the retail firms monitoring factors across the wider internet, compared to less than half in finance and manufacturing.
Despite businesses being relatively unaware of how their website performs internationally, nearly half of UK firms see emerging markets, such as the BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India and China), as the places with the biggest opportunities over the next 10 years, with 50 percent of respondents saying they're looking to scale internationally.
While many are looking to expand overseas, only a third said they planned to open more data centre facilities internationally, indicating that companies plan to work with cloud service providers as opposed to building out their own data centres, according to Dyn.
Further, 92 percent of those surveyed said they were satisfied that their managed service partners would inform them on global infrastructure deployment.
"The internet is creating unprecedented opportunities for UK companies to find new opportunities in emerging markets," said Paul Heywood, Dyn MD for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. "To take advantage of this, organisations will continue to need to invest in multiple cloud-based services to ensure performance is fast, safe and more reliable."
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