The constant advance of technology has not peaked in office computing yet, according to an organising specialising in online services.

A spokesman for the Internet Services Providers' Association (ISPA) said that new developments were "still coming thick and fast", powered by the younger generation's demand for new content through computer applications and online networking.

He continued: "I'm sure that there are ever-changing applications, and obviously more and more applications are becoming available, even as we speak, so development will continue."

The ISPA representative added that as people got older, the familiarity they had with the internet would be mapped into the wider working environment, making online tools within the workplace easier to use and more inextricably linked to business in the future.

Recent research by the European Interactive Advertising Association found that over half of European internet users - 55 per cent - were now online every single day.

In a recent survey of SMEs for Connect, the two most important benefits of outsourcing were guaranteed response times and allowing in-house IT staff to concentrate on more strategic issues.