Yet even with glowing reports, management in companies like Exabyte is starting to wonder what they're getting for the money they've expended for corporate Internets and intranets. What can they report back to their investors and clients?

In a survey conducted with 100 information systems managers last year, Computerworld found 63 percent of corporate management did not ask for formal cost justifications before proceeding with internal and external Web sites, mainly because they were seen as experimental.

But this year, according to the survey's respondents, the honeymoon is over. Management wants definitive answers. As Morris Samit, president of DSP Development Corp. in Cambridge, Mass. explains, "Somewhere along the line, we have to see an increase in revenues, or a reduction in costs, or an increase in profits. There are non-financial aspects to (Web sites), but those responsible must follow the money."

International Data Corporation even opened a Web forum (www.cio.com/forums/roi/) for professionals to discuss this elusive issue. Heated discussions center around the problems of how to actually measure ROI when there are no models for this phenomenon, and whether companies should even be asking for it.

"ROI may be applicable to more mature, retail markets, but in our cases, it's not meaningful," notes Christopher Locke, vice president of business development for Longmont's Displaytech. "Companies that are looking for metrics are asking the wrong question. They're just waiting for the cash register to ring. If all you measure is transactions, then you don't know anything about marketing."

He adds, "It's like looking for someone to blame if you don't make money right away. You have to be on the Web, but you can't quantify how much you'll make in return. No one can know that. But I do know that if you're not on the Web, you're finished."

Corporate managers who have given the green light to Webmasters are realizing that Web sites are often more expensive than they originally thought. Boston-based Forrester Research found that corporations can spend $300,000 for a promotional site and $3.4 million for a transactional site in the first year.

"About 75 percent of that cost is in maintenance." contends Mark Richtermeyer, senior vice president of Denver's CCG Online in Denver -- most companies don't account for that. He says to avoid eventual layoffs and possibly eliminating company Web sites altogether, you must be prepared to assess and justify costs. "Measure everything. Budget and plan just like any other business proposition. Use an expert to reduce the number of mistakes. Make sure your revenue model is valid."

Exabyte's Milani agrees. He believes that you must track costs to justify current projects and help decide future endeavors. "I wrote a business plan and budget for setting up a WWW office, buying the necessary hardware and software equipment, hiring personnel, and setting up corporate policies and procedures for Web development and publishing."

Locke thinks quantifying Web sites can't be done. "It's different than calculating other business investments because it's not one expenditure; instead, it defies traditional calculation because it continually evolves based on customer want and need, both of which are infinite."

Michael Peacock, senior developer of Aurora-based New Media Designs, is one of many professionals struggling with the issue of quick justifications for ROI without looking at the big picture.

"It really depends on the type of company that owns the Web site, as well as the characteristics of the site itself." Success expectations are different -- direct sales sites must be analyzed differently than information service sites. Peacock argues that until standard methodology emerges from years of dealing with site-generated hit data, it's not a good idea to use numbers and ask questions "that come from other sites since they may not be representative of yours."

To build his case to Exabyte management, Milani is evaluating sophisticated Web server analysis tools, such as WebTrends and net.Genesis, that can not only report the number of visitors, but track each visitor's session, including "where and what they do on the Web site."

As with most corporate sites, Exabyte's consists of product information, technical support questions, self-help, checking compatibility of software and other material that normally would take employee time to deal with on the phone. Milani developed a method to convert the number of their page hits into employee head counts, resulting in dollar figures.

" Exabyte uses a page-hit-to-site visit ratio of 10:1 to determine how many people visited the site. That is, 600 page hits represent 60 visitors. To determine how many of those people would have called us, we use a visit-to-call ratio of 4:1, assuming that one of every four visitors would have called for sales information, technical support, and so on. That gives us a total hit-to-call ration of 40:1." For example:

Ratio = 40:1

400,000 hits represents 10,000 calls multiplied by 20 work days

10,000 calls in 20 days = 500 calls per day

Average tech support agent can handle 50 calls a day

500 calls a day divided by 50 calls a day = 10 employees

"If we didn't have a Web site, we would need 10 more people to answer the phone. Again, hypothetically, if it takes five people to keep the Web up and running, our net savings would be five employees."

However, Displaytech's Locke believes that Milani needs a different perspective to see the real value of a Web site instead of just the financial ROI. "The emphasis shouldn't be whether or not you can save a nickel on a call center. I'm bothered when I hear people talk about it like selling sausage by the pound. ROI is really a question of belief, not a question of data. Clueless bean counters don't get this concept -- to them, asking for justification is based on fear, uncertainty and doubt because they don't understand the Internet. The real value of a Web site is the perceived solution it represents to the consumer."