A survey on ICT Usage and e-Commerce in Enterprises showed that last year 96.5 per cent of enterprises employing a minimum of 10 persons used computers, while 95.5 per cent were also using the internet for business purposes, the National Statistics Office said today.

Results showed high levels of computer use throughout all enterprise size classes and economic activities. The construction industry recorded the lowest usage rate, and stood at 89.8 per cent. On the other hand, wholesale and retail trade recorded the highest rate at 99.4 per cent.

In 2013, 95.5 per cent of enterprises made use of the internet for business purposes. This figure remained almost unchanged when compared with 2012. The number of employees using internet reached 29,104, up by 2.0 per cent over the previous year.

Most enterprises (87.9 per cent) made use of a DSL internet connection, and 66.6 per cent of enterprises were also connected via mobile broadband. Results showed that DSL was the most popular connection among small and medium-sized enterprises, while mobile broadband was mostly popular with large enterprises.

The rate of e-government usage decreased marginally over 2012 to 92.6 per cent. On the other hand, enterprises owning a website or homepage increased by 5.1 per cent. Over half of enterprises’ websites included a ‘product catalogue and pricelist’ (54.6 per cent), with 48.2 per cent of these websites also displaying a ‘privacy policy statement.’

Results showed that 19.3 per cent of enterprises using the internet also carried out sales via e-commerce. Similarly, purchases via e-commerce were carried out by 22.2 per cent of enterprises.

The survey showed that 69.3 per cent of enterprises provided mobile devices to some of their employees for business purposes, an increase of 27.5 per cent over 2012. Provision of mobile devices to employees increased among all enterprise size classes and economic activities. In total, 7,751 employees made use of a mobile device for work purposes. This represents an average of nine mobile devices per enterprise.

The 2013 survey also included an ad-hoc module on the use of social media among enterprises. Results showed that 711 enterprises (57.8 per cent) using internet also used social media. Nearly 80 per cent used social media to develop their corporate image whereas 58.3 per cent used it to obtain customer feedback.

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