BUSINESS USE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY


The Business Characteristics Survey (BCS) collects key indicators of IT use and innovation in Australian business annually and more detailed information for each of these topics is collected every second year (i.e. in alternating years). The 2014-15 BCS collected detailed information relating to Innovation in Australian Business.

Summary IT use indicators for 2014-15 were released in Summary of IT Use and Innovation in Australian Business (cat. no. 8166.0) in June 2016. These indicators included internet access, web presence, social media presence, and placing and receiving orders via the internet. This section includes the relevant IT use indicators as well as more detailed information about the types of broadband connection and internet commerce. Where possible, statistics are cross-classified by innovation status.

Business Use of Information Technology, selected indicators, by innovation status(a)(b), 2014-15
			Innovation-active businesses	Non innovation-active businesses	All businesses
Estimated number of businesses(c)		'000	350	427	776
Businesses with:
	internet access(d)	%	97.7	92.5	94.8
	web presence(d)	%	65.4	34.9	48.6
	social media presence(d)	%	48.7	21.9	34.0
Businesses with internet access and broadband as main type of connection(d)		%	99.4	99.0	99.2
Businesses that:
	placed orders via the internet(e)	%	67.4	46.1	55.7
	received orders via the internet(e)	%	42.8	26.5	33.8
Internet income(f)		$b	215.6	69.9	285.5
(a) Proportions are of all businesses in each output category.
(b) See Glossary for definition of innovation status.
(c) Business counts are provided for contextual information only. The sum of the component items may not equal 100% due to rounding. Refer to Explanatory Note 28 and the Quality Declaration.
(d) As at the end of the reference period 30 June 2015.
(e) During the financial year ending 30 June 2015.
(f) Estimates related to internet income should be used with caution, refer to Explanatory Notes 16 and 17.

Overall, the proportion of innovation-active businesses that reported an internet connection as at 30 June 2015, was higher than non innovation-active businesses (98% and 92% respectively).

Almost two thirds of innovation-active businesses (65%) reported that they had a web presence as at 30 June 2015, compared to just over a third of non innovation-active businesses (35%).

The proportion of innovation-active businesses that reported a social media presence was more than twice that of non innovation-active businesses (49% and 22% respectively).


Web presence and social media presence

Businesses with a web and social media presence, by employment size(a)(b), 2014-15
	0-4 persons	5-19 persons	20-199 persons	200 or more persons	Total
	%	%	%	%	%
Web presence but no social media presence	20.1	21.3	26.6	22.2	21.0
Social media presence but no web presence	6.2	7.1	3.9	2.0	6.3
Both web and social media presence	18.8	37.9	52.8	69.0	27.6
(a) Proportions are of all businesses in each output category.
(b) As at the end of the reference period 30 June 2015.

The proportion of innovation-active businesses with 0-4 persons employed that reported both a web presence and a social media presence was nearly three times that of non innovation-active businesses (32% and 11% respectively).

Further statistics related to Business Use of Information Technology can be accessed via the Downloads tab.