About business use of information technology statistics
Key indicators of business use of IT include: internet access; the use of broadband; web presence; social media presence; and internet commerce (i.e. the placing and receiving of orders via the internet).
Detailed information on these indicators can be found via the Data downloads section.
Business use of information technology, selected indicators(a) - 2014-15 to 2016-17
| 2014-15 | 2015-16 | 2016-17 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Estimated number of businesses(b) | '000 | 776 | 799 | 831 | |
| Businesses with(c): | |||||
| internet access | % | 94.8 | 95.3 | 95.4 | |
| web presence | % | 48.6 | 50.1 | 51.1 | |
| social media presence | % | 34.0 | 38.2 | 40.4 | |
| Businesses with internet access(c): | |||||
| broadband as the main type of connection | % | 99.2 | 99.3 | 99.4 | |
| Businesses that: | |||||
| placed orders via the internet | % | 55.7 | 57.0 | 59.3 | |
| received orders via the internet | % | 33.8 | 36.8 | 37.1 | |
| Internet income(d) | $b | 285.5 | 321.4 | 394.3 | |
a. Proportions are of all businesses in each output category.
b. Business counts are provided for contextual information only. Refer to Methodology 21 and 22.
c. As at the end of the reference period, 30 June.
d. Refer to Methodology 16 to 18.
- For the first time, over half of businesses in the Retail trade industry (59%) had a web presence, while 56% had a social media presence.
- More than a third of businesses reported having received orders via the internet (37%), with income obtained from these orders totalling an estimated $394 billion. The scope of internet income estimates includes both business to business and business to customer orders and as such is not adjusted to include only the value-added component of a sale. Further data relating to the proportion of income from internet orders received will be released in Selected Characteristics of Australian Business (cat. no. 8167.0) scheduled for release on 16 August 2018.