BUSINESS USE OF IT

Business Use of Information Technology, Key Indicators, by employment size(a) - 2006-07
			0-4 persons	5-19 persons	20-199 persons	200 or more persons	Total
Estimated number of businesses(b)		'000	443	207	55	3	708
Businesses with:
	Internet access	%	83.5	89.5	98.4	99.9	86.5
	web presence	%	24.5	44.3	68.2	95.0	34.0
Businesses with Internet access and
	broadband as main type of Internet connection(c)	%	89.0	92.6	93.5	98.6	90.5
Businesses which:
	placed orders via the Internet or web	%	34.3	48.4	52.6	69.1	40.0
	received orders via the Internet or web	%	20.0	29.1	31.1	25.9	23.6
(a) Proportions are of all businesses in each employment size category.
(b) Business counts are provided for contextual information only, please refer to Explanatory Notes 27 and 28.
(c) Proportions are of businesses with Internet access.

Internet access and web presence

Internet access during the year ended 30 June 2007 was reported by 86% of all businesses, while 34% of all businesses reported having a web presence at the end of the period. Web presence includes website, home page or presence on another entity's website.

An association exists between the employment size of a business and the likelihood that the business is using IT. The proportion of Australian businesses using IT is greater for each successive employment size range. For example, during the year ended 30 June 2007 almost all businesses with 200 or more persons employed accessed the Internet, while 95% had a web presence. A lower proportion of businesses with 0-4 persons employed used IT (84% accessed the Internet and 24% had a web presence).

During the year ended 30 June 2007, the proportion of Australian businesses which used IT varied considerably across industries. The industries with the highest proportions of businesses with Internet access were Professional, Scientific and Technical Services and Information Media and Telecommunications (both 98%), whereas the lowest rate was in Accommodation and Food Services (68%). Information Media and Telecommunications had the highest proportion of businesses with a web presence (65%) at the end of June 2007, followed by Arts and Recreation Services (54%). The lowest occurrence of web presence was within the Transport, Postal and Warehousing industry (reported by 14% of businesses).


Broadband use

Businesses with Internet access were asked to identify the main type of Internet connection used as at the end of June 2007. Broadband, which is defined by the ABS as an 'always on' Internet connection with an access speed equal to or greater than 256kbps, was identified as the main Internet connection type by 90% of businesses with Internet access during 2006-07.

Unlike Internet access and web presence, the use of broadband as the main Internet connection type does not appear to be closely linked to business size based on employment; with 10 percentage points separating the results for businesses with 0-4 persons employed from those with 200 or more persons employed.

Broadband was most prevalent in Financial and Insurance Services (97%) and least common in Transport, Postal and Warehousing (80%).


Internet commerce

The 2006-07 BCS measured the proportion of Australian businesses using the Internet or web to place orders and/or receive orders (i.e. the incidence of Internet commerce). Please refer to Explanatory Notes 17 and 18 for the definitions used.

Placing orders

The proportion of all businesses that placed orders via the Internet or web during 2006-07 was 40%.

The likelihood of a business placing orders for goods or services via the Internet or web was greater for each successive employment size range. During 2006-07, the proportion of businesses with 200 or more persons that reported placing orders via the Internet or web was more than double that of businesses with 0-4 persons (69% and 34%, respectively).

Information Media and Telecommunications had the highest proportion of businesses which placed orders via the Internet or web (68%), marginally higher than Professional, Scientific and Technical Services (63%). By contrast, Transport, Postal and Warehousing had the lowest proportion of businesses (21%) placing orders in this manner. These results indicate that the nature of business activity within an industry division as well as the composition in terms of business size based on employment are closely linked with uptake of Internet commerce (i.e. placing and receiving orders via the Internet or web).

Receiving orders

The proportion of all businesses reporting receipt of orders via the Internet or web during 2006-07 was 24%.

There were successive increases in the incidence of receiving orders via the Internet for the three smaller employment size ranges. However, receipt of orders for larger businesses does not follow this pattern. For businesses which employed 0-4 persons, the proportion receiving orders was 20%, for businesses with 5-19 persons employed, the rate was 29% and for those with 20-199 persons employed the rate was 31%, whereas the proportion for businesses with 200 or more persons employed was 26%. Measures of receipt of orders via the Internet or web exclude transactions where the commitment to purchase is not made via the Internet or web. For example, regular orders for goods received via the Internet for which the original commitment was made using other arrangements. This practice is more common in larger businesses.

The industries with the highest proportions of businesses that received orders via the Internet or web were Information Media and Telecommunications and Wholesale Trade, at 40% and 38%, respectively. Businesses within Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste Services (12%) had the lowest proportion of businesses that received orders via the Internet or web.

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