BUSINESS INTERNET ACTIVITIES

Businesses accessing the Internet were asked to report the activities they used the Internet or web for during 2007-08. Businesses were able to identify more than one activity from a list focusing on activities more likely to improve business efficiency, productivity or facilitate innovation.

Selected business Internet activities, by employment size(a)(b), 2007 - 08
		0-4 persons	5-19 persons	20-199 persons	200 or more persons	Total
		%	%	%	%	%
Financial including online banking, invoicing, making payments		79.2	86.0	89.9	91.1	82.3
Enabling persons working for this business to:
	work from home	37.7	36.2	51.9	80.3	38.8
	work from other locations	21.2	23.4	46.8	77.4	24.6
Information gathering or researching for:
	assessing or modifying this business's range of products, services, processes or methods	34.9	37.2	41.7	51.3	36.3
	development of new or improved products, services, processes or methods	20.7	26.2	29.1	46.7	23.3
	monitoring competitors	23.0	26.9	31.9	45.7	25.1
	identifying future market trends	15.6	19.5	24.8	44.4	17.8
Online training/learning		24.2	28.6	34.1	61.3	26.6
Information sharing or data exchange (e.g. EDI, FTP) with:
	customers or clients	20.6	21.7	23.5	41.7	21.3
	businesses or organisations (which were not customers or clients)	12.6	17.8	18.5	28.7	14.7
(a) Proportions are of all businesses which used the Internet in each employment size category.
(b) Businesses could identify more than one activity.

Aside from financial activities, the proportion of businesses using the Internet or web to enable persons to work from home was highest at 39%. This was most prominent among businesses with 200 or more persons employed (80%). Large businesses were also the most likely to undertake innovation related activities via the Internet or web, i.e. the development of new or improved products, services, processes or methods (47%).

Businesses in Information, media and telecommunications were most likely to use the Internet for all four activities related to information gathering or researching. For example, 45% of businesses in this industry reported assessing or modifying the range of products offered by the business.

In three-quarters of the industries over 80% of businesses reported using the Internet for financial activities, the widest reported range for an Internet activity was online training/learning, from 16% of businesses in Transport, postal and warehousing to 54% of businesses in Financial and insurance services.

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