IT SUPPORT
All businesses were asked about the sources of IT support used during the year ended 30 June 2010. Businesses could identify more than one source of IT support.
The most common source of IT support was contractors or consultants at 36%. This was followed by person(s) working for the business who are not IT specialists (22%) and person(s) working for the business who are IT specialists (21%).
Source of IT support, by employment size(a)(b), 2009 - 10 |
|
 |  | 0-4 persons | 5-19 persons | 20-199 persons | 200 or more persons | Total |
 |  | % | % | % | % | % |
|
| Person(s) working for the business who are: |  |  |  |  |  |
 | IT specialists | 15.5 | 26.2 | 38.9 | 82.7 | 21.0 |
 | not IT specialists | 21.2 | 22.7 | 21.9 | 14.7 | 21.7 |
| Suppliers of software or hardware(c) | 15.0 | 24.3 | 35.4 | 56.0 | 19.7 |
| Contractors or consultants | 29.1 | 43.5 | 56.0 | 68.0 | 35.9 |
| Other sources of IT support | 1.8 | 1.6 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 1.7 |
| No IT support | 17.1 | 9.2 | 3.1 | 0.2 | 13.4 |
|
| (a) Proportions are of all businesses in each employment size category. |
| (b) Businesses could identify more than one source of IT support. |
| (c) Software or hardware suppliers are only included where IT support was part of the purchase, lease or warranty for the software or hardware. |
The use of IT support increased with each successive employment size range for
person(s) working for the business who are IT specialists,
suppliers of software or hardware and
contractors or consultants.
The use of
contractors or consultants was the most common source of IT support for the three smaller employment size categories (29% to 56%). The use of
person(s) working for the business who are IT specialists was highest for businesses with 200 or more persons employed.
The use of
contractors or consultants as a source of IT support was most common in businesses in the Financial and insurance services industry (57%), while businesses in the Information, media and telecommunications industry were the most likely to use
person(s) working for the business who are IT specialists (38%), closely followed by businesses in the Professional, scientific and technical services industry (37%).
No IT support was most common for businesses in the Agriculture, forestry and fishing industry (23%).