The European e-Business Report 2004 - Berlecon Research GmbH

The European E-Business Report 2004ICT infrastructureCompared with the other nine sectors covered by the e-Business W@tch in 2003/04, craft firms lagbehind in all network infrastructure indicators. Enterprises representing 91% of employees in thecombined sectors use computers, but only one third (30%) have connected their computers to a LocalArea Network (LAN). Remote access to the company’s computer system is even less common.About three quarters of firms (in % of employment) are connected to the Internet. However, the sectorexhibits a gap between the use of e-mail and World-Wide Web. The latter is only used by about half ofall firms (in % of employment), which indicates that a significant percentage of firms is still in its earlystages of Internet use. Broadband Internet connections are used by 12% of craft firms with 10employees or more, which is above average (of the other nine sectors) for this size-band.Exhibit 2.5-3: Use of ICT infrastructure in craft and trade sectorsLocal AreaNetworkWide AreaNetworkRemoteaccess tocompanynetworkInternetaccessBroadbandInternetaccess(2 Mbit/s)Sector total (EU-5) N=1,414 N=1,414 N=1,414 N=1,414 N=1,414% of employment 30 5 11 77 7% of enterprises 21 3 8 67 40-9 employees 19 2 7 68 310-49 employees 41 7 13 87 12All (9) Sectors (EU-5) N=4516 N=4516 N=4516 N=4516 N=4516% of employment 61 29 37 95 27% of enterprises 32 5 16 89 11Base (100%): all enterprises. EU-5 (DE, ES, FR, IT, UK). Weighting: Figures for size-bands in % of enterprises. Figures fortotals are weighted by employment ("enterprises comprising … % of employees"). Reporting period: November 2003.Internal business processesSource: e-Business W@tch (2004)Knowledge management and e-learning: 12% of craft enterprises (and 21% of those with more than9 employees) use an Intranet. The level of Intranet use among these small enterprises equals thelevel in the other nine sectors studied by the e-Business W@tch (21%).Exhibit 2.5-4: ICT use for internal business processes in craft and trade sectorsUse anIntranetUse an ERPsystemto sharedocuments forcollaborativeworkUse online technologies …to trackworking hoursand/orproduction timeto supporthumanresourcesmanagementSector total (EU-5) N=1,414 N=1,414 N=1,414 N=1,414 N=1,414% of employment 16 5 16 8 5% of enterprises 12 4 11 5 30-9 employees 10 3 10 4 210-49 employees 21 7 21 12 8All (9) Sectors (EU-5) N=4516 N=4516 N=4516 N=4516 N=4516% of employment 45 19 40 20 21% of enterprises 21 5 22 5 5Base (100%): all enterprises. EU-5 (DE, ES, FR, IT, UK). Weighting: Figures for size-bands in % of enterprises. Figures fortotals are weighted by employment ("enterprises comprising … % of employees"). Reporting period: November 2003.Source: e-Business W@tch (2004)Online technologies for internal processes: E-business solutions can enhance communicationbetween personnel and the processing of staff-related issues within a company. Enterprisesrepresenting 16% of employees in the craft and trade sector reported that they share documents125