ICT Adoption & Use by SMEs:Telephone Survey Results

Dr Romano Dyerson

RHUL

• Telephone survey Jan-March 2006– Replies from 378 SMEs

• Four economically significant sectors– Media– Internet services– Logistics– Food processing

Sector Breakdown

media

logistics

Internet services

Food processing

media 23.81%

logistics 26.46%Internet services 23.28%

Food processing 26.46%

media logistics

Internet services Food processing

less than a year

1-5 years

5 to 10 years

more than 10 years

Age of firm

23.33%

16.67%60.00%

24.00%

14.00%62.00%

30.68%

53.41%

15.91%

1.00%

20.00%

25.00%

54.00%

1 to 9

10 to 49

50 to 249

66.67%

30.00%

3.33%

media logistics

Internet services Food processing

49.00%

38.00%

13.00%

55.68%

38.64%

5.68%

47.00%

41.00%

12.00%

Number of Employees

21 87 32

16 93 11

16 89 23

23 92 8

Row %media

Row %logistics

Row %Internet services

Row %Food processing

general publicother

businesses

government orother public

agencies

main customers

9 21 66 26 41

16 12 34 15 49

11 14 64 16 22

12 24 60 14 21

Row %media

Row %logistics

Row %Internet services

Row %Food processing

local (withina few miles)

regional (inthe rest of SE)

National (otherparts of UK)

european(other eu)

International(non eu)

main market

media logistics

Internet services Food processing

yes

no

don't know

Has your IT investment represented good value for money

90.00%

4.44%5.56%

89.00%

4.00%

7.00%

97.70%

2.30%

91.00%

2.00%7.00%

86 83 88 90

56 77 75 72

90 91 91 89

71 60 78 83

Row %media

Row %logistics

Row %Internet services

Row %Food processing

improvedproductivity

improvedproduct/

service quality

fasterresponse tocustomers

keep up withcompetitors

Benefits from IT

40 70 79 41 80 64 45 32

29 67 17 28 91 44 54 21

20 92 89 64 91 54 55 40

78 75 41 40 95 58 57 19

Row %media

Row %logistics

Row %Internet services

Row %Food processing

stockcontrol

sales ormarketing design

marketresearch

documentmanagement

productionplanning and

controlsystems

humanresource

management

enterpriseresource

planning (ERP)

computerised systems used

media logistics

Internet services Food processing

none

up to 25%

26-50%

51-99%

100%

don't know

total online sales

42.35%

30.59%

4.71%

4.71%

3.53%

14.12%

57.00%

35.00%

3.00%5.00%

17.05%

18.18%

11.36%

15.91%

28.41%

9.09%

54.00%

30.00%

3.00%

2.00%2.00%

9.00%

media logistics

Internet services Food processing

no additional sales, existing customers have switched

sales have gone up

no impact

don't know

The effect of using the internet for business

6.74%

40.45%

35.96%

16.85%

6.00%

30.00%

58.00%

6.00%

1.15%

78.16%

18.39%

2.30%13.00%

26.00%

48.00%

13.00%

83 25 45 34 23 33 19

increaseoperationalefficiency

improvecommunications withsuppliers

improveenhancecustomerservice

keep up withcompetitors

enhance jointworking in

collaborativeventures

increasestaff

satisfactioncustomers

demanded it

main reasons for IT investments made recently (%)

Most challenging aspect of IT implementation

IT problems

0.00 5.00 10.00 15.00 20.00

%

out of date technology

does not fit the company's business needs

too costly

too complex

dpendence on outside IT contractor

systems crash frequently

poor security

Funding source

IT barriers

costsuncertainty over business benefits

security

lack of internal IT expertisestaff attitudes

10

20

30

40

50

%

Main reason for choice of IT supplier

10 20 30 40

%

past experience

cost

technical excellence of products

availability of after sales service

personal recommendation

Response to IT skills shortage

Sources of advice

73 1 11 7 5 4 26 268business link

e skills intoBuisness(sector

developmentagency ESIB)

centralgovernment

dti tradepartners uk

regionaldevelopment

agencies(SEEDA)

localgovernment

agenciesborough or

county councillearn directIT courses don't know none used

government agencies used (number of replies)