CCI: 40% of SME internet upgrades fail

Almost two in every five attempts by small and medium sized enterprises (SME's) to upgrade their internet connection in the past year failed.

This was mainly due to lack of services available in the localities of those surveyed - while cost was also identified as a factor - according to a new research document published by the Chambers of Commerce of Ireland.

A key finding of the Chamber's E-Business Survey 2003 was that the majority of SMEs connected to the internet use it for the most basic applications, namely email (97%) and to source information (91%).

The survey also showed that a regional divide is in evidence.

Internet connection rates in the West are 15% below the other seven regions.

In terms of connectivity, over half of the SMEs in the west and south-east still rely on the telephone line to connect to the internet as do 33% of those in the Mid West, Midlands and Border regions.

In broadband terms, those in the mid-west and Mid-east fare best with 23% and 20% of SMEs respectively using broadband.

The survey also found that 28% of SMEs are dissatisfied with the cost of their internet connection while 25% of SMEs are dissatisfied with the speed of their internet service. Infection of IT systems from computer viruses was a major problem for 54% of respondents.

On a more positive note 66% of SMEs with internet access expected their company's use of it and e-business services to increase over the next 12 months.

32% of SMEs use the Revenue On-Line Service while 59% use online banking (up 4% on 2002).

The number of SMEs with their own websites in 2003 stands at 64%, representing a 9% increase on the 2002 figure.

CCI Chief Executive John Dunne said: "It has been estimated that more than 60,000 businesses would save money by switching to DSL this is a remarkable finding which we attribute mainly to a record of over-promising and under-delivering in many areas of new technology including telecommunications.

"The Government must be more proactive addressing and combating the continuing regional technological divide by aggregating demand at a local level to help achieve the demand viability thresholds now being set by service providers," he added.

The Chamber E-Business Survey 2003 is the latest in a series of annual surveys published by CCI on the use and uptake of e-business among small and medium sized enterprises.

This year, the survey was conducted on behalf of CCI by Mori MRC in early September 2003 and was carried out among 601 SMEs.

All businesses surveyed had less then 250 employees.