Irish businesses adapting to technology : ICT report

Virtually all businesses in Ireland use technology and have access to the Internet.

The majority of firms use it to search for information, to avail of banking and financial services and to monitor markets.

Data disclosed as part of a major Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) survey undertaken by the Central Statistics Office also reveals that a majority of firms use their websites for marketing purposes. This includes making product inventory, company literature, catalogues and price lists available online.

Sales using e-commerce account for about a quarter of industrial turnover with almost half of all businesses making some purchases using e-commerce.

However, the percentage of total purchases made in this way is small, apart from the retail and wholesale sectors where 9% of purchases are by Electronic Data Interchange (EDI).

In 2001, the ICT sector employed over 90,000 people and accounted for about one sixth of value added in Industry and Services.

Value added in the ICT sector accounted for 11.6% of Ireland's GDP in 2000, compared with an EU average of 5.1%.