NI firms need to embrace e-commerce: report

18-05-2006

by Ciara O'Brien

Northern Ireland businesses need to maximise their use of e-commerce if they are to boost their productivity, a new report has claimed.

The latest Quarterly Economic Review published by Northern Ireland's Enterprise Minister, Maria Eagle, indicated a positive outlook for the region's economy, but noted that companies are failing to use e-commerce to its full potential. E-commerce within innovation has been identified as one of the four drivers of productivity for the Northern Ireland region.

The percentage of companies trading online in Northern Ireland during 2004 (the most recently available statistics) is 28 percent, just above Wales with 26 percent. Within the UK the region with the highest percentage of firms trading online is, perhaps unsurprisingly, the Greater London region, with 44 percent.

"The use of e-commerce by Northern Ireland's businesses is currently below other UK regions. However, by taking full advantage of the opportunities that e-commerce provides, businesses can reduce costs and increase productivity," said Minister Eagle.

In January, Northern Ireland became the first region in Europe to provide broadband access to all its residents and businesses. There are about 180,000 broadband subscribers in Northern Ireland, with 27 percent of households signing up for broadband and 38 percent of businesses signing up for high-speed internet access.

The region's broadband success has been attributed to the support received from the Government, which got behind the scheme early on. After investing some STG10 million in broadband infrastructure, the Government awarded a contract to BT in March 2003 to provide broadband to 100 percent of the population.

"Government has invested heavily to ensure that Northern Ireland has 100 percent broadband access and this needs to be utilised by local businesses to help them compete in a global marketplace," said Minister Eagle.

The Government said it has a number of schemes planned to help boost ICT skills and give assistance to firms involved in e-commerce. Invest NI's Corporate Plan 2005-2006, for example, has a target of assisting 1,500 businesses to improve their use of ICT. Some of the schemes include: management info scheme offering financial support of up to 40 percent of the implementation costs of ICT; a broadband programme to help businesses with less than 250 employees benefit from high-speed internet; broadband advisors offering free and impartial advice to local businesses; a broadband awareness campaign to encourage companies to implement broadband and an e-solutions demonstration centre, which will provide guidance and demonstrations of a range of ICTs.