Study finds need for greater ICT penetration in small businesses

Though offices have been equipped with more personal computers (PC), Qatar’s business sector has performed poorly in ICT penetration when compared to such standout sectors like households and education, ictQATAR, Qatar’s telecom regulatory authority said yesterday.

ICT (information and communication technology) encompasses all areas of fixed telephone lines, PCs, Internet, broadband connectivity etc.

At the launch of the ictQATAR’s ICT Landscape 2011 report - the authority’s second in four years - officials said businesses, especially small-scale could do more to embrace ICT and the immense benefits it brings.

Small businesses (1-9 employees) at 72% make up the chunk of the 24,000 private businesses registered in Qatar. But they clearly did not have the capacity and maturity as that of larger businesses with PC penetration standing at a meagre 65%, a substantially-lower Internet penetration rate of 46% and even lower high-speed Internet penetration of 45% in 2010.

Away from small businesses, the medium (10-99 employees), the large (100-499) and the very large (500 ) business segments all enjoy a PC penetration rate of 100%, Internet penetration rates of 89%, 96% and 100% and broadband penetration rates of 85%, 97% and 97% respectively.

Overall, Qatari businesses scored 76% in PC penetration (UAE 97%, Ireland 98%) and totalled 60% in Internet penetration at work (UAE 92%, Ireland 96%) in 2010.

“Notwithstanding the overall increased penetration of ICT in the business sector, the entities in Qatar still trail regional and international benchmark countries and thus need to further ramp up ICT penetration rates,” the report pointed out.

It can be achieved, the report said, by improving utilisation rates among small businesses.

But even connected to the world wide web, only a paltry 19% of businesses (of all sizes) in Qatar had a web presence at the end of 2010, with 10% maintaining a non-Arabic web portal, 8% in more than one language besides Arabic, and approximately 1% in Arabic only. That leaves a staggering 81% of all businesses in Qatar with no presence on the Internet in a digital age.

“Establishing an online presence can help businesses innovate and stand out from the competition. Being online not only provides greater visibility with clients, it also enables companies to better interact and transact with suppliers and partners,” the report noted.

ICTQatar landscape

• ICT penetration for the sector of ‘Households and Individuals’ in the report increased in 2010, but a transient labour population, women and the elderly appeared to have relatively lower levels of access to PCs and the Internet than the mainstream population.

• The sector of ‘Government’ performed the best and led the way in increasing all basic ICT infrastructure areas.

• The sector of ‘Health’ made progress as well with 98% healthcare professionals now accessing PCs and 97% utilising the Internet. The electronic storage of patient data in Qatar stood at 49%.

• The sector of ‘Tourism and Sports’ gained momentum, too, with nearly all such establishments currently maintaining at least one PC, while 98% utilising broadband.

• In the sector of ‘Education,’ 98% of K-12 schools were connected to Internet. Within the higher education institutions, nearly 95% educators and students have access to Internet.

• In the sector of ‘ICT Workforce,’ Qatar is expected to have 24,000 ICT professionals by the end of 2011.

Photocaption: ictQatar’s senior market research analyst Tariq Gulrez explaining the key findings of the ICT Landscape 2011 report yesterday, as other senior officials look on.