Download E:Commerce: Is Australia Missing the Boat?

E-Commerce Across Australia
Assessing the digital divide in
Australia
Presentation to the OECD WPIE/TISP Digital
Divide Forum
7 December 2000
Phil Malone, A/g General Manager E-Commerce
National Office for the Information Economy
([email protected])
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Today’s Outline
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E-commerce state of play
Business & industry - access / barriers
Households - access / barriers
Future impacts on regional Australia
Australian Government priorities
– responses to digital divide (business,
community)
• Next steps
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E-commerce state of play
(www.noie.gov.au/stateofplay)
• 41% of population access Internet (Sep00)
• small business online 60% (Feb00) - up from
48% (Feb99)
– 84% email, 11% active utilisation
• penetration of secure e-commerce - 119
secure servers per million people
• relatively low cost of Internet access - ranked
5th in the world
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Small/Medium Business & industry
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Access
Small - 60%
Metropolitan - 64%
Non-metro - 55%
A.C.T. - 72%
Sth Aust. - 55%
Bus. services - 81%
Construction - 50%
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Utilisation
Medium - 17%
Metropolitan - 14%
Non-metro - 6%
A.C.T. - 17%
Sth. Aust. - 12%
Bus. Services - 15%
Construction - 6%
(Source: NOIE / Yellow Pages Business Index, July 2000)
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Barriers for business
• Lack of dedicated resources / top
management support
• Initial set-up costs
• Lack of market awareness - security
• Infrastructure / e-fulfilment
• Small e-commerce market
(Source: National Electronic Authentication Council, Feb00)
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Households / Individuals
Access
• Adults online - 66%
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Aged 18-24 - 73%
Aged 55+ - 18%
Metropolitan - 52%
Non-metro - 39%
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Utilisation
Pay bills/banking - 8%
Buy goods/services - 6%
Shopping online - 8%
Shopping online - 1%
Shopping online - 7%
Shopping online - 4%
(Source: Aust. Bureau of Statistics, August 2000)
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Future impacts on regional Australia
• Insight into e-commerce impact across location
& industry
• All states are better off
• GDP increase of 2.9%
• > half regions gain output and employment
• 40% gain output or employment
• Only 3 Divisions see lower output and
employment
(NOIE, E-Commerce Across Australia www.noie.gov.au/eaa)
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Forecast isolated impact of e-commerce
on Output
Source: NOIE, E-Commerce Across Australia
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Forecast isolated impact of e-commerce
on Employment
Source: NOIE, E-Commerce Across Australia
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Use of “E-Commerce Across Australia”
• Care interpreting predictions years ahead
– E-commerce in its infancy
– Data is limited
• Insights into how e-commerce permeates the
economy
– Develop policy responses
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Examples of Insights from “E-Commerce
Across Australia”
• Leading/lagging in e-commerce adoption is
not a prime determinant of ability to benefit
• Nor is being metropolitan or nonmetropolitan
• Industry structure is what matters
• E-commerce means industry re-structuring
– need to facilitate transition
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Today’s Outline
•
•
•
•
•
E-commerce state of play
Business & industry - access / barriers
Households - access / barriers
Future impacts on regional Australia
Australian Government priorities
– responses to digital divide - business,
community
• Next steps
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Government responses (business/community)
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Information Technology Online (ITOL)
Networking the Nation (NTN)
IT&T Skills Exchange
Building on IT Strengths (BITS)
Test-IT
Universal Service Obligation (USO)
Rural Transaction Centres
Legislation conducive to e-commerce growth
Source: www.noie.gov.au, www.dcita.gov.au
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Government responses (community access)
• Problems addressed
– location / access: 47%, training: 27%,
numerous: 10%, affordability: 5%, awareness:
4%, other: 7%
• Target groups
– regional / remote: 54%, youth: 11%, indigenous:
8%, women: 6%, older people: 4%, other (incl.
disadvantaged): 17%
(Source: www.noie.gov.au)
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Government responses (community access)
• Interventions used
– Access centres: 58%
– Hardware / systems development: 10%
– Skills development: 7%
– Awareness / promotion: 7%
– Community development: 6%
– Other: 12%
(Source: www.noie.gov.au)
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Next steps
• Building the business case - firm-level case
studies (cost benefit analysis)
• Benchmarking data on digital divide
(www.noie.gov.au/stateofplay)
• Government policy response - Innovation
Action Plan before Cabinet, skills shortage
• Regional response - industry restructuring
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Thank you
Contact Details
Phil Malone
A/g General Manager, E-Commerce
National Office for the Information Economy
Email: [email protected]
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