Over 80% of businesses provide means for at least partial remote working

More than 80% of businesses with ten or more employees provided mobile devices with access to the internet and business email in 2022, according to the results the survey on information and communication technologies (ict) usage and e-commerce in enterprises 2022, published by the Statistical Service of Cyprus on Thursday.

The survey looked at the possibility of remote access for employees in businesses, internet connection speeds, e-commerce and percentages of specialized ICT staff in enterprises.

During 2022, 85.9% of enterprises with 10 or more persons employed, provided portable devices that allow a mobile connection to the internet using mobile telephone networks, for business purposes. The survey also shows that 81.4% of all enterprises provide remote access to their e-mail system, 68.7% to the enterprise’s documents, including spreadsheets, presentations, or any other files and 64.8% provide remote access to enterprise’s business applications or software used by the enterprise. Also, 59% of all enterprises have conducted remote meetings via the internet (e.g., Skype, Zoom, MS teams, WebEx etc.).

Internet connection Speed

The demand for high-speed internet connections (100 Mbit/s or more) has increased significantly over the years, according to the survey. In 2022, six out of ten enterprises (61.2%) have internet connection speeds higher than 100 Mbit/s compared to 10.2% in 2018.

According to the data, the most popular contracted download speed among enterprises in Cyprus was at least 100 Mbit/s but less than 500 Mbit/s (39.2% of all enterprises). The second most popular download speed was at least 30 Mbit/s but less than 100 Mbit/s (22.7%), followed by the enterprises with download speeds of at least 500 Mbit/s but less than 1 Gbit/s and by the enterprises of more than 1 Gbit/s, with 11%. The least favourite download speed was the less than 30 Mbit/s with 8%.

E-Commerce Sales

During 2021, one out of five enterprises (22%) received orders for goods and services via computer networks, while 21.2% received orders for goods and services via websites or “apps” and 3.3% via EDI – type messages.

Also, 17.8% of all enterprises received orders for goods and services via the enterprise’s own websites or “apps”, while 11.9% received orders via e-commerce marketplace websites or “apps” used by several enterprises for trading products. 19.6% of enterprises received orders via websites or “apps” from private customers compared to 12.7% of enterprises which received orders from other businesses and/or from the general government.

Moreover, 19.9% of enterprises received orders via websites or “apps” from customers located in Cyprus, 9.6% from customers from other EU countries and 8.2% from customers from the rest of the world.

ICT specialists and skills

One out of four enterprises (24.5%) employ ICT specialists. In large enterprises that percentage reaches 73.3% compared to 20.1% in small enterprises.

The percentage of enterprises that provided any type of training during 2021, to develop ICT related skills to either ICT specialists or other persons employed, remains low at 13.9% and 25.6% respectively. In large enterprises the corresponding percentages are 51.1% for ICT specialists and 65.7% for other persons employed.

Finally, 10.5% of enterprises with 10 or more persons employed, recruited or tried to recruit ICT specialists in 2021, with 5.7% of them facing difficulties to fill the ICT specialist’s vacancies during 2021.