eBusiness in Welsh SMEs
The State of the Nation report 2006/2007

Adoption of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and eBusiness is expected to be a key driver of economic growth and increased productivity within the SME community in Wales. Measuring ICT and eBusiness usage is vital in order to enable informed policy making and development decisions.

This is the fourth study conducted within the Opportunity Wales programme by the eCommerce Innovation Centre (eCIC) at Cardiff University within its role as Centre of Excellence for the programme. It presents the results from a telephone survey of 2,553 SMEs across Wales examining their progress in implementing and exploiting eBusiness. Additionally, this year we provide results specifically for businesses which have received support from the Opportunity Wales programme.

The survey covers a range of issues relating to business and eBusiness in order to uncover the key drivers, current adoption levels, how eBusiness is being used, as well as intentions regarding future implementations. Eight key areas relating to eBusiness adoption and implementation have been explored:

• Technology used;
• Use of ICT in businesses operations;
• Use of on-line purchasing and services;
• Flexible working;
• ICT and security;
• eGovernment;
• Innovation, eCulture and building for the future; and
• Barriers to eBusiness.

Executive Summary

The executive summary is now available and can found here.

Full report

The full report is now available and can be found here.

To request a Welsh language version of the full report, or specific sections of the report, please contact us.