Information Society Statistics Enterprises 2021

In 2021, 82% of enterprises had a website or a homepage compared to 79% the previous year. In the Manufacturing sector, enterprises that had a website or homepage increased from 90% in 2020 to 93% in 2021. More than eight in ten (81%) of businesses from Services sectors had a website or homepage in 2021, an increase from 77% in 2020. In the Construction sector, 82% of enterprises reported having a website or homepage in 2021.

The most common facility provided by enterprises on their website or homepage were links or references to their social media profiles (43%). Almost half (48%) of Manufacturing enterprises had links to their social media profiles. More than four in ten (44%) businesses from Services had social media links on their website while 28% of Construction enterprises had.

More than a quarter (27%) of enterprises facilitated access to online ordering or reservations. Three in ten of enterprises in Services offered this facility while 18% of Manufacturing and 7% of Construction firms did. The facility to track the status of orders placed with businesses was provided by 7% of enterprises. The option to customise or design online goods or services was available from 8% of businesses.

The survey found that 11% of enterprises offered personalised content on their website for regular/repeat visitors. For Manufacturing enterprises, 9% offered this facility while 11% of Construction firms and firms from Services offered personalised content on their website. See Figure 2.1 and Table 2.1.

The 2021 survey shows that almost all (97%) enterprises with more than 10 employees and self-employed, were using broadband in their business. This is true regardless of the size of the enterprises as 97% of small (10-49 persons engaged), 100% of medium (50-249 persons engaged) and 99% of large (250+ persons engaged) enterprises were using broadband in their business in 2021.

More than eight in ten (81%) enterprises were using a mobile broadband connection. Large enterprises (94%) had the largest proportion using a mobile broadband connection followed by medium sized firms (84%) then small businesses (81%). See Figure 2.2 and Table 2.2.

More than half (55%) of enterprises with broadband made purchases online, either by the internet or through intercompany communication of business documents, known as electronic data interchange (EDI). Almost three in five (58%) Manufacturing enterprises with broadband made purchases online while 56% of Services businesses did. In the Construction sector, 46% of firms made purchases by the internet or EDI.

Four in ten (40%) enterprises made sales through the internet or EDI in 2021. More than half (51%) of Manufacturing firms with broadband and 42% of Services made sales online. In the Construction sector, 17% of enterprises made sales via the internet or EDI. See Figure 2.3 and Table 2.3.

Just under a third of enterprises (32%) used Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software in 2021, down from 34% in 2019. Over a quarter (27%) used CRM software to collect, store and make available information on customers to various business functions. One in five firms used CRM software to analyse information on customers for marketing purposes in 2021. The percentage of enterprises using Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software decreased from 29% in 2019 to 24% in 2021. See Figure 2.4 and Table 2.4.