High percentage of internet use by enterprises registered, Covid-19 had an impact on operations

97.4% of enterprises (employing 10 or more employees) used the internet during 2021 according to the survey on ICT usage and e-commerce in enterprises.

The statistics, issued by the National Statistics Office (NSO) said that during 2021, enterprises across all surveyed economic activities and size classes registered high levels of internet use. “A total of 65,610 employees used the internet for business purposes during 2021. Among these, 34,555 employees also accessed the internet via a mobile device provided by their employer.”

In 2021, 82.3% of enterprises had their own website. National levels are four percentage points higher when compared to EU-27 levels.

“More than 85% of enterprises operating in the accommodation and food service activities, transport and communication sectors or in the real estate, professional, administrative and other service activities sectors reported to have a website. The most common features present in enterprises’ websites were the provision of descriptions and price lists of goods and services and links or references to the company’s social media profiles.”

Cloud computing use by enterprises

Cloud computing has been continuously increasing in popularity, with results showing that 1,482 enterprises (57.1%) made use of this ondemand service, the NSO said. “Cloud computing usage increased by 4.9 percentage points when compared to the previous year.

E-Commerce sales

The national share of enterprises conducting sales through e-commerce is seven percentage points higher than the EU-27 average, the NSO said.

“The number of enterprises making sales through e-commerce increased by almost 4 percentage points over 2020 levels. In 2021, total turnover generated through e-commerce sales amounted to €2.1bn. This showed a 12.2% decrease from the previous year. During 2021, 80.8% of the total turnover generated via e-commerce web sales was affected via the enterprise’s own website or apps.”

Covid-19 impact

In 2021, more than half of all enterprises had to change the way they operated due to the impact of Covid-19, the NSO said.

“Larger enterprises were more likely to increase efforts to provide remote access to their employees. In fact, 81.3% of enterprises employing 250 or more persons increased remote access to their own ICT systems. Among all enterprises, 76.1% increased the number of online meetings.”