Spanish companies improve their confidence in technology, with stabilization or moderate increases in the use of more established technologies (92% of companies have computers), and with greater momentum in the most recent (23.5% businesses navigate on the internet through the mobile phone). As reflected in the report "Information Technologies and Communication in the Spanish Company, 2010" carried out by the Multi-Sector Association of Electronics, Information Technologies and Communication, Telecommunication and digital content (AMETIC) and everis, with the collaboration of the Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Society, through red.es (ONTSI).
In the preparation for this study, which has become a benchmark this tenth year and aims to analyze the current status of ICT in the Spanish business environment as a lever of modernization, competitiveness and innovation, 5,000 interviews have been carried out to companies and 1,800 to self-employed workers.
The business mobile telephony increases
The report shows that half of companies offer their staff computers. On the other hand, the use of business mobile telephony has an upward trend, reaching 83% of the companies. Also, the larger the company, there is greater availability of mobile telephony, with the sectors of information technology, research and development and construction in which more emphasizes its use. As for VoIP (voice communication in IP format through the Internet), the study reflects an increase in its use, almost 14% of Spanish companies use it today, up 5% over the previous year. Its use is concentrated in medium-sized companies (50-250 employees) and large (250 or more employees), with 26% and 40% respectively.
On the other hand, the study highlights that 1 in 4 companies with 250 or more employees made an investment above € 100,000 in 2009. In addition, more than 11% make additional non-technological investments as a result of ICT implementation or improvement.
The use of the Internet in business stabilizes
The report notes that 92% of companies with internet connection have fixed broadband connection compared to almost 30% using wireless broadband. In this respect, the ultimate type of connection is directly from a mobile phone or PDA. The study also shows a moderation in the availability of corporate websites. 65.4% of companies with websites are hosted on the server itself, although the use of internet providers has an increase of 7 percent over the previous year.
Regarding the use of internet as an advertising media, the report notes that nearly 22% of Spanish companies are inclined to this option, especially in electronic guides (46%). The predominant type of advertising are sponsored links by 40% and in addition, 12.6% of companies perform some type of commercial activity in digital format. The study also reveals the steady growth of electronic commerce, which is at a rate of almost 43% of Spanish companies. The products or services that companies buy on the internet are raw materials (46%), office stationery (34%) and computer equipment (30%).
ICT in the professional self-employed
The introduction of computer use in this group reaches 51.2%. As for the company mobile, 68.5% have this resource, being the construction industry which gets more use with 93% of total respondents. Likewise, 50% of the self-employed have basic phones without Internet connection, against the 37.2% who have 3G phones and a 13% who have smartphones or PDAs.
With respect to the Net, 56% of the self-employed use the Internet for work. Out of these, 58% connect from their office or workplace and 67% do so daily. 47% have their own connection, mostly fixed broadband (92%), compared with 10% who have mobile broadband. The report shows that self-employed professionals use the Internet to find information for their business by 60% and 59% for communication with customers and suppliers.
As Internet advertising, 8.7% of the self-employed use online advertising and 49% use electronic guides for advertising. 30% use search engines for general-purposes. Sponsored links are the most common type of advertising in 35% of cases. In addition, 4.1% do e-marketing activities on the network. The report shows that 12% of the self-employed have a web page and 67% is hosted in an own server. 60% have established security protocols.
Cloud Computing
Finally, the study also devotes a section to the new trend of cloud computing. Among those companies and freelancers who have Internet connection, cloud computing rise to 57% and 73% respectively. Also, the most used cloud computing service is the email. As for the type of customers in this new form, the predominance of SMEs and the service sector in private enterprise is highlighted.
As advantages of using cloud computing, enterprises and self-employed notice cost savings, efficient resource management and reduction of initial costs for companies just getting started. However, the main obstacles nowadays are the insecurity, the failure of projects failing to meet expectations or the reliance on the provider at service level.