Australian Companies Embrace Digital Innovation

 

Many Australian businesses are moving into internet-based technologies, with a large proportion using these opportunities to unlock greater improvements in their managerial processes.

These findings come from the Australian Bureau of Statistics’s (ABS) latest yearly report into the state of digital uptake among companies. The survey found that, in total, 36.6 per cent of businesses have introduced technology that can improve their business processes in the 2012/2013 financial year.

Large firms were far more likely than smaller companies to have integrated these technologies into their management. Among firms with more than 200 employees, 67 per cent have chosen to invest in these processes, compared to less than 30 per cent for companies with one to four employees.

The most popular area which companies are investing in is for organizational and managerial processes, with 20.2 per cent of respondents choosing to pursue these technologies. By investing in business management software, firms have been able to unlock greater oversight from executives about the progress of different projects.

Other areas which saw strong growth were around goods and services and marketing methods, with these seeing 20 per cent and 18.8 per cent growth respectively.

The figures also uncovered some important trends when it came to the profile Australian businesses have built online. Australian companies now earn $246.4 billion in online revenue, with over half using the internet to place orders with suppliers.

Many companies are also turning to the internet to get more out of their companies, with 47.2 per cent having an established web presence to support their business. As with business processes, these trends are also far more common among large firms, although smaller organizations are starting to catch up.

As these developments continue over the next few years it is likely that more and more firms will invest in online resources to support their operations.