Digital sector seen as increasingly important to Australian businesses

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Companies in Australia are quickly learning the importance of a robust online presence as a business tool, the Sage SME Business Sentiment Index revealed this week.

Sixty-eight percent of firms surveyed by Sage said that an internet presence would be a critical factor in their success, but 40 percent voiced concerns about the expense and complexity of putting their business online. Roughly a third of Australian businesses reported having a website detailing their products and services, but more than half agreed such a site could be strongly positive for their operations.

The business IT concern most frequently cited, according to Sage, is maintenance at 29 percent, followed closely by security at 24 percent.

Additionally, Sage's researchers found, 53 percent of Australian companies reported undertaking a significant CRM upgrade in 2010, and large proportions of respondents acknowledged the importance of being able to access at least some systems remotely.

This implies that cloud services could be set for major growth in the country, experts asserted, though Australian companies lag behind their equivalents in the U.S. and other nations in this area.