Internet use by enterprises
During 2022, enterprises across all surveyed economic activities and size classes registered high levels of internet use (Table 1).
A total of 68,608 employees used the internet for business purposes during 2022. Among these, 39,650 employees also accessed the internet via a mobile device provided by their employer (Table 2).
Chart 1. Maximum contracted download speed by enterprises
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Remote access to enterprises’ systems and security measures
In 2022, 86.8 per cent of enterprises provided remote access to their employees. Almost nine out of every ten enterprises enabled remote access to the organisation’s email system whereas seven out of every ten provided employees with access to documents (Table 3).
This surge in remote access increased the enterprises’ exposure to ICT- related security incidents. To counteract such incidents, 93.2 per cent of enterprises implemented some form of ICT security measures on their own ICT systems. The most common security measures were authentication via strong passwords (87.9 per cent) along with the creation of data backups in separate locations (82.2 per cent) (Table 4).
E-Commerce sales
The national share of enterprises conducting sales through e-commerce was nine percentage points higher than the EU-27 average (Chart 2). In this regard, the number of enterprises engaging in sales through e-commerce increased by 2.9 percentage points over 2021 levels (Table 5). In 2022, total turnover generated through e-commerce sales amounted to €2.2 billion. This showed a 7.1 per cent increase from the preceding year (Chart 3).
During 2022, 81.8 per cent of the total turnover generated via e-commerce web sales was effected via the enterprise’s own website or apps (Chart 4).
Chart 2. Percentage of enterprises conducting sales through e-Commerce
The total number of enterprises conducting sales through e-commerce is given in Table 5
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Chart 3. Turnover generated from e-commerce sales
The total number of enterprises conducting sales through e-commerce is given in Table 5
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Note: Refer to methodological note 6 for more information on different e-commerce types.
Chart 4. Turnover generated from e-commerce web sales by platform
Total web sales €1,048 million
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ICT specialists
In 2022, 33.5 per cent of enterprises employed ICT specialists. Larger companies were more likely to employ ICT specialists, and in fact among those with 250 or more persons the share was of 84.4 per cent. The number of enterprises providing ICT specialists with further ICT-related training amounted to 18.3 per cent, with the larger enterprises having a higher prevalence of ICT-related training compared to smaller units (Table 6).
Additional Tables and Charts
Methodological Notes
2. For the purpose of this news release, a census of enterprises employing a minimum of 10 employees (full-time and part-time) was undertaken. The register of businesses maintained by NSO was used as the sampling frame for this survey.
3. The enterprise, as defined in the Council Regulation (EC) No 696/93 of 15 March 1993 is “The smallest combination of legal units that is an organizational unit producing goods or services, which benefits from a certain degree of autonomy in decision-making, especially for the allocation of its current resources. An enterprise carries out one or more activities at one or more locations. An enterprise may be a sole legal unit.” Economic Activity is based on the enterprises’ main activity.
4. Enterprises were divided into strata depending on their size class and economic activity, in line with NACE Rev. 2 Classification.
Table M1. Size Class and Main Economic Activity
5. An overall response rate of 77.2 per cent was achieved. Some questionnaires were returned to the Office with incomplete data, resulting in item non-response. These were then imputed using appropriate statistical methods. Furthermore, various non-sampling errors could have occurred, primarily related to the respondent and/or errors during processing. While every effort was made to minimise such occurrences, these are known to be present and remain impossible to quantify precisely.
6. Definitions:
e-Commerce is the sales of goods or services conducted over computer networks by methods specifically designed for the purpose of receiving orders. Two types of e-commerce are identified in this news release:
a) Web sales are sales made via an online store (web shop), or via web forms on a website, or extranet, or via
web applications.
b) EDI-type sales are sales made via EDI-type messages (EDI: Electronic Data Interchange) meaning:
– in an agreed or standard format suitable for automated processing (e.g. EDIFACT, XML, etc.); and
– without the individual message being typed manually.
7. More information relating to this news release may be accessed at:
Sources and methods
Statistical concepts
8. References to this News Release are to be cited appropriately.
9. A detailed news release calendar is available online.
10. For further assistance please submit your query through our online request form.
- During 2022, 98.1 per cent of enterprises used the internet
- A total of 68,608 employees used the internet for business purposes during 2022
- 86.8 per cent of enterprises have remote access to their own systems
- Turnover generated through e-commerce sales amounted to €2.2 billion
- In 2022, 877 local enterprises employed ICT specialists
