In 2010, of the 2.8 million enterprises with 1 or more employed persons, around 2.2 million (80.8%) used computers, 2.1 million (76.9%) used the Internet and 2.3 million (83.3%), cell phones for business purposes. The proportion of enterprises that used computers and the Internet was high and the larger the enterprise, the highest the use: around 78.0% of the micro enterprises (from 1 to 9 employed persons) used computers, whereas in the enterprises with 10 to 19 employed persons, this percentage climbed to 94.1%.  The same behavior was seen in relation to the use of the Internet: 73.7% of the micro enterprises used the Internet, whereas in the enterprises with 10 to 19 employed persons, this proportion rose to 91.5%.  An important highlight is the universality of the use of the computer and of the Internet in enterprises with 500 or more employed persons.

Among the micro enterprises, the lowest rates of computer and Internet use belong to the industrial segment (73.4% and 71.1%, respectively). The microenterprises with information and communication activities presented the highest rates:   85.4% used computers and 84.8% used the Internet. As to the enterprises with 10 or more employed persons, those of lodging and food products presented the lowest levels of computer and Internet use (87.9% and 82.2%, respectively), and the highest levels were seen in the enterprises of professional scientific and technical activities (99.3% both for computer and Internet use).

The main reasons given by the enterprises for not using computers or the Internet were: the activities requiring computer or Internet use were accomplished by third party companies  (86.3% and 89.8%, respectively) and the use of such devices was not necessary (73.5% and 71.6%).

These are some of the results of IBGE’s new survey on the Use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT-Enterprise 2010), which investigate the use of the computer, of the Internet and cell phones, the interaction with the government, security, abilities in the use of ICT and the reasons why micro enterprises (1 to 9 employed persons) and enterprises with 10 or more employed persons do not to use such technologies. There are no local information.

Complete data on the study can be accessed at

www.ibge.gov.br/english/estatistica/economia/stic/2010/default.shtm.

83.3% of the enterprises use personal or corporate cell phones

Besides the use of computer and Internet, cell phones also have been standing out as an important tool for information and communication technology: 83.3% of the enterprises use personal or corporate cell phones for business purposes. In small-sized enterprises, the use of personal cell phones was predominant: 52.4% of micro enterprises used it, while 40.3% of them used corporate cell phones. As for the enterprises with 10 or more employed persons, the use of corporate cell phones (70.7%) was much more common than the use of personal cell phones (34.2%).

Investigating the type of connection to the Internet used by enterprises, it was observed that the narrowband is rather low both for micro enterprises (2.7%) and large-sized enterprises (2.0%).  The fixed broadband is used by 92.3% of micro enterprises and 95.4% of enterprises with 10 or more employed persons. The mobile broadband is used by 23.0% and 28.4% of these enterprises, respectively.

Among large-sized enterprises, 40.5% reported incidents related to security in 2010

The increase of the use of ICT brings as a consequence the concern with protecting systems and information networks of enterprises.  Among enterprises with 10 or more employed persons which used the Internet, 40.5% had problems related to security in 2010. However, only 21.1% declared to have a defined security policy.  The most used security procedures by large-sized enterprises were antivirus, anti-spyware or anti-spam (98.8%), technology for data protection (82.1%) and firewall or intrusion detection system (80.6%).

For the micro enterprises which used the Internet, concerning security incidents in IT/ICT, 31.1% reported to have had some kind of problem and only 9.7% declared to have an information security policy formally defined. In relation to the security procedures adopted, 98.3% of micro enterprises reported to have used virus and spam detection programs, 74% adopted technology for data protection and 68.3% used firewall and intrusion detection systems.  

For micro enterprises, the high cost of salaries is the main difficulty in the hiring of specialists in IT/ICT 

Difficulties in hiring specialized personal in IT/ICT were notified by 5.1% of the enterprises which used computer and/or the Internet and the high cost of the salaries (64.7%) was the main difficulty reported.  Among micro enterprises which used computer and/or the Internet, only 19.4% offered some kind of training to their employees.  Out of these micro enterprises, around 76.6% provided basic training in the use of TIC.

For the enterprises with 10 or more employed persons, 10.5% reported to have found difficulties to recruit specialized personal in IT/ICT and, unlike observed in micro enterprises, the main difficulty was to find specialized professionals in the field of development/languages (61.6%).   Among the enterprises of this category that used computer and/or the Internet, 32.4% promoted qualification actions or training, whereas 74.5% of the total of these enterprises provided basic training to the use of ICT.

Almost half (48.3%) of the micro enterprises use free softwares

ICT-Enterprises aimed at finding out the main types of softwares used by enterprises.   Among the micro enterprises which used computer, the majority used programs ready for use (96.6%). The use of free softwares also was much more significant in these enterprises (48.3%), on the other hand, few of them developed their own softwares (3.3%)  As for the enterprises with 10 or more employed persons, 95.1% reported to adopt programs ready for use and 49.5%, free softwares. Only 8.5% of large-sized enterprises reported to develop their own programs.  

The main purposes for the use of softwares pointed out by micro enterprises were electronic management of documents (editing, use of electronic sheets and document scanning), 85.6%, and commercial management, 63.9%.  Among large-sized enterprises, 85.3% reported to use computer programs for electronic management of documents and 77.9% for commercial management.

47.5% of large-sized enterprises have webpages 

Around 21.0% of micro enterprises reported to have a page or web portal in the Internet. Micro enterprises that had webpages used them, mostly, to provide catalogs or lists of goods/services or price lists (73.3%) and also for communication with clients (or potential clients) through forms (72.3%).  Among enterprises with 10 or more employed persons, 47.5% reported to have a page or web portal in the Internet, whereas 72.1% of them had a costumer service (fro complaints or suggestions) and 72.0%, catalogs or lists of goods/services or price lists.

25.6% of micro enterprises make sales online

Among micro enterprises, 25.6% made sales through Internet, predominantly, using e-mail (23.6%).  Only 6.9% of the micro enterprises used the web to make sales.  Considering sales made by the Internet, the rate was higher, 41.1%, 29.5% of which was made through e-mail and 25.9% through the web. Out of the total of enterprises with more than 10 employed persons which used the Internet, 32.9% claimed to have sold (28% through e-mail and 14.4% through the web) and 55.0%, to have bought (39.3% through e-mail and 38.3% through the web). The survey considered that selling or buying goods or services through the Internet meant to receive or sent purchase or sale orders through pages of the Internet, Extranet, e-mail, etc., that is, it did not imply necessarily an online payment.    

Analyzing the uses that enterprises make of the Internet, the survey found out that sent and receive e-mail is an almost universalized practice, reaching 98.7% of micro enterprises and 99.0% of large-sized enterprises. Beside e-mails, respectively for micro enterprises e for large-sized enterprises, information search on goods and services (77.9% and 84.2%) and online banking (65.5% and 80.3%) were the most common activities, while employee training (7.9% and 12.8%) and product supply online (5.1% and 9.9%) were the less common.