e-Readiness in Macedonia – is the (Re)public ready?

Riste Markoski, MERPNew York University Skopje

Content

MotivationAbout the Data (Methodology)Household e-Readiness AnalysisEnterprise e-Readiness AnalysisConclusion

Motivation

Social media is people having conversations ONLINE. (Marta Z. Kagan, Social Media Evangelist)

Social media are ONLINE communications in which individuals shift fluidly and flexibly between the role of audience and author. (Joseph Thornley, CEO of Thornley Fallis)

Social media describes the ONLINE tools that people use to share content, profiles, opinions, insights, experiences, perspectives and media itself, thus facilitating conversations and interaction online between groups of people. (Brian Solis)

About the data (methodology)

The data analysed is provided by EUROSTAT and the State Statistical Office in Republic of Macedonia.

Data in both instances has been gathered by using the Methodological Manual for statistics on Information Society.

Household e-Readiness analysis

four subsections (two about ICT adoption and two about ICT usage) Internet access type Households without Internet access at home Place and frequency of Computer usage Place and frequency of Internet usage

Internet access type

Narrowband - Dial-Up, ISDN, Mobile (WAP, GPRS) Broadband - DSL, Cable, Mobile (UMTS)

Households without access to Internet at home

MK 2008 EU(27)2008Have access elsewhere 7.2 14Don’t want internet 3 14Don’t need internet 15.36 38Equipment costs are too high 32.3 25Access costs too high 26.6 21Lack of skills 11.5 24Privacy or security concerns 1 5Other reasons 8.5 11

EU(27) Don’t need Internet. We really really really want it !!!! We have the skills !!!! We don’t really have much

access anywhere else!!!!!! Privacy? Pfff for what?

A friendly message to our lovely sponsors and all other Internet providers, but really, CAN WE GET CHEAPER INTERNET ACCESS!!!!

Devices used to access the Internet

MK 2008 EU(27) 2008

Personal Computer 27.7 54

Handheld Computer (PDA, PalmTop) 3.9 2

Digital TV set (set top box) 0.3 2

Games Console 1 3

Other Device (Mobile Phone) 4.6 9

Standard EU(27) trend; main device used to access the Internet is the Personal Computer.

Handheld Computer; double than EU(27). Crucial as we need to know user capability before developing content.

Mobile usage half of EU(27).

Club site example.

Place & Frequency of Computer Use Increase computer

usage at Home. Decrease in OTHER place

of usage. eg. 250 EU Vouchers for

students. Lower scores in 2008

than EU(27) in 2006; at least 5 to 7 year lag.

Place & Frequency of Internet Use Parallel increase b/w

Home & Everyday usage Decrease in Once a week

usage as Home usage increases

OTHER place decreases, home usage greatly increases - doubling over the two year period

Following the EU(27) trend with at least 3-4 year lag

Enterprise e-Readiness Analysis

Six subsections (two about ICT adoption and four about ICT usage) ICT Adoption in Enterprises Internet access type Usage of Internet (sophistication) Usage of e-Government services Usage of e-Commerce (yearly measurements, so 2007 is measured in 2008)

ICT Usage by Employees (no results were published for Macedonia for 2008)

ICT Adoption in enterprises

• For most values for ICT adoption, Macedonia in 2007 has reached lower values than EU in 2003.• ICT adoption values for Macedonia in 2008 for Internet penetration and LAN-Wired have greatly improved but still lagging behind in enterprise web presence.• It can be assumed that there is a 7 year lag between EU and Macedonia.

Internet access type

• EU Members – lowering Dial Up and ISDN – increasing DSL – slow Wireless Connection penetration.• eg. Macedonia Connects project enabled broadband internet penetration by using Wireless Connection skipping ISDN in the process.• Great increase in Other fixed connections (cable, leased line) in Macedonia, where this is seen as a negative trend in the EU.

Usage of Internet (sophistication)

• Steady increase of Internet usage for Banking and financial services for the EU member states. • Trend seems to follow in Macedonia but lagging at least 5-7 years behind.• From other data analysis it is seen that industry sectors where these values were very low are transport, storage and communication sector.• Market monitoring seems popular in Macedonia with value in 2007 greater than the average for the EU member states.

Usage of e-Government services

• Big trend in on-line sophistication of the e-Government services in Macedonia 2004 – 2008.• Basic services such as Obtaining Information and Forms are at a very good level.• Sophisticated services 2-3 times lower that the EU averages.• Offer is not sophisticated – expected 5 to 7 years delay.

Usage of e-Commerce

• Analysing e-Commerce the number of enterprises which have received/placed orders via Internet over the last calendar year (excluding manually typed e-mails).• In both e-Purchases and e-Sales, Macedonia scores lower than the earliest period recorded for the EU member states.• Minimal or no improvement – cannot say how long it will take to reach EU.

ICT Usage by Employees

• percentage of employees using any computer at least once a week.• percentage of employees using computers connected to the Internet in their normal work routine at least once a week. • Macedonia scores lower than the earliest period recorded for the EU member states.• From other data analysis it is seen that industry sectors where these values were close to or higher than EU average are the hotel and trade sector.

Conclusion

e-Readiness analysis shows ICT Adoption values are close to EU levels ICT Usage values are a lot lower than EU levels,

sometimes several times lower. Growth is evident, and the only relevant factor for

Macedonia is time. Main technology drivers – Large Enterprise. Lots of activities in order to bridge the gap.

THANK YOU !!!