Remote access refers to the enterprises’ readiness, capacity and willingness to make it possible for their persons employed to work remotely, by giving them remote access to enterprise’s resources (e.g. remote e-mail access, remote access to documents and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) systems of the enterprise).
85,9 percent of enterprises with 10 or more persons employed, provided portable devices that allow a mobile connection to the internet using mobile telephone networks, for business purposes. By “providing portable devices” we mean devices that are provided by the enterprise and the subscription and usage costs of the devices are being paid either in full or at least up to a limit by the enterprise.
This year, 59 percent of all enterprises have conducted remote meetings via the internet (e.g., Skype, Zoom, MS teams, WebEx etc.
The demand for high-speed internet connections (100 Mbit/s or more) has increased significantly over the years. This year, six out of 10 enterprises (61,2 percent) have internet connection speeds higher than 100 Mbit/s compared to 10,2% in 2018.
During the current year, the most popular contracted download speed among enterprises in Cyprus was at least 100 Mbit/s but less than 500 Mbit/s (39,2 percent of all enterprises). The second most popular download speed was at least 30 Mbit/s but less than 100 Mbit/s (22,7 percent), followed by the enterprises with download speeds of at least 500 Mbit/s but less than 1 Gbit/s and by the enterprises of more than 1 Gbit/s, with 11 percent. The least favourite download speed was the less than 30 Mbit/s with 8 percent.
During 2021, one out of five enterprises (22 percent) received orders for goods and services via computer networks. 21,2 percent received orders for goods and services via websites or “apps” and 3,3 percent via EDI – type messages. 17,8 percent of all enterprises received orders for goods and services via the enterprise’s own websites or “apps”, while 11,9 percent received orders via e-commerce marketplace websites or “apps” used by several enterprises for trading products. 19,6 percent of enterprises received orders via websites or “apps” from private customers compared to 12,7 percent of enterprises which received orders from other businesses and/or from the general government. 19,9 percent of enterprises received orders via websites or “apps” from customers located in Cyprus, 9,6 percent from customers from other EU countries and 8,2 percent from customers from the rest of the world.
The information and communications technology (ICT) specialist, develops, designs, maintains, operates and services systems and applications that are used to store, retrieve, and send data.
One out of four enterprises (24,5 percent) employ ICT specialists. In large enterprises that percentage reaches 73,3 percent compared to 20,1 percent in small enterprises.
The percentage of enterprises that provided any type of training during 2021, to develop ICT related skills to either ICT specialists or other persons employed, remains low at 13,9 percent and 25,6 percent respectively. In large enterprises the corresponding percentages are 51,1 percent (ICT specialists) and 65,7 percent (other persons employed).
10,5 percent of enterprises with 10 or more persons employed, recruited or tried to recruit ICT specialists in 2021. 5,7 percent of the enterprises faced difficulties to fill the ICT specialist’s vacancies during 2021.
