Access to, and the ability to use, ICTs are increasingly important for businesses of all sizes. In 2017, on average, around 12% of workers were in occupations involving a high frequency of ICT, underlining the high ICT content of these jobs. Furthermore, many additional jobs involve at least some ICT tasks. The share of workers in ICT-intensive occupations increased in almost all countries from between 2011 to and 2017. In the United Kingdom, the United States and Luxembourg, over 16% of workers are now in ICT-intensive occupations.
New technologies can augment workers’ capabilities. Cloud computing, in particular, is opening up an array of new business processes, by allowing firms, particularly young and small ones, on-demand use and payment for powerful computing services. Almost 30% of businesses in the OECD area reported using cloud services in 2018, up from 22% in 2014. The propensity to use cloud computing varies considerably across countries and sectors, as well as between small and large firms. On average, only 27% of small firms in the OECD area use cloud services, against 39% of medium firms and 55% of large firms.
The declining cost of data storage and processing have facilitated the collection of large volumes of data and the adoption of Big data analytics. On average, 12% of businesses in the countries for which data are available performed Big data analysis in 2018, with this share rising to 22% of businesses in the Netherlands and over 20% in Belgium and Ireland. Although the cloud, and the advent of easier-to-use analytical tools have made Big data analysis more attainable for all firms, large firms are still by far the biggest users of Big data analytics; 33% on average, and over half of large firms in Belgium and the Netherlands analyse Big data. Big data analysis requires access to a sufficiently large pool of data, and large firms are more likely to have such volumes of existing data at their disposal. Meanwhile, small and medium-sized firms are increasingly able to complement their own data with data acquired from other sources.
Exploiting the potential of Big data also requires access to specific skills, in terms of new analytical techniques such as parallel processing or visualisation tools. In many cases, the transition to Big data analytics also requires changes in the organisational practices of both enterprises and institutions, as well as the development of rules for data storage and exchange that comply with data protection rules (e.g. health records). Managers have a key role to play in leading adoption and their knowledge of technologies can be an important factor in businesses’ adoption and effective use of technologies such as cloud services and Big data analytics. For example, in Australia, insufficient knowledge of cloud computing services was found to be the most common factor-limiting uptake, affecting nearly one-in-five businesses (ABS, 2017).
