Press Release: Survey on the Use of ICT and e-commerce in enterprises. Year 2023- First quarter 2024. Definitive data.

Main results

12.4% of enterprises with 10 or more employees used artificial intelligence in the first quarter of 2024 and 37.7% purchased cloud computing services.
30.7% of enterprises made e-commerce sales in 2023, increasing the volume of business generated by 2.3% compared with 2022.

More information

Use of ICTs in enterprises with 10 or more employees

68.4% of employees in enterprises with 10 or more workers used computers for business purposes in the first quarter of 2024. A total of 63.3% used computers with an Internet connection.

64.7% of enterprises with an Internet connection used social media, 1.1 points more than in the first quarter of 2023, and 58.9% carried out remote meetings.

Of the total of enterprises with an Internet connection, the percentage of those that have a website/page has risen by 3.3 points to 81.8%. In addition, 27.1% are paying for internet ads.

Main variables

Percentages

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⁽¹⁾Percentage of total enterprises with an Internet connection.
⁽²⁾Variables not investigated in Q1 2023.

ICT Specialists

The percentage of enterprises with women ICT specialists rose by two tenths and stands at 6.6%.

ICT specialists by activity sector. 1st Quarter 2024

Percentage

Other technologies in enterprises

37.7% of these enterprises purchase cloud computing services, up 6.1 points compared with the first quarter of 2023. Meanwhile, enterprises that use artificial intelligence technology have increased by 2.8 points, to 12.4%.

The services sector is the one that purchases the most cloud computing (42.4%) and the one that uses artificial intelligence the most (15.6%).

New technologies by activity sector. 1st Quarter 2024

Percentage

Remote Working

37.5% of enterprises with 10 or more employees used remote working in the first quarter of 2024. This percentage goes up to 80.4% for enterprises with 250 employees or more.

The average number of days per week on which employees work remotely is 2.4.

Meanwhile, 19.8% of employees telework regularly, an increase compared with the first quarter of 2023, at 18.9%.

Remote Working

Percentage

⁽³⁾ Percentage of enterprises that permit remote working.

Enterprises that allow their employees to work remotely by size of company. 1st Quarter 2024

Percentage

E-commerce

A total of 30.7% of enterprises with 10 or more employees made purchases via e-commerce in 2023. Turnover generated by these sales reached 385,844 million euros, resulting in a 2.3% increase compared to 2022.

E-commerce sales. Year 2023

Percentage

Data by Autonomous Community

The enterprises with 10 or more employees whose headquarters are located in Cataluña, Comunidad de Madrid and País Vasco had the highest intensities in the use of ICT in the first quarter of 2024.

For their part, enterprises in Extremadura, Castilla-La Mancha and the autonomous city of Melilla have the lowest percentages.

Use of ICT by autonomous communities and cities in which the head office of the enterprise is located. 1st Quarter 2024

Percentage

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⁽¹⁾ Percentage of total enterprises with an Internet connection.
⁽²⁾ Data analysis conducted by their own employees.
⁽³⁾ Remote access to the enterprise's email, documents or applications.

Use of ICTs in enterprises with less than 10 employees

87.9% of enterprises with fewer than 10 employees had computers in the first quarter of 2024. This is a decrease of 0.8 points compared with the same period in 2023.

Of the total number of enterprises with an Internet connection, 20.0% allow teleworking (an increase of 2.6 points on the previous year). On the other hand, the percentage of enterprises selling via e-commerce reached 13.1%, a 1.1 increase on last year.

Main variables

Percentage over the total number of enterprises with less than 10 employees

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⁽¹⁾ Percentage of total enterprises with at least 10 employees and with an Internet connection.
⁽²⁾ Enterprises that sold via e-commerce in 2023/2022.

Data revisions and updates

The data published today are final. All results of this operation are available on INEbase.

Methodological note

The main objective of the Survey on the use of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) and e-commerce in businesses is to obtain the necessary data that will allow the use of ICT and e-commerce in businesses in EU member countries to be measured.

In accordance with Eurostat's methodological recommendations, the survey has a dual temporal scope; the variables on ICT use refer to the first quarter of the year in which the survey is conducted, while the overall company information, e-commerce and ICT training refer to the previous year.

Type of survey:: annual continuous survey.
Population scope:: enterprises belonging to sections C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, L, M, N and group 95.1 according to the National Classification of Economic Activities (CNAE-2009).
Geographical scope:: the entire national territory.
Results reference period:: the variables on ICT use refer to the first quarter of the year in which the survey is conducted, while general company information, e-commerce and ICT training refer to the previous year.
Information reference period:: first quarter of the year in which the survey is carried out.
Sample size:: variables by year. For enterprises with 10 or more employees: around 15,000 enterprises; and for enterprises with fewer than 10 employees: around 10,000 enterprises.
Sampling type:: stratified sampling by company size, economic activity and autonomous community.
Collection method:: multichannel: through internet (CAWI) and regular mail.

For more information, you can access the methodology and the standardised methodological report.

INE statistics are produced in accordance with the Code of Good Practice for European Statistics. More information on Quality at the INE and the Code of Best Practices