According to the survey, 28 per cent of the respondents described the degree of IT usage in the company as good; 28 per cent said it was adequate; and 33 per cent described it as marginal. The percentage of respondents who described IT usage in their firms as excellent has gone up from 5 per cent to 7 per cent over last year while the number of SMEs who were not using IT at all has considerably declined from 11 per cent to 4 per cent this year.

Faster execution, better customer savings, increased productivity, improved quality and better relationship with partners were cited as the main benefits that accrue to companies from IT usage.

According to the survey, 7 per cent of the respondents cited the usage of Internet as excellent; 22 per cent rated it as good; 27 per cent rated Internet usage in their organisations as adequate; 39 per cent as marginal while 5 per cent of the respondents were not using Internet at all.

Almost 66 per cent of the respondent SMEs have their own Websites or Home Pages while 34 per cent do not have an Internet presence. The surveyed SMEs cite product display and description of product usage as the most frequently used on their Website. Selling, advertising, data collection, data transfer and training are some of the other purposes for developing and maintaining the company Website.

According to the survey, 31 per cent of the respondents stated that they were satisfied with the return on investment from the Website. However, 62 per cent respondents were not satisfied with the returns on investment from the Website against only 7 per cent respondents who realised more than their expectations.