RP businessmen top list of Internet users in global survey

The Philippines has topped the list of countries worldwide where businessmen spend the most time using e-mail, a recent global business owners survey by Grant Thornton International revealed.

As a business tool, the use of e-mail has been almost universally adopted by businessmen around the world. The survey, which covered 24 countries, however, showed business owners in different countries use e-mail to differing degrees.

According to the survey, Philippine businessmen spend an average of 2.1 hours per day accessing and responding to e-mail, way above the global average of 1.5 hours.

In Hong Kong, India and the US, businessmen consume an average of two hours for e-mails; 1.7 hours in Australia; 1.6 hours in Singapore; 1.1 hours in Germany; and one hour in Japan.

On the other hand, businessmen in Greece and Russia spend the least time dealing with e-mail with a daily average of just 48 minutes.

The average time in Russia ranked one of the lowest since 15 percent of business owners there do not have access to e-mail, compared to a global average of only two percent. Moreover, Russia has a very low Internet penetration with only around five percent of the population with online access.

But more surprising, however, is the fact that Russia is trailed by technology-conscious Japan and Taiwan where seven percent of business owners do not use e-mail. In contrast, all of the businessmen surveyed in Australia, Italy and the US have access to e-mail.

The survey results showed that most businessmen in the Philippines (+76), India (+70) and Spain (+53) said the Internet has helped to increase business turnover most. Those in France are, by far, the most skeptical on the Internet with a balance of -61. The figures refer to the difference between those agree and those who do not agree that e-mail and the Internet have helped increase turnover/revenue.

The survey also revealed that businesses around the world take Internet and e-mail security very seriously. When asked if these areas are carefully managed to avoid the risk of viruses and security breaches, businessmen from the Netherlands were most careful (+91), followed by the US and Germany (+90). On the other side, Taiwan (+43) and Russia (+48) are the most lenient, based on the global average of +78.

Meanwhile, online advertising and marketing are not yet considered essential to business owners, with a global average of -24. Those in Turkey (+39) and Germany (+17), however, are most dependent on Internet advertising.

The survey also found out that businesses are generally dependent on the Internet for research with a global average of +26. Businessmen in Turkey (+79), the Philippines (+57) and the US (+50) agree most while those in France (-10) and Japan (-38) disagree most.

On a worldwide basis, businesses are generally not dependent on the Internet for ordering supplies (-21) or taking orders online (-27). But those in the Philippines (+27) and Turkey (+25) are most dependent on ordering supplies online while those in Turkey again (+22) and Mexico (+15) are most dependent on taking orders online.

"There is no doubt that e-mail and the Internet are a way of life for business owners across the world and most of these results come as no surprise," said Wendy Hart, corporate finance partner and head of Grant Thornton UK’s Technology Industry Group.

She noted, however, that in some countries, there are marked differences. In Russia, where Internet penetration remains very low, only 15 percent of business owners use e-mail – whereas it is the norm in most countries. In the Philippines, India and Hong Kong, technology has been embraced by entrepreneurial businesses who spend most time on e-mail.

"E-commerce, in its strictest sense is still nowhere near its potential on a global basis. Business owners in general remain skeptical about advertising, marketing, buying and selling online. Some emerging economies like the Philippines, Turkey and Mexico, are leading the way," Hart added.

Grant Thornton International is an international membership organization, with each member firm independently owned and operated. The auditing firm Punongbayan & Araullo is the Philippine member firm of Grant Thornton.