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The UPC Report on Ireland’s Digital Future
Driving Economic Recovery
Designed by
UPC Report on Ireland’s Digital Future
Contents
Foreword
Dana Strong, Chief Executive, UPC Ireland 2
Executive Summary 4
Introduction 6
Chapter 1: Life Online 9
Chapter 2: The Digital Consumer 24
Chapter 3: The Digital Business 33
Conclusion: Towards a Digital Future 45
© 2012 UPC Ireland and Amárach Research, the content of this report may be used
and republished freely once The UPC Report on Ireland’s Digital Future is credited.
2 UPC Report on Ireland’s Digital Future
Foreword
Driving Economic Recovery
The shared goal of transforming Ireland into
a knowledge based society and a competitive
economy is critically dependent on our
capacity not only to deliver a world class digital
infrastructure but also on our ability to maximise
engagement with that infrastructure.
For the past 3 years, UPC has been a key change agent in Ireland
leading a surge in broadband adoption and raising awareness of the
benefits of going digital for households and businesses.
This independently conducted research, commissioned by UPC, is
part of our continued contribution to transforming Ireland into a
global digital leader. The report presents findings of surveys across a
sample of the Irish consumer and business population. It provides a
comprehensive snapshot of Ireland’s current position and seeks to look
ahead to the future where digital uptake can drive economic recovery
and create new jobs which will underpin national competitiveness.
The Internet is clearly having a profound impact on the way we live
and work. The Amárach research shows that Irish society is ready and
confident for the digital future. Ireland performs well in many criteria
in comparison with OECD and EU indicators. Consumer investment in
digital products and services is strong and is equally matched by the
skills to use them.
Crucially, Irish businesses are already making strong progress towards
the digital future and they are very aware of the opportunities it
presents for efficiencies and growth. Most telling is the firm belief on
the part of the majority of companies that getting their online strategy
right will translate into real and significant revenue growth.
The report puts current online consumer spending at €3.7 billion and
forecasts it to rise to €5.7 billion, an increase of more than 40% by
2016. It also predicts a doubling of Ireland’s ‘Internet economy’ by 2016
bringing its total value to €11.3 billion. A challenge for Irish businesses
will be to ensure that these increases are met by Irish based productivity
and innovation with a corresponding benefit for jobs and the economy.
The evidence is clear. Ireland is well capable of grasping the
opportunity presented by new media, digital developments, broadband
and the Internet and this will contribute to restoring the health of
our economy. In turn, all stakeholders must play their part in the
development of our digital economy to create jobs growth, economic
growth, and enhanced competitiveness.
I would like to thank Amárach for their research expertise and
everyone who has participated in this groundbreaking report for
Ireland. UPC is proud to be playing its part in delivering the digital
future and we will continue to work with Government, business and
society in general to ensure that we all collectively realise this potential
for Ireland to succeed to the maximum extent possible.
Why not help us track Ireland’s progress? We would like to invite all
individuals and businesses to participate in the UPC Digital Index at
www.upc.ie/digitalindex
Dana Strong
Chief Executive Officer, UPC Ireland
UPC Report on Ireland’s Digital Future 3
€11.3Bn Projected Value of the Irish Internet Economy (Ireland 2016)
€5.7BnProjected Online Consumer Spending (Ireland 2016)
€3.7Bn Online Consumer Spending (Ireland 2012)
4 UPC Report on Ireland’s Digital Future
Executive Summary
Seize the Future
Ireland is in the middle of a revolution – a digital revolution. For all
the economic difficulties and challenges we have faced in recent
years, the story of digital technology in Ireland is a story of success.
Comparisons with other countries show that Ireland is on par or
even ahead of OECD and EU nations when it comes to several key
measures of digital adoption.
Ireland’s future progress towards the digital future will help us solve
some of the economic problems we now face. Improving access to
higher broadband speeds in households and businesses opens up new
opportunities for citizens, consumers, employers and employees. By
seizing the digital future, Ireland can secure a higher standard of living
through faster economic growth, as well as tackling the scourges of
unemployment and emigration through the creation of new jobs, new
services and new businesses.
The Size of the Prize
If Ireland simply follows the trend in other countries at a similarly
advanced stage of digitisation, then the Internet’s contribution to our
economy will grow from about 3% of GDP at present to 6% by 2016.
That’s an increase in the value of Ireland’s digital economy from under
€5 billion this year to over €11 billion in 2016, creating new jobs and
new businesses along the way.
As for jobs potential, raising the level of digitisation in Ireland to that of
our nearest neighbour, the UK, would reduce the numbers unemployed
in Ireland by nearly 18,000; with even bigger reductions possible if the
level rose to that of the leading Scandinavian countries.
The Surveys
UPC commissioned Amárach Research to carry out two, parallel
surveys in August 2012: the first was an online survey comprising
1,000 adults aged 16 and over, representative of Ireland’s population;
and the second comprised a telephone and web survey of 201
IT decision-makers in Irish SMEs and larger corporations, with quotas
to ensure a cross-section of companies by size. The surveys were
carried out on an entire market wide basis and included customers
of all telecommunications providers.
Life Online
Already, 8 in 10 adults use the Internet in Ireland, up from fewer than
5 in 10 in 2007. Indeed, broadband take-up in Ireland matches the EU
average at two thirds of homes.
The Internet is now a vital part of our everyday lives, and shapes how
we work, relax, learn and shop. Internet users spend 156 minutes
(2.6 hours) online on a typical weekday, rising higher at the weekend. On
average there are two or more people using broadband in every home,
with two or more devices connected at the same time – as smartphones
become more common, more people and devices will be connected.
Shopping and social networks are the most popular online activities,
while a third of adults already use the Internet at home for work
purposes. 6 in 10 workers are expected to work from home some or
all of the time by 2016.
The Irish are digital optimists, and look forward to a host of new
services that will enable them to study, shop, work and share from
the comfort of their home in future. Indeed, half of all adults would be
interested in running their own business from home at some stage,
facilitated by digital technologies.
UPC Report on Ireland’s Digital Future 5
The Digital Consumer
The impact of digital technology on the Irish economy is significant.
Already there are 2.6 million online shoppers in Ireland, who will spend
€3.7bn in 2012 across a range of product and service categories. Irish
consumers will spend €5.7bn online by 2016, or 7% of all consumer
spending in the economy.
Some 8 in 10 Internet users use the web to research products they are
interested in buying, but then buy them locally in Irish shops. It goes
the other way too: 6 in 10 Irish Internet users use their local shops to
research products they are interested in, but then buy them online,
often at significant cost savings.
There are significant opportunities for Irish businesses – including
retailers – to respond to these trends. Over 6 in 10 online shoppers
would buy from an Irish website if they knew about one that matched
equivalent offers from international sites.
The UPC Digital Consumer Index – specially created for this study –
tells us that some 30% of Irish adults are ‘Digital Leaders’, while 8%
are ‘Digital Laggards’: the balance are what we call ‘Digital Followers’.
The Digital BusinessIreland’s digital revolution is not just good for consumers, it’s
good for business. It appears that Irish businesses have ‘moved
on’ from the recession, with 8 in 10 now optimistic about their
growth prospects for the next 2 years. Two thirds expect to expand
in Ireland in the coming years, and nearly half plan on expanding
abroad. Furthermore, a majority of businesses intend hiring
new staff in the next 2 years, with a strong emphasis on IT and
digital skills.
Digital technology has delivered productivity increases and cost
savings to a majority of businesses. One key area for future
improvement is the application of digital technology to employee
engagement and management. Already, 6 in 10 companies enable
their staff to work from home to varying degrees during contracted
hours – a practice that is expected to grow.
The UPC Digital Business Index – also created for this study –
tells us that 3 in 10 Irish businesses are ‘Digital Leaders’, while 1 in 7
are ‘Digital Laggards’; with the balance falling into the category of
‘Digital Followers’.
We have much to gain from the digital future in terms of higher
standards of living, a better quality of life, improved consumer welfare,
greater business productivity and lower unemployment. This report
shows the road ahead to the digital future: together we must take the
next steps.
6 UPC Report on Ireland’s Digital Future
Introduction
What is the one service in your home that you couldn’t live without?
The number 1 choice, for over a third of Irish adults in 2012, is
broadband. Number 2 is electricity (for over a fifth of adults),
with television in the number 3 position. These findings are a
remarkable indication of how embedded the Internet has become
in our daily lives (leaving aside the matter of how broadband could
work without electricity!).
But even more remarkable is just how quickly the ‘digital revolution’
has happened in Ireland, and how much more we have to look forward
to in the years ahead. This report is designed to help Irish citizens and
businesses prepare for the digital future. We think you will be surprised
and inspired by the findings from our research and by the changes
we can expect in how we live, work and play. The good news is that,
despite the tough economic challenges we face, Ireland is well placed
to be a winner on the road to the digital future.
Our SurveysUPC commissioned Amárach Research to carry out two, parallel
surveys in August 2012: the first was an online survey comprising
1,000 adults aged 16 and over, representative of Ireland’s population;
and the second comprised a telephone and web survey of 201 IT
decision-makers in Irish SMEs and larger corporations, with quotas
to ensure a cross-section of companies by size.
The key findings from both surveys are explored in the rest of this report.
Digital Targets for a Digital FutureThe importance and benefits of being digitally connected and engaged
along with having access to high speed broadband services are
globally recognised. Given this, there is growing interest in measuring
the performance of countries in terms of digital trends and their
economic and social impact.
From a European standpoint, the EU has identified a number of Digital
Agenda targets (EU Targets) aimed to “help reboot the EU economy and
enable citizens and businesses get the most out of digital technologies”.1
More locally, the Irish Government recently published its National
Broadband Plan which aims to better the EU’s broadband speed targets
during the lifetime of the current government.2
1 EU Digital Agenda scoreboard for Ireland: https://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/
scoreboard/ireland
2 ‘Delivering a Connected Society: A National Broadband Plan for Ireland’, Department
of Communications, Energy and National Resources, http://www.dcenr.gov.ie/NR/
rdonlyres/1EA7B477-741B-4B74-A08E-6350135C32D2/0/NBP.pdf
EU Digital Agenda targets
By 2013
Basic broadband for all
By 2015
50% of population to buy online
33% of SMEs to make online sales
60–75% of the population to use the Internet regularly
By 2020
30Mbps for all citizens
50% of population to subscribe to 100Mbps
Ireland’s National Broadband Plan targets
70Mbps for 50% of population
40Mbps for 70-85% of population
30Mbps for 100% population
UPC Report on Ireland’s Digital Future 7
The good news is that Ireland rates very favourably not just among its
EU counterparts but also at a global level. Irish consumers are broadly
equal to their OECD and EU counterparts when it comes to measures
such as the percentage of households with broadband – in fact Ireland
has already met the first of the EU’s Targets, universal broadband. 3, 4
Ireland also compares very well in relation to other indicators such as
the percentage of Irish consumers who shop online (slightly above the
OECD average and significantly in excess of future EU Targets).
With respect to the availability of high speed broadband services the most
recent Akamai State of the Internet report shows that Ireland ranks 15th in
the world – and 9th in Europe – in terms of average measured broadband
speed 5. The Akamai report shows that Irish households are surfing faster
than advanced markets such as the UK and Germany. Indeed, in the two
year period from Q2 2010 to Q2 2012, the share of residential broadband
subscribers with contracted download speeds greater than or equal to
10Mbps tripled: from 7.3% to 22.9%6. As a result, not only has the first
of the EU Targets been met but with 35% of Irish households already
today able to receive 150Mbps7, Ireland is well on its way to meeting its
ambitious targets as set out in the National Broadband Plan.
3 Available from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD):
http://www.oecd.org/sti/Interneteconomy/ieoutlook.htm
4 National and Rural Broadband Plans:
http://www.dcenr.gov.ie/Communications/Communications+Development/
National+Broadband+Scheme/National+Broadband+Scheme.htm and
http://www.dcenr.gov.ie/Communications/Communications+Development/
Rural+Broadband+Scheme/
5 Akamai State of the Internet: http://www.akamai.com/stateoftheInternet/
6 ComReg’s latest commentary: http://www.comreg.ie/publications/quarterly_report_
q2_2012.583.104195.p.html
7 UPC Press Release http://www.upc.ie/pdf/UPCbreaksIrishInternetSpeedBarrier.pdf
The comparative picture for Irish businesses is, if anything, even more
positive.
The percentage of businesses (employing 10 or more) with broadband
in Ireland is slightly over the OECD average (90% vs 88%), as is the
proportion of employees using the Internet at work. The biggest
(positive) gap in terms of these businesses relates to selling online,
where Irish businesses are nearly 30% more likely to sell online than
the OECD average.
International targets and comparisons are an important indicator
of Ireland’s progress. There have been several efforts to gauge the
progress of nations towards the digital future:
» IBM and the Economist Intelligence Unit have published a report
on Digital Economy Rankings 20108 which places Ireland 17th in
the world, based on a composite score across six indices, including
broadband speeds as well as consumer and business digital
adoption.
» The World Economic Forum’s Global Information Technology Report
20129 ranks Ireland 25th in the world in terms of a Networked
Readiness Index (derived from economic, social, political as well as
technological measures).
Both reports help us track our digital progress and the strength of our
digital economy.
It is important to stress, however, that Ireland still has some way to go in
terms of securing the maximum benefits for its citizens and businesses
from digital technology. One indication of the ‘digital gap’ is measured
8 IBM/EIU: http://www-935.ibm.com/services/us/gbs/bus/html/ibv-digitaleconomy2010.html
9 WEF: http://www.weforum.org/reports/global-information-technology-report-2012
8 UPC Report on Ireland’s Digital Future
by Booz & Company’s Digitisation Score10. Their measure is a composite
index, derived from national data for the ubiquity of digital services
and products, affordability, usage and broadband speeds, etc. Although
Ireland scores well in terms of its Digitisation Score – putting it in the
advanced group of countries among the 150 surveyed – we clearly have
room for improvement. Booz estimates a score of 47 for Ireland while
the highest scoring nation is Norway at 6411.
The crux of the Digitisation Score is that it shows a clear relationship
between higher scores and higher economic growth – and lower
unemployment. The Booz analysis of the links between digitisation and
the wider economy shows that among digitally advanced countries like
Ireland, every 10 point increase in digitisation scores increases GDP per
capita by 0.62%.
Furthermore, an increase of 10 points in digitisation reduces a nation’s
unemployment rate by 0.84%. To put this in context, simply raising
Ireland’s digitisation score from 47 to the equivalent UK score of 54
(a 7 point increase) would reduce the numbers unemployed in Ireland
by nearly 18,000 – based on the Live Register in September 201212.
10 Booz & Co: http://www.booz.com/global/home/what_we_think/digitisation/megatrend
11 Booz & Co article on Digitisation and Prosperity: http://www.strategy-business.com/
article/00127
12 Central Statistics Office: http://cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/labourmarket/
UPC Report on Ireland’s Digital Future 9
1 | Life Online
» 8 in 10 adults use the Internet in Ireland,upfromfewerthan5in10in2007
» BroadbandtakeupinIrelandmatchestheEUaverageattwo thirds of homes
» Onaveragetherearetwo or more people using broadbandineveryhome,withtwoormoredevicesconnectedatthesametime
» Broadbandusersspend2.6 hoursonlineonatypicalweekday
» Shopping and social networksarethemostpopularonlineactivities
» AthirdofadultsusetheInternetathomeforwork purposes
» Halfofalladultswouldbeinterestedinrunning their own business from homeatsomestageinthefuture
10 UPC Report on Ireland’s Digital Future
Cast your mind back five years to 2007. It was the height of the Celtic
Tiger in Ireland, following a decade of remarkable growth, and we
had one of the highest standards of living in Europe. Nowadays we
are painfully aware of what has been lost since the peak, but we are
perhaps less aware of what we have gained. Take digital technology
- the table below contrasts the % of Irish adults owning and using
each technology then and now (Fig 1).
Fig 1: % of Irish adults owning and using digital technology since 2007
% of All Irish Adults* 2007 2012
Internet at Home 48 78
Broadband at Home 24 65
Shopping Online 15 59
Banking Online 18 42
Mobile Phone 90 98
Smartphone 5<** 34
Using Social Networks 10<** 52
* Sources: ComReg & Amárach Research data ** Amárach estimates
Despite a decline in consumer spending, falling house prices and rising
unemployment, Irish consumer adoption of digital technologies has
risen steadily through the recession. Consumer investment in digital
products and services - and the skills to use them - tells us something
very important about the shape of the recovery when it comes,
namely that Ireland’s next phase of economic growth will be driven
more by ‘clicks’ than by bricks.
Connected Nation
But before we look ahead to the digital future, let’s take a closer a look at
the digital present. The UPC consumer survey shows that Irish people are
confident users of digital technology already. Indeed, there is widespread
ownership of a range of technologies, as summarised in Fig 2:
Fig 2: Digital Technologies at Home: % of Irish Adults
0 20 40 60 80 100
Digital Technology in the Home %
%
Laptop 85
Digital Camera 75
Landline Telephone 71
Flat Screen TV 70
Paid for TV Service 67
Ordinary Mobile Phone 64
Smartphone/iPhone 61
WiFi 60
MP3/iPod 57
PC 50
HDTV 45
Portable Games Console 37
GPS Device 37
Internet Enabled Games 29
Tablet/iPad 19
eReader 17
Home Surveillance System 10
Smart TV 5
3D TV 4
UPC Report on Ireland’s Digital Future 11
Ownership and adoption is not evenly distributed, however, and some
significant differences emerge from our study:
» Laptop ownership declines with age, after peaking among 25–34s
» Landline phone ownership rises with age, peaking among over 55s
» Smartphone ownership is highest among 25–34s, and higher for
men than women
» HDTV ownership peaks among 45-54s
» Internet enabled games peak among under 24s; tablets/iPads
among 35-44s
Broadband is a key enabling technology facilitating a diverse number
of digital devices in the home. To put Ireland’s performance in a
European context, the chart below (Fig 3) shows the percentage of
households with broadband across the European Union. Average take-
up runs at 67% in the EU, with Ireland just slightly below at 65%.
Among those with broadband at home, almost half in our survey
(49%) say that broadband access is more important than having a
telephone, and 1 in 5 (19%) say broadband is more important than TV
(rising to 31% of under 25s). Though only 1% considered their home
broadband more important than their car!
One of the key reasons for the appeal of broadband is that it enables
multiple users in a household to benefit from the technology at the same
time. Indeed, our research shows that only 1 in 4 broadband users is the
sole user in their household; while among the 76% with multiple users,
there are typically two or more other users as well (Fig 4).
Fig 3: Broadband take-up: % of Households having a Broadband Connection
0
20
40
60
80
100
Household Broadband Europe %
Ice
lan
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Sw
ed
en
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ark
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ia
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ece
Bu
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Ro
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ia
%
Source: Digital Agenda for Europe: https://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/scoreboard
12 UPC Report on Ireland’s Digital Future
Fig 4: Number of Broadband Users in the household
Of course, it is not just people who connect to broadband in the
home - it’s devices as well. The average broadband household has
two devices connected at the same time, rising to three devices in
households containing 16-24 year olds, and falling to under two
devices in broadband households among over 55s.
Speed Check
But we are only at the beginning of a user and device explosion. The
average number of users and devices connected to broadband in Irish
homes will grow sharply in the near future, thanks to smartphones,
tablets and the emergence of the ‘Internet of things’ (e.g. your fridge
connected over the web to your online shopping list). This raises a
fundamental question about broadband capacity.
In our research we asked broadband users whether the speed of their
broadband was a) sufficient for their current needs and b) sufficient
for their likely future needs (Fig 5, on facing page). At present some
69% of home users consider their broadband speed to be sufficient.
However, looking to the future, only 44% of home users expect their
existing broadband speed to be sufficient for their likely future needs.
One key gap in evaluating broadband speed sufficiency is that a
significant minority of Irish broadband users simply don’t know their
home broadband speed. Indeed, almost 1 in 4 (23%) home broadband
users is unsure of the speed they are supposed to have at home (rising
to a third of under 25s). The picture that emerges from our research
shows future room for improvement: typical broadband speeds are, on
balance, not considered sufficient for the future.
Digital Time Use
Inevitably, access to and usage of digital technologies have resulted
in profound shifts in how Irish people spend their time. In the UPC
consumer survey we asked broadband users about the amount of
time they spend accessing the Internet a) on a typical weekday, and
b) on a typical weekend day. The answers by demographic groups are
summarised in minutes per day in Fig 6 below.
Fig 6: Minutes per day spent online
Weekday
Weekend
Day
Increase at
Weekend
All Adults 156 167 11
15-24 179 187 8
25-34 173 189 16
35-44 155 166 11
45-54 147 160 12
55+ 133 140 7
Higher Income 152 166 14
Lower Income 159 168 9
No76%
Yes24%
Only userNumber of users
Two 42%
Three 26%
Four 19%
Five or more 13%
UPC Report on Ireland’s Digital Future 13
Fig 5: Sufficiency of Broadband Speeds: Present & Future
Is your broadband
speed sufficient?
Sufficient for future
likely needs?
Is your broadband
speed sufficient?
Sufficient for future
likely needs?
Yes No Don’t Know
Only
44%of people feel their broadband speed is sufficent for future needs
28%
39%
17%
69%
44%
3%
14 UPC Report on Ireland’s Digital Future
63% Bank online
69% Use Soclal Networks
44% Use On Demand TV
55% Read the news
33% Play games
UPC Report on Ireland’s Digital Future 15
Fig 6 indicates that age is an important driver of time spent online,
though at an average of over 2.6 hours per weekday it is clear that
Internet usage now occupies a lot of people’s leisure and work time.
Accessing the Internet at home is the main way in which people access
the web. On a typical weekday, consumers say that over three quarters
(79%) of their access takes place at home, only 13% at work and the
balance while out and about (e.g. via their mobile phone). Nowadays,
Irish people use the Internet for a wide range of activities and services,
ranging from entertainment to work to simply keeping in touch. Fig 7
shows the proportion of adults who use broadband at home for
each activity.
Fig 7: Online Activities and Services used at Home
The Broadband Explosion UPC Insight
The consumption of data and content has exploded around the world
and no less so in Ireland. Data from INEX shows an 800% increase
in total traffic per month in Ireland since 2009. While all forms of
data consumption are going up, the largest driver of this increase is
coming from the continuing massive growth in video viewing across
the web – from professional output to self-published content. In
meeting these changing demands, UPC is enabling consumers to
access increasing volumes of content at higher speeds and at a
constantly reducing cost per megabit ratio. The market has been
responding to affordable broadband and UPC is leading this change.
Fig 8: Ireland Year-on-Year Traffic Growth – Petabytes*
65% Irish households have a broadband connection
70% Reduction in the price per Mbps in UPC’s service since 2010
50 Mbps The entry level speed for UPC broadband customers
1.4 Gbps The record breaking consumer Irish Internet speed set by UPC
(September 2012)
Total Users: source Comreg quarterly reports (www.comreg.ie)
Peering Traffic Volume: source INEX (www.inex.ie)
Total Traffic: assumption that 20% of total broadband traffic is INEX peering while
remaining 80% is Transit
* 1 Petabyte = 1 million gigabytes
Sept 09 Sept 10 Sept 11 Sept 12
40
30
20
10
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
% Shopping online 70 Social networking 69 YouTube 68 Search/research 63 Banking 63 News 55 Music 46 On demand TV 44 Skype/video conversation 39 Movies 33 Sports 33 Games 33 Instant Messaging 30 iTunes 25 Streaming TV 24 Education 23 Streaming radio 21 Betting 14
16 UPC Report on Ireland’s Digital Future
Of course, there aren’t enough hours in the day to fit in all of the
above activities. Sure enough, many people are now doing different
activities in tandem with one another. Some 3 in 10 in our consumer
survey are surfing the web while watching TV. And young people are
leading this trend (Fig 9).
Fig 9: Media Multi-Tasking in Ireland: % using laptop/tablet/smartphone all the time/almost always, while watching TV
0
10
20
30
40
50
%
30 43 44 31 27 13
Total 15–24s 25–34s 35–44s 45–54s 55+
Indeed, the Irish generally are leading the way, as the incidence of
what some call media multi-tasking in Ireland is already above the EU
average as reported in a recent IAB Europe survey (Fig 10).
We can expect media multi-tasking to grow in future as more users
with more devices - linked to faster broadband - enjoy the benefits of
a more interactive TV experience, enhanced by the capabilities of real
time participation, feedback and commentary via Twitter etc.
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
%
EU
FR
NO
RU
UK
SK
SI
Ire
lan
d
CH
NL
SE
BE
DK
TR
FI
HR
PT
HU
PL
DE
GR
AT
CZ
ES
BG
RS
IT
UA
RO
Fig 10: Media Multi-Tasking: EU countries % incidence
71
69
66
6262 53
60
3731
41
4847
47
59
59
586258
56
58
54
555352
Source: IAB Europe: http://www.iabeurope.eu/research/mediascope-europe/
media-multi-tasking-means-more-active-consumers-bulletin.aspx
UPC Report on Ireland’s Digital Future 17
Digital Entertainment
Television, as we have seen, is still the dominant leisure time activity
in the home for most Irish people. But television is no longer confined
to the television set. In our survey we found that significant minorities
of adults use their TV - or a device connected to their TV - to access a
range of web services:
» Nearly 1 in 4 (23%) have used their TV to watch YouTube
(35% of under 25s)
» Nearly 1 in 5 (17%) have used their TV to view Facebook
(27% of under 25s)
» Nearly 1 in 2 (44%) use On Demand TV (such as RTÉ and TV3 Players)
One activity that has traditionally combined the television set with
another device has been gaming. 1 in 3 (33%) of all those with
broadband in the home use the Internet to play online games. Most
play alone or with other household members, but over a third play
with players elsewhere in Ireland or even abroad (Fig 11).
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
0
5
10
15
20
25
12171 14 21
XB
ox 3
60
Pla
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Lap
top
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ten
do
Wii
Nin
ten
do
DS
iPh
on
e/sm
artp
ho
ne
Oth
er
N/A
Do
n't
know
Alo
ne
A
t h
om
e w
ith
fri
en
ds
O
the
r p
laye
rs in
Ire
lan
d
O
the
r p
laye
rs a
bro
ad
Oth
er
Gaming Partner %
Device Used %
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
0
5
10
15
20
25
12171 14 21
XB
ox 3
60
Pla
ysta
tio
n
PC
Lap
top
Nin
ten
do
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Nin
ten
do
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on
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artp
ho
ne
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er
N/A
Do
n't
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Alo
ne
A
t h
om
e w
ith
fri
en
ds
O
the
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laye
rs in
Ire
lan
d
O
the
r p
laye
rs a
bro
ad
Oth
er
Gaming Partner %
Device Used %
Fig 11: Online Gamers: Players and Devices
18 UPC Report on Ireland’s Digital Future
The Digital Viewer – On Demand UPC Insight
There is an ongoing proliferation of information devices in Irish
homes. Consumer bandwidth and content requirements are growing
constantly and this is being driven primarily by an explosion in video
content, ranging from the use of iPlayers to all other streaming,
viewing and downloadable content.
These trends are also impacting across wider society as social
networking communities grow specifically around TV and online
content. TV itself is being totally transformed where the advent of
On Demand TV is changing habits by putting viewers in full control
of their personal TV schedule. They can watch whatever they want,
whenever they want it.
Since launching our free On Demand TV service, UPC has gleaned
some unique insights into this “anytime” phenomenon.
8m
The number of views of UPC On Demand content in 5 months
77% The percentage of UPC’s On Demand capable customers who have
used the service since launch
45% of the 8 million views of On Demand TV to date are views of
domestic Irish TV
70% The proportion of Irish households with a pay TV subscription
Working from Home
Of course, people use the Internet at home for work purposes as well -
and the incidence is quite remarkable, as illustrated in Fig 12.
Fig 12: Incidence of Working from Home
Do you use the Internet
at home for work?
For what activities?
Yes 34% Check Emails 89%
No 40% Work on reports/
Don’t Know 26% presentations 56%
Planning/scheduling 48%
Skype with colleagues/
clients 21%
Research 3%
Other 6%
A third of adults in our survey are already working from home to
varying degrees, rising to 46% of 35-44 year olds. Although most
are using it for ‘bandwidth-lite’ activities such as checking email, a
minority are also using it for more collaborative work such as video-
conferencing and report preparations.
UPC Report on Ireland’s Digital Future 19
Knowledge vs Benefits
All of us use many different technologies – and most would struggle
to explain how they work, even though we benefit every day from
their capabilities. In our research we asked consumers to rate a)
their knowledge of digital technology, and b) the benefit from digital
technology on a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is low and 10 is high. Fig 13
summarises the overall findings, and points to a clear difference
between knowledge and benefits.
Fig 13: Digital Technology: Knowledge & Benefits
Rating ofknowledgeof digital
technology
Rating ofbenefits
from digitaltechnology
Low 11% Low 4%
Medium 42% Medium 30%
High 47% High 67%
A recent report by IDC forecasts that mobile workers will
represent 57% of the total Irish working population – or 1.4
million workers – by 2016*, driven by the communications tools
and channels now increasingly available. This future dynamic
between home and work is a theme we return to in Chapter 3
when we explore how Irish businesses are responding to the
digital opportunity.
* Source: IDC Report for O2 Ireland: http://www.o2online.ie/o2/uploads/pdfs/
terms/business/O2-7801-G-Joined-Up-IDC-Inserts.pdf
20 UPC Report on Ireland’s Digital Future
There are a number of demographic differences in relation to the
digital knowledge/benefit gap, as summarised in Fig 14.
Fig 14: The Digital Knowledge/Benefit Gap – Mean Score out of 10
Digital
Knowledge
Digital
Benefits
Digital
K/B Gap
TOTAL 6.2 7.2 1
15-24s 7.2 7.7 0.5
25-34s 6.6 7.3 0.6
35-44s 6.2 7.3 1.1
45-54s 5.6 6.9 1.3
55+s 5.3 6.8 1.4
Higher Income 6.3 7.2 0.9
Lower Income 6.0 7.1 1.1
The gap is bigger for some than for others, but most people clearly
feel they benefit from digital technologies, indicating a generally
positive, even optimistic outlook on the contribution of digital
technology today and in the future.
Digital Optimists
Given the positive dynamic in consumer adoption of digital technology
– despite weak domestic demand – we might assume that Irish people
are optimistic about the digital future. Indeed they are, and not just
the future. In our survey we asked people about the impact of digital
technologies on their lives today – whether they agree or disagree
about the different impacts of technology. The responses overall are
very positive (Fig 15).
» Nearly 3 in 4 agree the Internet allows them to make smarter
purchasing decisions (rising to 77% of 35–44s)
» Nearly two thirds agree the Internet opens up new career,
educational and social opportunities (rising to 69% of under 25s)
» Over half agree they wouldn’t be able to buy many of the things
they want without the Internet (rising to 60% of 25–34s), and 4
in 10 say they wouldn’t be able to afford many of the things they
want without the Internet (also higher for 25–34s)
» Over 4 in 10 (44%) agree their family life is better because of
the Internet (rising to 50% of 35–44s)
» Nearly 4 in 10 (38%) agree they wouldn’t be able to do their
job without the Internet (rising to 45% of 25–34s)
UPC Report on Ireland’s Digital Future 21
Fig 15: Life Online: Impact of Digital Technology Nowadays
The Internet allows me to make smarter purchasing decisions
The internet opens up new career opportunities, educational
opportunities, social opportunities
I wouldn’t be able to buy many of the things I want without the Internet
My family life is better because of the Internet
I wouldn’t be able to afford many of the things I want without the Internet
I wouldn’t be able to do my job without the Internet
My internet speed at home isn't fast
enough for all my family requirements
Disagree Agree
0% 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
7
73
8
64
22
52
23
44
26
41
28
38
46
28
Irish people look forward with considerable optimism to the future
effects of digital technologies.
In our survey we asked people to consider a range of possible future
trends driven by technology. They were asked to say a) to what extent
they thought each trend is likely or unlikely to happen; and b) whether
or not they would welcome each trend in the future. The results are
summarised in the chart on the right (Fig 16).
Fig 16: The Digital Future: Likelihood and Appeal
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
People will get more of their shopping delivered to their home after ordering
it online, including groceries
People won’t need to go to the
cinema or rent DVDs. They will pay to watch movies using online services
available via broadband
Faster Internet services will have improved my life
People will be able to work abroad and not have to leave Ireland because
technology will enable them to stay at home while doing their job
People won’t need to physically go to universities/colleges because they will
be able to do all course work online
People won’t need to go to work in offices because they will be able to work from home most of the time
13 58
15 49
21 5127 35
10 60
19 49
19 48
24 45
31 4033 34
28 41
29 39
Unlikely Likely Unwelcome WelcomeLikelihood of future outcome Appeal of future outcome
%
22 UPC Report on Ireland’s Digital Future
» Home Shopping: the majority (58%) of consumers think it likely
that people will use the Internet to do more shopping, with
deliveries to their home, while almost half (49%) would welcome
such a scenario.
» Home Movies: just over half of all adults (51%) expect that movies
via broadband will replace going to the cinema, though fewer
welcome this development (35%).
» Faster Services: just under half of all adults (48%) expect faster
Internet services to improve their lives in future, and even more
(60%) would welcome such improvement.
» Migration: under half (45%) of people in Ireland think it likely that
we will be able to become ‘virtual emigrants’, using technology
to work abroad but stay at home, while nearly half (49%) would
welcome this.
» College: some 4 in 10 (40%) think it likely that future students will
do all their course work online.
» Working: 4 in 10 (39%) think that office work will become a thing
of the past, with the same proportion welcoming such a trend.
One interesting demographic difference that emerges in our study
is that over 55s are typically more positive and welcoming about the
potential changes that the digital future might bring – suggesting that
the ‘generation gap’ in relation to technology will soon be gone.
When asked, more people were interested in availing of lifestyle,
learning and employment changes if technology made it possible
(Fig 17).
The most popular change is that of working from home for 1 to 2 days
per week. Over 6 in 10 (62%) of all adults are interested in such an
arrangement, rising to 67% of 25–34s. This is followed by the prospect
of running your own business from home: attractive to half the
population (51%). Moving to the countryside while still working from
home also has broad appeal for 43% of all adults (and even more so
among 25–34s).
In terms of expected and welcome futures, over half of Irish
adults (53%) think it likely that ‘the adoption of better digital
technologies will speed Ireland’s economic recovery’. An even
bigger majority (63%) would welcome the digital-led recovery.
UPC Report on Ireland’s Digital Future 23
Fig 17: The Digital Home: Interest in Future Services
Working from home 1 or 2 days a week
Running your business from home
Receiving full medical diagnoses/treatment by world class health/medical experts in different
hospitals and centres around the world
Getting further qualifications from an Irish university
Using your skills/experience to coach/advise young people in other parts
of the world or even business/ organisa-tions like ones you have worked in
Learning a foreign language by receiving lessons via Skype from a native speaker
Getting further qualifications from a European University
Moving to the countryside while still being able to work from home
Not interested Interested
0% 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
15
62
20
51
23
51
25
50
24
45
26
45
30
44
29
43
One area that will see considerable change being driven by digital
technology is that of health care and medical services. Half the
population (51%) is open to diagnoses and treatments by foreign
experts, delivered via digital technology, rising to 57% of over
55s (inevitably a key target market).
Exploiting the full capacity of the web to create fulfilling lives and
satisfying work is not all a one way street. Our assessment of future
scenarios included the idea of ‘digital mentoring’ – enabling people to
use their skills and experience to coach and advise young people and
even businesses in Ireland and in other parts of the world. There is
very considerable interest in this idea: with 45% of adults expressing
an interest. This type of initiative is indicative of the transformative
potential of the web, and another sign of how Ireland’s economic
recovery might come about.
24 UPC Report on Ireland’s Digital Future
2 | The Digital Consumer
The previous chapter examined
technology usage and time spent online
by Irish consumers. In this chapter we
focus on money.
» 2.6millionIrish online shoppers will spend €3.7bnin2012
» Travel relatedspendingandclothing and footwear arethebiggestpurchases
» 8in10Internetusersusetheweb to research productsbut buy in local shops
» 6in10Internetusersuse local shopstoresearchproductsbut buy online
» Over6in10onlineshopperswouldbuyfromanIrish websiteiftheyknewaboutit
» Irishconsumerswillspend€5.7bn online by 2016,or7%ofallspending
» 30% of Irish adults are ‘Digital Leaders’,while8%are‘DigitalLaggards’
UPC Report on Ireland’s Digital Future 25
Online Spending
Fig 18 summarises the current state of play of the online market in
Ireland. Irish consumers will spend €3.7 billion online this year. Just to
put that in context, total consumer spending is forecast to reach €80.9
billion in 20121, which means that nearly 5% of all consumer spending
will be online this year – compared to less than 1% in 2007.
We have profiled the market by age group – and it tells us something
very interesting about the distribution of digital spending power. For
example, 15-24s represent just 15% of the adult population but nearly
20% of Internet shoppers. However, when it comes to spending power,
their combined spending is just over 10% of the total. On the other
hand, over 55s make up 28% of the population but just 14% of Internet
shoppers. But their spending power is over 20% of the total.
Fig 18: Online Consumer Spending by Age Group
1 ESRI Quarterly Economic Commentary, Autumn 2012: http://www.esri.ie/UserFiles/
publications/QEC2012AUT_ES.pdf
Our estimates for the value of online expenditure are derived from
answers to our consumer survey. We asked consumers to estimate
their average monthly expenditure online. The average stands at
€116 per adult per month, rising from €61 per month among 15-24
year olds to €168 per month among over 55s.
Online spending is driven by travel and hotels – as shown in the next
chart (Fig 19) – though other items also figure prominently, especially
clothing/footwear, and books and music.
Age GroupPopulation
000s 2012*
Internet Shoppers 000s
2012**
Online expenditure €m 2012***
Share of adult
population
Share of Internet
Shoppers
Share of online spending
15–24 553.4 509.1 €371.8 15.4% 19.8% 10.1%
25–34 733.5 669.0 €926.5 20.4% 25.1% 25.2%
35–44 700.0 604.8 €721.6 19.5% 22.5% 19.6%
45–54 586.3 418.9 €622.9 16.3% 15.9% 16.9%
55+ 1,017.8 369.2 €746.1 28.3% 14.2% 20.3%
Total 3,591.0 2632.9 €3,680.5 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%
* QNHS CSO ** Amárach Survey *** Amárach Calculations
26 UPC Report on Ireland’s Digital Future
Fig 19: Items Purchased Online in past 6 months
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Travel/hotel related bookings 61
Clothing/footwear 53
Books 51
Music/CDs MP3 tracks 29
Movies/DVD/film rental 28
Electronic goods (e.g. ipod) 26
Medical/health related 21
Toys/baby products 19
Electrical goods (e.g. toaster) 19
Groceries 19
Perfumes/cosmetics 18
Flowers 10
Furniture 7
Tickets/concert tickets 1
Other 4
% of adults
Perhaps not surprisingly, price is a key motivation for Ireland’s 2.6
million Internet shoppers (45% of the total). The importance of price for
shopping online falls slightly with age, while convenience (32% of the
total) rises with age. A better range or selection is important too (21%).
Clicks & Bricks
Though nearly 5% of all Irish consumer spending is now online,
95% is not. However, a significant proportion of offline spending
is influenced by the web, even if that is not where the transaction
ultimately takes place. Indeed, most Irish Internet users use
the web to help find better deals and to inform their purchase
decisions; ‘always’ in the case of 41% of all users, and ‘often’ in
the case of an additional 50% of users.
Some consumers use the web to research products and choices online
but ultimately buy offline in local stores, perhaps because it is more
convenient (‘clicks and bricks’). Consumers also research products
and choices in local stores and then buy online, perhaps because it
is cheaper (‘bricks and clicks’). The chart on the next page (Fig 20)
summarises this situation: 8 in 10 (80%) Internet users research online
and buy local, while 6 in 10 (58%) research local and buy online.
How does this impact on different markets and sectors? The table on
the next page (Fig 21) shows the channel preferences of consumers
who have purchased online in each category over the past 6 months,
in terms of whether they prefer to buy in a shop or prefer to buy
online, or have no preference.
Clearly a number of markets have effectively gone ‘virtual’: booking
flights, buying music and ordering movies, to name the most obvious
from the chart. Others still show a strong preference for ‘bricks’:
clothing, groceries and furniture for example.
UPC Report on Ireland’s Digital Future 27
Fig 20: Clicks vs BricksYes No Don’t Know
Research online
buy locally
Researchlocally but buy online
80%
37%
15%
58%
5% 5%
Prefer to buy online
Prefer to buy in a
shop
Doesn’t matter or no
preference
Travel/hotel related services 87% 2% 11%
Music/CDs/mp3 tracks (e.g. iTunes)
67% 12% 21%
Medical and health related (e.g. insurance, equipment)
60% 14% 26%
Movies/DVDs/film rentals (e.g.iTunes)
59% 16% 25%
Electronic goods (e.g. iPad) 48% 19% 33%
Flowers 48% 19% 33%
Books 42% 28% 30%
Electrical goods (e.g. toaster) 40% 37% 23%
Perfumes and cosmetics 35% 33% 32%
Toys/baby products 30% 30% 40%
Clothing/footwear 19% 55% 26%
Furniture 19% 53% 28%
Groceries, food or alcohol 16% 55% 29%
67%Of people prefer to buy music online
Fig 21
28 UPC Report on Ireland’s Digital Future
If You’re Irish
There are, though, some interesting differences when it comes to the
provenance of websites themselves, specifically in relation to whether
a website is Irish or international. Fig 22 shows the location of websites
used by shoppers in each category.
Fig 22: eTailers: Irish Vs Foreign Websites
Groceries/food/alcohol
Medical/health related
Flowers
Furniture
Travel/hotel
Electrical goods
Toys/baby products
Clothing/footwear
Perfume/cosmetics
Electronic goods
Books
Movies/DVD/film rental
Music/CD’s/MP3 tracks
0% 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Irish Website International website
65 11
46 12
44 15
33 17
30 19
23 23
17 23
17 25
7 29
13 31
12 42
9 47
8 47
Not shown is the percentage shopping across a mix of Irish/
international websites, which is the experience of nearly half of
shoppers in categories like baby products and cosmetics. Nevertheless,
there are some stark differences. When it comes to groceries, timing
is everything so a ‘local’ site is vital to ensure fresh produce is still
fresh when it arrives. On the other hand, the more digital a product
or service becomes then the less important would appear to be a
site’s provenance. Hence music and movies are predominantly being
purchased via international websites.
Over 55s tend to have a bias towards Irish websites – though it is by no
means uniform across all categories. Nevertheless, this is important
given their share of total online spending noted above. Of course,
many consumers may feel they simply have no choice about where
to buy products and services online. As Fig 23 shows, when those who
purchased from international websites were asked if they knew of any
equivalent Irish websites selling the same products, between half and
three quarters said no or simply didn’t know, depending on the category.
But sizeable minorities in most categories were aware of alternative,
Irish websites selling the products or services they were buying. They
chose not to ‘buy Irish’ mainly because of price, but also because
of perceptions about range and choice. Curiously, price tends to be
more motivating to middle aged shoppers (35-44s and 45-54s), while
range is more important to younger (under 25s) and older (over 55s)
shoppers.
However, a key finding for Irish website operators is that the majority
(61%) of those not aware of equivalent Irish sites when shopping would
purchase from an Irish site if they knew about it.
UPC Report on Ireland’s Digital Future 29
Fig 23: Deal or No Deal: Reasons for Choosing Irish
No Yes Don’t Know
Reason for Choosing
International Site
Price
Better/broader product range
Easier to search for/find individual products/services
Better/easier to use web site
Better delivery/return terms
Other
0%
%
20 40 60 80 100
Aware of Irish Site
Travel/hotel related services
Toys/baby products
Clothing/footwear
Books
Music/CDs/MP3 tracks
Movies/DVD/Film rentals
17 49 34
21 39 40
31 37 32
34 31 34
31 26 43
32 21 47
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
55
32
5
4
2
3
Bank & Switch
Spending nearly €4 billion online would not be possible without access
to payment and banking systems. Over three quarters (78%) of Irish
Internet users use Internet banking, ranging from 58% of under 25s to
86% of 35-44s.
Fig 24 shows that Internet banking is used for a variety of ecommerce
activities, including money transfers, bill payments and mobile phone
top-ups.
Fig 24: Main Internet Banking Activities
%
0 20 40 60 80 100
97
86
85
67
61
29
1
1
1
1
1
2
View bank balance/management
Money transfer
Bill payment
Mobile top-up
Savings
Account opening
Setting up direct debit/standing order
Credit card application
Purchased insurance/travel insurance
Viewed statements
Loan application
Other
There are few significant differences by age in relation to the type of
banking activity, though bill payment is more common among 35–44
users of Internet banking. This latter point is important, not least
because thirty-somethings and forty-somethings are under the
30 UPC Report on Ireland’s Digital Future
greatest financial pressure due to dependent children and high levels
of borrowings2.
Another consequence is that Ireland’s financially stressed consumers are
more willing than ever to switch suppliers for meaningful savings. Needless
to say, the Internet plays a key role in switching behaviour, with Fig 25
showing the percentage of Internet users who have used the web to switch
each type of service provider in the past 3 years.3
Fig 25: The Big Switch: Using the Internet to Switch Provider
%
Car insurance
Electricity/gas provider
Mobile phone network
Home insurance
Broadband provider
Landline telephone provider
TV service provider
Main bank
Refuse collection
Health insurance
Other
N/A None
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
56
40
40
39
38
27
22
18
1
1
1
22
2 For more information about the financial circumstances of Irish consumers see
Amárach’s monthly Economic Recovery Index: http://www.amarach.com/resources/
economic-recovery-index.htm
3 More detailed information on consumer switching behaviour is available from the
National Consumer Agency: http://corporate.nca.ie/eng/Research_Zone/Reports/
switching-behavour-aug-2012.html
Indeed, 35–44 year olds are the age group most likely in our survey to
use the web to switch in the majority of categories – in keeping with
their wider financial priorities and pressures. Furthermore, men are
significantly more likely to use the Internet to switch in virtually all the
categories covered in our survey.
Consumer Preferences UPC Insight
Increasingly, Irish consumers favour online interaction for
purchases of goods and services. It’s also a convenient way for
people to make personal changes to their account administration
requirements and overall it saves time and resources. UPC
changed its business model to meet the needs of customers
who prefer to interact online.
31% of all UPC customers purchase their products via our
online channel
47% choose to manage their UPC account online
19% of our digital cable customer base use the remote record app
150,000 Number of customers who have downloaded information and
support videos to help them in setting up their services in the
past 15 months
UPC Report on Ireland’s Digital Future 31
The Size of the Prize
We have established the significant scale of Internet shopping in
Ireland today. But we are only at the beginning of a major shift in
consumer spending patterns. Fig 26 shows Amárach’s forecasts for
the value of online spending to 2016. Despite weak growth overall,
the value of spending will grow from under 5% of total expenditure to
7% by 2016; an increase of €2 billion per annum in the value of online
spending by the end of the forecast period.
Fig 26: Online Consumer Spending
Value of online spending Share of total consumer spending
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
4
5
6
7
8
% €Bn
€3.7Bn €4Bn €4.5Bn €4.9Bn €5.7Bn
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Already, some markets such as the UK have seen online spending rise
to double digit figures relative to total retail sales (with forecasts by
the Economist Intelligence Unit suggesting that a third of retail sales
could be online in the UK by 20224). Ireland will undoubtedly follow this
trend, as consumers embrace the digital future and the better value
and choices it will bring.
But we must add a note of caution: there is no guarantee that Irish
product and service providers will benefit from this increase in online
spending. As we have seen, Irish consumers are open to shopping
online at Irish sites, but it is not necessarily their ‘default’ choice.
Therefore it will be vital for Irish businesses to scale up as appropriate
for the opportunities that lie ahead, in a timely and convincing manner.
UPC Digital Consumer Index
In order to measure our progress we need a benchmark against which
we can compare future performance. In this regard we have created
a UPC Digital Consumer Index which will track progress towards the
digital future, for individuals and for groups.
The Index is based on answering the following five questions for all
those with broadband in the home:
» whether or not you have wifi at home (score 0 if no, 20 if yes)
» average broadband download speed (scores 0, 10 or 20 depending
on speed)
» whether or not you ever do work from home (score 0 if no, 20 if yes)
» how often you use the web to help with shopping (score 0 if rarely,
10 if occasionally, 20 if regularly)
» average amount of time spent online on a typical weekday (scores
0, 10 or 20 depending on hours)
4 EIU Retail 2022: http://www.eiu.com/
32 UPC Report on Ireland’s Digital Future
The Index is based on the combined scores derived from the answers
to these questions, with the range running from a minimum of zero
to a maximum of 100. From this we have identified three groups using
the UPC Digital Consumer Index:
» Digital Leaders: those who score 70–100
» Digital Followers: those who score 30–60
» Digital Laggards: those who score 0–20
Based on the above, our analysis shows that just 30% of the adult
population are Digital Leaders in Ireland, while 8% are Digital Laggards.
The balance – 62% – are Digital Followers. The table on the right
(Fig 27), shows the average Index scores by different demographic
groups derived from our consumer survey.
The table tells us that only two demographic groups – under 25s and
25-34s – are in the Digital Leaders category (though individuals in all
other groups are as well), most segments are in the Digital Followers
group. Fortunately no one demographic group can be categorised as
Digital Laggards!
You can measure your own UPC Digital Consumer Index by answering
a few simple questions on our special website: www.upc.ie/digitalindex
Why not see how your family scores?
Fig 27: UPC Digital Consumer Index
Total 61.4
15-24 73.3
25-34 70.9
35-44 61.7
45-54 59.8
55+ 49.6
Male 60.9
Female 62.1
Higher Income 64.9
Lower Income 58.3
Digital Leaders 30%
Digital Laggards 8%
Digital Followers 62%
UPC Report on Ireland’s Digital Future 33
3 | The Digital Business
These are tough times for Irish businesses.
Weak consumer demand means challenging
domestic markets and the need to focus overseas
for growth. It wouldn’t be surprising to see
‘recession-fatigue’ setting in among Irish SMEs
and larger corporates. But this is not the case.
» 8in10businessesareoptimistic about growth prospects
forthenext2years
» 55%ofallbusinessesintendhiring new staff inthenext
2years
» Twothirdsexpecttoexpand in Irelandandnearlyhalfwill
expand abroad
» Nearlyhalfofallbusinesseshaveobservedan increase
in online feedback and/or complaintsfromcustomersin
recentyears
» Digitaltechnologyhasdeliveredproductivity increases
and cost savingstoamajorityofbusinesses
» 6in10companiesenabletheirstaff to work from home
duringcontractedhours
» Nearly 3 in 10 Irish businesses are ‘Digital Leaders’,
while14%are‘DigitalLaggards’
34 UPC Report on Ireland’s Digital Future
Growth Optimists
The UPC survey of 201 decision-makers and managers responsible
for IT among a cross-section of Irish businesses shows a high degree
of optimism about future growth prospects. We asked them about
growth prospects for the next 1-2 years; the answers are summarised
in Fig 28.
Fig 28: Growth Prospects for the next 1–2 years
Very Good Good Poor Very Poor
0% 20 40 60 80 100
Total
Business Type
B2B
Both
B2C
15 65 17 3
15 69 15 1
26 56 16 2
6 67 21 6
Just 1 in 5 businesses view their prospects as poor, 4 in 5 say they are
good. Inevitably the outlook varies by business type: those focusing
on consumers (B2C) view the future as more challenging than those
focused on businesses (B2B). Nor do the differences stop there: Irish-
owned businesses are more optimistic than foreign-owned businesses.
Business size (in terms of number of employees) does not influence
prospects – those in SoHos (under 5 employees), SMEs (5-250
employees) and corporates (250+ employees) are equally optimistic.
But there is one interesting difference: companies with some
employees who work from home as part of their regular working
hours are much more optimistic than those who don’t – 86% vs 72%
(combining good and very good prospects). This theme of the work-
home interface is one we will return to later.
The fact is that business sentiment is extremely important – it influences
everything from intentions to hire, to plans to invest to ambitions for
expansion. Take the first of these: recruitment. Over half (55%) of the
businesses in our survey expect to hire new staff over the next 1-2 years,
only 3 in 10 say they won’t be hiring. And as Fig 29 shows, IT skills will be
a vital qualification of most of those who will be hired.
Fig 29: Recruitment Plans & IT Skills
Yes 55%
Intend to Hire New Staff
in Next 1–2 Years
Importance of IT Skills for Recruits
Extremely Important 40%
No 30% Important 44%
Don’t Know 15% Not Important 15%
UPC Report on Ireland’s Digital Future 35
Hiring intentions rise to 67% of those businesses whose staff work
from home (compared to just 37% among those who don’t). Hiring
plans are higher among SoHos and SMEs than among corporates
– though a majority of businesses in all three categories intend
hiring. Ownership (Irish/foreign) doesn’t influence hiring plans, but
B2B focused businesses are more likely to hire in future than B2C
businesses.
Why such confidence and optimism in the face of a still gloomy
economy? The answer, as with consumers, is that businesses have
moved on. Just as we noted in Chapter 1 the extraordinary adoption of
digital technologies by Irish consumers despite the recession, so also
are Irish businesses adapting to the new digital realities that they face.
Fig 30 shows the current usage of digital products and services in
Irish businesses – indeed, many are now ubiquitous throughout the
business community.
Mobility is a clear driver of technology provision – e.g. smartphones
and laptops – while internal and external communications are similarly
important. Even relatively ‘new’ technologies such as social networks
(e.g. LinkedIn) and mobile apps have significant penetration across
Irish businesses today.
Fig 30: Digital Technologies in Irish Business
%
0 10 20 30 40 5060 70 80
79
77
70
65
53
50
46
43
38
33
33
33
32
32
22
21
Company supplies smartphones to staff
Company supplies laptops to staff foruse outside office
Intranet for staff
Customer email/ezine
Business website
Business Facebook page
CRM system
Online staff training
Linkedin account
Extranet for customers
Business Twitter account
Data analytics
Online ordering/purchasingservice for customers
Online ordering/purchasingservices for suppliers
Mobile phone apps for business
Business blog
36 UPC Report on Ireland’s Digital Future
There are, of course, significant differences in the adoption of digital
technologies by different types of businesses. Though not all the
differences are obvious. Larger businesses, for example, are more likely
to have intranets, operate CRM systems and provide online training
for their staff. However, smaller businesses are significantly more likely
than larger businesses to have a Facebook page for their business, use
twitter and even write a blog. The barriers to entry in relation to mass
communications have fallen in an age of social media and Web 2.0 and
Irish SoHos and SMEs are grabbing the opportunity.
The scale of digital adoption by Irish businesses is impressive. As of 2012:
» One quarter of employees (26%) on average are provided with
standard mobile phones by their employers
» Over one third (36%) are provided with smartphones
» The same proportion are provided with laptops by their employers
» 1 in 7 (14%) are provided with tablet/iPad devices
» Three quarters (76%) of employees have access to the Internet
at work
» 7 in 10 businesses allow their staff to use the Internet for
personal purposes
Of course, investing in digital technology is not just a ‘good’ thing to
do: for many businesses it is a ‘necessary’ thing to do simply in order
to survive. Already, 1 in 5 Irish businesses is seeing some shrinkage in
their revenues due to online competition. SMEs are nearly three times
as likely as corporates to be experiencing revenue pressures from
online competition. While those selling mainly in the Irish market are
twice as likely to feel the pressure as those selling abroad.
Online competition doesn’t necessarily mean competition from
abroad. While those affected (the 1 in 5 businesses referred to above)
see slightly more pressure coming from overseas, the majority see
competition coming from both local and overseas sources. This is an
important point in relation to our discussion of Irish vs international
websites in the previous chapter.
It would appear that the ‘problem’ with falling barriers to entry (via
online competition) is that it is easier for new entrants and start-ups to
do just that – hence the higher pressure on smaller businesses. Indeed,
businesses are already experiencing significant changes to the way
their customers interact with them, thanks to digital technology.
Fig 31 shows the incidence of specific changes to the online behaviour
of businesses’ customers over the past three years.
Fig 31: Changes in Customer Behaviour Online
More complaints/customer feedback
More online purchases
More social media commentary about your business
Customers use web to get better deals
More use of online resources
None/Not relevant
0 10 20 30 40 50
47
40
34
32
1
19
%
UPC Report on Ireland’s Digital Future 37
Nearly half (47%) of all businesses have observed an increase in
customer feedback (and not all of it positive) in recent times. This rises
to a majority of foreign owned companies (56%), but even 45% of
Irish owned businesses have witnessed the trend.
Some 4 in 10 businesses have seen an increase in online sales of
their products and services (driven, no doubt, by the level of online
purchases analysed in the previous chapter); rising to 50% of those in
B2C markets.
Only 1 in 5 firms say there has been no change in the online behaviour
of their customers – or it is not of relevance to their business. This rises
to 23% of those with poor growth prospects, which begs the question,
have they been paying attention to their customers in recent times?
Digital Growth
What will drive growth and job creation in the future? Clearly, digital
technology will play a crucial part. But it is no longer about simply
acquiring the technology. As we’ve seen, many technology-based
products and services are now common place in Irish businesses.
Rather the key challenge will be to maximise the value of digital
technologies throughout businesses, both internally and externally.
One indication of the digital potential is shown in Fig 32, in which
businesses score their performance out of ten in relation to the
adoption of digital technology around each of nine operational
applications.
Fig 32: Digital Adoption Score
High Low Mean Score (10.0)
0 20 40 60 80 100
Maximising productivity
Delivering customer service
Minimising costs
Managing staff
Maximising sales
Managing suppliers
Managing the supply chain
Training and developmentof staff and recruits
Managing recruitment
72% 28% 6.71
69% 31% 6.5
66% 34% 6.63
63% 37% 6.14
60% 40% 5.83
59% 41% 6.02
54% 46% 5.69
54% 46% 5.84
47% 53% 5.43
Clearly the IT decision-makers in our survey feel that they are
performing better on some measures than on others. Boosting
productivity and serving customers does well relative to HR-focused
activities such as training and recruitment. Not surprisingly, there are
significant differences across the business community in terms of their
digital performance.
We have calculated a Digital Adoption Score (an ‘average of the
averages’ across nine statements illustrated in the previous chart) by
type of company. This tells us that the average Irish business achieves
just over 6 out of 10 in terms of their average performance across
nine applications (internal and external). That certainly leaves room
for improvement, and it is clear from Fig 32 that, while some types of
38 UPC Report on Ireland’s Digital Future
businesses do better than others, there are relatively few ‘stand out’
business types when it comes to digital adoption.
Note, it is their self-reported performance we are recording, some may
actually be doing better – or worse – than they think.
That said, those with staff who work from home some/all of the time
as part of their contracted hours appear to do considerably better than
others. Note also that foreign owned firms do better than Irish owned,
though the superior performance of SoHos suggests that indigenous
business might succeed in closing the gap sooner rather than later.
Taking each of the nine areas of digital technology adoption in turn,
we find that:
» Productivity: those with ‘home workers’ score considerably higher
in terms of adopting digital technology to maximise productivity
(7.3) than those who don’t have staff working from home (5.8)
» Customer Service: those companies with good growth prospects
score higher on using digital technology to deliver customer
service (6.7) than those with poor prospects (5.9)
» Costs: SoHos are better at using digital technology to minimise
costs (6.8) than larger corporates (6.5)
» Staff: those with staff working at home use technology more
effectively to manage staff (6.6) than those without (5.4)
» Sales: companies with good growth prospects do better at using
digital technology to maximise sales (6.0) than those with poor
prospects (5.1)
» Suppliers: here the corporates in our survey do better – scoring
their use of technology to manage suppliers higher (6.3) than
SMEs (5.9)
» Supply Chain: foreign owned companies score higher applying
digital to their supply chain management (6.4) than Irish owned
firms (5.6)
» Training: as with staff management, those firms with staff working
from home score higher applying digital technology to staff
training and development (6.3) than those without (5.2)
» Recruitment: though all firms have room for improvement, those
with good growth prospects report a significantly higher level of
adoption for the management of recruitment (5.6) than those with
poor prospects (4.7).
It is clear from our analysis that those firms adopting digital
technology to the benefit of their staff are already reaping significant
benefits. Indeed, nearly 6 in 10 (59%) of the companies we surveyed
already have permanent staff working from home to varying degrees
during contracted hours. Among such companies, an average of 16%
of their staff work from home, though there is considerable variance
as illustrated on the following page (Fig 33).
Companies with poor growth prospects have fewer staff working from
home than those with good prospects.
Among firms with staff working from home, over half contribute the
cost of broadband usage at home by their staff, with smaller firms
more likely to adopt such an arrangement.
UPC Report on Ireland’s Digital Future 39
Companies with permanent staff working from
home
50% of companies have up to 5% of staff working from home*
6% 50%+
14% 20-50%
11% 11-20%
18% 6-10%
50% Up to 5%
1% Don't know
% working one day or more from home
1 Day 25%
2 Days 24%
3 Days 18%
4 Days 6%
5 Days 9%
6 Days 1%
7 Days 3%
Varies 14%
Fig 33: Home Working: Incidence
No 41% Yes 59%
25%* of staff that work from home do so one day per week
*Base: Those companies whose staff work from home.
40 UPC Report on Ireland’s Digital Future
Path to Recovery
Clearly Irish businesses are well down the path to the digital future
– out of necessity as much as desire. This is very good news for
Ireland’s economy; for recovery will mostly be driven by increases
in productivity, investment and employment facilitated by digital
technology.
Already we can discern some of the new ways of working, selling and
performing that will help businesses survive and thrive in the years
ahead. For example, 40% of businesses in our survey expect that more
of their staff will work from home in the future. It’s even higher among
those whose staff already work from home (47%) in comparison to
those that don’t (30%). Likewise, those with good growth prospects
also anticipate more staff working from home (41%) than those with
poor prospects (35%).
Beyond new ways of working, businesses will have to innovate in terms
of how they sell, what they sell and to whom they sell. The businesses
in our survey have ambitious plans: nearly two thirds (65%) expect
to expand the number of customers they have in Ireland over the
next three years, while just under half (45%) expect to expand their
customer base abroad over the same period (Fig 34).
Those seeking domestic expansion include corporates (69%), those
already selling both at home and abroad (74%), and 83% of those
whose businesses have been affected by online competition already.
Those expanding abroad include companies with staff working from
home (55%), foreign-owned businesses (58%), and those already
selling outside Ireland (73%).
Fig 34: Expansion Plans for next 3 Years
Yes 65%
plans toexpand tocustomersin Ireland
plans toexpand tocustomers
abroad
Yes 45%
No 28% No 49%
Don’t Know 7% Don’t Know 6%
Expanding sales will be challenging enough in the weak economic
environment likely to prevail for some time in Ireland – and even in
our larger export markets. So securing sales growth against a difficult
background will require a range of initiatives and innovations by Irish
businesses if they are to succeed. The good news is that they know this
and are prepared to do so.
The next chart (Fig 35) shows the relative importance of potential
initiatives by businesses over the next 2-3 years. We have differentiated
between initiatives affecting sales, and those affecting customer
services. Obviously sales are important in terms of winning customers,
and service in terms of keeping them. All the initiatives involve the
adoption and use of digital technologies.
UPC Report on Ireland’s Digital Future 41
Two initiatives in particular stand out: the better use of CRM, and
website improvements. In both instances, the majority of Irish firms
see them as important to both future sales and future customer
service. Although most firms see these initiatives as important, those
with better growth prospects and those that are smaller see them as
key to future success.
The same goes for the other potential initiatives. Though minorities
consider them to be important for future sales and customer service,
most don’t – either because they feel they are sufficiently invested in
such initiatives, or they simply aren’t sure about the potential value
of the initiatives to the business. However, given the value of Irish
consumer spending online over the next few years, the case for some
of the initiatives will become clearer.
0 %102030405060
28
62
36
54
48
44
51
35
54
34
53
32
56
31
% 0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Better use of CRM
Improved website
Offer more offline products/services online
Launch/expand social media
Offer new digital products/services online
Move to cloud computing
Develop mobile apps for customers
Importance to sales Important Not important Importance to customer service
29
57
35
55
42
44
48
41
50
36
51
32
55
31
Fig 35: Importance of Business Initiatives over next 2–3 Years
42 UPC Report on Ireland’s Digital Future
Sizing the Prize
What is the growth potential for Irish businesses if they ‘get it right’?
In our research we asked businesses to say how much ‘extra’ revenue
growth they could achieve – beyond what they will likely achieve anyway
over the next three years – if they got their online strategy ‘right’.
A minority are unsure, but a larger minority have some inkling of the
size of the prize. In fact almost one in four (23%) businesses think they
could achieve an extra 5% growth on top of their current prospects
with the right online strategy. A further 18% reckon it could even be an
extra 15% on top of their current growth prospects for the next three
years. Here, those businesses with poor growth prospects actually
foresee a much bigger growth prize from getting it right compared to
those with good growth prospects.
No business is an island – especially when it comes to digital
technology. We asked businesses what interventions they consider
most likely to boost their growth beyond expected levels over the next
three years. The results are summarised in Fig 36 – clearly partnership
with specialists in digital technology is considered the most likely
source of added growth, followed by tax incentives that take some of
the risk and uncertainty out of digital investment.
Likewise high speed broadband is viewed as an important contender
for added growth: especially among those with staff working from
home (37%), and those businesses on low broadband speeds –
under 8 Mbps – at 51%.
The message is clear: Irish businesses are ready for the digital future –
and they are prepared to invest even more in the services, skills and new
ways of working that will help contribute to Ireland’s economic recovery.
Fig 36: Intention to Initiate Growth Boosting Interventions
Partnership with technology specialists
Tax incentives for digital investment
Access to superfast broadband speeds
Advice on online sales opportunities in Ireland
Technical support for digital capacities
Advice on online sales opportunities outside Ireland
Access to employees with relevant digital skills
0 10 20 30 40 50
46
38
35
32
31
30
26
%
UPC Digital Business Index
In order to measure the progress of businesses towards a digital-led
recovery, we need a benchmark against which we can compare future
business performance.
For this, we developed a UPC Digital Business Index, which we created
based on answers to the following five questions for all Irish businesses:
» whether or not your business engages in ecommerce
(score 0 if no, 20 if yes)
» whether or not you have staff working from home
(score 0 if no, 20 if yes)
UPC Report on Ireland’s Digital Future 43
» average broadband speed (scores 0, 10 or 20 depending on speed)
» your digital adoption score for productivity (score 0 to 20)
» whether or not your customers are buying more of your products
online (score 0 if no, 20 if yes)
We have created an Index based on the combined scores derived
from the answers to these questions, with the range running from
a minimum of zero to a maximum of 100. We have identified three
groups using the UPC Digital Business Index:
» Digital Leaders: those who score 70-100
» Digital Followers: those who score 30-69
» Digital Laggards: those who score 0-29
Fig 37 shows the average Index scores by different firmographic
groups derived from our business survey.
The distribution of scores across our sample of businesses tells us
that just over 1 in 5 (31%) of Irish businesses is a Digital Leader, while
14% are Digital Laggards. The balance of 55% of businesses are
Digital Followers.
As with the UPC Consumer Index, no one business segment is in the
Digital Leaders category (though undoubtedly individual firms in all
the groups may well be) - most are in the Digital Followers group. Only
those with no staff working from home come closest to falling into the
Digital Laggards category.
You can measure your own UPC Digital Business Index by answering a
few simple questions on our special website: www.upc.ie/digitalindex
Fig 37: Digital Business Index
UPC Insight
SMEs55.3
Corporates58.2
Both B2B and B2C
54.5
Good Growth
Prospects58.2
Irish owned55.7
Sales mainly in
Ireland55.8
B2C54.7
B2B59.1
Mix of sales
locations56.8
Foreign owned59.3
Staff working
from home68.2
All Businesses56.4
Sales mainly outside Ireland58.6
Staff not working from home
39.1
PoorGrowth
Prospects48.9
Sohos54.9
Digital Leaders 31%
Digital Laggards 14%
Digital Followers 55%
44 UPC Report on Ireland’s Digital Future
Enabling Business UPC Insight
For an open economy like Ireland, having a powerful broadband
network is essential to national and international success.
Broadband enables connectivity, commerce and a better quality
of life for Irish citizens and industry. It attracts foreign direct
investment and supports indigenous growth - from global data
centres to local garden centres. It carries vast amounts of
vital business information, global accessibility and content for
thousands of businesses the length and breadth of the country.
» 1 in 5 companies with new or expanded FDI in 2010 and 2011
chose UPC to deliver their network services.
» UPC itself is a large FDI investor with its €500M investment
in next generation infrastructure, directly employing over 800
people and a further 700 indirectly throughout Ireland.
Case Study: 11890
11890 is the only Directory Enquiries service
in Ireland to provide customers with a free
text-back that includes a link to a map with the
exact location of your enquiry listed on it.
Call 11890 Ltd employs 73 staff across its call centres in Dublin and
Galway and contributes €3.5 million to the Irish economy annually.
In 2010 the company signed a multi-million euro contract with
UPC Business. The contract involves UPC hosting all of Call 11890’s
services including bandwidth for Internet and data traffic and
the trafficking of all 11890 directory enquiry calls across UPC’s
network.
“The telecommunications solution provided
by UPC has enabled 11890 to enhance our day
to day service and crucially provides us with
the flexibility to grow our service locally here
in Ireland. As a consequence of the savings
made since 2010 we have been able to honour
our commitment of pledging to create on
average 2.5 new jobs for every additional 1,000 calls we receive
per day. Since moving to UPC, we have also won business with the
Department of Communications and the French Embassy based
on our infrastructure. Over the past two years we have created
an additional 9 jobs which we are very proud of in the current
economic environment.”
Nicola Byrne, Managing Director, Call 11890 Ltd
Directory Enquiries
New colour: 100% Cyan 50% Magenta
UPC Report on Ireland’s Digital Future 45
Conclusions – Towards A Digital FutureEurope is on a journey towards the digital future and Ireland plans
to be at the forefront of that journey. As we saw in the introduction,
we already perform very well on many indicators in comparison with
other OECD and EU countries. Indeed, Ireland has already surpassed,
by some margin, a number of the EU’s future Digital Agenda Targets
and this before work has commenced in earnest with respect to the
Government meeting the targets as set out in the National Broadband
Plan (which are even more ambitious than the EU’s).
By achieving these goals, there is a real opportunity for Ireland to
secure a higher standard of living and lower level of unemployment
than will be the case if we lag behind.
The Digital Multiplier
How do we measure the scale of the opportunity? Perhaps the
most useful in terms of sizing the prize for digital success is Boston
Consulting Group’s analysis of and forecasts for the Internet Economy5.
The chart overleaf (Fig 38) shows their perceptions of Ireland mapped
in terms of GDP per capita versus the BCG e-Intensity Score. The latter
measures each country’s level of enablement (the amount of Internet
infrastructure that it has in place), expenditure (the amount of money
spent on online retail and online advertising) and engagement (the
degree to which businesses, governments and consumers are involved
with the Internet), several aspects of which have been explored in this
report. Ireland is what they call a ‘Player’ when it comes to the Internet
Economy, doing well but still some way behind the ‘Natives’.
5 BCG: https://www.bcgperspectives.com/content/articles/media_entertainment_strate-
gic_planning_4_2_trillion_opportunity_Internet_economy_g20/
Broadly speaking there is a positive impact on GDP per capita from
increased e-Intensity. Moreover, the Internet Economy in the G20
economies surveyed by BCG is expected to nearly double by 2016,
growing at a far faster rate than G20 GDP over the same period.
Indeed, the Internet Economy’s share of total GDP for ‘Players’ like
Ireland will rise from about 3.0% of GDP to nearer 6.0% by 2016.
Most of the increase in the Internet Economy is expected to come
from an increase in online consumer spending: a trend evident in
Ireland, as reported in Chapter 2.
To put these trends in perspective, a doubling in the share of GDP
of Ireland’s Internet Economy between 2010 and 2016 would equate
to an increase in the value of the Internet economy from €4.7 billion
in 2010 to €11.3 billion in 2016 (using IMF forecasts for GDP6). Also
as noted in the Introduction, even modest gains in the level of
digitisation of Ireland’s economy can reduce unemployment by
tens of thousands over time.
Clearly, digital technology will play a growing (maybe dominant)
role in securing economic growth, improving productivity in our
businesses and the creation of new jobs in Ireland. But we cannot
take such gains for granted. As noted in this report, Irish consumers
are switching and as a consequence, the share of online spend is
growing. Irish businesses can potentially benefit from this trend, but
this is not guaranteed. Our report, nevertheless, shows a high degree
of optimism among Irish businesses, fuelled by the operational and
revenue generating benefits of digital technology.
6 IMF World Economic Outlook database: http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/
weo/2012/02/weodata/index.aspx
46 UPC Report on Ireland’s Digital Future
This report has captured Ireland’s digital economy and society
at a vitally important moment. Despite years of recession, Irish
consumers and businesses have embraced digital technologies and
services and benefited enormously already. But we have some way
to go before we realise the true potential of digital technology.
We have much to gain from the digital future in terms of higher
standards of living, a better quality of life, improved consumer
welfare, greater business productivity and lower unemployment.
This report has shown the road ahead to the digital future: together
we must take the next steps.
BCG e-Intensity Score
200
150
100
50
020 40 60 80
2010 GDP per capita ($ thousands)
l South Korea
l UK
l Hungary l Slovakia
l Chile l Columbia
l Venezuela l Mexico
l South Africa
l Indonesia l Egypt
l Russia l Brazil
l Sweden
Denmark l
Japan l l Finland l USA
l Singaporel Canada
l Australia
l Switzerland
l Norwayl
Luxembourg
l IRELAND
Germany l Hong Kong l
Estonia l
Turkey l Malaysial
Argentina l
China l
Portugal l Poland l
New Zealand l Slovenia
l Czech Republic
l
l Italy l Greece
l Saudi Arabia
l United Arab Emirates
France l
Belgium l Austria l
Spain l
Israel l
l Iceland Netherlandsl
Indial
Moroccol
NascentNatives
Natives Players Laggards Aspirants
Fig 38: Developed Markets Score Significantly Higher in BCG’s e-Intensity Index
UPC Report on Ireland’s Digital Future 47
UPC Tech Box
Enabling BusinessFor an open economy like Ireland, having a powerful broadband
network is 100% essential to national and international success.
Broadband enables connectivity, commerce and a better quality of
life for Irish citizens and industry. It attracts foreign direct investment
and supports indigenous growth - from global data centres to local
garden centres. It carries vast amounts of vital business information,
global accessibility and content for thousands of businesses the
length and breadth of the country.
» 1 in 5 companies with new or expanded FDI in 2010 and 2011 chose
UPC to deliver their network services.
» UPC itself is a large FDI investor with its €500M investment
in next generation infrastructure, 829 employees and €309M
in revenue
About 11890
11890 is the only Directory Enquiries service in Ireland to provide
customers with a free text-back that includes a link to a map with the
exact location of your enquiry listed on it.
Call 11890 Ltd employs 73 staff across its call centres in Dublin and
Galway, contributes €3.5 million to the Irish economy annually.
In 2010 the company signed a multi-million euro contract with UPC
Business. The contract involves UPC hosting all of Call 11890 Ltd
services including bandwidth for Internet and data traffic and the
trafficking and all 11890 directory enquiry calls across the UPC’s
network.
The telecommunications solution provided by UPC has enabled
us to enhance both our day to day service and crucially provides
us the flexibility to grow our service locally here in Ireland. As a
consequence of the savings made since 2010 I have been able to
honor my commitment of pledging to create on average 2.5 new
jobs for every additional 1,000 calls it receives per day. We also
since moving to UPC have won business with the Department of
Communication and the French Embassy based on our infrastructure
provided by UPC. Over the past two years we have created an
additional 9 jobs which we are very proud of in
the current economic environment.
Nicola Byrne, Managing Director, Call 11890 Ltd
A Digital World For Everyone UPC Insight
UPC supports the EU’s Digital Agenda for Europe which includes
increasing trust and security, delivering ultra-fast broadband
speeds, enhancing digital literacy, skills and inclusion and
developing ICT solutions for social challenges.
Digital Inclusion
Digital technology drives the modern world: fact. Regardless
of culture or country, the television, telephone and Internet
unites and connects people. Our business connects thousands of
customers to the digital world.
Building Digital Confidence
Building digital confidence and inclusion is at the heart of our
corporate responsibility strategy. In Ireland, for the past five years
UPC has been actively involved in Safer Internet Day. This year, the
company launched the UPC Magic Desktop, an innovative piece of
software which will help parents by encouraging children to play
and learn in a safe computing environment. We also introduced
Internet Buttons, which is designed to simplify Internet access
for digital novices.
Find out more by downloading these free services.
The Magic Desktop is located at www.magicdesktop.ie
Internet Buttons is located at www.Internetbuttons.ie
48 UPC Report on Ireland’s Digital Future
About UPC
UPC is the European division of Liberty Global Inc., the world’s second
largest cable operator. Through its UPC operations, Liberty Global offers
television, broadband, Internet and telephone services to approximately
20 million customers in 13 countries.
UPC is one of Ireland’s leading long-term multinational investment
partners. Through its parent company, UPC has invested in excess of
€500m in upgrading its cable infrastructure to a world class fibre network
that is capable of delivering new and innovative services to Irish consumers
and businesses. This investment in its infrastructure represents UPC’s long
term strategic commitment to Ireland and the company’s contribution to
helping the country secure its digital future.
UPC TV, broadband & phone services
Approximately one-third of all Irish homes are UPC customers. UPC is the
leading broadband and TV innovator. UPC was the first provider of “triple-
play” services in Ireland and the first to offer speeds of up to 150Mbps with
an entry level of 50Mbps. In 2012, UPC pioneered the launch of Ireland’s
first true On Demand TV service, offering customers the benefit of seven
day catch-up TV from the RTÉ Player and 3player, over 1,400 hours of the
best box sets and series and Movies On Demand.
The UPC Business division provides tailor-made telecoms services
to meet the needs of all businesses from SMEs to multinationals, and
services both the public and private sector. UPC Business is committed
to supporting the communication and entertainment needs of business
customers.
The company’s national contact centre is located in Limerick and its
HQ is based in Dublin. UPC is locally-managed and employs over 800
people and has created a further 700 additional jobs for Irish contractors.
Mark of approval
In September, UPC was named a finalist in the ninth annual Chambers
Ireland Corporate Social Responsibility Awards and at the same time its
parent company, Liberty Global announced its inclusion on both the
Dow Jones Sustainability World and North America indexes.
www.upc.ie
About Amárach
Amárach Research is an independent market research agency,
providing a full range of research services to its Irish and international
clients. Amárach specialises in turning information into insight; and
insight into foresight.
Amárach’s experienced team of 30 directors and executives manage
online, face-to-face and cati surveys (through its call centre); as
well as qualitative research including focus groups, in-depths and
ethnographic studies. The agency also delivers a world class field-only
service to universities and international agencies.
Over nearly 25 years, Amárach has pioneered innovative research
techniques and reported on digital and technology trends since the
earliest days of the Internet.
Amárach invests heavily in understanding current Irish consumer and
business trends, and shares numerous, free reports and presentations
via its blog and slideshare sites, linked via its main website.
www.amarach.com
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The UPC Report on Ireland’s Digital Future
Driving Economic Recovery