E-business boost vital says EMA

The Government is being urged to get more services online so small and medium enterprises (SMEs) can get the benefits of e-business.

The Employers and Manufacturers Association (Northern) yesterday issued a call for e-government to be given a higher priority after a survey of its members found a low level of participation in e-business.

The survey of 160 manufacturers, 83 per cent employing fewer than 50 staff, found by far the most common use for computer technology was for financial and accounting records.

"The scope for more e-business uptake amongst SMEs is enormous," EMA executive Michael Burgess said.

"We think if Government ensured IRD, Statistics NZ, ACC and its other agencies made sure all mandatory returns could be filed online, not only would the compliance costs for SMEs plummet, but they would have a strong incentive to boost their uptake of e-business."

E-mail and web browsing are the main e-business tools adopted by SME manufacturers, 39 per cent of whom make use of them.

Although computer use for financial management and accounting is virtually universal, just 61 per cent have adopted computer systems for their production systems and other productivity boosting applications, Mr Burgess said.

The survey showed the main concerns with e-business were virus protection (14 per cent), and security (13 per cent).