What role does the internet play in our economy? Can it be measured?

It is easy for us in the industry to see all the possibilities of IT and the Internet, and we try in various ways to make everyone else understand that IT and Internet use are important for the development of the whole of society and our economy. And finally, we have real numbers to refer to, in Boston Consulting and Google's new report Sweden Online. According to this, the Internet contributed SEK 205 billion to GDP, or 6.6%. Compare this with, for example, the construction sector's contribution of 5% and agriculture's 2%.   

Note that this is the internet economy, i.e. e-commerce, infrastructure investment and net e-commerce exports. If you look at the contribution of the whole industry, i.e. also general IT investments, we should at least end up with double that.   

The report contains lots of exciting facts for a statistics nerd like me. For example, that 63% of all Swedish online shoppers shopped in 2009, that each online shopper shopped for about SEK 20,000, that online advertising is the second largest advertising medium - the largest is still print media. 

Most exciting is to read about the transformation of business. It turns out that the manufacturing industry is the best at using e-commerce, including ordering via web interfaces and the entire payment process. We are eagerly awaiting the next step - more use of the web in business itself. Just think when all the gadgets themselves are connected to the web, what an opportunity for support and after-sales services! 

Small businesses are the least likely to use the internet, and there is clear evidence that internet use has a positive effect on small businesses. Businesses with an advanced web presence are the ones that grow the most. According to businesses themselves, the reasons for not using the internet are lack of time, lack of knowledge and lack of understanding of how the internet can develop their business. But how do we get small businesses, who are busy with customers and delivery, to understand the opportunity? I think we need good examples, and knowledgeable inspirers and coaches who can meet entrepreneurs in entrepreneurial networks of various kinds around the country. Not technical talk, but business opportunities and examples. 

Today there are career coaches, job search coaches, coaches for new entrepreneurs - why not coaches for IT-enabling small businesses?

Maybe it's something for the upcoming Digital Agenda?