Nearly one in two large enterprises uses artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence has picked up increasing speed in recent months, and in a short time has become accessible to everyone. In the business world, too, this breakthrough is clearly visible, as shown by the latest results of the survey on ICT usage and e-commerce in enterprises [1][2] carried out by Statbel, the Belgian statistical office.
In 2023, nearly one enterprise out of seven (13.8%) uses artificial intelligence (AI). Among enterprises with more than 250 employees, the ratio is even one in two (47.9%). The most commonly used AI technologies are the ones performing analysis of written language (6.0%), automating different workflows or assisting in decision making (5.1%) and machine learning, e.g. deep learning (4.8%).
In large enterprises (250 employees or more), AI is mostly used for automating different workflows or assisting in decision making (29.7%), machine learning (27.8%) and performing analysis of written language (22.8%).
Website and e-commerce
Almost nine enterprises out of ten have a website. For 71.2% of enterprises, the website contains a description of goods or services or a price list. While 27.2% of enterprises offer online ordering or booking service, only 14.9% offer tracking or provide the status of orders placed on the website. Furthermore, 9.9% have a chat service for customer support[3]. This proportion is 19.3% for enterprises with more than 250 employees.
26.5% of enterprises have received orders via websites or apps. 24.1% had web sales via their own websites or apps, 7.6% via an e-commerce marketplace and 5.2% via their own websites or apps and via an e-commerce marketplace.
One enterprise in two in the cloud
Half of enterprises buy cloud computing services on the Internet. This proportion is 88.2% for enterprises with more than 250 employees. 43.9% buy cloud computing services for the storage of files. This proportion is 82.4% for enterprises with more than 250 employees. 22.6% buy computing power to run software used by the enterprise. This proportion is 60.0% for enterprises with more than 250 employees. 32.3% buy hosting services for the enterprise's database(s) as cloud computing services. This proportion is 67.8% for enterprises with more than 250 employees.
Four enterprises out of five use social media (79.3%). 78.6% use social networks (e.g. Facebook, LinkedIn, Xing, Viadeo, Yammer, etc.), 14.8% use enterprise's blog or microblogs (e.g. Twitter, Present.ly, etc.) and 42.9% use multimedia content sharing websites or apps (e.g. Instagram, YouTube, Flickr, SlideShare, etc.). Among enterprises with more than 250 employees, 95.5% have a user profile on social media.
[1] Enterprises with at least 10 employees.
[2] Survey organised at European level based on Regulation (EC) No 808/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 April 2004 and on Regulation (EC) No 1006/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 September 2009.
[3] Chatbot, virtual agent or person replying to customers.
Computer equipment of enterprises by region, most recent year
Access to latest statisticsThe maximum download speed of the fastest internet connection
| 2023 | Belgium | Brussels | Flanders | Wallonia |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| less than 30 Mb/s | 11.1% | 10.0% | 10.1% | 13.5% |
| at least 30Mb/s but less than 100 Mb/s | 21.2% | 20.6% | 19.6% | 24.7% |
| at least 100 Mb/s but less than dan 500 Mb/s | 33.3% | 36.5% | 33.4% | 32.0% |
| at least 500 Mb/s but less than 1 Gb/s | 16.6% | 10.0% | 17.5% | 17.1% |
| at least 1 Gb/s | 8.6% | 14.1% | 9.2% | 5.3% |
| at least 30 Mb/s | 79.7% | 81.2% | 79.7% | 79.1% |
| at least 100 Mb/s | 58.5% | 60.6% | 60.1% | 54.4% |
* The year 2022 is marked by a methodological change with the complete introduction of the concept of enterprise based on the groups of enterprises. This leads to a break in the series, which will be more or less pronounced according to the sector, depending on whether or not there is a significant number of groups in this sector. So the developments between 2021 and 2022 are a mix of natural growth in the economy and the decrease brought about by the aggregation of several legal units into a single enterprise. The results for 2022 have been revised on 7/12/2023.
Survey ICT and e-commerce in enterprises
Purpose and brief description
The purpose of the data collection on the use of information and communication technologies in enterprises in our country is to gain a better insight into the IT infrastructure of these enterprises and to be able to compare these statistical data at European level.
Furthermore, this survey is receiving a grant from Eurostat, the European statistical office.
Population
Enterprises belonging to sections B to N and P to S of the NACE rev.2.
Frequency
Annually
Size of the sample
Around 7,500 enterprises
Definitions
Broadband connection : fixed or mobile broadband connection to the Internet
Internet connection via DSL : Internet connection via ADSL
Employee computerised firm : Number of employees working in enterprises using computers
Employee per connected firm : Number of employees working in an enterprise with an Internet connection
Has a website : Has a website or a webportal
Has Internet access : Has Internet access Mobile connection: Mobile connection to the Internet (broadband or other).
Documents
Survey form
- Survey form 2024 FR-NL.pdf
- Survey form 2023 FR-NL.pdf
- Survey form 2022 FR-NL.pdf
- Survey form 2021 FR-NL.pdf
- Survey form 2020 FR-NL.pdf
- Survey form 2019 FR-NL.pdf