Australia’s Startups Need to Become More Digitally Savvy

November 25, 2013 Blogging Guide

The times, they are a-changing, it seems, for Australia’s small and medium enterprises. Now that the Coalition has been elected into office, a host of reforms bound to impact startups (and digital startups most of all) is expected. Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has been making appearances at industry events – most recently at the launch of a startup incubator – and has addressed several hot topics on the startup agenda, including the much-discussed employee share scheme. Another event saw Turnbull tackling the hot topic of the NBN, which, he says, crippled actual development in the digital segment of the economy. Yet, for what it’s worth, one survey has revealed that startups Down Under need to put in some work on educating themselves in the digital field, too, instead of simply waiting for Government hand-downs and reforms.

Aussie startups are not that digitally literate

The Australian branch of a popular online escrow service has recently issued the results of a survey which might come as a surprise to many. It is widely believed that Australia is one of the world’s pioneering forces, when it comes all things digital. According to rental industry data, many a startup has opted for a virtual office, for instance – a solution based in the cloud that greatly improves mobility, communication, and flexibility for entrepreneurs. However, not that many entrepreneurs actually know what the cloud (or the digital world at large, for that matter) has to offer them, in terms of efficiency.

The poll asked for the replies of 507 local companies which employ 20 people or less. According to its results, 57 per cent are virtually illiterate when it comes to all things digital. If you’re curious about the definition of this kind of illiteracy, try to picture an up-and-coming business owner who doesn’t know the meaning of simple concepts such as ‘browser’ or ‘home page’. 51 per cent of entrepreneurs admit to not having put in any effort to improve their knowledge of the digital field. Only some 30 per cent of SMEs can be contacted via details they have listed on the web and no more than 20 per cent invest in online advertising.

What does Turnbull have to say about the digital economy?

The jarring results of this survey have prompted the company that ordered it to launch a campaign promoting the benefits of digital literacy, whether this entails online payments, invoice integration and tech solutions for offline sales points. The launch of the program was attended by Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who took this opportunity to address several issues related to the digital field on his own agenda. In the minister’s own words, the reason for which Australia’s digital economy strategy has been stalling is the way in which the former Labor government addressed the issue. According to Turnbull, Labor’s view on the issue could be resumed to “a noun, a verb, NBN”.

Unlike Labor before them, Turnbull promised that the Coalition would adopt a more nuanced rhetoric and plan, which will not solely stress the importance of the national broadband network (NBN). In his view, Labor simply started the project without too much field analysis beforehand. Once they realized the NBN plan was as complex as it turned out to be, the rest of their strategy was purposely articulated so as to justify the initially announced intentions. Turnbull added that the increased use of mobile devices, for instance, is an aspect worth just as much consideration as the NBN, since it draws attention to the ever-growing spread of wireless platforms. The minister’s words were substantiated by a recent report released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, according to which mobile data is the quickest growing form of connecting to the Internet. The 19.6 petabytes downloaded via mobile in the quarter up to June might still seem paltry, compared to its broadband counterpart (630 petabytes), but it shows that the future of the Internet is also clearly going to be mobile.