Results of the 2011 Survey on ICT Use

1. The "Cloud Computing Utilization Ratio" for FY2010 rose by 6.3 percentage points from the previous fiscal year (from 9.7% to 16.0%), showing a rapid expansion. An increasing number of companies utilize PaaS or IaaS, or use cloud computing in such fields as security, financial affairs and accounting, and personnel affairs and delivery of compensation. The usage has become more diversified.
2. It is notable that a number of information security breaches took place in the use of mobile terminals, such as computer virus infections via USB and theft or loss of Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs).
3. The "Average Information Processing-related Expenses per Corporation" for FY 2010 decreased by 6.9% from the previous fiscal year (from ¥620 million to ¥580 million), down for the third consecutive year. However, thanks to the recovery of corporate performance, the margin of the decrease was less compared with the previous fiscal year. Although the "Ratio of Information-Processing-related Expenses to the Yearly Business Revenue" dropped by 0.1 percentage points (from 1.1% to 1.0%) from the previous fiscal year, this figure has remained almost flat since FY 2006.
4. The "EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) Utilization Ratio" increased by only 1.2 percentage points from the previous fiscal year (from 65.4% to 66.6%), remaining saturated since FY 2006. However, the ratio increased in business fields where EDI had not been utilized so far, such as the fields of financial affairs and accounting (from 38.5% to 40.9%) and personnel affairs and delivery of compensation (from 29.5% to 32.4%), suggesting the spread of EDI use.
5. The influence of the Great East Japan Earthquake was apparent in sharp increases in the frequency of shutdowns of the system due to external factors in earthquake-afflicted prefectures (Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima prefectures) (from 14.3% to 71.6% of companies surveyed in these three prefectures) and operation system failures in FY2011 (from 2.0 times to 2.4 times per company).

* For the details of the survey results, see Appendix 1 (Outline of the report in Japanese)(PDF:748KB) and Appenix 2 (Full text of the report in Japanese)(PDF:3,390KB) .

(1) Survey targets

9,500 private business operators with stated capital of 30 million yen or more and employing 50 or more employees in 26 types of businesses as classified in the Japan Standard Industrial Classification

(2) Survey date and targeted period

Survey date:

As of March 31, 2011

Targeted period:

One year from April 1, 2010, to March 31, 2011 (FY2010)

(3) Notes

All or part of the content of this news release, Appendix 1 (Outline of the report), and Appendix 2 (Full text of the report) may be cited or copied by indicating the data source in an appropriate manner, as an act for private use or quotation approved under the Copyright Act.

July 18, 2012

Information Economy Division, Commerce and Information Policy Bureau