Frequently Asked Questions
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1. |
What is Taiwan's network penetration?
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According to the latest survey results (3rd quarter 2006), there are currently 4.4 million household
internet subscribers in Taiwan--a penetration rate of 59.66%. Of these household subscribers, 64% use
download bandwidth over 1.5 MB. 42.6% of the total population of 22.8 million people have active internet
accounts. This survey was conducted by Information Industries Institute under the FIND Project sponsored
by the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
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2. |
What is Taiwan's worldwide network readiness ranking? |
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According to a survey released by World Economic Forum, Taiwan was ranked 7th out of 114 countries in
the overall Network Readiness Index (NRI). Comparing the differences among individuals, business and
government, the business segment lagged behind individuals and the government in network readiness,
and lagged behind the government in network usage.
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2006 |
2005 |
2004 |
2003 |
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Environment |
10 |
23 |
8 |
15 |
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Markets |
3 |
7 |
6 |
7 |
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Regulations |
25 |
27 |
16 |
23 |
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Infrastructure |
13 |
37 |
10 |
19 |
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Network Readiness |
8 |
4 |
17 |
7 |
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Individuals |
4 |
11 |
17 |
22 |
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Businesses |
16 |
18 |
19 |
9 |
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Governments |
9 |
3 |
12 |
2 |
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Network Usage |
5 |
11 |
22 |
7 |
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Individuals |
9 |
27 |
27 |
14 |
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Businesses |
9 |
11 |
21 |
18 |
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Governments |
4 |
5 |
6 |
4 |
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Overall Readiness |
7 |
15 |
17 |
9 |
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Source: World Economic Forum |
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Table 1: World Economic Forum Network Readiness Index, 2006 |
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3. |
What are the IT and internet penetration rates in Taiwan? |
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According to survey findings released by the Information Industries Institute in 2006, 80% of businesses
used e-mail for day-to-day business correspondence, while 56.5% of businesses had established a LAN
environment. In website penetration, 35.35% of businesses had incorporated their internal data into
the firm's enterprise internet portal (EIP), and 37.9% of businesses had launched company websites.
Among these websites, the survey indicated that only 19.4% were found to regularly update their content. |
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4. |
Taiwan has performed very well compared with other countries. Why do you consider there still exists
a digital divide in business communities? |
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To our understanding, the digital divide is not a concept with a fixed definition; it is a moving scale
depending on a comparative basis. In many countries, the definition of the digital divide sticks to
computer ownership and internet access. But in today's Taiwan, the issues for the vast numbers of micro
business are no longer computer ownership and internet access. Rather, owners are divided by their inferior
knowledge and abilities in applying information technology and the internet to their business operations.
“Digital Divide” refers to the gap between those able to benefit from digital technology
and those who are not. As the years passed, their attention moved away from who is connected to the
question of who is served. By www.digitaldivide.org |
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5. |
Are there gaps among different industries in terms of their ability to apply information technology
and internet to their business operations? |
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Yes, the gap is wide, especially in the rural areas beyond the reach of IT service providers. Among
8 industries surveyed, 5 are impacted by digital capabilities in terms of scarce deployment of information
technology and low network readiness. Again, network readiness does not necessary mean there is no access
to the internet, but it refers to the quality of access.
These 5 industries are retail/wholesale, transportation/warehouse, property management, construction,
and agriculture/mining industries. All together the number of businesses of these 5 sectors accounted
for 73% of over 1 million large and small enterprises. Retail and wholesale industries alone represent
43% of total enterprises. |
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6. |
What are the core problems facing micro business owners as found in this Project? |
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According to our survey of business owners who participated in this Project, the most significant problems
they face in the pursuit of e-business are:
- Most owners do not know how e-commerce could benefit their business.
- Existing software products and solutions are either difficult to use or over-functioned.
- There is a lack of service from IT solution providers after the sale.
- Most owners are not good at operating computers, their children use them more for playing games and
messaging with their friends.
There are three major categories in the Digital Divide: the Economic Divide, the
Usability Divide, and the Empowerment Divide. The last one, however, is the hardest one: even if computers
and the internet were extraordinarily easy to use, not every business owner would make full use of the
opportunities that such technology affords. By Jacob Nielson |
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7. |
How did you organize such a large scale project to cover such a large number of micro businesses? |
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The Small and Medium Enterprise Administration delegated the responsibility to a non-profit organization
called the Information Services Industry Association (CISA), which was charged with the responsibilities
of planning, management, support and quality assurance.
The CISA has recruited 12 Deployment Taskforces responsible for organizing IT solutions and deployment
forces. These 12 Deployment Taskforces are either large telecoms or IT solutions companies who own nationwide
service networks, or local IT associations with widespread memberships spread throughout the rural areas.
There are 385 IT service providers under these 12 Task Forces who actually deploy the solutions and
services to 40,000 micro businesses all over Taiwan and its offshore islands. |
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8. |
How are the project funds distributed? |
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There is a total of US$11 million worth of local currency appropriated for this Project, to be distributed
in a 20%-40%-40% spread between 2005 to 2007. Most of the funds were given to the 12 Deployment Taskforces
for promoting their solutions, training field service providers, and servicing the micro businesses.
Deployment Taskforces may provide trial services for free, but they are not allowed to subsidize micro
business owners in actual purchase.
This is not a financial subsidy program for micro business owners. They still have to pay market prices
for hardware, software and services. The fund is primarily used to promote the cause. Prior experience
indicates that free software distributed to micro businesses mostly ends up sitting idle on computer
hard discs. People tend to cherish the properties they pay for, and think of free software as valueless.
Usually, large companies and IT association members are unwilling to extend their business contacts
to micro business owners in rural areas. Under this Project, they received incentives for completing
business transactions with micro business owners in deeply underprivileged industries located in rural
areas. And the participation of this Project creates added value of corporate citizenship to large companies. |
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9. |
How is the performance measured? |
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The Project incorporates a very goal-oriented performance measurement plan directly linked to the amount
of funds the 12 Deployment Taskforces and their fellow agents. In addition to achieving the quantitative
goals, they are measured by a set of quality-assurance indexes. These indexes include:
- The percentage of transactions completed in the Red Zone, namely, the areas where the digital divide
is serious.
- The overall satisfaction with the services delivered to participating micro business owners.
- The continuous use of the internet and IT solutions 3~6 months from the transaction dates.
- The number of participants winning model cases and e-clusters competitions.
- The number of complaints reported by customers. |
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10. |
What is the e-cluster in this Project? |
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In addition to the quantitative targets in terms of transactions completed among qualified micro business
owners, each of the 12 Deployment Taskforces is required to form at least 5 "e-clusters" every year.
The term "e-clusters" in this Project refers to a grouping of at least 10 closely located micro business
owners who share a common website to promote their business via the internet.
According to many research findings, "collective learning" is the one of the most effective
ways for small business owners to embrace technology. The formation of e-clusters reinforces the motivation
to learn among low IT-skilled members. Cluster members not only share the cost of building and maintaining
the websites, they also collectively learn and share the knowledge and skills related to operating computers
and using the internet.
To integrate members from different trades in one website is so far the most effective way of forming
e-clusters. In this Project, many of the successful e-clusters have been formed by bed-and-breakfast
hotels, souvenir shops and restaurants in specific tourism destinations. The most important factor in
getting these businesses to work together is that they do not compete with each other. The second most
important factor is that establishing a common website will significantly increase the businesses' visibility
in the digital space.
Closing the Digital Divide requires building an "enterprise ecosystem" that offers
"end to end solutions" for the poor. The efforts involve using new technologies to formalize the "informal
economy," thereby bringing the small businesses into established markets. By www.digitaldivide.org |