Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Supply

The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Supply Survey measures the sale of goods and services from businesses associated with ICT industries.

The ICT Supply Survey replaced the previous Stats NZ Information Technology (IT) Survey which ran from 1993 to 2004.

The survey was run every second year until 2014.

After the survey was run in 2014 the decision was made to investigate alternative data information sources and combine any findings with work being undertaken as part of the Digital Nation Domain Plan. This work, led by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) and supported by Stats NZ means to identify ICT information needs, gaps and prioritise recommendations of future measures.

Due to specific data needs for NZ’s national accounts (produced by Stats NZ) the ICT Supply Survey was run again in 2017. It was reduced in size and coverage (to solely address the known user need) to cover sales of software and services only. These had been included prior to 2017, however, after 2014, ICT goods (excluding software) along with communication services and other ICT services were not included.

The 2017 survey focused on sales of published software and related services. There is currently no commitment to run this survey again.

Up until 2014, the purpose of the ICT Supply Survey was to:

• collect statistics from New Zealand businesses that are involved in producing or supplying ICT services or software

• evaluate the size of the domestic and export markets for ICT services and software

• show the changing size of ICT industries and the evolving mix and value of services over time

• measure income from the production and supply of ICT services and published software

• provide Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFKF) data for producing GDP

• provide important information for decision-makers and planners in business, government, and industry organisations.

Data is published on total, domestic and export ICT sales, totals of specific ICT goods and services, specific industry performance and perceived barriers to industry growth.

With the reduced sample survey run in 2017, the purpose of the survey changed. The purpose of the ICT Supply: Services and Software Survey 2017 was to collect key Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFKF) data for National Accounts. The data is produced by Stats NZ’s Business Performance team and handed over to National Accounts, where it is modelled into Published Software and Customised Software categories before being published (as part of the GDP release) in November 2018.

Background to the ICT Supply: Services and Software Survey 2019

A review of the existing need for ICT data took place in 2013/2014, with a view to ceasing the survey. It was established that MBIE, who along with National Accounts were the major ICT Supply stakeholder, no longer had a need for data collected in the ICT Supply survey. Their ongoing interest was that it provided an additional tool to monitor the sector.

However, National Accounts needed data for GFKF purposes. They require published software, IT support services, design and development services, and hosting and infrastructure provisioning services.

At that time, it was decided that the ICT Supply survey would be run for the last time in 2014, and in future, admin data would be used to model the figures needed by National Accounts.

In 2017, National Accounts attempted to model these figures based on historic and admin data and it was concluded that they did not have confidence in the proposed model. As a result, a reduced version of the ICT Supply survey was run that year and provided the figures required to meet National Accounts’ need.

In 2019, the same survey as 2017 was rerun in order to update figures for National Accounts.

Population and sample

The 2017 reduced ICT Supply survey, known as the ICT Supply: Services and Software Survey 2017, also had a reduced population. There were 15 ANZSICs included in the 2014 population that were dropped from the 2017 population, as their primary activities were not closely related to the sales of software or related services.

A small number of businesses in the ANZSIC codes that were removed in 2017 had reported sales of software and related services in the 2014 survey, contributing between 2-4% of the published figures. As these businesses were not included in the 2017 survey there is an impact on the data changes in this time series. Users should be mindful of the change in population and its potential impact on results.

The population and sample criteria for the ICT Supply: Services and Software Survey 2019 was the same as that used in 2017.

The sample for the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Supply Survey: 2019 identifies 2,067 respondents from a total eligible population of 3,228.

Published information

Population: 3,224 Sample: 2,067 Response rate: 77%

###Population

SAS was used to extract units from the Business Frame that satisfied criteria based on RME, ANZSIC06, and GST. This criteria is all enterprises with a Rolling Mean Employment (RME) of 2 or more, or having more than $1 million GST sales have been surveyed within selected ANZSIC06 codes.

These ANZSIC codes are:

C241900 Other Professional and Scientific Equipment Manufacturing

F349200 Computer and Computer Peripheral Wholesaling

F349300 Telecommunication Goods Wholesaling

F349400 Other Electrical and Electronic Goods Wholesaling

G426000 Department stores

G422200 Computer and computer peripheral retailing

J542000 Software Publishing

J562200 Cable and other subscription broadcasting

J570000 Internet publishing and broadcasting

J580100 Wired Telecommunications Network Operation

J580900 Other Telecommunications Services

J591000 Internet Service Providers and Web Search Portals

J592100 Data Processing and Web Hosting Services

J592200 Electronic Information Storage Services

M700000 Computer System Design and Related Services

S942200 Electronic (except Domestic Appliance) and Precision Equipment Repair and Maintenance

For ANZSIC06 codes that contain businesses who may or may not be in scope of the population, only those that include ICT-relevant keywords in their “main activities”, “enterprise names”, and “income sources” are selected for the population. This ensures that we survey only enterprises who are involved in ICT activities. This process is applied to the following ANZSICs:

L663900 Other Goods and Equipment Rental and Hiring (not elsewhere classified)

C241200 Medical and Surgical Equipment Manufacturing

The words used in the keyword search were:

• COMPUTER

• AUDIO

• VISUAL

• EFTPOS

• SOFTWARE

• LED

• PRODUCTION

• CAMERA

• PHONE

• PROF

• SYSTEM

• OFFICE EQUIPMENT

• ELECTRONIC

• ALARM

• MEDICAL DEVICE

• MEDICAL EQUIP

• LABORATORY EQUIP

• EQUIPMENT FOR VISUALLY

• SCIENTIFIC

Business Types were also taken into consideration when selecting the 2017 ICTS population.

The following is a list of all Business Types in the 1996 classification. The enterprises in the ICT Supply 2019 population include the following business types: 1,2,3,5,6,7,8,9,11,12 and 13. Therefore trusts and charitable trusts are included in our population however there are very few of them. Trusts and charitable trusts should be treated like any other enterprise in the survey – if they have ICT sales, report them, if not, follow the routing rules as per normal. Business types 4, 10, 14, and 20 are excluded from the ICT population.

ANZSIC’s no longer included in the 2017 & 2019 surveys:

C242100 Computer and Electronic Office Equipment Manufacturing

C242200 Communication Equipment Manufacturing

C242900 Other Electronic Equipment Manufacturing

C243100 Electric Cable and Wire Manufacturing

F349100 Professional and Scientific Goods Wholesaling

J580200 Other Telecommunications Network Operations

E323200 Electrical Services

F349900 Other Machinery and Equipment Wholesaling

F380000 Commission-Based Wholesaling

G422100 Electrical, Electronic and Gas Appliance Retailing

G424300 Toy and Game Retailing

M696200 Management Advice and Related Consulting Services

N729900 Other Administrative Services

N729400 Call Centre Operation

O771200 Investigation and Security Services

###How to use the sampling error

Sampling errors can be measured. They quantify the variability that occurs by chance because a sample rather than an entire population is surveyed.

For example, if the estimated total sales of IT software and services is $7,407 million with a sampling error of 5.2 percent, this means there would be a 95 percent chance that the true total of sales of IT software and services lies between $7,022 million and $7,792 million (ie $7,407 million + or – $385 million).

Services and Software Survey 2019 relative sampling error by sales types: