Australia’s digital economy is now worth $79 billion or 5.1 per cent of GDP, making it larger than traditional industry sectors such as agriculture, retail and transport, according to a new Deloitte report. In fact, it’s now 50 per cent larger in real terms than Deloitte estimated for its Connected Continent report in 2011. The latest Deloitte Economic Access report – prepared for Google Australia – also forecast that the digital economy will be worth $139 billion by 2020, delivering $75 billion in consumer benefits, and 450,000 ICT jobs (4 per cent of total employment.) Ric Simes, a Deloitte Access Economics partner and the report’s co-author, said in 2011 Deloitte estimated that the Internet contributed about $27 billion in the form of increased productivity in Australian in one year. “Using an updated model, we now estimated that the economy was about $45 billion bigger in 2013 than it otherwise would have been because of the productivity impacts of digital technologies.” The report also looked at how businesses are using digital and social media to connect with their customers and also drive internal transformational change with the next wave of related technologies such as the cloud, data analytics, and machine-to-machine technologies. “The digital economy is changing from being a standalone industry to being embedded in businesses across the country,” he said. “Higher productivity means Australia has greater output for its inputs to production via the likes of increased competition, reduced prices, greater business efficiencies, and innovation for better goods and services.” Google Australia’s MD, Maile Carnegie, said it’s getting harder to separate the digital economy from the rest of the economy. He said this is a positive because it means technology is being embraced everywhere from healthcare to education, and from agriculture to government service delivery. “The challenge now is to ensure that we don’t take our foot off the accelerator because the health of the digital economy will be critical to Australia’s future prosperity,” he said. Follow CIO Australia on Twitter and Like us on Facebook… Twitter: @CIO_Australia, Facebook: CIO Australia, or take part in the CIO conversation on LinkedIn: CIO Australia Follow Byron Connolly on Twitter:@ByronConnolly Related content brandpost Sponsored by HPE Aruba Networking Bringing the data processing unit (DPU) revolution to your data center By Mark Berly, CTO Data Center Networking, HPE Aruba Networking Dec 04, 2023 4 mins Data Center case study ルフトハンザのデジタルな未来は「デジタル格納庫」から飛び立つ ルフトハンザのデジタルに特化した新しいビジネスユニットは、ヨーロッパ各地に拠点を置き、顧客体験を向上させるために部門横断的で製品中心のアプローチを採用している。 By Mark Chillingworth Dec 04, 2023 1 min Digital Transformation brandpost Sponsored by SAP What goes well with Viña Concha y Toro wines? Meat, fish, poultry, and SAP Viña Concha y Toro, a wine producer that distributes to more than 140 countries worldwide, paired its operation with the SAP Business Technology Platform to enhance its operation and product. By Tom Caldecott, SAP Contributor Dec 04, 2023 4 mins Digital Transformation brandpost Sponsored by Azul How to maximize ROI by choosing the right Java partner for your organization Choosing the right Java provider is a critical decision that can have a significant impact on your organization’s success. By asking the right questions and considering the total cost of ownership, you can ensure that you choose the best Java p By Scott Sellers Dec 04, 2023 5 mins Application Management Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe