Australia has dropped in its global digital readiness rank to 16th place across 146 countries. Previously, Australia ranked in 12th place in 2019. The local Australian index measures the states and territories, against similar criteria and reveals shifts in digital readiness.
According to the Cisco Australian Digital Readiness Index 2022, a digital divide still exists in Australia, and the benefits of digitalisation are not being fairly distributed.
The Digital Readiness Index is a global study conducted by Cisco which measures the ability to capture the opportunities that digital capabilities and investments create in a country, state, or territory, and is directly tied to other measures of a country’s performance.
The Index is a holistic approach to measure across seven components:
- Basic Needs.
- Human Capital
- Business and Government Investment.
- Ease of Doing Business.
- Start-up Environment.
- Technology Infrastructure
- Technology Adoption.
Cisco Australia and New Zealand vice-president Ben Dawson says Australia continues to be amongst the highest-ranked digitally ready nations but cannot afford to stand still.
Dawson is responsible for delivering market leadership through the innovative utilisation and application of Cisco technologies and services while helping customers and partners to accelerate their digital agility.
““Maintaining existing investment levels puts us at risk of falling behind other countries and increasing the national digital divide.”
“As digitisation continues to accelerate, the report highlights the continued need for Australia to focus and invest across all the digital readiness components to capture the opportunities of a resilient, sustainable and equitable society.
“While it is always difficult to predict the future, one forecast that can be made with certainty is that the digital skills and infrastructure required by Australia today will be insufficient for the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.” says Dawson.
Digital Readiness Scores – Australia Digitally Divided
Digital readiness scores across each state and territory reveal close groupings on many components, with one significant outlier.
Australian Capital Territory
The Australian Capital Territory maintained its position as Australia’s most digitally ready state or territory due to its 1st place ranking in Business & Government Investment and Human Capital.
New South Wales
New South Wales made significant gains on the nations capital thanks to scores in Basic Needs and Start-up Environment, the latter reflecting the governments commitment to growing its start-up ecosystem.
Victoria
Thanks to a 10% point rise in broadband services in operation and the equal highest percentage of businesses with staff working from home, Victoria remained in third place and now leads the nation in technology adoption
South Australia
South Australia rose three places to 4th because its Ease of Doing Business score rose to 1st nationally, while its Technology Adoption score increased from 7th to 4th.
Western Australia
Western Australia’s ranking dropped from 4th to 5th, primarily thanks to a reduction in Business & Government Investment scores.
Queensland
Queensland’s rise from 5th to 3rd place for human capital was enough to keep the state in 6th position, thanks to a labour force participation rate that rose by 4.4 percentage points.
Tasmania
The state’s ranking fell from 5th to 7th, mainly because of a drop in its Ease of Doing Business score. Despite having the highest business survival rate in the country, business confidence plummeted, dragging down the score.
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory was ranked as the lowest category (Amplify Low), reflecting the recognised social and economic challenges in the region and illustrates the growing national digital divide.
In contrast to its neighbour across the Tasman Sea, Australia now places far behind in digital preparedness, with New Zealand placing 8th on the 2022 version.
Australia’s digital readiness opportunity
Dawson says the Digital Readiness Index highlights the need for accelerated and continued investment and the report reveals that simply maintaining investment levels can still see a nation, state, or territory overtaken by its peers.
“Digital readiness helps us to understand how different nations, states, and territories are performing and measure their progress towards creating a more prosperous and digitally inclusive society,” said Dawson.
Due to pandemic, Australia’s decline has been attributed to a drop in student and skilled migration and emphasises the importance of being digitally prepared and staying engaged with the global community.
New South Wales placed second in the 2019 version of the report, released in 2020, while the ACT remained at the top.
Full Global Digital Readiness Index 2022 – List of the Top 10 Countries:
- Singapore
- Luxembourg
- Iceland
- United States of America
- Sweden
- Denmark
- South Korea
- New Zealand
- Switzerland
- United Kingdom
‘It would be wrong to attribute Australia’s drop in ranking to the pandemic alone, given all nations were impacted by the same event.”
“The more important question now is whether Australia can regain and uplift its ranking and that will depend on how it invests in digital readiness to build national prosperity,”
“Australia cannot afford to stand still, as even maintaining existing investment levels risks seeing us fall behind countries that see the benefits of increasing their investment levels.” says Dawson
According to Dawson the rankings illustrate that a country simply maintaining its investment in digital readiness can see it fall behind the pace on the global stage.
