The 2005 e-readiness rankings (press release) from The IBM Institute for Business Value and The Economist Intelligence Unit has been published. Using a secret set of metrics, 65 countries are assessed on their ability to promote and support digital business and ICT services.
Denmark is again ranked number one in this ‘measure of the complete e-picture’, with an overall score of 8.74 (of 10) based on nearly 100 criteria in various areas. These areas are (with Denmark’s scores):
- Connectivity (8.20)
- Business enviroment (8.58)
- Consumer and business adoption (8.85)
- Legal and policy environment (8.65)
- Social and cultural environment (9.60)
- Supporting e-services (9.25)
Last year, Denmark scored an overall of 8.28. The improvement in scores is general among the surveyed countries. If we assume a continued growth, Denmark has to improve at several fronts to stay in front of the pack. A linear projection says we have to score an overall of 9.25 next year. Hence, we need to do something serious about connectivity and the business, consumer and policy environments. Our social and cultural environment is our strenght, and our supporting e-services are also good (here we just have to challenge the US with their perfect 10 there).
The metrics used in the survey deserves a few words. The weights is one thing; for example, I don’t understand why the supporting e-services only weighs 5%. Also, some of the criteria are questionable; for example, the penetration of SSL encrypted servers as a measure of security, which might be a measurable criteria, but does not come across as a reliable measure of anything (but the penetration of SSL). Another point: why is it possible to score a perfect 10? Can’t the US improve on the supporting e-services now??
