Over 92pct of Romanians in urban areas using at least one digital device in daily life (study)

Over 92% of Romanians in urban areas say they use a digital device daily for work or personal purposes, and 44.4% of those who do not use the Internet at work say that lack of digital knowledge has affected their professional life, according to a study conducted by the Tech Academy online learning platform.

At the same time, over 50% of the respondents have at least one device provided by their employers to carry out their business activity every day. Most of them received from their company one or more gadgets, such as company laptop, smartphone, tablet, etc., that are essential to performing work tasks, according to the study.

"In a year where discussions took place online, projects were held on Zoom and the distance was kept permanently, and technology came to the aid of employers and employees to support interactions between them and their partners. The main reasons for which the Internet is used in the workplace are: the development and implementation of tasks (81%), communication with customers, colleagues and suppliers (76.2%) and research (59.5%)," according to the findings of the study released on Monday.

Among the applications and programmes used at work, the most used are the Microsoft package (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.), Adobe Creative Suite (Illustrator, Photoshop), e-mail platforms, social media platforms, ZOOM and Google Meet.

Over 90% of the respondents to the Tech Academy questionnaire say their access to technology has made it easier for them to carry out their professional activity and that, through digitalisation, tasks are completed faster than before.

Among the advantages offered by the Internet and technology, listed by the respondents, are: fast access to information and resources of all kinds, efficiency of working time and procedures (replacement of classic rolls, for example), but also the possibility to work anywhere and anytime.

Tech Academy is a project which main objective is to actively contribute to the digitalisation of the Romanian workforce. Each student qualify for 10 hours of career counselling to establish future actions and identify training needs according to current skills. Afterwards, all students will participate in an IT Bootcamp, an accelerated 80-hour digital skills development programme.

According to project leaders, participation in the Tech Academy is voluntary, and the target group will be composed of at least 660 people, employed under individual full-time or part-time employment contracts, including sole contractors and individual enterprises, domiciled or residing in the Sud Vest, Sud and Sud East development regions, aged between 25 and 64 years.