Online businesses account for 8.3 per cent  of Britain’s economy but  Gary David Smith, co-founder of Prism Total IT Solutions claims that things are going to grow fast.

Smith said that Britain’s online businesses generated more than £121 billion for the UK economy in 2010 which is the equivalent of about £2,000 for each individual and a much bigger contribution than from the healthcare, construction or education sectors.

“Future growth of internet sales will impact particularly on small and medium sized companies who often base their businesses around a web presence,” said Mr Smith. “It is the growth to these companies that will create the new jobs that our economy so desperately needs.”

Research published from the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) indicate that internet sales to SME’s have increased by a yearly average of 12.5 per cent over the last three years. According to BCG, 13.5 per cent  of all UK sales were completed online and they project that figure to rise to 23 per cent by 2016.

The UK’s online sales are growing much faster than other developed economies. BCG predicts growth of 5.4 per cent to America’s online sales and 6.9 per cent for China. Smith warned that new, thrusting young business are often looking for efficiencies right from the start and he is seeing a tendency to be over reliant on Cloud computing.

“The Cloud should be viewed as a complimentary service to a company’s business infrastructure, not a replacement for it. Not having control of your own data can cause problems for businesses dependent on online sales.”