The concept ‘e-readiness’ is emerging as a very important measure of which
business enterprises are prepared to take part in the digital economy. The concept
originated in the late 90s to provide a way of measuring the breadth and depth of the
digital divide between the developing and developed worlds. The concept generally
refers to the preparedness of a community or country to participate in the networked
world. An e-ready society or country would therefore have, for example, high speed
access to the Internet; pervasive connectivity in schools, government offices, businesses,
homes, hospitals, etc; capacity to ensure user privacy and online security; and
an enabling policy and regulatory framework that allows digital signatures, official
communication through e-mail, etc. Comparative measures of the e-readiness of
countries worldwide are usually published annually, and generally show that countries
in North America and Europe are leaders in e-readiness stature, and are far ahead
of their counterparts in developing or transitional economies. Countries with high
levels of e-readiness are found to be performing well in the digital economy.