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Evaluation of the Public Internet Access Point Initiative

4 Hosts' experiences

This chapter looks at the initiative from the hosts' perspective. It looks at their motivation, their marketing and publicity activities and what training and support needs they identify. It also looks at the overall sustainability of the access points.

4.1 Views on running an access point

4.1.1 Motivations

We asked hosts why they had decided to take part in the PIAP initiative. Nearly half said that serving their customers better was the main motivation for getting the PIAP. Nearly a third were primarily motivated by expanding their service to the public, and a further 16% wanted to attract new people into the venue. Notably, the potential revenue a PIAP could offer was not a primary motivator for any of the hosts.

Figure 4-1 Main motivation to host a PIAP

Source: Host survey

4.1.2 Benefits

The benefits hosts perceive most relate closely to two biggest the reasons they chose for hosting a PIAP: providing a broader service to customers and proving a service to the community. Two-thirds of hosts (66%) found organisational benefits with new people coming in and/or an extra resource for staff. Notably, only 6% saw any added income as a benefit. The key benefits we quantified are shown below.

Figure 4-2 Benefits hosts perceive from having a PIAP

Source: Host Survey, Base = 373

Several learning centres said that having the PIAP allowed learners to access the internet outside their training sessions, thus broadening their service. A further benefit for 85% of hosts is the availability of the PIAPs for staff use.

4.1.3 Challenges

Given that the basis of the PIAP initiative is to place internet access points in organisations where prospective users already go for other reasons, it is perhaps not surprising that the key challenges hosts report relate to distractions from getting on with their everyday work. As Figure 4-3 shows, more than four out of ten hosts have staff time taken up with technical problems or in helping users.

Figure 4-3 Challenges for hosts

Source: Host survey

4.2 Marketing & Publicity

One of the challenges for the initiative identified in the mystery shopping visits is the variability of marketing materials to let potential users know the service is there, especially as nearly half of the PIAPs we visited were not in the main business area. The hosts surveyed felt that the picture was more hopeful. Only 6% said they had not found any type of marketing successful. But over half of hosts seem to find that their marketing is not working as well as they had expected either, as Figure 4-4 below shows.

Figure 4-4 Types of marketing used and hosts' perceived success (not mutually exclusive)

Source: Host survey, Base = 284

The most popular type of marketing uses the window stickers provided by the Scottish Executive. The posters supplied by the Executive are also well used, particularly by those using the window stickers. Over half managed to position the computers in a prominent place to attract attention to them. Many also used their own initiative to spread the word through networking, newsletters and posters in other shops nearby. Some hotels also said they highlight the PIAP service in their brochures, menus or tent signs in the rooms.

We asked the hosts if they would like additional signage from the Scottish Executive and 39% said they would. On the basis of our mystery shopping experience, we suggested two types of signs. Of the hosts who were interested in additional signage,

• half said they would like sandwich board signs for the street outside (52%), though hosts in remote rural locations said these "would blow away"; and
• 39% said they would like "Lotto" style signs that stick out from the building.

4.3 Staff confidence with ICT and training needs

The factor that most markedly determined the success of the PIAPs, and whether or not they were still operating, was the host's experience of ICT. If they were confident with ICT, they were more able to share it with their community or customers. If they were new to it and they had a problem with the ICT, they had little or no technical support and were at a loss. Some hosts said that their users changed the password settings on the computers without realising this would mean that neither the host nor any other users could get in.

We asked hosts about their staff's experience of ICT before the PIAP. Just over half said all the staff that deal with PIAP users were confident using the internet before the PIAP opened. A third of PIAPs (35%) said that half or less of these staff were confident with the internet. Ten percent even said none of the staff who deal with PIAP customers are confident using the internet. This will clearly limit their ability to support users, encourage them to try the internet and simply manage the PIAP themselves. In one pub we visited, the owners could use the computers but the employee who worked during the day could not, so customers were discouraged from using the internet during the day.

Figure 4-5 % of staff dealing with PIAP users who were confident with the internet

Source: Host Survey, Base = 353

Staff who were not already confident with the internet were unlikely to have been given any training. Two thirds of hosts said their non-confident staff had had no training. On average, only 23% of staff not confident with the internet were given training on using the internet and only 21% were given training in supporting PIAP customers. Only 7% of hosts said that everyone who needed training got it.

The shortcomings in staff confidence and training to overcome this are important in terms of the experience of the users. If the staff available cannot help them, they will not be able to make the best use of the service, or in some cases use it at all.

Figure 4-6 Average % of PIAP staff who can help users with each activity

Source: Host Survey

Although at most PIAPs all the relevant staff can help users turn on the PC and log into the internet, support to actually use the internet is considerably less. In fact, in half of the PIAPs surveyed no staff know how to set up a web-based e-mail account. Given the PIAP advertising that uses e-mail as a key hook, this is a major limitation.

We asked hosts how well they thought their staff are able to support PIAP users. As Figure 4-7 below, shows, almost two thirds were very positive, with 31% saying users were supported "very well". However 29% felt that their ability to support users was only adequate and 9% said they were "not very well" able to help (8%) or indeed not at all (1%). These people need more support.

Figure 4-7 Hosts' perception of their staff's overall ability to support PIAP users

Source: Host Survey, Base = 371

4.3.1 Training

While 44% of hosts surveyed do not provide any training for their users, more than one in five provide training sessions (22%). A significant proportion say that they provide one-to-one support to users (39%). Roughly one in ten hosts signpost users to other training providers (9%).

Figure 4-8 Do you provide training for users?

Source: Hall Aitken Host Survey n=310

We asked hosts if they would be interested in additional staff training and 57% said yes. Those who wanted training were most interested in training that staff could work through in-house (53%) or a trainer visiting (33%). The key factor here was minimising staff down-time and travel costs.

Figure 4-9 Types of training hosts would like provided through the Scottish Executive

Source: Host Survey, Base = 328

4.3.2 Technical support

As Figure 4-10 shows, hosts experience a range of technical problems including: lack of technical knowledge, unhelpful configuration of computers and inadequate internet connectivity.

Figure 4-10 Technical problems experienced

Source: Host Survey, Base = 387

Hosts also complained of broken printers, users changing the log-in settings on the computers and making them inaccessible to staff and other users alike.

Our host survey found that hosts rely on a range of help with technical support. Those who have access to IT support within their organisation rely most heavily on this for all but telephone line related problems.

Just over two-thirds of hosts said they have access to internal ICT support - 37% on the premises and 34% somewhere else. But that leaves nearly a third with no access to IT support except telephone help-lines and some had problems knowing who to call.

4.4 Sustainability

4.4.1 Costs and income

The cost implications for PIAP hosts are set out in

Figure 4-11 below. Hosts most commonly identify electricity and staff time costs as most significant.

Figure 4-11 Significant costs for hosts

Source: Host Survey, Base = 387

The Scottish Executive had hoped that the computers would be able to pay their way, but as Figure 4-13 shows half of the hosts don't charge for the Internet access. This is an important factor in the usage of the service, and is the biggest advantage given by users. A further 40% charge the suggested 1 per hour.

Figure 4-13 Prices charged for internet access

Source: Host Survey, Base = 381

The majority of PIAPs do not generate a great deal of income for their hosts. Indeed, for those who told us how much they earn, 29% would not even cover the monthly costs for the Freeserve account. Some hosts not included in the chart below said they rarely have any users, so their income will be close to none. However about one in six hosts who charge earn 50 or more a month providing a useful source of supplementary income.

Figure 4-14 Monthly earnings for those who charge

Source: Host Survey, Base = 138

4.4.2 Future commitment to providing service

Four-fifths of hosts are positive about the future of their PIAP service, though only 36% say they will definitely continue to host the service when their free internet access contract runs out.

Figure 4-15 Hosts' expectation of continuing the service post-subsidy

Source: Host Survey, Base = 379

4.4.3 PIAPs are worthwhile

Although hosts often experience challenges in providing the PIAP service themselves, they overwhelmingly agreed that "putting public internet access points into my type of organisation is worthwhile" - 93% agreed, 6% were unsure. Only 2% disagreed that they were worthwhile.

4.4.4 Further support needed

In addition to the support requested with signage and training, 28% of the hosts identified further support needs.

Figure 4-16 Further types of support identified by hosts

Source: Host Survey

The recommendations for improved technical support included:

• advice or software for filtering obscene websites,
• localised support or regular visits to tidy up software systems, and
• helpline numbers for technical support.

The main areas where revenue support was sought were to provide:

• more staff for proper user support and
• two years' more internet access.

Particularly proactive hosts said they would like to be able to provide business service support for small businesses using the computers for graphics, more computers, more learning materials, and outreach work to attract more users.

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