A Workforce Percentage Is Not an Account Count

Check what the percentage counts

Before multiplying a survey percentage by the size of your prospect list, check what it describes. GTMA proposal: read the exact table’s definition, unit and weighting. A percentage weighted by employment cannot simply become a percentage of customer accounts.

The same topic can have different weights

Eurostat’s ICT survey methodology says results are generally weighted by the number of enterprises. It also describes employment weighting for questions about employees and self-employed people, and as an additional weighting for some questions about ICT systems, internet use and e-commerce.

GTMA proposal: inspect the particular result rather than guessing its weighting from the question’s topic. These methodology statements supply no adoption rate or estimate of demand for your product.

Ten firms, two very different percentages

Fictional example: take an entire invented group of ten firms. Nine employ ten people each; one employs 910. Only the large firm has the defined tool. These figures illustrate different counting units, not Eurostat results or its survey-estimation procedure.

One of ten firms has the tool: 10%. But 910 of the group’s 1,000 people work in a firm that has it: 91%. That second statement does not mean 91% of people personally use the tool. Both percentages describe the same invented group, answering different questions.

Priya had applied 91% to a separate list of 200 prospective accounts and written “182 accounts use this tool.” She removes that unsupported count. Substituting 10% would also be unjustified: these ten invented firms do not establish the tool status of her prospect list. Her account count remains unknown.

Finish the planning decision

GTMA proposal: record the result’s definition, unit, weighting, covered population and period alongside the calculation you wanted to make. Request an enterprise-based result with relevant coverage, then examine whether applying it to your particular list is justified. A statistical enterprise and a sales account may not be the same unit.

If no suitable result exists, a useful alternative is to inspect the defined account list directly and record known tool status separately from unknowns. Remove the unsupported market count from the plan and name an owner for the missing evidence. Even confirmed tool absence establishes neither need, purchase intent nor budget.

Sources and limits

ICT usage in enterprises: survey methodology and population · European Commission, Eurostat · 2025-12-11. Methodology supports the attributed weighting practices. It supplies no adoption rate, target-account count or demand forecast. GTMA’s example and worksheet are independent proposals.

Source support checked 2026-10-17. Practitioner accounts and proposals are identified in the article; a citation does not turn a suggestion into a proven outcome.