SUNSHINE Coast small businesses are more optimistic about their digital future.

Our latest Digital Readiness Survey shows small business is getting to grips with the digitally driven economy.

Many have moved on from last year's "state of digital paralysis" to a position of adopting and implementing key strategies.

The results are very encouraging.

Across the majority of metrics, the digital adoption and implementation of strategies and tactics are being applied with greater confidence and certainty than before.

But as businesses take further steps into the digital world they want to know that their efforts and their expenditure will deliver a clear return on investment for their business.

Another positive from the survey shows Sunshine Coast businesses are beginning to embrace options relating to cloud computing.

With the NBN being seen as a good investment and a game changer for small businesses, the migration to applications, storage and services will only increase as businesses benefit from the accessibility and mobility the cloud offers coupled with the improvements in connectivity the NBN should bring.

However, NBN Co really needs to get its act together in relation, ironically, to communication, with 40 per cent of businesses not knowing when the NBN will be rolled out to them.

Almost two-thirds of businesses now realise the sense in building mobile-friendly websites - a huge increase on just 10 per cent in 2015.

With Google reporting that more searches are now being made on mobile devices than desktops, small business customers will want to find them wherever and whenever they want.

It's a given that businesses need to be online and 90 per cent of our respondents have a dedicated web presence, with almost 75 per cent declaring it essential for their business.

The 2015 survey revealed that 60 per cent of businesses were generating less than 10 per cent of their revenue from online sales. But, a year later, that figure has jumped to 70 per cent generating about 20 per cent of their revenue online.

Businesses are doing the hard work of generating interest and creating a following

The hard work is wasted when they fail to complete the deal by enabling users to buy products or scheduled services. If you can't - your competitors will.

Worryingly, one in four do not have an emergency plan if they lose company data, internet connection or were impacted by fire, flood or extreme weather.

In a state where nature unleashes fury almost every year, it is very alarming to see that businesses are not adopting a business recovery plan.　 Such a plan can't prevent disasters, but it can get you back up and running quickly with less impact.