Coming out of the first pandemic winter, it seemed every conversation in business circles circled back to digital: who had moved fastest, which firms were scaling, and how new habits—streaming, shopping, remote everything—might stick. Yet, behind the optimism (and occasional hype), there was a real challenge for anyone tasked with measuring what was actually happening on the ground. This is where ISIC codes—specifically 6311 for data processing and 7310 for advertising—became not just administrative tools, but a way to see the digital economy’s pulse.
Start with categorization. ISIC 6311 isn’t just about servers humming in some faraway data center; it’s about the entire constellation of businesses processing information, from cloud service startups to old-school data bureaus retooling for new markets. ISIC 7310, meanwhile, covers advertising in all its forms, but it’s the digital surge—SEO shops, social media marketers, analytics consultancies—that’s most relevant post-pandemic. By counting and categorizing firms under these codes, analysts can build a baseline for how much of the economy’s growth is coming from digital services, rather than traditional sectors.
But counting firms alone won’t do. The next step is to dig into firm-level revenue data. How much are these ISIC-coded companies actually making? National business registries, tax filings, or industry surveys often provide annual turnover or sales numbers—imperfect, sometimes lagged, but invaluable for spotting trends. A spike in average or median revenue for ISIC 6311 or 7310 between 2019 and 2021, for example, tells a richer story than a simple rise in registrations.
Of course, revenue is only one lens. Sectoral employment stats add depth, revealing how digital service growth is (or isn’t) translating into jobs. In some regions, the expansion of data processing or digital advertising meant new hiring sprints; in others, productivity gains from automation or platformization outpaced headcount. By combining employment trends with revenue data, analysts can distinguish between broad-based booms and narrow, tech-driven surges where a handful of firms dominate.
Patterns vary. In major cities, digital service firms clustered—sometimes crowding out older industries, sometimes coexisting. Rural or smaller markets saw patchier growth: a burst of new ISIC 7310 consultancies in one area, but limited expansion in data processing, often reflecting uneven infrastructure or talent pools. The codes helped clarify what, for many, was simply a feeling of acceleration.
No method is flawless. Not all digital businesses register cleanly under the “right” ISIC code, especially those with hybrid models. Revenue data can be opaque, particularly for fast-growing startups or firms that span borders. And the real impact—the new skills, shifting business models, changing ways of working—can be hard to capture in numbers alone.
Yet, by focusing on ISIC 6311 and 7310, and combining firm counts with revenue and employment stats, analysts gain a structure to parse the digital boom from the background noise. The result isn’t just a snapshot, but a living map—one that can be updated, debated, and used to guide everything from investment to training policy.
Measuring digital service growth is about more than numbers. It’s about seeing the shape of change as it unfolds, and using the humble structure of ISIC codes to give the transformation some contours. For anyone tasked with making sense of what comes next, that clarity is both rare and, in its own quiet way, essential.