Google is 'not a real internet company' says exec However, he added that we are at an 'inflection point' where the web needs to be put at the heart of SMEs rather than as a bolt-on, and that it is old fashioned to have a head of digital or head of online. In the early days of electricity, companies would have had a head of electricity because it was new, scary and might kill you. Now companies have a head of Internet or head of digital because it's new and scary. "We're at a point of inflection from the Internet being a specialised thing to being, like electricity, something you have to do to do your job better," he said. He also suggested we have to accept some casualties of its rise: "Yes it's disruptive, just as electricity was disruptive to the candle industry." He paid tribute to the music and journalism industries as ones he admired but said the UK has to stay number one in Europe for internet growth. Mr Brittin's views were echoed by European Commission [EC] vice president Antonio Tajani, who called for a shift in attitudes: "We need to change attitudes. Technology companies are not the only ones going to benefit from this. The number of people online is predicted to rise from two billion to five billion by 2015. Earlier this month the EC set out a range of targets to help make it easier to reach that audience, for example by simplifying transactions between countries. It said online trade and services could account for more than 20pc of growth and net job creation in some European member states, including the UK.