New Zealand businesses stock up on COVID-beating tech tools

• All New Zealand businesses using video conference and collaboration tools.
• One in four businesses aiming to hire more staff with digital skills.
• Blockchain, robotics and artificial intelligence still untapped opportunities.

Cloud computing, business intelligence software and data analytics and visualisation software are at the top of New Zealand businesses’ shopping lists for the next 12 months, a survey by professional accounting body CPA Australia has found.

Bottom of the list are blockchain and distributed ledger technology (DLT), robotic process automation (RPA), and artificial intelligence (AI).

These findings broadly match the investment intentions of the group of 820 businesses surveyed in seven Asia-Pacific economies for CPA Australia’s Business Technology Report 2022.

The outlier was Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software, with 42 per cent of New Zealand survey respondents intending to invest over the next 12 months, compared with 31 per cent for the Asia-Pacific group.

“The survey’s overall findings demonstrate the strategic importance of workplaces effectively using technology and enhancing their digital capability,” said Rick Jones, CPA Australia’s New Zealand Country Head.

New Zealand was ranked first in the percentage of respondents that expect their business to improve data management and protection (39 per cent) and increase recruitment of employees with technology skills (23 per cent).

“Businesses that commit to harnessing technology are better placed to deliver additional value and handle future challenges,” he said.

New Zealand respondents reported the highest usage over the previous 12 months of business intelligence (BI) software (82 per cent), CRM software (87 per cent) and video conferencing and group collaboration tools (100 per cent).

New Zealand was also the market with the highest percentage of respondents expecting their employer to increase their use of BI software (45 per cent) over the next 12 months.

“Businesses are focusing their efforts on data literacy to support improving decision making and to automate processes, given labour shortages,” said Jannat Maqbool CPA, a Waikato-based technology and innovation advisor.

New Zealand also had the highest percentage of respondents expecting to use cloud computing (52 per cent) and CRM software (42 per cent).

Maqbool said more recent lockdowns in New Zealand than the other countries surveyed could be behind the higher use of these technologies.

“There have been a number of initiatives focused on data-driven innovation and closing the skills gap or mismatch which will be reaching and resonating with businesses here,” Maqbool said.

Maqbool was a member of the Reference Group for the recently released Digital Technologies Industry Transformation Plan.

“Consumer Data Right is also just around the corner, and I recently led a research report looking at the potential of Open Finance to support greater financial inclusion in New Zealand,” Maqbool said.

Read the Business Technology Report 2022

Media contact

Rick Jones: 021 1901 039 or  [email protected] 

Jannat Maqbool [email protected]