AI adoption low among NZ SMEs despite positive impacts, survey reveals
'Our insights show SMEs are primarily employing AI tools to bolster marketing efforts – helping with the copywriting of marketing materials and press releases (39%) or generating social media posts (31%),' Chadwick said.
'A consistent voice in market is key for businesses to stay top of mind for their audience, particularly in an economic environment when every dollar of revenue counts.'
Chadwick explained that the use of AI aligns with the top skills SMEs identified would be the most important to their business over the next five years, namely customer service (40%) and marketing (32%).
Kiwi SMEs are also proactively using AI tools for copywriting technical documents, reports and training materials (25%), customer service support including chatbots and virtual assistants (21%), and for analysing markets, trends and risks (21%).
One interesting insight from the survey highlighted that younger generations of business owners are leading the way when it comes to AI adoption.
Almost all of the Gen Z business operators surveyed (93%) and more than half (59%) of millennials polled had started using AI tools in their businesses.
This is compared with Gen X and Baby Boomer business owners, who sit at 28% and 17% respectively.
'In taking the heavy-lifting and time investment out of some of these tasks, the efficiency gain AI provides to SMEs not only ensures business owners can focus on higher-value tasks, it also offers a reprieve on workload.
'Alongside cashflow concerns, workload is the top business-related factor that has negatively impacted the mental wellbeing of a third of local business operators in the past two years. Intelligent tools that can help ease this burden will likely improve employee engagement and well-being as a result.'
As to why adoption is not as high, 39% of SMEs surveyed felt AI tools weren't needed or appropriate for their business, with 30% of this group believing they don't know enough about it.
Some respondents were more specific, with 18% believing there weren't any AI tools specific to their business needs.
However, almost a fifth (19%) still don't trust the new technology.
'Knowledge and confidence play a big role in the adoption of new technologies. It's understandable that a portion of SMEs are hesitant to embrace AI in their businesses.'
'However, given the integration of AI in a range of everyday systems, from autocompleting sentences in email, to reminders and forecasting in business management software, it's also possible many business owners don't realise they're already using AI.'
Chadwick said SME owners who are still hesitant should discuss the topic with a business mentor or speak with other businesses to learn how they are benefiting from the technology.
The MYOB Business Monitor is a national survey of more than 1000 New Zealand business owners, managers and directors, from sole traders to medium-sized companies, representing the major industry sectors.
Tom Raynel is a multimedia business journalist for the Herald, covering small business, retail and tourism.
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