Local mid-market businesses are relying on up to five online business management tools or applications on average to manage their business operations, according to a survey of more than 1,000 mid-market decision-makers from across Australia and New Zealand.
The research conducted by the business management platform MYOB highlighted that despite the rise of digitisation in recent years, outmoded, siloed and ineffective systems are costing local businesses valuable time and resources.
Dynata researched MYOB's mid-market Snapshot between October 20 and November 14, 2022. In total, 1029 mid-market business leaders and decision-makers (employing between 20 and 500 people) in Australia (510 respondents) and New Zealand (519 respondents) took part in the survey.
Of those polled, nearly half (48%) of Australian mid-sized businesses and 46% of New Zealand mid-sized businesses say they waste valuable time inputting data into different systems.
43% of Australian mid-sized businesses and 46% of New Zealand mid-sized businesses have to check between systems to ensure data is correct regularly.
41% of Australian mid-sized businesses say they sometimes duplicate efforts between their business systems.
More than a third (38%) of New Zealand mid-sized businesses say that sometimes or often have to edit data when transferring it between systems.
According to the survey, however, for those that have added to or changed their digital solutions over the past 12 months, the value of the benefits gained when implemented strategically are significant.
In Australia, these mid-market businesses reported improvements in efficiency and productivity (48%), the ability to service more customers (39%) and stronger/more informed decision-making (34%).
In New Zealand, key benefits reported for this group include increased efficiency and productivity of teams (45%), more time to focus on business strategy and growth (44%) and improved competitiveness in target markets.
Kim Clarke, General Manager Enterprise at MYOB, says smart integration of modern business management solutions not only delivers results that empower business leaders to focus on reaching their ambitions but also removes issues resulting from managing multiple solutions to instead gain a competitive edge.
“Having the right tools to make informed business decisions quickly and confidently is essential to business success in today’s market, and access to real-time data and information is a critical component, particularly for businesses operating in sectors impacted by change across international economies.”
“When it comes to changing or improving their digital solutions, mid-market businesses don’t have the same luxuries as larger corporates like large IT departments who can stitch together solutions, or access to additional budget to cover complex integration requirements. Instead, many are cottoning onto the fact that more doesn’t mean better and are now after future-fit platforms that remove the challenges of disconnected systems, like lower productivity and higher security risks. They also know they risk falling behind their peers on every level unless these challenges are resolved.”
Looking to the future, mid-market business leaders and decision-makers across Australia and New Zealand see big data (39% and 44%, respectively) as the technology likely to significantly change their business in the next five years.
New Zealand-based business leaders expect digital sales platforms (44%) and AI and robotics (37%) to change their business majorly. In comparison, their Australian mid-market peers cited cloud computing (37%) and improvements in connectivity (35%).