The good news out of the SME Index is that internal administration is becoming increasingly manageable with technology.
It’s the time of the year where SME are working harder, with many taking time out of their business routine to ensure all internal administration is up to date for tax time. As the fastest growing segment in Australian business, it’s no surprise we found 31.4% of SMEs reporting an increase in working hours over the last three months in the June Westpac-Melbourne Institute SME Index.
We began the SME Index to provide information about the economic health of Australian small and medium sized enterprises, and it’s clear there’s been significant pressure on SMEs, with sentiment in Q2 2016 at 83.0, down 14.4% from Q1.
This time of year can bring a number of business pressures. As SMEs are approaching the end of financial year, the findings of this quarter’s survey shows business activity, sales, profits and employment levels have declined. Almost half of the surveyed SMEs also reported a rise in overheads and costs.
In saying that, SMEs are less negative in their assessment of future conditions than in their assessment of current conditions. In particular, female business owners and managers are more confident than their male counterparts about the business conditions in next three months, at 106.6 compared to 89.7.
The SME Index also found nearly one in five SMEs – 17.3% – spend over 40% of time on internal administration for their business each week.
The good news out of the SME Index is that internal administration is becoming increasingly manageable with technology, and SMEs are really pushing to automate a lot of elements that work together to ensure efficient production.
We also surveyed some of our own customers, in addition to the Index, and almost three-quarters said investing in technology has had a positive impact on the bottom line of their business, with almost half planning to implement technology solutions in their business over the next six to 12 months.
The SME Index revealed 84.6% of SMEs are already managing the majority of internal administration tasks such as bookkeeping and payroll through software tools or apps.
One solution we offer to keep up with the pace of busy SME owners and managers is Westpac’s Live Online Banking to save time with self-service banking. Additionally over the last 12 months, more than 10,000 new and existing customers have accessed a banking specialist on the go using our Connect Now service.
Building the confidence of our SME customers and inspiring better performance, especially through technology, is really important to us. It’s wonderful to see SMEs have a positive future outlook despite current conditions, and are embracing technology to position their business for the future.
The key take-aways from the research illustrated in this infographic:
MAP_003 – Westpac Infographic – FA2-02 (1)
Julie Rynski, General Manager of SME, Westpac
