New research by Telstra reveals that many Australian small businesses are at risk of missing out on the benefits technology offers to drive efficiencies and help them compete.
The company’s Business Tech State of Play report found that finding new customers and meeting changing customer expectations ranked amongst the top concerns with technology, although 58 per cent of small-business owners say that embracing digital technologies is a priority to become more efficient and 69 per cent agree that technology is now about much more than efficient working and has become part of how a business competes.
Furthermore, more than half of small businesses don’t prioritise updating their websites despite the data that shows 72 per cent of customers say that they were less likely to buy from a business if their website was not up to date.
Growing revenue and managing increasing costs remain the top two concerns of small-business owners as they are almost twice as concerned than they were five years ago about having the time and capacity to get everything done. Cybersecurity is another growing concern but that focus is overshadowed by other more pressing concerns. In fact, despite the growing cost of cybercrime on Australian business, almost half do not have basic cybersecurity measures in place.
“The pressure being felt by small-business owners today is reaching boiling point,” Amanda Hutton, Group Executive at Telstra Business, said. “There is a real untapped opportunity for businesses to use technology in the right ways to help improve efficiency, attract and retain customers, and reduce cost pressures.”
AI adoption in particular is still relatively nascent with just seven per cent actively using it across a broad range of use cases such as data analytics and content creation, as well as for chatbots, virtual shop assistants, and augmented reality in customer service.
Businesses also the benefits of some key technologies in the next one to two years such as fast, reliable and secure internet connectivity (57 per cent); cybersecurity solutions (34 per cent); digital payment technologies (28 per cent); cloud-based communications services (27 per cent); and artificial Intelligence (27 per cent).
The data reveals that 79 per cent of workers surveyed want to learn more digital skills to further their career but only 39 per cent of businesses offer training in this area. This presents an untapped win-win opportunity for businesses wanting to attract and retain talent.
While the opportunities are clear and Australian businesses show an appetite to embrace new technology, 54 per cent agree it’s hard to stay up to date with developments and know what to invest in, and 40 per cent agree they want more support to help use digital technologies more effectively.
“Australian businesses are adaptable and entrepreneurial by nature, but they need help keeping up with the pace of change and prioritising what to invest in. In an environment where there’s no time or money to waste, businesses need good support and advice to adopt technology that will deliver the highest returns for their business,” Hutton concluded.
