Published on the 05/07/2016 | Written by Donovan Jackson

TUANZ says digital enablement delivers results, but SMEs have been slow to engage and leverage the opportunity…

While the recently released Digital Nation New Zealand report paints a bright picture of the state of the technology industry in this country, there remains a good deal of room for the average Kiwi business to lift its game.

That’s according to the Telecommunications Users Association of New Zealand (TUANZ), an organisation which put its name to the Digital Nation NZ report which was released last week.

Writing in its newsletter, TUANZ CEO Craig Young noted that the economic researchers (NZIER and SAPERE) suggest that a 4 percent productivity improvement in the tech sector is estimated to deliver an additional $2.7 billion in GDP annually. “Important for us to note…is while we want a strong sector, we’re keenly interested in the wider question of how well NZ uses the outputs to develop new and existing businesses.

Young pointed to good figures coming out of the report:

• 97 per cent of firms with more than 5 employees use computers
• 96 per cent use the internet
• Increased use of services like UFB could deliver an estimated $5.5b to GDP over the next 10 years
• Highly digitally engaged SMEs show 20 percent higher revenues, faster growth and strong job growth than those less digitally engaged.

However, he said there is a broader issue and it has to do not with technology industry companies, but business in general. “Our issue is that the actual uptake and use of technology in SMEs to become digitally enabled is still not great. According to MYOB in [its] business monitor in late 2015, while 54 per cent of SMEs claim to have an online presence, only 22 per cent have a live business website and 9 per cent are using social media only.”

He makes a good point. Those of us in the technology industry have become adept at eating our own dogfood – but those in other industries are bound to lag the adoption rates for new and emerging technologies.

Indeed, those that lag are likely to be the ones which are digitally disrupted, while those on top of adoption are likely to be the disruptors.

Finally, commenting on connectivity, and access to it, which plays a major role in equipping business in general to better use particularly cloud-based technologies, Young reaffirmed TUANZ backing for the government backed rollout, but said niggles remain.

“We are fully supportive of UFB and the world leading position that fibre to the home puts us in; we are also supportive of the Government’s push to make consenting issues easier, but are concerned that it’s taking some time to resolve.  We are all waiting to see the next discussion paper that the Government will release on the Telco Act review to see how regulating the networks might be shaped going forward.”