NZBusiness May 2023

Richard Conway explains how AI technology can streamline your workflow and boost creativity. I believe we are at a pivotal moment in history. In November 2022, OpenAI, funded by Microsoft among others, launched ChatGPT. The uptake was immediate, and adoption was profound. As of January 2023, there were more than 13 million daily visitors and more than 100 million users. Technology like this (and Google’s equivalent, Bard) is set to disrupt many industries, including digital marketing. Generative AI (artificial intelligence) can create a blog post based on defined parameters in seconds; the technology can debug code, write a poem, and even create a business plan – and we are only just scratching the surface. Many companies have already started leveraging

“Marketers are stupid” and “salespeople are lazy”. It’s a familiar tale, and Logan Wedgwood says it’s time to change the tune. Stay with me a minute as you picture this scene. A marketer throws the door open, storms into the shark pen, and yells “what happened to the lead we got you yesterday?” The salesperson slides his feet off his desk, sits forward and whispers “it wasn’t warm enough…” The marketer and salesperson eyeball each other across the room in silence. The tension builds, and suddenly the marketer leaps across the desk and tackles the salesperson to the floor, looking desperately for a phone cord to strangle him with – only phones don’t have cords anymore and nor do keyboards

Could you become the business your customers can’t live without? Mat Wylie shows you how. Every time we go to a business we go with an expectation of certain standards. If it’s a café, we expect the coffee and food to taste good, and the employees should be polite, if not friendly. You know that your dentist is qualified and should provide good dental care. Vets need to be good with animals and be qualified to solve pet health problems – at the very least. But here’s the problem: “Good” really isn’t good enough these days – especially in potentially tough economic times. If you want to retain customers and attract new ones, you need to be great.   Why

Jo Douglas walks you through the consultation process when restructuring your business, and how to handle any redundancy compensation. According to various commentators, we are again heading into a poor business outlook and talk of recession. Companies are starting to think about retrenchment and this is a global issue.  New Zealand businesses can be impacted by the flow-on effect from multi-national decision-making to reduce headcounts.    Small businesses will feel the pinch too. They can’t always reduce headcount without slashing reserves of talent. Recently we have been through a tight labour market and the challenges have been to secure and keep talent. Restructuring in 2020 in response to the pandemic also left some companies short when things reopened.   Will New

Damon Paling revisits some core principles Kiwi exporters can follow when building commercial endeavours in China. New Zealand and China retain a strong trade relationship built on mutual respect. In December 2022 political and business leaders from both nations marked 50 years of diplomatic relations.  The relationship is complex spanning political, economic, cultural, and security dimensions. However, the two countries have developed a robust bilateral relationship over the years.  The April 2022 upgrade of the original 2008 bilateral Free Trade Agreement underscored the commitment of both parties. Whilst there have been some tensions and challenges, the two countries will hopefully continue to navigate the relationship in a way that advances their respective interests. At an enterprise level, there are approximately