As New Zealand businesses face mounting productivity pressure, new research from 2degrees shows AI is already delivering measurable gains for SMEs. From streamlining operations to unlocking new growth opportunities, the challenge now is turning early experimentation into lasting business impact.
Acron Plastics, a New Zealand thermoforming manufacturer, had been running as a fully paper-based business before adopting MRPeasy. We sat down with Business & Sales Manager Mark Wong to see how the company uses the system to structure orders, manage purchasing and inventory, and reduce the risk of missed jobs.
Artificial intelligence deserves the same ‘zero trust’ approach we take with cybersecurity, says Matthew Evetts, so constantly check and verify AI systems to ensure the best outcomes. When customers ask me what the best way to secure their organisations is, my response is just two words: “zero trust”. This is the increasingly predominant approach to improving cybersecurity maturity that rests on the premise that you can’t trust anything or anyone connected to or accessing your network, applications and devices. Instead, you basically assume your computers are already compromised, that everyone is a risk. You verify everything, all the time. That’s a shift away from the “trust but verify” approach that long dominated cybersecurity – an approach that assumed that once
Using his own intelligence, Bill Bennett discusses AI’s current and potential uses for business owners. Artificial intelligence is no longer the stuff of science fiction. It’s here and it’s all around us. If you are active online you probably come across it most working days. Corporations raced to adopt artificial intelligence (AI). They use it to automate everyday processes as they look to cut costs and navigate skills shortages. T However, the results aren’t always great from their customers’ point of view. Quality can suffer. Mistakes are made. Customers can find it frustrating to speak to a robot or exchange text with a chatbot when they want to talk to a human. Yet there’s no question AI can have an
How much trust should your business be putting in ChatGPT? Horatiu Petrescu says don’t focus on the tool, focus on who is using it. The question of exactly how much trust we should put into ChatGPT has a simple answer, and a more nuanced one. For starters, it’s necessary to understand what ChatGPT is. At the most basic level, ChatGPT is a tool. Ask yourself how much you might trust any tool, say a spade, and you’ll have the simple answer to how much you should trust ChatGPT. The point is that tools are neither trustworthy nor untrustworthy. Instead, a tool is only as trustworthy as the person who holds it. How a person wields a spade matters because the
Richard Conway shares his company’s experience in transitioning to Google’s new AI Search Generative Experience. Everything is going to change. Whilst we have been using AI within advertising platforms for many years, the launch of Chat GPT in November 2022 and the subsequent tsunami of new AI businesses since has launched this technology into the mainstream. As a marketing agency owner, it is business critical for both us and our clients to ensure we utilise the technology in a safe, effective, and secure manner. To this end, my company identified the world’s leading expert in AI and marketing and engaged her to help us transition effectively. In May 2023, Google announced the beta launch of its new AI Search Generative
More than half of New Zealand’s small business owners say they are optimistic about the future, despite less than half reporting revenue increases over the past year, reports the latest Canstar Small Business survey. The survey of more than 700 business owners, conducted through July and August, found 55 percent were optimistic about the future of their businesses, up from 49 percent last year. Less than half (44 percent) said their revenue had increased over the past year, although that was a significant jump from the previous 12 months. The increase comes as small businesses implement artificial intelligence into their workflow and rely more heavily on online sales. Canstar’s survey gives numerous insights into the ‘mood’ of the small business
Business are increasingly looking at the huge leaps made in digital CX for everyday consumers, and asking how this can revolutionise their operations. 2degrees explains.
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