Large and small businesses in New Zealand have explored ways to leverage technology in an effort to streamline their operations and boost productivity. From small business accounting software to communications tools, today's technological landscape offers affordable and effective solutions for a range of enterprise objectives.
According to Statistics New Zealand, around 91 per cent of the country's businesses have access to broadband internet. This opens the door to options for cloud-based software, as well as web services that work with either cloud or PC programs. For instance, EziFeed is a web service that can be used with PC-based CashManager or the cloud version of Accomplish's offerings.
Already, enterprises in the country have begun placing and receiving orders over the web, at a rate higher than neighbouring Australia. Specifically, 64 per cent of Kiwi businesses place orders and 42 per cent receive orders via the internet, compared to 53 per cent and 29 per cent of Australian organisations.
This includes both large and small New Zealand companies, the source noted, with 41 per cent of small business and 46 per cent of large enterprises conducting these activities online.
These figures point to a growing comfort with utilising technology for business operations, including internet-based services. A similar trend was recently confirmed by research into the country's unified communications (UC) activities. Frost & Sullivan projected that New Zealand's UC market will grow more than 3 per cent in 2015, representing a faster pace than the previous year.
Although cloud-based services for UC are expected to become more popular, the majority of the UC deployments will comprise on-premise tools, the research firm concluded. Therefore, even as web and cloud solutions gather steam, many companies are still electing to use on-site resources for the time being.
Regardless of deployment method, technology is shaping the way organisations interact with customers and manage their operations. Both on-premise and online tools offer benefits by consolidating information, streamlining processes and providing fast, convenient options for transactions and more.