News, views and analysis from NZ’s tech sector
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Hi there,
They say that fortune favours the brave, and AI, machine learning, IoT, chatbots (etc, etc) are all meant to improve business performance, providing a point of differentiation from your competitors and driving efficiencies.
That’s the theory at least. But true innovation is a big, scary journey for many companies, and new research from Accenture shows it may also not be contributing back as much as those investing expect. The report shows that while spend is growing fast, return on investment is declining and, contrary to popular thinking, many of those investing big in such technology are in fact underperforming their industry peers.
Some, however, are reaping the rewards and it is these that provide a guide for how other companies (such as yours) can get a better return on technical innovation.
In other news this week:
- Global restructure as SAP pushes cloud
- Corruption: NZ slips off its perch
- Fact-checkers abandon Facebook, reveal inner workings
- Go figure: Kiwi consumers don't trust what businesses say on social media
Our featured case study this week highlights a Canterbury farm supplier which has driven down the cost of invoice processing, gained new visibility, improved governance and freed up time for value-add activities, thanks to Esker’s accounts payable workflow automation.
And lastly, our webinar on Feb 27 explores the theme of building trust into your business data. Register now.
Enjoy the read,
Heather Wright
Editor
editor@istart.co.nz
Technology innovation spend up, ROI down
It’s not how much you spend, but what you spend it on...
The majority of companies spending up big on innovation aren’t seeing a return on their technology investments according to new research from Accenture.
“There’s a gap between what technology innovation allows companies to do and what they actually do.”
SAP restructures, aims for the clouds
4,400 employees may be affected...
SAP has announced plans to triple its cloud earnings by 2023. The company also announced a restructure that is set to kick off in the first half of 2019.
“We’re optimising our workforce to actually increase the growth of the company.”
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NZ loses top spot, AU stalls on global corruption index
NZ and AU find themselves in troubling trend as high anti-corruption scores are replaced with decline...
According to the Transparency International’s newly-published Corruption Perceptions Index, the Asia Pacific region is making “little progress in the fight against corruption.”
“The “Asia Pacific region is making little progress in the fight against corruption.”
[Read more]
Snopes quits $100K Facebook fact checking partnership
Could we end up with Fakebook?...
Snopes has quit Facebook’s fact checking initiative as ex-staff claim Facebook ignored their concerns and the partnership has been unsuccessful in combating misinformation.
“We estimate that anywhere between 30,000 and 40,000 links to false content, possibly many more, have been flagged.”
[Read more]
Digital: The more we use it, the more we distrust it
Surprise, surprise, Kiwi consumers don’t trust social media for business...
A new survey shows a clear disconnect between how businesses rate the benefits of social media and how consumers perceive businesses on social media.
“Consumer perceptions of businesses on social media are less favourable than business perceptions of themselves.”
Accelerating accounts payable with automation and AI
Canterbury farm supplier Ruralco, needed to reduce their finance staff and the mountain of paper...
Ruralco provides farmers with all their farming needs, including general farm supplies, seed, fertiliser, fuel and energy.
“Now, we’re not fighting fires the whole time, but doing value-added tasks which benefit the business.”
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