Left to right: Flight Coffee founders Richard Corney, Nick Clark, Ronak Patel, Trev Bradley and Matt Graylee.
Left to right: Flight Coffee founders Richard Corney, Nick Clark, Ronak Patel, Trev Bradley and Matt Graylee.
Technology is enabling Kiwi firms to tap into markets far and wide but research shows the internet and social media are not being utilised properly.
Ninety-four per cent of 500 businesses surveyed by Spark said technology would help them succeed but only half were found to be using it effectively.
Spark chief executive of home, mobile and business Grant McBeath said many small firms struggled to keep up with advances in technology, which often hindered productivity.
"The challenge for SMEs is they can be so focused in their business that they often don't have the time to focus on their business – the resource needed to keep things ticking over can hold them back from thinking about the things they could be doing to get their business performing better," McBeath said.
"With uncertainty in the business climate, many are nervous about expanding their resource base so they are working lean and that can make it more difficult to focus on the digital tools they could be using, and the online markets they could be reaching."
According to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, there is an estimated $34 billion productivity impact for New Zealand firms - if they make better use of the internet.
Research shows firms that make more use of internet services are 6 per cent more productive than the average firm in their industry.
"There's this big opportunity to tap into global markets, and even to reach local markets more effectively, but when you don't have much time and resources are stretched, investing in digital platforms can feel like a big commitment," he said.
Flight Coffee co-founder Nick Clark said technology had enabled his espresso firm to expand internationally, and connect with important contacts.
The company began as a small roastery in Hawke's Bay at the end of 2008, in co-founder Richard Corney's parent's garage. Since then it has opened cafes in Wellington and supplies coffee to overseas markets including South Korea.
Flight Coffee began using social media - mainly Facebook - for business purposes in 2010 before it became commonplace practice for firms.
Clark said it had a positive effect on the business almost immediately, and it had enabled them to build a global community.
"Our competitors are on the same platforms we are but when we first started I remember it took about a year and a half for some of our biggest competitors to actually get in the game, and we wondered why they weren't doing it," he said.
"Technology makes everything a finger-click away, anyone can collaborate on anything at any one time with different tools. Essentially, my office is my laptop."
Approximately three million Kiwis scroll through social media each day, but only one-third of the country's small businesses have a social media plan, McBeath said.
"It's important to be where your customers are, and we know that more and more they're online," McBeath said. "Where are customers when they're looking for a plumber, for example? They're often on social media or Google, so businesses need to be showing up in those places too. Otherwise, their sales funnel relies on existing customers and legacy methods of advertising, and you can really be held back."
Grant McBeath, Spark chief executive of home, mobile and business. Photo / Supplied
Business Mentors general manager Lisa Ford said many small businesses had the intention to utilise social media but many were stuck on how.
"There's a lot of confusion in the marketplace on how to best use social media, and what that entails. It should be one of the primary objects for an SME to actually be able to market, online," Ford said. "When we think of the way people market their business, online marketing is certainly becoming one of those components we never considered a few years ago."
But there was confusion in the marketplace for many small firms, Ford said.
"People say 'Oh great, I can get on Facebook and market', but they are not understanding some of the complexities around that," she said.
"They need to make sure they're educating themselves, researching how to do it, or if they haven't got time, talk to the professionals. When people are putting together their budgets for the year they need to make online marketing is a component."
