Almost half of mid-market businesses still double handling data

A new survey has found mid-market operators are having to juggle as many as five different business management tools, causing efficiency, productivity loss and greater security risks.

MYOB’s latest survey of over 1000 Australian and New Zealand mid-market business operators (that’s businesses with 20-500 full-time employees or equivalent) shows that it’s not only smaller ventures that are facing challenges resulting from rapid digitisation in recent years.

That is, as the need for digital solutions for businesses has increased rapidly, organisations have been working hard to acquire and integrate the solutions they need — but it seems they’re facing mixed results.

Key highlights of the survey:

• 48% of Australian mid-sized businesses and 46% of those in NZ said they’re wasting time inputting data into multiple systems
• 43% and 46% of Australian and NZ businesses respectively are having to check between these systems to make certain their data is correct
• 41% of Australian respondents said they’re sometimes duplicating efforts between these systems
• 38% of NZ respondents said they ‘sometimes’ or ‘often’ have to edit data when transferring it between systems

It’s not all bad news, however, as respondents to the survey who’ve added or changed their digital solutions in the past year gained significant benefits, where these projects were implemented strategically.

READ: Weighing the costs of digital disconnection

In fact, Australian respondents listed the top outcomes from addressing their disconnection issues as: improvements in efficiency and productivity (48 percent), the ability to service more customers (39 percent) and stronger/more informed decision making (34 percent).

In NZ, the top benefits cited were: increased efficiency (45 percent), more time to focus on strategy and growth (44 percent) and improved competitiveness in their target market (43 percent).

Remarking on the survey results, MYOB’s General Manager — Enterprise Kim Clarke said they show how integral getting the tech piece right is for mid-market ventures.

“When it comes to changing or improving their digital solutions, mid-market businesses don’t have the same luxuries as larger corporates like large IT departments who can stitch together solutions, or access to additional budget to cover complex integration requirements.

“Instead, many are cottoning onto the fact that more doesn’t mean better and are now after future-fit platforms that remove the challenges of disconnected systems, like lower productivity and higher security risks.

“They also know they risk falling behind their peers on every level, unless these challenges are resolved.”