Lagging AI adoption and outdated tech stacks magnify tough economic conditions for businesses

HubSpot, the customer platform for scaling businesses, has released new data revealing Australian businesses are struggling to drive growth as costs increase, while outdated techstacks and slow AI adoption exacerbate economic pressures.

High costs and expenses are now the number one challenge facing Australian companies (40%) with one in five (19%) saying it’s the biggest challenge they are facing. This is closely followed by data security & compliance (31%), slow growth (29%), intense competition (28%), and difficulty generating actionable insights from data (28%).

The data follows the recent news that Australia's economy is growing at the slowest pace since the 1990s recession.

Yet while businesses battle economic headwinds, barriers to productivity are also clear, as 20% of Australian businesses admit they “haven’t started talking about generative AI at all”, and a further 27% say managing multiple channels and content types is a challenge.

“Increasing costs have resulted in Australian businesses doing it tough,” said Dan Bognar, Vice President & Managing Director of JAPAC, HubSpot. “More than ever, brands are competing to deliver a best-in-class customer experience, and nail their right-time communications. On average, Australian employees have to switch between over 17 distinct applications just to manage their customer interactions. This suggests the teams interfacing directly with customers may be struggling to deeply understand and build meaningful relationships with them. These teams really need a unified customer platform to leverage right-time, right-channel connections, that empower positive customer relationships.”

“While organisations are starting to recognise the potential of AI in alleviating these challenges, there is plenty of room for CX improvement. By adopting generative AI into their day-to-day, businesses will quickly see an increase in customer connection, and a decrease in hard costs,” said Bognar.

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