AI and automation — the key to levelling the playing
With the right tools and processes, even a small team can achieve efficiency, scale operations, and improve both staff and customer satisfaction
Year: 2025
Industry: SME
Services: Process improvement, workflow automation, training, change management
Challenge:
Many small-to-medium businesses operate with layers of manual workarounds that create inefficiencies across the organisation. In my experience, I’ve seen this play out everywhere — from lead generation and sales conversion, to HR onboarding, stock management, invoicing, accounts payable, and even customer service.
The common thread? Processes grew organically over time, but were never designed for efficiency. Stakeholders often created “Roblox-style workarounds” just to keep operations moving. The result was:
- Staff bogged down in repetitive admin
- Poor visibility of stock and financials
- Inefficient onboarding and workload management
- Inconsistent customer experiences
These inefficiencies compounded as businesses grew, creating stress, wasted resources, and lost opportunities.
Solution:
As a Business Analyst, my approach has always been to start with people, not tools. I’d engage stakeholders across departments to understand how processes really worked day-to-day, not just how they were written on paper. Together, we would identify pain points and roadblocks, then map out the desired “future state.”
From there, we would document functional and non-functional requirements — the practical “must-haves” and the qualities needed to make the system sustainable (e.g., usability, scalability, reporting).
For SMBs, low-cost and industry-specific digital tools often provide the highest ROI. I’ve seen integrated workflow, project, and financial management systems transform small teams. For example:
- Trades businesses benefit from software tailored to quoting, scheduling, and invoicing.
- Agencies thrive with tools that unify projects, resourcing, and billing.
- Even florists have niche software that integrates stock, sales, and delivery in one platform.
The key is aligning the solution to the business model and ensuring adoption through training and change management.
Impact:
When SMBs adopt workflow automation and integrated solutions, the impact is immediate and tangible:
- 30–40% reduction in time spent on admin tasks
- 20% decrease in operational costs through efficiency gains
- Faster invoicing and cash flow improvements
- Improved customer experience through consistency and responsiveness
- Staff freed to focus on higher-value, growth-driving activities
But the success isn’t just about the tool. One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is that investment and change management are non-negotiable. Many SMBs think software alone will solve their problems, but without proper onboarding, staff training, and adoption, they revert to old habits.
Financial constraints and resistance to change are real. Yet when businesses see the clear return on investment and understand how AI and automation empower — not replace — staff, the willingness to adopt grows rapidly.
Have a question about our SMB AI work?
Many small-to-medium businesses build processes “organically” over time. This creates inefficient workarounds, leading to repetitive admin, poor stock and financial visibility, slow onboarding, and inconsistent customer experiences.
Automation replaces manual, repetitive steps with streamlined, integrated systems. It gives staff more time for growth-driving activities, improves visibility of operations, and creates a consistent customer experience.
Low-cost, industry-specific digital tools often provide the highest return. Examples include:
Trades software for quoting, scheduling, and invoicing
Agency platforms for projects, resources, and billing
Retail/florist tools that integrate stock, sales, and delivery
Typical impacts include:
30–40% reduction in time spent on admin
20% lower operational costs
Faster invoicing and improved cash flow
Improved customer responsiveness
No — the biggest success factor is change management. Without proper training and adoption, staff revert to old habits. Tools must be paired with staff onboarding and process alignment for sustainable impact
Automation levels the playing field. Even small NZ businesses can achieve enterprise-grade efficiency and scalability by adopting AI and workflow tools, improving both staff and customer satisfaction