Three Ways ANZ Businesses Can Expand Amidst Uncertainty

Businesses across Australia and New Zealand are operating in an increasingly unpredictable environment. Global economic pressures, supply chain disruptions and shifting interest rates are reshaping market dynamics at pace.

For small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), these challenges are often compounded by limited access to capital, tighter cash flow and resource constraints. Yet, despite this uncertainty, many forward-looking organisations are finding ways to adapt, innovate and expand.

In our ongoing conversations with business leaders across the region, three powerful trends continue to emerge — trends that are fundamentally influencing how businesses build resilience and unlock value.

1. Managing Uncertainty with Agility

While signs of economic recovery are emerging, such as rate cuts that ease access to capital, unpredictability remains a constant. The most adaptive businesses are those equipped not only with a robust strategy but also with the operational agility to respond swiftly when disruption strikes.

Real-time visibility, automation and connected systems are becoming essential for decision-making. One example is Camilla, a global fashion brand known for its dynamic, limited-run collections. With fast-moving consumer demand, agility is critical. “We need to see movements as they happen. We’ve got to be able to react and get stock into the right place globally,” said Luke Matthews, Head of Technology, Camilla.

By unifying its operations onto a cloud platform, Camilla can now track inventory in real time, enabling rapid responses to sudden spikes in demand, even those sparked by a single viral moment.

2. Harnessing AI to Unlock New Levels of Productivity

Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer on the horizon — it is already reshaping how businesses operate. Across Australia and New Zealand, organisations are moving beyond experimentation, embedding AI into day-to-day workflows to drive efficiency and innovation.

AI is automating repetitive processes — from invoice handling to anomaly detection — freeing teams to focus on strategic, high-impact work. It’s also accelerating insight generation, enabling faster smarter decisions backed by real-time data analysis.

Crucially, AI is levelling the playing field. Tools that were once only available to large enterprises — such as predictive analytics and intelligent automation — are now more accessible to businesses of all sizes.

Take New Aim, one of Australia’s fastest-growing eCommerce technology companies, as an example. Its digital backbone integrates dozens of internal and external systems, enabling real-time pricing, forecasting and process automation. “Our analytics tool turns big data into actionable insights, saving thousands of hours and accelerating decisions,” said Stephen Xiao, chief finance officer, New Aim.

Integrated with over a dozen internal and external systems, NetSuite has enabled New Aim to gain real-time pricing, forecasting and automation. It also cut its month-end close from 20 days to just three and save 3,000 staff hours annually — a clear example of how the right platform can transform productivity.

3. Accelerating Success Through Best Practices

Many organisations once saw bespoke, heavily customised processes as essential to differentiation. Today, that mindset is shifting. More companies are opting for scalable, proven workflows — known as best practices — to reduce complexity, lower costs and drive innovation faster.

Rather than reinventing the wheel, these business processes are often built from industry experience, provide ready-to-use templates and dashboards that help organisations get up and running quickly. This approach allows teams to focus on what matters most: growing the business.

Importantly, adopting best practices makes it easier to embrace innovation — including AI. A modern, cloud-based platform ensures that new features and capabilities can be adopted seamlessly, without the disruption often caused by legacy or heavily customised systems.

Kieser, a fast-growing allied health network with over 30 clinics across Australia, took this approach to overcome scaling challenges. “We went from drowning in manual data entry to a single source of truth across all clinics,” said Diana Butterworth, chief finance officer, Kieser. “It was a no-brainer for scaling to 50+ clinics.”

With standardised processes and a single data foundation, Kieser was able to scale rapidly while remaining agile enough to embrace new digital technologies as they emerge.

Unlocking Long-Term Value

In today’s environment, businesses can no longer afford antiquated systems that create data siloes and process complexity. Resilience now hinges on intelligent software that evolves alongside the business, unifying finance, operations and strategy in one place.

The most effective platforms provide a clear view of the business, adapt quickly to change, and support smarter, faster decisions — all without adding unnecessary complexity. As AI becomes embedded in everyday workflows, businesses that build on scalable, intelligent foundations will be best positioned to turn disruption into opportunity.

Scott Wiltshire is vice president and general manager, Oracle NetSuite ANZ.

Last Updated on May 27, 2025 by Scott Wiltshire