Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Lee Marshall: Hunter Campbell Managing Partner on the Mood of the CFO survey showing optimism

Transcript

Lee Marshall: Hunter Campbell Managing Partner on the Mood of the CFO survey showing optimism · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Well, the Hunter Campbell mood of the cfo's report is out.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: It's an annual thing, and apparently over half of the
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: country's chief financial officers thinks growth is still a reality
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: in the next year. But eighty percent of the CFOs
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: say global uncertainty is costing their business and three quarters
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: have begun implementing AI and forty percent of using the
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: technology to replace human workers. So we joined now from
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Hunter Campbell. We are by the managing partner Lee Marshall.
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: Hello, good morning, Andrew.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: So can I say they are cautiously optimistic? How would
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: you describe their mood?
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah? Look, I was really pleasantly surprised by the positivity
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: overall and the survey. To be fair, I think the
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: stand up finding for me was that it was inter
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: just how New Zealand businesses have done in the last
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: twelve months. So fifty seven percent of businesses have either
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: met or exceeded their revenue targets, which is a really
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: big number. So actually imink potentially a little bit better
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: than what a lot of people would would consider. We
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: saw a different sentiment come through when we asked about
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: the view of the outside world. The proportion of CFOs
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: expecting the global economy to decline more than doubled from
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: twenty one percent last year up to forty five percent
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: this year. So it's given us some caution around what
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: what are the things are in there that we can't control,
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: But what New Zealand businesses are getting on with it
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: outside outside of that, and I think we're truckling along
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: better than expected.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, thank you so much for that. And of course
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: we're all waiting to find out what happened last quarter
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: and what the war has done to us. We are
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: now what five months in, and we still haven't seen
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: that effect yet. So yeah, eighty percent of the CFOs
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: say it is costing, so we'll wait to see about that. Meanwhile,
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: the interesting figures are about AI. We're surprised about how
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: many have already got on the AI train and are
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: they leaping in for good business reasons or is it
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: just because the hype of AI. Everyone talks about I
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: sort of makes it seem inevitable.
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, unsurprisingly, AI was a really big talking point right
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: throughout the surveying and actually the story is a little
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: bit fractured for me. So we have seventy four percent
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: of businesses now saying that they've brought out AI across
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: business functions, big number. Three quarters of New Zealm businesses
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: and ninety four percent of CFOs see it as a
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: positive force of business. So CFOs are actually jumping on
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: the train and they're well and truly sort of bang
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: into it. But the structural impact is still catching up.
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: So only one in five have reported a substantial structural
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: impact to their teams. And you are right to what
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: you say for the three percent have said they plan
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: to cut headcounts at least in part because of AI.
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: But look, for me, I think it's a real question
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: of sequencing some businesses, maybe making workforce decisions ahead of
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: having a clear picture of what AI could actually deliver
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: for them and then deciding what role they actually want
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: to play AI to play for their business. My concern,
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: and you touched on cost pressure, but my concern that
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: this is all happening at a time where cost pressures
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: are very prevalent for a lot of New Zealand businesses.
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: So I hope that AI and the hope that it
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: can get in efficiencies for businesses isn't getting caught up
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: in the crosshairs of decision making care And we don't
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: start reducing headcounts because we think it's going to work.
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: It's going to be really it's going to be really
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: impactful and thought through very well and strategic around how
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: businesses bring AI into their organizations.
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: Very good Cerfine Match, and I think your leads from
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: Hunter Campbell that's the company that actually did the survey.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: What is interesting about the CFOs, of course, if anyone
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: is going to be affected by AI, it's a chief
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: financial officer because of course that really helps out with
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: your accounting. So apparently a lot of them are concerned
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: about what their job might be going forward into the future.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: For more from Earlily Edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: to news Talks.
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: It'd be from five am weekdays, or follow the podcast
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: on iHeartRadio