Latest / Best of Business / Andrew Fairgray: 2degrees Chief Business Officer on business optimism shooting up in new Shaping Business Study

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Andrew Fairgray: 2degrees Chief Business Officer on business optimism shooting up in new Shaping Business Study · Best of Business

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  Speaker 1: Heller Duper see alas.
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  Speaker 2: Rising level of optimism In a survey that's just been
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  Speaker 2: done by two degrees. They talked over seven hundred businesses.
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  Speaker 2: They found thirty four percent of businesses are feeling optimistic.
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  Speaker 2: That's up from only thirty two percent last year. Fifty
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  Speaker 2: three percent of businesses now expect revenue to grow in
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  Speaker 2: the next year. That's up from fifty percent last year.
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  Speaker 2: Andrew Fairgray is the chief business officer at two degrees.
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  Speaker 3: Hi, Andrew, hither, how are you?
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  Speaker 2: I'm well, thank you. Did this surprise you that there
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  Speaker 2: are more businesses feeling optimistic than last year?
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  Speaker 3: It was a very pleasant surprise. I think we should
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  Speaker 3: look at it as marginally improved. When I looked at
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  Speaker 3: it and reflected on what might be driving this. We've
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  Speaker 3: had a change of government and we've obviously got very
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  Speaker 3: resilient businesses that are looking for some positivity to move forward.
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  Speaker 2: What is going on here? How do we explain it?
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  Speaker 2: Apart from obviously a change of Andrew, which is fair enough, right,
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  Speaker 2: Just that's marginal stuff? Are they seeing any green shoots.
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  Speaker 3: I think we are starting to see some green shirts.
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  Speaker 3: We're starting to see more businesses seeing the benefit of
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  Speaker 3: using digital technology to support their businesses. We're seeing the
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  Speaker 3: global environment is starting to improve. Hopefully people are starting
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  Speaker 3: to realize there is an opportunity to move forward. Undoubtedly
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  Speaker 3: the cross pressures are still there for all businesses, but
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  Speaker 3: relative to we can put our heads down or we
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  Speaker 3: can look up and leverage all the assets that we
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  Speaker 3: do have to move forward. And we often talk about
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  Speaker 3: the benefits that New Zealand can have for their businesses
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  Speaker 3: as the weightless economy and all the great things that
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  Speaker 3: can be done. And you have to look at what
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  Speaker 3: rocket Lab they've done with fifty launchers. It's just phenomenal
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  Speaker 3: what they've been doing.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and then how do we explain the businesses reporting
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  Speaker 2: they are anticipating, Like the increase in businesses reporting their
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  Speaker 2: anticipating revenue growth. Is that because they think we are
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  Speaker 2: through the worst of it when it comes to inflation
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  Speaker 2: and interest rates and so on.
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  Speaker 3: That's what I'm hoping, and they are also saying opportunity.
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  Speaker 3: It's been a long COVID hangover and now with a
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  Speaker 3: change of government, I really think they're starting to think
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  Speaker 3: there's going to be some opportunities to move forward. This
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  Speaker 3: was taken in April, so I'm hoping that this will
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  Speaker 3: transpire now for next year because it is the fifth
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  Speaker 3: year we've been running the survey, so it's a good
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  Speaker 3: opportunity for us to get some real data to say
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  Speaker 3: this isn't a one off, this is actually a real
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  Speaker 3: movement and hopefully it's pointing in the right direction with
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  Speaker 3: some green shoots.
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  Speaker 2: Are you seeing green shoots in your business?
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  Speaker 3: We're starting to see more and more businesses wanting to
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  Speaker 3: leverage the technology that we offer. So therefore, as a
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  Speaker 3: player that's very proud to offer value in the market
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  Speaker 3: and really been clear of what we're doing, the new
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  Speaker 3: scale that we had since we merged in twenty twenty
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  Speaker 3: two with Vocus, we're starting to see some real positivity
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  Speaker 3: there as well.
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  Speaker 2: Are you struggling still with employment? Is it hard to
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  Speaker 2: find people who have the right skills?
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  Speaker 3: That's something that came out and the survey heather that
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  Speaker 3: people with technology skills that's really really hard to find.
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  Speaker 3: I'm putting it down to probably those people who held
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  Speaker 3: back taking their overseas experience are now going overseas and
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  Speaker 3: we quite haven't got the immigration settings or the environment
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  Speaker 3: right to track the right level of schools that we
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  Speaker 3: need to support businesses through this technology change.
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  Speaker 2: How do we deal with that? How do we fix that?
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  Speaker 3: I think we need to have a whole look at
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  Speaker 3: the education system. How are we supporting people from primary
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  Speaker 3: school to secondary school into tertiary organizations and what does
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  Speaker 3: that look like. How do we give people clear pathways
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  Speaker 3: so they know very early on what to do. How
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  Speaker 3: do we work better with tertiary educations and tertiary educations
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  Speaker 3: we're better with the commercial sector to drive outcomes. We
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  Speaker 3: partner with the Chamber of Commerces throughout New Zealand to
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  Speaker 3: look at leveraging their tools and library of resources that
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  Speaker 3: they have. So it's really just about how can we
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  Speaker 3: keep educating each other to move forward.
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  Speaker 2: Mark, if you were you one of the business is
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  Speaker 2: that actually participated in.
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  Speaker 3: The survey, no everyone.
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  Speaker 2: If you were, would you have said more optimistic or
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  Speaker 2: less optimistic?
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  Speaker 3: I would have said more optimistic. But I'm that type
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  Speaker 3: of person. I think we have great ss in New Zealment.
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  Speaker 3: It's about getting things right and focusing on what matters
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  Speaker 3: and everyone doing their bit and looking to move forward.
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  Speaker 3: We can't change the past, but we can definitely create
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  Speaker 3: the future.
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  Speaker 2: Good stuff, Andrew, listen, Thank you so much. Really appreciated
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  Speaker 2: Andrew Fairgray, the chief business officer at two degrees.
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