Australia

UserTesting (NYSE: USER), a video-based human insight company, conducted a survey to study the effects of the rising costs of lunch items due to inflation, which is being called Lunchflation, on Australian employees as they plan their return to the workplace. 85% of respondents believe lunchflation to be a serious concern as prices of food items are continuing to rise. The sharp increase in the prices of popular lunch choices like sandwiches, tacos, salads, coffee, etc. has altered the preferences of Australian employees.

Australia and New Zealand are looking to a new era in real-time payments with a sense of rush to modernise as the region seeks to make ground on competitors, according to the 3rd edition of Prime Time for Real Time 2022, published by ACI Worldwide, in partnership with GlobalData, an analytics company, and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr). The report – tracking real-time payments volumes and growth across 53 countries – includes an economic impact study, providing a broad view of the economic benefits of real-time payments for consumers, businesses and the broader economy across 30 countries.

The cooling property market has resulted in the creation of an acronym, FOOP, fear of over paying. A year ago, people turned up to auctions and waving their arms in the air prepared to pay any amount of money to purchase a property through fear of missing out (FOMO). We were seeing crazy things happening at auctions. Now, things are vastly different.

Earlypay, a company that provides tailored financial solutions to businesses across Australia, has announced two key executive appointments; Lee Trego and Donelle Brooks.

When you live in the most arid State in the most arid country in the world, bushfires are rather an unfortunate, and all-too-regular part of life. Learning how to survive such emergencies is important for all people, but especially for our youngest citizens.

Melbourne-based security-technology start-up Solid GPS is seeing a spike in sales post-COVID restrictions as Australians start to holiday domestically. The company, which provides state of the art portable GPS trackers, has hit 5,000 customers as an army of ‘Grey Nomads’ increasingly holiday at home after the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions.

Australia’s SMBs are investing in their recovery. With CBA financing for equipment, the sector is up 17% so far this financial year, compared with the same period last year. CBA research also shows 67% of businesses have budgeted for new equipment in the next 12 months, with 55% of those businesses specifically planning to invest in IT and office technology.

Smart-home security provider Ring has released its first “Love Your Home” report, revealing what’s driving interest in smart doorbells and security cameras and offering a glimpse into the memories, passions and objects that Aussies want to protect most from theft or damage. Aussie homes are full of irreplaceable items so it’s not surprising that over half (52%) are set to be protected by smart-security devices in the next 12 months. The new research reveals the weird and wonderful objects Aussies most want to protect, Aussies top benefits of home-security and what the nation wants to see from the industry in the future.  

Australians are demanding more on corporate sustainability from businesses, but not all leaders are confident in the ability of their people to make the right call, instead putting their faith in bots to make decisions in key areas, according to a new study “No Planet B” by Oracle and Pamela Rucker, CIO Advisor and Instructor for Harvard Professional Development. The full No Planet B Global Study of over 11,000 consumers and business leaders across 15 countries, including 1,000 from Australia, found that most people are fed up with the lack of progress society is making towards sustainability and social initiatives, want businesses to turn talk into action, and believe tech can help businesses succeed where people have failed.  

OptiPay has revealed a two fold increase in enquiries in the number of businesses requesting invoice financing. Invoice Financing is a revolving Line of Credit against unpaid invoices, to improve business cash flow, after the ATO announced it was resuming tax debt collections. Optipay, formerly TIM Finance, a major player in the industry, has seen numbers spike since the news last February. Angus Sedgwick CEO at Optipay says they are seeing the biggest interest coming from manufacturing and wholesale trade industries, as invoices are still taking on average 15-20  days past the due date to be paid, compounding cash flow issues.