Microsoft’s latest Work Trend Index reveals how, alongside tools like Co-Pilot, AI is poised to create a whole new way
of working for New Zealand.
As the intensity of work increases, the pace which we do business has accelerated faster than humans can keep up with
and this is impacting innovation, according to a new report from Microsoft. However, the findings from the 2023 New
Zealand Work Trend Index report: “Will AI Fix Work?” have also confirmed that globally, employees and leaders see AI as an opportunity, not a threat.
"As work evolves with AI, so must we. We want to help business leaders and workers better understand the opportunities
around AI, and what steps they need to take to embrace it fully,” said Jane Mackarell, Microsoft’s ANZ Director of
Modern Work and Surface .
The report shares three key insights for business leaders as they look to understand and responsibly adopt AI for their
organisation:
Digital debt is costing us innovation: Over half of New Zealanders (58%) have struggled with finding time and energy to
get their work done, and those workers are 2.6 times more likely to say they struggle with innovation, with business
leaders (68%) expressing their concerns around this.
An unexpected AI-employee alliance emerges: While 45% of New Zealanders say they’re worried AI will end up replacing
their jobs, 3 in 4 people are comfortable using AI to support their role. Additionally, 62% of Kiwis said they would
delegate as much work to AI as possible to lessen their workloads, suggesting they are optimistic about the role of AI
in the workplace. Business leaders also indicated AI would be of value to the workplace, helping to boost productivity.
Work will demand a new AI aptitude: Findings revealed employees feel they need to be educated with new core competencies
in AI, saying they currently don’t have the right capabilities to get their work done (61%). Leaders throughout New
Zealand (76%) say employees they hire will need new skills to be prepared for the growth of AI.
“What the research shows is that AI represents a whole new way of working, freeing us from digital debt and fuelling
innovation, but we’ve got to invest in helping workers understand how to use it first.”
“The volume of data, emails and chat conversations we’re expected to keep up with has outpaced our ability to process
information efficiently. There’s an opportunity to make our existing communications more productive, as every minute
spent managing this digital debt is a minute not spent on creative, innovative or impactful work. When we free the mind,
we give ourselves the space to think strategically, and that’s where AI has a role to play,” said Jane.
To empower businesses in the AI era, Microsoft is also introducing the Microsoft 365 Copilot Early Access Program with an initial wave of 600 enterprise customers worldwide in an invitation-only paid preview program. In addition, new
capabilities will be added to Microsoft 365 Copilot and Microsoft Viva.
"Next-generation AI promises to lift the weight of work, and organisations that move first to embrace it will
dramatically increase creativity and productivity for everyone. Microsoft 365 Copilot was launched earlier this year,
bringing powerful new generative AI capabilities to apps people use every day like Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint,
Outlook, Microsoft Teams and more,” said Jane.
The 2023 report derived results from an external study of 31,000 people in 31 countries, including 1,000 Kiwis across
multiple industries. The report unearthed key insights business leaders should consider as they look to understand and
responsibly adopt AI for their organisation.
ENDS
About Microsoft
Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @Microsoft) is the leading platform and productivity company for the mobile-first, cloud-first
world, and its mission is to empower every person and every organisation on the planet to achieve more.
Microsoft Work Trends Index report 2023 – NZ insights
1. Digital debt is costing us innovation:
58% of people in New Zealand say they’ve struggled with having enough time and energy to get their work done (64% of
global workers)
They are 2.6x more likely to say they struggled with being innovative and strategically aligned (3.5x for global
workers)
70% of workers in New Zealand agree that they don’t have enough uninterrupted focus during their workday (68% globally)
Nearly 7 in 10 leaders in New Zealand (68%) say they’re concerned about lack of innovation (60% of global leaders)
Only 28% of New Zealand workers say they would be missed by colleagues in a majority of their meetings if they couldn’t
join (35% of global workers)
2. There’s a new AI-employee alliance:
While 45% of workers in New Zealand say they’re worried AI will replace their jobs, even more – 62%- would delegate as
much work as possible to AI in order to lessen their workloads. (49% and 70% respectively for global workers)
3 in 4 people in New Zealand would be comfortable using AI not just for administrative tasks (75%), but also analytical
work (75%) and even creative aspects of their role (68%) (76%, 79% and 73% respectively of global workers)
Business leaders in New Zealand are 1.6x more likely to say that AI would provide value in the workplace by boosting
productivity rather than cutting headcount.
3. Work will demand a new AI aptitude:
76% of leaders in New Zealand say employees they hire will need new skills to be prepared for the growth of AI. (*82% of
global leaders)
61% of workers in New Zealand say they don’t currently have the right capabilities to get their work done. (60% of
global workers)
Microsoft Copilot
Copilot in Whiteboard will make Microsoft Teams meetings and brainstorms more creative and effective. Using natural
language, you can ask Copilot to generate ideas, organize ideas into themes, create designs that bring ideas to life,
and summarize Whiteboard content.
By integrating DALL-E, OpenAI’s image generator, into Copilot in PowerPoint, users will be able to ask Copilot to create
custom images to support their content.
Copilot in Outlook will offer coaching tips and suggestions on clarity, sentiment and tone to help users write more
effective emails and communicate more confidently.
Copilot in OneNote will use prompts to draft plans, generate ideas, create lists and organize information to help
customers find what they need easily.
· Copilot in Viva Learning will use a natural language chat interface to help users create a personalized learning
journey including designing upskilling paths, discovering relevant learning resources and scheduling time for assigned
trainings.
To help every customer get AI-ready, Microsoft is also introducing the Semantic Index for Copilot, a new capability
starting to roll out to all Microsoft 365 E3 and E5 customers. To learn more, visit the Official Microsoft Blog, Microsoft 365 Blog and the new Work Trend Index.
For more information, contact:
Piper Byers
Acumen New Zealand, on behalf of Microsoft NZ
Phone: 027 968 4166
Email: pbyers@acumennz.com