Australian firms' high costs & AI lag spark HubSpot update

New research from HubSpot indicates that Australian businesses are grappling with a variety of significant challenges, with high costs and expenses being the most pressing concern. The study showed that 40% of Australian companies identified high costs and expenses as their primary challenge, with 19% stating it is their biggest hurdle. Additionally, 27% reported that these costs have worsened over the past year.

Other significant challenges identified in the survey include data security and compliance (31%), slow growth (29%), intense competition (28%), and generating actionable insights from data (28%). A notable finding is that the average company in Australia needs to switch between 17 or more distinct applications to manage customer interactions effectively.

The research highlighted that 20% of Australian businesses have not begun to discuss generative AI, reflecting a lag in AI adoption. This technological gap is contributing to mounting pressures in a slow-growing economy.

"Increasing costs have resulted in Australian businesses doing it tough," said Dan Bognar, Vice President & Managing Director of JAPAC at HubSpot. "More than ever, brands are competing to deliver a best-in-class customer experience and ensure effective communications. On average, Australian employees have to switch between over 17 distinct applications just to manage their customer interactions. This suggests the teams interfacing directly with customers may be struggling to deeply understand and build meaningful relationships with them. These teams really need a unified customer platform to leverage right-time, right-channel connections that empower positive customer relationships."

Additionally, 27% of businesses find managing multiple channels and content types to be a challenge, with 63% noting it has either worsened or remained the same over the last year. This issue underscores the complexities faced by businesses in maintaining a cohesive multi-channel strategy.

In response to these findings, HubSpot has launched a series of updates to its platform, aiming to assist businesses in overcoming these hurdles. Among the updates is Breeze Intelligence, a data enrichment solution that leverages an inventory of over 200 million profiles to enhance customer records within its Smart CRM.

Josh Ames, RevOps Manager at Phocas Software, shared his positive experience with the new feature, stating, "HubSpot's data enrichment feature quickly improved our data quality, leading to more effective campaigns and better alignment with our Ideal Customer Profile. 92% of companies in our CRM had at least one new enrichment property populated by the new feature. From my experience with other offerings, this is really good coverage."

HubSpot has also introduced Breeze, an AI-powered customer platform that includes a suite of tools designed to streamline various business processes. Key components of Breeze include Copilot, an AI companion to boost productivity, and four AI agents – Content Agent, Social Media Agent, Prospecting Agent, and Customer Agent – to handle tasks efficiently.

Additional updates to HubSpot's Marketing Hub and Content Hub are intended to support marketers in launching full campaigns from start to finish. These tools range from capturing attention with AI-driven content remixing for video campaigns to generating leads and converting prospects using features like Lead Scoring and Google Enhanced Conversions. The Marketing Analytics Suite is designed to consolidate all marketing metrics and reporting in a single location, enhancing campaign performance and results.

The research and subsequent platform updates by HubSpot aim to equip Australian businesses with the tools and insights needed to navigate the current economic challenges and foster growth through enhanced customer engagement and improved technological integration.