New research from customer relationship management (CRM) platform, HubSpot, has revealed that Australian businesses are facing a stark transformation challenge - 74% have undergone more change in the past four years than in the previous two decades.

It comes in response to a suite of new global 'megatrends', including generative AI and changing customer expectations, with keeping pace with technological disruption and innovation deemed critical to business success.

HubSpot Senior Marketing Director APAC, Kat Warboys, said: “A combination of rising business costs, new technology and evolving customer expectations have impacted the effectiveness of conventional growth tactics among Australia’s businesses, accelerating a need for reinvention. Our research shows that the majority of local businesses believe delivering streamlined, personalised customer experiences is key to growth and success in 2024. Long term success will be determined by the ability of businesses to effectively engage with their audiences across multiple channels, and deliver more value to customers to maximise retention.”

The research highlighted that 70% of Australian marketers are in need of tools to help remix content for multiple formats, a figure that is 5% above the global average.

Australia ranks second, behind Singapore, in citing an increasing number of channels as a pain point (32%). More than half (51%) of Australian businesses feel the pressure to do more with less, nearly 10% higher than the global average.

“The data reveals that a majority of Australian businesses need to review and reset their go-to-market strategies, but it’s not a case of one size fits all. This is a journey that many businesses are on, or need to commence, in order to understand the content that best engages customers. For marketing teams wanting to effectively reach and engage their audiences, they must focus on personalised content, on the channels customers are showing up on, to build deeper connections with customers," said Warboys.

The research also found that 62% of Australian businesses agree they need to shift from reacting to growth by hiring more employees to scaling with AI and automation. Furthermore, 57% of Australian businesses say their approach to growth is changing significantly because of generative AI.

“In today’s climate, change is happening in days and weeks, not years. Maintaining the level of business innovation that the Australian community is known for will require adaptation to this reinvented environment. Transformation can be daunting, but having access to the right tools will empower businesses to harness change, maintain pace with customer needs and better connect with their target market," said Warboys.

The research follows the recent launch of HubSpot's AI-powered Service and Content Hubs, respectively designed to simplify customer support and success functions, and help create and manage content across the entire customer journey.