Leverage El Niño to highlight opportunities for your business. There’s an old saying ‘It’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good’ – which means that while some people will be negatively impacted in unfortunate or bad events, others will benefit.

If you think cyber criminals wouldn’t bother to target Australian small businesses, you’d be quite wrong. Banjo explains the risks and what you can do about them. 

Like many SME owners, you’re probably dazzled (or bamboozled) by the potential offered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) for business optimisation. From automating routine repetitive admin tasks, to improving forecasting accuracy, increasing productivity, and smoothing out many previously human-caused bumps - often at less cost than employing a human - it seems to be generating a brave new world.

Like many SME owners, you’re probably dazzled (or bamboozled) by the potential offered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) for business optimisation. From automating routine repetitive admin tasks, to improving forecasting accuracy, increasing productivity, and smoothing out many previously human-caused bumps - often at less cost than employing a human - it seems to be generating a brave new world.

Although asset finance is in demand all year round, it peaks between May and July, given the potential tax advantages of completing asset and equipment purchases before the end of the financial year.   

But what if you’re a hard-working, minimum criteria small to medium enterprise (SME), for whom the typical asset finance loan isn’t a good fit?  

SMEs and their brokers across the country have been telling us for a while about the need for an easy, low-doc asset finance product. We heard you, and we’ve acted on it.

In the current compressed labour market, are you struggling to compete with more highly resourced companies in attracting and retaining talent to keep your business moving forward?

While earlier in the year the unemployment rate looked like it was starting to trend upwards, it has settled back down at 3.5%, so rumours that Australia is past the peak tightness in the labour market are unfounded.

Many SMEs are feeling the pain. In Banjo’s recent SME Compass Report, compiled from its Australia-wide survey of over 1000 SMEs, one in three SMEs said they were finding recruitment difficult. 

There’s also a sense of frustration, as 61% of SMEs surveyed were ready to hire either permanent or contract staff in 2023, and on average were looking to increase their headcount by 6.