Xero partners with Decision Design on landmark global study

Xero partner with Decision Design - a leading global behaviour change consultancy - to harness the power of behavioural science to produce a global landmark study. 

Xero’s One Step research – a new behavioural science study undertaken by Decision Design - aimed to uncover and seek to overcome the beliefs and barriers preventing small businesses from embracing tech’s full potential.

Small businesses are integral to our economy, and the benefits of small businesses adopting technology are irrefutable. Yet, despite the overwhelming evidence supporting the case for adopting technology, many small businesses choose not to. 

Xero set out to find an answer to why small businesses don’t wholeheartedly adopt digital technology – one that didn’t just fall back on stereotypical responses like cost and convenience. To do this, Xero partnered with Decision Design to apply a behavioural science lens to the challenge and identify the key underlying behavioural factors that hinder technology adoption among small businesses. 

Decision Design conducted an anonymous and unbranded, nationally representative market study among n=4,211 small businesses across Australia (n=1,212), New Zealand (n=170), the United Kingdom (n=1,162), the United States (n=1,165), Canada (n=341) and Singapore (n=161).

This behavioural science-led study measured perceptions, beliefs, behaviours and behavioural barriers related to technology and technology adoption. Data collection was conducted between 12 – 26 July 2021 and study respondents are all small business decision makers for businesses with less than 50 employees (less than 100 employees in the United States). 

 Our top findings: 

• 3x key mindsets affected the way small businesses respond to technology 
• Of the 12x behavioural barriers impacting technology decisions, 5x specific barriers stood out that hindered small business technology adoption 
• Two distinct groups of small businesses were identified when it came to technology – Adopters and Delayers – with Adopters enjoying 120% higher revenue and 106% higher productivity than their Delayer counterparts 
• Around 1 in 5 small businesses identified themselves as Adopters and nearly 1 in 3 identified themselves as Delayers – of the 6x markets studied, Singapore had the highest proportion of Adopters and the United Kingdom had the lowest 

Find out more about the study: https://www.xero.com/au/resources/one-step/ 

Download the report: https://www.xero.com/content/dam/xero/pdfs/resources/one-step/one-step-report-nov-2021.pdf 

Read about it in HBR: https://hbr.org/2022/01/convincing-your-company-leaders-to-invest-in-new-technology  

Read about it in Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/trevorclawson/2021/11/23/all-in-the-mind-the-cognitive-errors-that-might-hamper-business-decision-making/?sh=22d3186150ad 

Read about it in 7news: https://7news.com.au/business/call-to-upgrade-from-shoebox-accounting-c-4740287