From Macro to Micro - Practical Productivity Gains Through Australian AI Innovation

Executive Summary

Australia's productivity has stagnated since 2015. Whilst macro reforms remain essential, evidence shows sectors achieving productivity gains share one characteristic: successful technology adoption at the organisational level. This demonstrates the critical importanceof micro actions that can deliver swift, measurable results.

Government's role should be to stimulate and accelerate these micro productivity improvements. Specialised Australian AI solutions targeting organisational efficiency represent an immediate opportunity.

We propose two initiatives to advance this agenda:

1. Increase R&D refunds to 100%+ for AI firms developing productivity solutions

2. Position Government Depts as proof-of-concept customers for validated technologies.

Every knowledge worker knows the feeling: another notification, another "urgent" email, another meeting that could have been an email. This is "busy work" - activity that creates the appearance of productive work whilst contributing nothing to meaningful outcomes.
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The Employee Experience

Consider a typical knowledge worker's day:

• Starts with good intentions to tackle that strategic project

• Opens laptop to an avalanche of overnight emails, chat notifications, and alerts

• Spends the first hour triaging, deleting, responding to "urgent" requests

• Finally starts deep work at 10am - interrupted within minutes by a Teams ping

• The day fragments into reactive bursts: email, chat, email, meeting, email

• 5pm arrives with the strategic project untouched

• Real work begins after dinner, when the digital noise finally stops

The result: frustration, disengagement, burnout. Weekend communications spike as employees desperately try to manage the load. This issue destroys the focused timeneeded for innovation and problem-solving - precisely what drives productivity growth.

The Hidden Productivity Crisis

Our analysis of major Australian organisations reveals the scale of this invisible crisis:

• Employees face 6-16 hours of daily communications load

• Only 30% cuts through to its intended audience

• The remainder is "Excess Noise"— duplicated messages, auto-generated systemalerts, coordination failures between platforms

The proliferation of workplace technology has created a tsunami of information. Each platform - email, Teams, Slack, Viva, Jira, Confluence, GSuite etc - promises productivity gains. Yet implemented without considering their collective impact, they've created a perfect storm of distraction. No system measures the cumulative effect - until Traffyk.ai

Evidence from the Field

Through Traffyk’s unique lens, Australian organisations are able to measure the impact of this issue.

Analysis across financial services, insurance, and retail sectors consistently shows:

• Eliminating just 30 minutes of Excess Noise creates capacity equivalent to around 2-3% additional FTE per annum

• This doesn't cut headcount - it gives time back to employees for high-value work

• Measurable capacity improvements occur quickly and benefits compound

The Australian AI Advantage

Traffyk.ai was the first to identify this challenge and develop the only known comprehensive solution. This demonstrates Australia's capability in developing targeted AIsolutions for real-world productivity challenges. Rather than competing with global techgiants on general AI, we can lead in specialised applications delivering immediate value.

Government Leadership Opportunity

Government departments face similar productivity challenges as the private sector. By positioning government as an early adopter, we can:

1. Demonstrate Leadership: Show commitment through action, not just policy

2. Support Australian Innovation: Validate and scale homegrown AI solutions

3. Create Blueprints: Develop implementation models for broad adoption

4. Deliver Budget Benefits: Achieve more with existing resources

Policy Recommendations

1. Enhanced R&D Support Increase R&D refunds to 100%+ for Australian SMEs developing AI solutions tackling organisational productivity. This targeted support recognises thestrategic importance of domestic capability in practical AI applications.

2. Government as Early Customers Establish a structured programme for governmentdepartments to trial validated productivity technologies:

• Low-cost, rapid pilots• Published results to build evidence base

• Clear procurement pathways for successful trials

The Path Forward

Micro-level organisational improvements can complement macro reforms, creating momentum whilst longer-term changes take effect.

Supporting specialised AI firms addressing productivity problems, government can accelerate a new wave of productivity growth and support Australian innovation.

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