Deloitte Tech Trends 2026: New Zealand Is Investing in AI Tools but Not in the Workers Who Use Them

News · 2026-09-16 · 4 min read

Businesses in New Zealand have plenty of AI tools. What many of them lack is a plan for the staff who must work with those tools every day. That is the central message of Deloitte's new Tech Trends 2026 report for New Zealand, and it is relevant to anyone designing a workforce plan, not only a technology budget.

The Spending Gap in One Line

One figure sums up the problem: 93% of AI spending in New Zealand organisations is directed at technology, and just 7% at people and skills.

New Zealand already deals with an ageing workforce and ongoing labour shortages in the regions. Against that background, the split is more than uneven. It shows organisations are purchasing capability much faster than they are developing it.

Changing How Work Is Done Matters More Than Buying Software

Matt Dalton of Deloitte was direct: the period of AI experimentation has ended. The advantage now goes to organisations prepared to redesign the way work is carried out, not to those that simply attach a chatbot to an old process.

Why does this matter to HR leaders, workforce planners and mobility teams? Because adding a copilot to a legacy workflow does not make a team more capable. It only places a new tool inside the same job description. The report describes this as "shallow adoption", and it appears to be widespread. Worldwide, only around one in eight organisations has taken agentic AI into real production. The others are still running pilots that create activity but little value.

For businesses focused on talent and migration, this is where the opening lies. The organisations that move ahead in 2026 will not be those holding the most licences. They will be the ones that:

actively rethink roles;
retrain staff for higher-value work;
source the specialised skills needed to run mixed teams of people and automation well.

People and Machines Working Side by Side

Deloitte describes 2026 as the year of the "hybrid human and silicon workforce". AI systems and robotics are taking over more routine, repetitive or dangerous tasks, which frees (or pushes) people into roles that need judgement, creativity and technical depth.

This has clear consequences for recruitment and mobility. Automation is spreading into agriculture, utilities, infrastructure inspection and transport, sectors where New Zealand's geography and spread-out population already make staffing hard. Demand for people will not disappear; it will take a different form. Employers will be looking for:

Hands-on technical operators who can run and maintain autonomous systems, rather than only office-based AI users.
Specialists in regional and infrastructure-heavy industries, where physical AI such as drones, autonomous inspection and remote robotics is growing fastest.
Upskilled local workers moving into higher-value positions, supported by targeted international recruitment wherever local skills gaps cannot be filled quickly enough.

When Dalton speaks about young people developing "capabilities", it is more than a standard line about training. It indicates that the skills pipeline, not the software licence, will decide which companies actually gain value from AI.

Faster Cyberattacks Raise the Bar

The report also warns that AI is making cyberattacks quicker and more sophisticated. Automated tools now help criminals run phishing campaigns and search for weak points faster than human security teams can react. As aviation, healthcare, transport and other physical infrastructure rely more on digital systems, the damage caused by understaffed teams and under-skilled operators increases too.

The conclusion is the same as before: technology without capable people behind it becomes a liability instead of an advantage.

Why the Stakes Are Economic

Deloitte's view reads less like a technology prediction and more like an economic one. In a small market with limited resources such as New Zealand, a poor workforce and AI strategy is not a small mistake. Its effects build up over time. A sound strategy, however, is a real advantage, precisely because few competitors are doing the harder job of redesigning roles and rebuilding skills pipelines rather than just purchasing software.

Employers asking where their next technical, specialist or hard-to-find hires will come from should remember the 93/7 split. The tools have already been bought. What is genuinely scarce is people who can operate them well.

What Skilled Workers Should Take From This

For technical professionals in Pakistan and other countries tracking New Zealand jobs for Pakistani workers and international applicants, the signal is practical: skills in operating, maintaining and securing automated systems are likely to hold their value. Keep an English CV that clearly shows this hands-on experience, and confirm Pakistan's emigration formalities with the Bureau of Emigration & Overseas Employment before any move abroad.

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