TASMANIAN businesses need to begin adapting to digital change before it hits or risk being left behind, according to Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Michael Bailey.
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A report released by PricewaterhouseCoopers in April found that up to 44 per cent of Australian jobs could be hit by "digital disruption" within the next 20 years.
The report found that the top three occupations at risk from digital disruption were accountants, cashiers and administration workers.
The report also found that moving just 1 per cent of the workforce into science, technology, engineering and mathematical roles would add $57.4 billion to Australia's gross domestic product.
Mr Bailey said it was crucial that Tasmanian businesses were on the "front foot," because no business would be immune from change.
"The advice that has been given to the TCCI is that every business will be impacted or will be disrupted by things like the change in digital age over the coming years, so it's very important that businesses are across it," he said.
"Think of some of the big bookstores like Readings or Angus and Robertson, which were known as being fantastic in their space, they were known as being leaders in customer service and they were shut down almost overnight by the coming of Amazon."
Mr Bailey said some Tasmanian businesses had been slow to establish an online presence, particularly in the retail and tourism sectors.
"In a recent piece of research that Cityprom did they found that a vast percentage of retailers through the CBD in Launceston didn't even have a webpage, which is incredible," he said.
"You have to remember too that Google announced that they will give priority for searching on Google to webpages that are able to be used on handheld devices, so even that is a massive shift for many businesses in Tasmania."