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13.6% of Otago employees work in professional services

Practical ChatGPT for Otago professional services

A repeat office task is a good place to learn ChatGPT. Choose a question your team understands, give it a controlled evidence set and test whether the draft stands up to a colleague's review.

EnquireWhere ChatGPT helps
Illustration generated with AI.
Employees in professional services
17,202Otago, February 2025
Share of Otago employees
13.6%8 of 16 regions
Share across New Zealand
18.4%all regions, February 2025
Location quotient
0.74×less concentrated than nationally

Professional services in Otago

Dunedin-based Polson Higgs publishes a broad advisory and accounting service offer. Anderson Lloyd's office network includes Queenstown as well as Dunedin. Across this mix of work, the useful starting point is the task rather than a claim that one prompt can serve every profession.1,2

For a generic Wānaka consultancy, the exercise could be a fictional monthly client pack. Participants inspect a synthetic ledger, write a plain-language explanation and prepare questions for the adviser. They keep the difference between a reported movement and its unverified cause visible throughout the draft.

Paid employees in professional services went from 17,512 in February 2020 to 17,202 in February 2025 (−1.8%).

Share of paid employees in professional services, by region

Share of employees in professional services by region, Otago highlighted
RegionChartShareNZ×
Auckland 24.1% 18.4% 1.3×
Wellington 21.9% 18.4% 1.2×
Canterbury 17.4% 18.4% 0.9×
Nelson 15.5% 18.4% 0.8×
Bay of Plenty 14.9% 18.4% 0.8×
Hawke's Bay 14.0% 18.4% 0.8×
Waikato 13.9% 18.4% 0.8×
Otago (this page) 13.6% 18.4% 0.7×
Taranaki 12.5% 18.4% 0.7×
Tasman 11.3% 18.4% 0.6×
Gisborne 11.0% 18.4% 0.6×
Marlborough 10.6% 18.4% 0.6×
Manawatū-Whanganui 9.9% 18.4% 0.5×
Northland 9.8% 18.4% 0.5×
Southland 8.8% 18.4% 0.5×
West Coast 7.8% 18.4% 0.4×

Paid employees at business locations in the region, February 2025. The tick marks the national share. × is the regional share divided by the national share.

Source: Stats NZ, Business Demography Statistics, February 2020 and 2025.

What professional services covers in Otago

Divisions in professional services, Otago
DivisionChartEmployeesShareNZ×
Media and telecoms 1,102 0.9% 1.3% 0.7×
Finance and insurance 1,573 1.2% 2.8% 0.5×
Property and rental 2,169 1.7% 1.5% 1.1×
Professional services 6,750 5.3% 8.3% 0.7×
Admin and support services 5,608 4.4% 4.6% 1.0×

ANZSIC06 divisions in this industry group: share of the region's paid employees, against New Zealand.

Source: Stats NZ, Business Demography Statistics, February 2020 and 2025.

Local context

  • Enterprise Dunedin connects local businesses with expertise and information. Business South provides training and employer support. These networks supply regional context for skills development; they are not presented as endorsing this course.5,65,6

Organisations are named for local context only. No relationship with them is implied.

Towns in Otago

Each town page has its own figures and local brief.

Or see ChatGPT training across Otago.

Where ChatGPT helps professional services teams

  • Investigate a synthetic monthly ledger

    Use ChatGPT data analysis to question a sample file with known totals. Ask it to explain its grouping and show which entries were excluded. Practise checking whether a movement reflects timing, categorisation or an actual change in activity. Reconcile the calculations in your usual spreadsheet before an adviser turns the analysis into any conclusion.7

    • Accounting practice manager
    • ChatGPT data analysis

  • Package an intake checklist as reusable instructions

    Custom GPTs can carry task instructions and reference material. Design an internal helper, in a Project or a custom GPT, that checks a fictional engagement request for missing scope information. Test a vague request and a contradictory brief. The output should identify questions for the professional responsible, while avoiding advice about facts or rules outside the approved references. Review the helper whenever those references change.7 Before building, check the firm's workspace, because OpenAI has announced custom GPT retirement and a migration to plugins.10

    • Client onboarding coordinator
    • Reusable instructions (Projects or plugins)

  • Maintain context for a proposal Project

    A Project gives a continuing assignment a place for files and related chats. Use a cleared service catalogue and fictional discovery notes to draft an outline for a consulting proposal. Ask for assumptions to appear separately. The partner checks whether the proposed deliverables match the discussion and whether the draft quietly introduces unsupported commitments.7

    • Consulting partner
    • ChatGPT Projects

  • Collect public research with ChatGPT Work

    Where the workspace enables it, ChatGPT Work can take a bounded public research task through to a reviewable draft. Limit a practice exercise to public information about a fictional prospective market, with no client credentials or confidential attachments. Require a link for each finding and stop before any message or form submission. Staff open the sources themselves and decide which evidence deserves a place in the brief.9

    • Research or business development lead
    • ChatGPT Work

Create a checked monthly commentary draft

  1. Choose a synthetic ledger with a verified answer key.
  2. Define the period and categories before asking for analysis.
  3. Request calculations plus a separate list of possible explanations.
  4. Reconcile the results and remove explanations without evidence.
  5. Have the adviser approve the commentary before any external use.

Courses

  1. 1Introductory

    ChatGPT essentials workshop

    A hands-on first session: clear prompts, files, data analysis, Projects and search, practised on tasks your team already does.

  2. 2Organisation

    ChatGPT Business and Enterprise rollout

    Set up a ChatGPT workspace properly: plan choice, admin settings, an AI use policy, shared skills and Projects, and support that keeps people using it.

Professional services in other regions

Other industries in Otago

See ChatGPT for professional services, finance and property across New Zealand, or all training in Otago.

Professional services in Otago: questions

Is the course only for accountants?

Consultants, property teams and other office-based professionals can use the same learning method with different tasks. We choose examples that fit the roles attending. A legal drafting task needs a different reviewer and evidence set from a management reporting task.

How should we choose a workspace?

Confirm your firm's approved account and its settings before staff start. Do not assume a personal account is acceptable for practice material. We can help the group list its access, sharing and ownership questions for the person who administers the workspace.

Could we connect the document system?

Connected apps can retrieve supported sources under account and workspace controls. Treat that as a later pilot with a carefully selected file collection. Test what a participant can retrieve and whether the result points to the current document.8

What does an Otago team take away?

Expect a checked sample workflow and a set of questions to resolve before using real engagements. TheColab can teach at your office, arrange remote learning or discuss public workshop days. The task and reviewer matter more than the venue.

Train your professional services team in Otago

  1. Send us a few linesHow many people, where you are, and the jobs that eat your week.
  2. We reply with a planA suggested session and format, plus what to bring: real quotes, emails and questions.
  3. Your team does the workAt your place or over video. They finish with ChatGPT doing real tasks, not demos.
  • In person
  • Remote
  • Half-day workshop
  • Full-day workshop
  • Team rollout

Independent training by TheColab. Not affiliated with OpenAI.

Enquire

Tell us about your team in Otago. We reply by email with a suggested course and format.

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Sources

Written 6 October 2026. Employment figures come from Stats NZ Business Demography Statistics.