Screen-print illustration of kiwifruit orchards running down to the Bay of Plenty coast — Illustration generated with AI.

Te Moana-a-Toi. 6 districts and cities

Microsoft Copilot training in Bay of Plenty

Bay of Plenty exports depend on records passing between growing, processing and freight teams. Copilot can assist that Microsoft 365 trail when a workbook’s owner and the next reviewer are clear.^2,3,4

Enquire Read the local brief

61.3% of Bay of Plenty’s employed residents are in desk-based roles.

	A	B	C	D
1	Role type	Bay of Plenty	NZ	Diff (pts)
2	Desk-based	61.3%	63.6%	−2.3
3	People-facing	9.4%	9.0%	+0.3
4	Hands-on	29.3%	27.4%	+2.0
5	Employed residents	166,365	2,622,534

About 102,000 people in desk-based roles. 2023 Census, counted where people live.

Rows 2 to 4: ANZSCO major groups 1, 2, 5, 6 / 4 / 3, 7, 8. Stats NZ 2023 Census, employed residents. Proxy per ILO 2025; not a forecast.

Residents: 334,0002023 Census
Business locations: 43,137Feb 2025, +10.3% since 2020
Employees (jobs here): 144,820at local businesses, Feb 2025
Towns with a page: 151,000+ residents
Council areas: 6districts and cities

What AI means for work in Bay of Plenty

Bay of Plenty ranks 4 of 16 regions for the share of desk-based roles. Findings from Stats NZ data, and what each means for Microsoft Copilot training.

Workforce by occupation group, Bay of Plenty against New Zealand

61.3% of employed residents in Bay of Plenty work in desk-based roles, against 63.6% across New Zealand. Desk-based roles live in Outlook, Teams, Word and Excel, which is where Copilot works. A broad rollout has plenty of people to benefit: plan the pilot group and the champions first.

Employed residents by occupation group, Bay of Plenty and New Zealand, 2023 Census
Occupation group	People	Bay of Plenty	NZ
Managers	30,156	18.1%	18.3%
Professionals	41,040	24.7%	26.8%
Technicians and trades workers	21,891	13.2%	12.5%
Community and personal service workers	15,573	9.4%	9.0%
Clerical and administrative workers	17,739	10.7%	10.8%
Sales workers	13,047	7.8%	7.8%
Machinery operators and drivers	10,260	6.2%	5.9%
Labourers	16,656	10.0%	9.0%

Desk-based = ANZSCO major groups 1, 2, 5 and 6 (managers, professionals, clerical and administrative, sales): roles where AI assistance is most applicable. Broad proxy informed by ILO 2025; not measured adoption or an employment forecast. People-facing = major group 4. Hands-on = major groups 3, 7 and 8.

Source: Stats NZ, 2023 Census, usually resident employed people; ILO, Generative AI and jobs: a refined global index of occupational exposure (2025).

Farming, forestry, fishing: 8.6% of local jobs, 1.8× the national share

Top employer: health and social care, 18,932 jobs (13.1%). Heat cells mark industries over-represented against New Zealand. Plan Copilot use cases by department in the largest employers first.

Share of paid jobs by industry, Bay of Plenty and New Zealand, February 2025
Industry	Jobs	Share	NZ	×
Health and social care	18,932	13.1%	12.0%	1.1×
Retail	14,131	9.8%	9.3%	1.1×
Manufacturing	13,132	9.1%	9.4%	1.0×
Education	12,578	8.7%	8.5%	1.0×
Farming, forestry, fishing	12,435	8.6%	4.8%	1.8×
Construction	12,055	8.3%	8.2%	1.0×
Hospitality	10,460	7.2%	7.2%	1.0×
Admin and support services	8,504	5.9%	4.6%	1.3×
Professional services	8,132	5.6%	8.3%	0.7×
Transport and warehousing	6,600	4.6%	4.2%	1.1×

Share of paid employees at business locations in the area, by ANZSIC06 industry division. × is the local share divided by the national share.

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

Business locations +10.3% and employees +4.9%, 2020 to 2025

Paid employees 138,055 (2020) to 144,820 (2025), +4.9% against +5.0% nationally. Business locations 39,117 to 43,137. Largest job gain: health and social care (+2,524). Largest loss: retail (−491).

Business locations: 39,11743,137 in 2025, from 2020; +10.3% NZ +9.6%
Employees (jobs here): 138,055144,820 in 2025, from 2020; +4.9% NZ +5.0%

Change in employees by industry in Bay of Plenty, February 2020 to February 2025
Industry	2020	2025	Change
Health and social care	16,408	18,932	+2,524
Professional services	7,011	8,132	+1,121
Education	11,617	12,578	+961
Retail	14,622	14,131	−491
Manufacturing	13,551	13,132	−419
Hospitality	10,661	10,460	−201

Geographic units (business locations) and paid employees, February of each year. Small counts are randomly rounded by Stats NZ, so small changes can be noise.

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

Remote readiness: work at home and household internet

Both on-site and remote sessions work. Most teams start with a half-day on-site.

17.3%

Mainly worked from home, census day 2023

New Zealand 17.7%

89.9%

Households with internet access

New Zealand 90.5%

Main means of travel to work on census day, and access to the internet in occupied private dwellings.

Source: Stats NZ, 2023 Census, usually resident employed people.

Council areas in Bay of Plenty, compared

Share of employed residents in desk-based roles, by district

Desk-based share by district, Bay of Plenty
District or city	Share	NZ
Tauranga City	63.9%	63.6%
Western Bay of Plenty District	60.8%	63.6%
Rotorua District	59.4%	63.6%
Whakatane District	58.9%	63.6%
Ōpōtiki District	54.7%	63.6%
Kawerau District	47.0%	63.6%

Source: Stats NZ, 2023 Census, usually resident employed people.

Also partly in Bay of Plenty: Taupo District.

Towns and cities in Bay of Plenty

Each has its own page and local brief. Largest first, by residents at the 2023 Census.

Towns in Bay of Plenty
Town	Residents	Desk-based	Business locations	Since 2020
Tauranga	152,800	63.9%	20,346	+15.5%
Rotorua	55,300	57.9%	5,331	+3.8%
Whakatāne	16,400	58.2%	1,995	+5.7%
Te Puke	9,110	48.8%	1,113	+13.5%
Kawerau	7,540	47.0%	342	+2.7%
Katikati	5,580	54.4%	588	+0.5%
Ōmokoroa	5,450	68.1%	504	+46.1%
Ngongotahā	5,130	61.7%	366	+11.9%
Ōpōtiki	4,840	51.6%	396	+8.2%
Ōhope	3,030	72.8%	390	+6.6%
Waihī Beach-Bowentown	2,550	65.1%	372	+21.6%
Murupara	1,880	45.3%	57	−13.6%
Edgecumbe	1,800	51.0%	99	−10.8%
Maketū	1,310	51.4%	102	+47.8%
Hamurana	1,170	68.0%	153	+13.3%
New Zealand	4,993,923	63.6%	654,435	+9.6%

Microsoft Copilot for Bay of Plenty’s largest industries

The western Bay port network and Rotorua processing work call for different file types, yet both need controlled handovers. Choose the approved Excel or SharePoint source before drafting an Outlook reply or Word note.^3,4

Horticulture and exports

Use a sample kiwifruit lot register to create an Excel exception view, then draft a Word note that distinguishes packhouse counts from export totals.^3,6

Forestry and wood processing

Convert a permitted Teams maintenance discussion into assigned actions, with the plant lead checking equipment details.^4,7

About Bay of Plenty

The Bay of Plenty region spans Tauranga and the western and eastern coastal districts, Rotorua and parts of the central North Island; its 2023 Census population count was 334,140, up 8.3% from 2018. Regional economic material identifies horticulture, forestry, agriculture, transport and freight, energy and tourism among its industries, with manufacturing and construction leading regional GDP and health care, community services and retail among the largest employers. Tauranga's export gateway, kiwifruit supply chains, Rotorua's wood processing cluster and the eastern Bay's aquaculture investment give businesses distinct operating contexts across the region. Regional strategy documents also identify productivity and labour supply as concerns in the fast-growing western sub-region.^1,2,3,4,5

Microsoft Copilot ideas grounded in Bay of Plenty

Horticulture and kiwifruit

Turn orchard updates into a packhouse briefing
An operations lead can use Outlook and Teams Copilot to condense grower, transport and packhouse messages into a daily handover with open questions called out. Supervisors start the shift with one reviewable summary instead of searching separate threads.⁶

Why here: The region's fruit returns are linked to a distributed grower and service-provider network, making cross-team handovers a practical use case.
- Copilot in Outlook
- Copilot in Teams
Compare grading and rejection trends in Excel
A quality analyst can ask Copilot in Excel to explain changes across anonymised grading and rejection tables, then check the formulas and source rows before sharing a report. This can make recurring seasonal comparisons easier to review.⁶

Why here: Zespri's Bay of Plenty grower returns make crop quality and service reporting relevant across the regional kiwifruit chain.
- Copilot in Excel
Keep seasonal procedures in a shared Loop workspace
A packhouse team can use Loop and Copilot Chat to turn approved procedures into a shared checklist, then update it as supervisors confirm the steps. Staff still verify food-safety and export requirements against the controlled source documents.³

Why here: SmartGrowth identifies regional horticulture as an economic strength, so seasonal coordination across orchard and post-harvest work has local relevance.
- Copilot in Loop
- Copilot Chat

Port logistics, transport and export services

Summarise a vessel and cargo handover
A logistics coordinator can use Teams Copilot to summarise a meeting transcript and identify owners for the next actions, then draft the handover in Word. The coordinator checks operational details against the authorised system before distributing it.³

Why here: SmartGrowth names Port of Tauranga and export corridors as western Bay strengths, where clear handovers can support linked freight teams.
- Copilot in Teams
- Copilot in Word
Explain freight exceptions in Excel
A planning analyst can use Copilot in Excel to explore a delayed-shipment table, identify recurring exception categories and draft a chart for the weekly review. The team checks the source records and avoids placing commercially sensitive data in an unapproved workbook.³

Why here: The western Bay strategy treats the port and economic corridors as regional export strengths, making freight exception analysis a relevant example.
- Copilot in Excel
Answer routine freight-process questions
A business can prototype a Copilot Studio agent that answers staff questions from approved process documents and points to the relevant procedure. A process owner tests the responses and routes exceptions to a person.³

Why here: The Port of Tauranga is part of the region's export platform, so a controlled internal guide could help teams navigate their own freight procedures.
- Copilot Studio agents
- Microsoft Graph grounding on company files

What Bay of Plenty does

Horticulture and kiwifruit. The region is a major fruit-growing and export area. Zespri reported more than three billion dollars in direct returns to New Zealand growers and service providers in 2024/25, including the Bay of Plenty; SmartGrowth identifies agriculture and horticulture as strengths of the western sub-region.^2,3,6 Named in public sources: Zespri⁶.
Port logistics, transport and export services. Port of Tauranga and associated freight links support export-oriented supply chains. SmartGrowth lists the port as a regional strength and calls out economic corridors and business-land needs in the western sub-region; Grow Regions also identifies transport and freight among the region's industries.^2,3 Named in public sources: Port of Tauranga³.
Forestry, wood processing and bioeconomy. Forestry is a regional industry, with a major wood-processing and research cluster in Rotorua. RotoruaNZ describes Red Stag Timber, Scion and Toi Ohomai as participants in that local industry; Canopy's regional fact sheet covers Bay of Plenty forestry and wood processing as at May 2025.^2,4,7 Named in public sources: Red Stag Timber⁴, Scion⁴.
Manufacturing and construction. Grow Regions identifies manufacturing and construction as the region's largest contributors to GDP. No current regional industry employment or business-count breakdown with numeric shares was verified in an opened source.²
Aquaculture and marine processing. The completed Ōpōtiki harbour works enable marine and aquaculture growth in the eastern Bay. Grow Regions reports that Whakatōhea Mussels employs more than 200 full-time staff in Ōpōtiki; this is a local example within the wider regional industry.^2,5 Named in public sources: Whakatōhea Mussels (Ōpōtiki) Limited⁵.
Health, community services and retail. Grow Regions identifies health care, community services and retail trade among the region's biggest employers. The opened regional source gives no numeric employment shares, and no employer ranking was verified for the whole region.²

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

In the local business news

25 Nov 2025
Ōpōtiki Harbour supports aquaculture growth Grow Regions
The completed harbour works and mussel-processing investment create a current eastern Bay case for AI training tied to marine operations, processing and regional growth.
15 Sept 2025
Regional Economic Scoreboard: Bay of Plenty - Kiwifruit takes the victory ASB
ASB's regional assessment links a strong kiwifruit season with higher regional incomes and reports that the Bay outperformed the national average on several measured indicators.

A regional workplace session can trace one approved record from file to message and assign a person to check each transfer.^3,4,6

Public Microsoft Copilot workshops in Bay of Plenty

There is no public Copilot workshop in Bay of Plenty on the calendar yet. Register interest below and we will tell you when one is scheduled. Organisations can book private training for their own staff at any time.

Tell me when there is a workshop in Bay of Plenty

We will email you when a public workshop is scheduled nearby. No other mailing.

Other regions