PRESS RELEASE: First Focus Becomes an OpenAI Services Partner to Drive AI ROI for ANZ SMBs
Sydney, Australia – 17 March 2026 – First Focus today announced that it has entered into an OpenAI Services Partner Agreement, enabling the company to help organisations across Australia and New Zealand adopt ChatGPT Business in a structured, secure, and commercially effective way.
While AI tools are now widely used at a personal level, many small to medium sized businesses are still struggling to translate that experimentation into measurable business outcomes. For many organisations, the challenge is not access to AI tools, but understanding how to implement them safely and integrate them into everyday operations.
“Most companies we speak to already have staff using AI in some way,” said Ross Sardi, CEO of First Focus. “But it is usually informal and unstructured. The real challenge for businesses is not getting access to AI. It is embedding it properly into workflows, governance and day-to-day operations so it actually delivers productivity gains and real ROI.”
First Focus specialises in helping organisations with between 20 and 500 staff adopt AI across their workforce. Its approach focuses on moving businesses beyond experimentation and into structured adoption, integrating tools such as ChatGPT Business into everyday processes while maintaining strong governance, cybersecurity protections and clear accountability.
“Buying an AI licence on its own does not create value,” Sardi said. “What matters is adoption. When AI becomes part of how the whole organisation works, the productivity gains can be significant. For example, if account managers use AI to streamline administrative tasks, the real return comes from what they do with that extra time, whether that is growing revenue, improving client outcomes or supporting a larger customer base.”
To accelerate practical AI adoption among its customers, First Focus recently launched an AI Investment Fund, committing $100,000 to support client-led AI projects. From more than 40 proposals submitted by clients, five initiatives were selected and each received $20,000 in funding. Projects were chosen based on their potential to deliver measurable commercial returns.
“We wanted to encourage businesses to experiment with ideas that could genuinely improve how they operate,” Sardi said. “The goal was not experimentation for its own sake. It was about identifying initiatives that could create real productivity improvements and financial impact.”
As an OpenAI Services Partner, First Focus will continue helping mid-market organisations adopt AI in a practical and commercially sustainable way. The company works with organisations to introduce structured AI programs that focus on adoption, integration, governance and measurable outcomes using tools such as ChatGPT Business.
First Focus employs nearly 400 staff across Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines and works with more than 800 businesses across the region.
“As AI continues to evolve rapidly, businesses need more than access to tools,” Sardi said. “They need a clear strategy for how those tools are used, how they integrate with existing systems and how they drive real improvements in productivity and performance.”
Media Contact:
Brendan Ritchie
Chief Growth Officer
First Focus
[email protected]
