Paul Wallbank – Brilliant Communications

Category: Internet

  • Beautiful software and changing the world

    Beautiful software and changing the world

    Can cloud computing change the business world? Xero’s founder and CEO Rod Drury believes so and he has a grand vision for the future of business.

    Interviewing Xero CEO Rod Drury at the company’s Australian roadshow in Sydney last week, it’s hard not to be impressed by his pride in the company he founded and the vision for how cloud computing will change business.

    “It was only about three or four years ago we started thinking we’d have a trade show with multiple tracks and great guest speakers.” Drury said.

    Xero was celebrating its 200,000 customer at the conference and Drury sees the business growing further, “we want to get to a million customers as soon as we can.”

    “We’ve been doubling every year and we think that’s going to keep going. Looking at the numbers, we’re only at four percent market share.”

    Markets for Xero

    In Australia, that market is the 1.2 million small business the company believes needs accounting software. But it’s not just down under that Drury is looking at for growth.

    “We’re operating in four main markets at the moment. We have 90 staff in Australia and that’s our main market.” Drury says, “the UK is doing really well at the moment and we’ve had a team for the last twelve months in the US.”

    New Zealand Startup community

    Xero is probably the brightest star in New Zealand’s startup community which, while small, is punching well above its weight internationally, Drury has some views on why such a small business community is doing so well.

    “What’s cool about New Zealand is that it’s nice and small and everyone knows everybody so once a company gets to scale so there’s a nice, healthy ecosystem that lifts everybody up.”

    “The small companies building apps alongside Xero don’t have to build a marketing team or sales team.  If they are clever and partner with us they can access our 200,000 customers and 6,000 accounting partners.

    “It’s also interesting starting from New Zealand because we have the largest banks as customers so are able do some neat things with the next generation of banking, where online banking and accounting are closely tied together.”

    The Generational Change in accountants

    Drury doesn’t see much of a generational divide between those adopting cloud technologies, he finds the new way of doing business is liberating older accountants and business owners as much as it is enabling younger ones.

    “One of the neat things I’ve seen is that a lot of people come up to me who are in their fifties and sixties who say ‘I was thinking about getting out of the industry as I’m bored with accounting but you guys have made it exciting again.”

    On beautiful software

    A marketing tag line of Xero is “beautiful software”, something you don’t expect when talking about accounting technology. Drury sees this more as a philosophy than an advertising slogan.

    “We came up as part of the Apple generation. Beautiful isn’t just about being pixel perfect – it’s all about having great values and having software that delights people. “

    “WE did surveys at the start and people hated doing their books, they actually used the word ‘hate’. Now they love doing Xero.”

    Building a partner ecosystem

    The key to success in the software industry lies in building a developer and partner community. For cloud computing companies that requires having an open Application Programming Interface so other businesses can access data and provide complementary services.

    “When we saw the way the small business market was changing on the cloud, we made sure we had a nice, open API. We said ’lets make it really cheap for people to buy a commodity general ledger but super easy for developers to build these line of business applications,’” said Drury.

    “One of the really neat things we’ve seen is a lot of accountants are now moving over to the product side, so you go to the trade show and you see people we were selling product to with their bookkeeping hat on and now they’re selling software, so that change has been remarkable as well.”

    Building the supply chain

    One of the great opportunities Drury sees is in growing the logistic chain where cloud services become electronic data interchange (EDI) platforms plugging small businesses into larger businesses’ data and procurement systems.

    “Take Coles supermarkets, they have probably have 2,000 very small suppliers who drop off a pallet of jam every six weeks, it’s very expensive for them to deal with all of these companies.” “Now there’s so many small business running in the cloud it’s effectively providing an electronic data interchange.”

    “So we see a lot of interest from large businesses seeing how much they can improve their supply chain by now electronically connecting to small business.”

    Connecting business, customers and governments

    “In this early stages of this transition of accounting moving to the cloud you think it’s just moving from MYOB or QuickBooks to Xero, it’s actually that we’re connecting businesses, we’re connecting the banks” “we’re also seeing a lot more interest from government.”

    Drury cites the New Zealand government’s $1.5 billion revenue department’s IT upgrade as an example where open data and APIs could save taxpayer funds and improve the delivery of services.

    “The impact of the cloud is a whole lot different, it’s not just the next interface for accounting, it’s a fundamental change where everything connects. Big business to small business and business to government as well,” says Drury.

    The aims of Rod Drury and Xero are big and audacious, we’ll see how well both the company and cloud computing can deliver in revolutionising the way businesses, banks, governments and consumers communicate.

    Similar posts:

  • Collecting tolls on the information superhighway

    Collecting tolls on the information superhighway

    The news that internet services company Melbourne IT is looking at cutting management costs and returning cash to shareholders in the face of declining revenues doesn’t come as any surprise to observers of the firm.

    In many ways Melbourne IT is a historic relic, one of the last examples of the late 1990s dot com boom where management from those heady days survived unscathed by the realities of the 21st Century.

    Melbourne IT story illustrates the poor management and flaw investment strategies of the big dot com float and also illustrates the risk of under-investing in key areas, as anyone using the site or the services of its Web Central subsidiary will understand.

    Both companies feature clunky sites and extremely poor customer service. For resellers and customers using the Web Central command center, the experience and technology is straight out of the late 1990s.

    While overseas businesses like Rackspace, GoDaddy and Bluehost innovated and invested in their platforms, Web Central and Melbourne IT sat back and how expected their dominant position would guarantee them profits.

    Much of that management complacency was born out the founding of Melbourne IT when it was spun off from the University of Melbourne to exploit the then monopoly the university’s computer faculty had on granting Australia commercial domains.

    In 1998, as the dot com boom was entering its most heated phase, Melbourne IT was floated and immediately attracted anger and allegations of wrong doing – none of which was proved – as the stock debuted on the stock market at four times its listing prices which generated huge profits for the insiders who were fortunate to get shares allocated before the sale.

    Melbourne IT’s huge stock valuation was based on the belief the company would exploit its dominance of the critical domain market – it was similar to other technology floats of dominant players at the time such as accounting giant MYOB in 1999 and Telstra’s spin off of its small business Commander operation the following year.

    All of these stock market floats proved to be disastrous as each company’s management showed they were incapable of exploiting their privileged market positions.

    Of the three, Melbourne IT’s management survived longest partly because of the riches expected to flow into the company’s coffers through Top Level Domain sales as gullible government agencies and corporates being driven by a Fear Of Missing Out overpay for new online addresses.

    Now it appears ICANN’s top level domain river of gold isn’t going to flow, partly due to arrogance and management incompetence in that organisation, so Melbourne IT is now going to have to cull its executive ranks.

    Steadily, both Melbourne IT and Web Central have gone from being dominant to irrelevant and provide a good case study of how poor management and complacency can squander a dominant market position.

    The failure of Melbourne IT’s management proves that clipping tickets on the internet is not always the path to riches, particularly when you don’t invest or innovate.

    Similar posts:

  • How Google Glass can change business and industries

    How Google Glass can change business and industries

    When we talk about new technologies we often focus on the consumer aspects, in many ways the business and industrial applications are far more exciting with a potential to save lives and change workplaces.

    This week on my regular tech spot with Ed Cowlishaw on ABC Riverland we explained Google Glass and speculated on what some of the applications for listeners could be.

    During the discussion we ranged across the uses we might see for wearable technologies like glasses watches, jeans or even embeddable, vibrating tattoos. With electronics smaller and cheaper than ever, we’re at the stage where putting computers into almost anything is feasible.

    Most of the focus around these technologies has been on the consumer aspects, but wearable technologies like Google Glass probably have more immediate uses in industrial applications ranging from transport and medicine across to farming and emergency services.

    Emergency services

    For emergency services devices like Google glass can be the difference between life and death, first responders at a road accident can quickly evaluate damage and the best course of action for rescuing survivors.

    In firefighting, these technologies become incredibly valuable with protective suits being able to warn when conditions are becoming dangerous or the presence of hazardous materials and heads-up displays – which could be a Google Glass type device or a projection onto a firefighters visor –  can be monitoring weather conditions, the safety of buildings or the state of supplies.

    Police forces are already some way down the path of using these technologies with patrol cars and roadside detectors already monitoring number plates for unregistered and uninsured vehicles. Devices like Google Glass are going to help law enforcement use those technologies, particularly when coupled with facial and voice recognition.

    Medicine

    The use of wearable technologies in the medical industry is fascinating. We’re already seeing smart dressings that alert nurses and doctors to critical conditions and the increased network of devices is making it easier to monitor patients.

    With a Google Glass type device, surgeons and physicians can be receiving real time information on their patients while carrying out procedures and recognition software can help doctors identify the nature of a symptom such as a rash or swelling much earlier. At a hospital triage this can help nurses make quick, life saving decisions as people arrive.

    Farming

    One of the big frontiers of the internet of machines is the agriculture industry. With projects like Tasmania’s Sense-T monitoring natural resources and smart farm equipment reporting the state of soil and crops, a Google Glass type device gives farmers much more information about the paddock or cattle they are looking at.

    Farming is also a hazardous occupation and wearable technologies can also warn agricultural workers of hazards as well as alert family, colleagues or emergency services when a farm worker is in trouble. Occupational health and safety is going to be one of the driving forces for the adoption of these devices.

    Transport

    Safety is one of the key factors of technology adoption in the transport industry and it’s interesting how quickly transportation agencies and police forces have started discussing banning Google Glass.

    While checking your twitter feed or surfing for LOLCats while driving is undoubtedly dangerous, having a heads up display could actually improve the safety of truckers, taxi operators and other professional drivers as they aren’t being distracted from the road by dispatch messages, GPS directions and vehicle warnings.

    As monitoring devices, wearable technologies could also help warn drivers or their employer about looming fatigue or illness.

    In the logistics field, it’s not hard to see warehouse workers using wearable devices to warn them where robots are or to find stock items deep in the shelves.

    Like the tablet computer, it’s easy just to think of Google Glass and other wearable technologies as being solely consumer devices without considering how these devices will change the workplace.

    As the internet of everything and easily accessible broadband – both wireless and wired – becomes pervasive we’ll see most industries adopting these technologies making business more efficient and the workplace safer for the workers.

     

    Similar posts:

  • Fighting in the sandbox

    Fighting in the sandbox

    The current spat between Microsoft and Google over the Windows Phone YouTube app illustrates the value, and hindrance, of the internet’s walled gardens.

    Google’s locking Microsoft Phone users out of YouTube shows the strength of these online empires and when coupled with control of the mobile phone platforms, as Google has with Android, it makes it hard for outsiders to compete.

    In one respect, this is corporate karma coming back to bite Microsoft who ruthessly exploited their market position with Windows, MS-DOS and Office through the 1990s and early 2000s.

    That doesn’t change the problems facing Microsoft Windows Phone users who want the same access to internet services enjoyed by Android and iPhone owners.

    Being locked out of a service because of the product you choose to use is in many ways the antithesis of the internet and challenges the underpinnings of the online economy.

    All internet and mobile phone users need to watch how this spat between Microsoft and Google develops, captive markets aren’t good for anyone.

    Similar posts:

  • Reducing the road toll through the internet of everything

    Reducing the road toll through the internet of everything

    How can modern computer technology cut the road toll?

    Transport for NSW’s John Wall spoke last week at Cisco’s Internet of Everything presentation in Sydney about some of the ways the connected motor car can reduce accidents.

    John’s presentation comes from personal experience, having being a volunteer for nearly thirty years at his local State Emergency Service brigade where he was often among the first responders to local vehicle accidents.

    Some of the improvements in technology see the road toll falling as people travel less because of remote working, teleconference and business automation. Many of the applications though are built into the vehicles, street signs and the roads themselves.

    Finding the safest route

    John’s first suggestion for improving driver safety is having navigation systems sourcing traffic, weather and other information to suggest the best route for the driver. An intelligent system may also modify the recommended journey based on the experience of the driver and state of the vehicle, such as the tyre conditions.

    Watching the eyes

    Fatigue kills and all of us have driven when we were really too tired to be behind the wheel.

    The first in car technology John discussed is facial recognition technology that detects when drivers are fatigued. Tying this feature into the vehicle’s entertainment system with a stern aviation style “PULL OVER – YOU ARE TIRED” warning could well save hundreds of lives a year on his own.

    Connected road signs

    One of the underpinning factors of the internet of everything is cheap computers and transmitters embedded into almost anything. Road signs and sensors talking to cars could help reduce driver errors such as entering curves too fast.

    Those signs can also be plugged into weather conditions so if there’s ice, fog or rain then the car can be told of the hazards ahead.

    Going on the grid

    Signs are not the only devices that could be talking to each other, vehicles themselves could be talking to each other. Should one car hit a slippery or soft patch on the road, it could tell following vehicles that there’s a problem ahead and respond accordingly.

    That technology too could help traffic planners and road authorities, as data on traffic speeds and road conditions feed into their databases it becomes easier to identify black spots or road design problems before lives are lost.

    Helping the first responders

    A wrecked car or roadside sensor can also help those first responders attending an accident. The vehicle itself could transmit the damage and give rescuers valuable, time saving information, on the state of the occupants.

    Similarly, the system could also warn emergency services such as hospitals and ambulances of the injuries likely and what’s needed to treat the injuries on site, in transit and at the casualty ward.

    Importantly, a smart vehicle can also warn those first responders of potential risks such as live air bag gas cylinders, car body reinforcements or high voltage cables as they attempt to free trapped occupant from a wreck.

    The rescuers themselves may be wearing technologies like Google Glass that help them see this information in real time.

    Bringing together the technology

    As Kate Carruthers points out, the internet of everything is the bringing together of many different technologies – wireless internet, cloud computing, grid networks and embedded devices all come together to create a virtual safety net for drivers.

    By the end of this decade that we will all be relying on these technologies to help us drive. Which means we might find our licenses start to be endorsed for the level of technology in our vehicles, just as we used to have to get qualified to drive a car with a manual transmission.

    Concluding his presentation, John Wall told the story of Jason, a cyclist from his town who was killed in a road accident and left a young family. In his slide he showed Harry, Jason’s young son, playing with the flowers on his father’s memorial.

    “I hope for Harry is that when Harry learns to drive that things will be different on our roads and things will be different because we are all connected,” said John.

    It’s a strong reminder of the real human opportunities and costs when we adopt new technologies.

    Car crash image courtesy of jazz111 through SXC.HU

    Similar posts: