Paul Wallbank – Communications Professional
Comms, journalism and writing
Sometimes you get lucky
Some days you wake up and it’s black.
If you are lucky – and sometimes you are really lucky – later in the day you get the opportunity to speak to folk who are really changing the world.
Those are the folk who can light up a dark world.
And sometimes you’re lucky enough to speak to them.
15 April 2013
2013 MYOB Business Monitor: Cloud & web-savvy SMEs continue to enjoy better business
Financial chasm has widened between the online-savvy & online-cautious
Small and medium business operators (SMEs) who embrace cloud computing and business websites are much more likely to enjoy rising revenue than others, according to Australia’s largest accounting software provider, MYOB. In fact, those who say they are in the cloud were twice as likely to see an earnings uplift in the past year.
The March 2013 MYOB Business Monitor also found the financial chasm between the online-savvy and the online-cautious is widening, while the take up of online technologies has changed little in the past nine months.
In the latest study of 1,000+ SMEs commissioned to research firm Colmar Brunton only 16% said they use cloud computing in business, up on 14% in the July 2012 report. Only 38% have a business website, unchanged on July.
Those who do use cloud were 106% more likely to see a revenue rise in the past year than those who don’t, up on 53% in July. Similarly, those with a website were 60% more likely to see a revenue rise, also up on 53%.
CEO Tim Reed says, “It’s obvious that as time goes on Australian business operators using cloud computing are increasingly likely to achieve positive financial results. That said, I’m surprised fewer than one in every six say they use cloud in business. This ubiquitous technology has helped so many smaller businesses become better connected, more productive and more competitive.
“Our research findings provide a clear cut case for embracing online technologies in business. The latest study reveals SMEs using cloud were twice as likely to see a revenue rise in the past year than those who aren’t. It’s similar for those with a business website, who were almost two thirds more likely to see a rise than their peers.
“These ratios have increased significantly since the Business Monitor study conducted nine months ago, which suggests the gap in financial performance is widening between the online-savvy and the online-cautious.
“Interestingly, more than half our respondents said they would vote for the political party that proposed ‘providing free government-funded training to all small businesses on how to use the internet to enhance and grow their business.’ This says the majority realise they require further education on how to best employ online technology.
“It’s also clear the majority are unaware of the value in having even a simple website that contains their contact details. Many businesses have first-hand experience of the benefits of being found online, being able to attract and retain customers in this way. Our research proves it can have a tremendously positive financial effect.”
Financial benefits
Business operators in the cloud were not only more likely to see a revenue rise in the past year (33% versus 16% of those who weren’t) they were more likely to expect one in the next year (37% versus 28%). They were also more positive about the domestic economy improving within 12 months (33% versus 23%).
Further, those using cloud computing were more likely to plan to increase these activities in the next year:
§ Focus on customer retention/acquisition strategies: 52% versus 34% who don’t use cloud
§ Prices and margins on products/services sold this year: 36% versus 22%
§ The number or variety of products or services offered: 33% versus 24%
§ Working with business advisers to enhance the business: 30% versus 15%
§ Spending on marketing and advertising their business online: 29% versus 18%
§ Pay their employees more: 28% versus 20%
§ Boost staff numbers this year: 25% versus 11%.
Similarly, those with a business website were not only more likely to see a revenue rise in the past year (24% versus 15%) they were more likely to expect their revenue to increase in the next year (35% versus 27%).
They were also more likely to plan to increase these activities in the next year:
§ Focus on customer retention/acquisition strategies: 49% versus 29% without a website
§ The number or variety of products or services offered: 37% versus 20%
§ Spending on marketing and advertising their business online: 36% versus 10%
§ Their prices and margins on products/services sold this year: 28% versus 19%
§ Pay their employees more: 28% versus 16%
§ Working with business advisers to enhance the business: 22% versus 14%
§ Boost staff numbers this year: 21% versus 8%.
Key drawcards
The most popular reason for cloud use was the ability to access data from whatever location they wanted (52%), well ahead of other reasons. Over one third pointed to being able to have their team members work remotely (36%), while 30% said they used it because their data was better protected and safer online on external servers.
Business operators were also asked what business tasks they used cloud computing for. The top five were: file sharing (50%), file back-up (49%), email (44%), file storage (42%), and online banking (41%).
Those who didn’t use cloud computing were asked why and the top reason was ‘I don’t know enough about it to make the right business decisions about it’ (35%). Ranked second was ‘I am not very tech-savvy and don’t feel confident about even starting to look at it for my business’ (22%), followed by ‘It is of interest, but there are many more important other business priorities to take care of first’ (21%).
Other recent MYOB research found the top three reasons why SMEs without a website hadn’t set one up were ‘we prefer to advertise and market our business using other methods’ (68%), ‘it’s not a priority right now, we have all the work we can handle’ (66%) and ‘we don’t see any value in having a business website’ (60%).
Businesses most likely to be online-savvy
The business types most likely to use cloud computing and have a business website were:
|
Cloud computing |
Business website |
|
| Businesses exporting goods and services |
31% |
58% |
| Businesses whose revenue was up in the last 12 months |
29% |
48% |
| Business, professional and property services sector |
27% |
50% |
| Businesses importing goods and services |
26% |
64% |
| Small businesses (5-19 employees) |
25% |
66% |
| Metropolitan-based businesses |
18% |
42% |
Across the mainland states, South Australia had the highest proportion of cloud users (22%) and business website owners (42%). In the prior report, New South Wales had the highest proportion of cloud users (15%) while Queensland had the highest proportion of business website owners (47%).
For MYOB product information, research results, business tips, discussions, customer service and more visit the MYOB Business Monitor webpage, The Pulse blog, MYOB LinkedIn, MYOB Facebook or MYOB YouTube.
Can the proposed China Week be successful in promoting Australian business and trade?
Yesterday’s announcement by the Prime Minister’s of an Australia Week in China may prove far more successful than the G’day USA events the idea is based upon.
G’day USA has been run for a decade and showcases Australia’s attractions, skills and businesses at events in Los Angeles and New York.
It’s been moderately successful but an emphasis on movie stars appearing at black tie Hollywood events illustrates Australian governments’ disproportionate focus in throwing money at US movie producers.
If China Week follows the US example we can expect private, exclusive dinners where Twiggy Forrest, Clive Palmer and the BHP board entertain Chinese plutocrats over bowls of shark fin soup and braised tigers’ testicles.
Should China Week follow that model then it will probably share G’day USA’s middling successes.
The opportunity to do it differently though is great as the Chinese-Australian relationship is far younger and hasn’t been locked into Crocodile Dundee type stereotypes on both sides.
As the Chinese economy matures and evolves, there’s an opportunity for Australian businesses and industries which haven’t been available for exporters to the US.
Done properly, G’day China could help the profile of Australian businesses in many sectors, particularly in those affected by the great Chinese rebalancing.
Let’s hope they do it properly.
Image of the Chinese embassy in Canberra, Australia from Alpha on WikimediaWhile at school I worked at a local shopping centre and one of the many ways to irritate managers was to park in the spots closest to the shops.
“If the staff take all the spaces near the shops” said the store manager, “then customers have to walk further and might go somewhere else. The customers alway comes before the staff.”
That’s true and one of the surest signs of a poorly run business is the location of the staff parking spots, particularly when they are reserved for management.
Similarly the type of company cars management award themselves with can be a warning sign for wary partners.
If customers, staff and suppliers have to walk past an array of expensive prestige cars in the shady and sheltered executive parking spots they can be pretty certain they are not going to be the number one priority at that business.
While running PC Rescue I quickly learned this when visiting potential customers, one client in particular invited me to review their network and make recommendations.
On arriving, I had to feed a parking meter in the street before picking my way past a series of high end Mercedes, two Porsches and a Maserati.
After looking at their network, which hadn’t had a cent spent on it for the best part of a decade, I gave the Managing Director a ballpark figure of what he was looking at to bring his systems into this century.
“That’s way too much!” he thundered and proceeded to lecture me on why my rates were extortionate – all the while I politely listened while thinking I’d driven to the job in a base model Holden Barina and was paying for parking.
Needless to say we didn’t get the job.
One of the worst, most soul destroying things in business is dealing with entitled customers and this client was a classic example. I genuinely feel sorry for whoever landed the job.
Who parks where and what they drive is a good measure for the calibre of a business’ leadership and the egos of management. It’s a good starting place for deciding who you’re going to do business with.
Romanian crime gangs have broken into business systems in Australia and the US, how can you stop them from stealing your customers’ credit card data?
Last week’s bust of a gang of credit card thieves by the Australian Federal Police is a warning to businesses on the need to take computer security seriously.
In Australia a Romanian crime gang targeted small retail businesses’ computer system and stole customers’ credit card details. They would then use the data to create fake credit cards.
A year ago US Authorities broke up a similar gang who had targeted Subway computer franchises which netted the gang over $10 million before they were caught.
In both cases the gangs used remote access software that was included with their victim’s Point Of Sale (POS) equipment. Once logged into the target’s computers, the bad guys were able to install key logging and monitoring software so they could steal credit card details as they were entered into the system.
There’s a number of lessons in both the Australian and US experiences for big and small business on securing systems safely.
It’s almost boring to say this, but you need strong passwords for your systems and networks. Make sure you change all default passwords on the systems so they aren’t easily guessed or broken into.
The Subway hack happened because of sloppy security, you can harden your systems by following good practices such as updating your systems, having malware protection and proper access policies.
Both the Australian and US incidents happened on Windows computers. The crooks were able to get into the computers and then install software because the victims were running in Administrator mode which allows anybody on the computer to control the system.
Daily use should be in limited user mode which stops people from installing software or changing system settings andAdministrator accounts should only be used for system maintenance and have very strong passwords which are different to the normal limited user profile.
Another common factor in the US and Australian incidents is the use of remote access software so technicians can check things and managers can login in from home and other sites.
Unless these are properly set up they are a serious security risk. Unless you or your supplier knows exactly what they are doing, these can open a door from the public Internet straight into your system.
Do not use them unless you are 100% confident in yours, or your suppliers’, ability to run these properly.
Another factor in these incidents is that systems haven’t complied with the PCI-DSS security standards for card payments. Again if you don’t understand these – and they are complex – find a POS vendor or payments processor who does.
Basically, the standard requires that customers’ card details are not stored on your systems and that devices for processing payments are kept separate from other equipment in your shop or office. Following these basic rules would avoid many of the problems.
Many of the problems businesses confront with security is because they don’t have the skills or resources to deal with the ever evolving security threats.
Moving POS systems and other business critical functions onto cloud services addresses many of these issues so it is worthwhile considering ditching expensive, unreliable and sometimes insecure server or desktop based systems and move to cloud services that use tablet computers or smartphones.
Whichever choice you make, it’s important to be engaging suppliers and consultants you can trust because if your customers can’t trust you with their details, then you are out of business.
A follow up to listeners’ questions from December’s 702 Sydney morning program
One of the topics we looked at in yesterday’s ABC 702 Morning show was how to protect yourself on Facebook.
We had a number of callers struggling with controlling spam and scams that seem to be coming from their Facebook details. To fix this, you need to lock your personal details so they can’t be seen by the public.
The detailed instructions on how to lockdown your Facebook page are available on the Netsmarts website.
Our next ABC Mornings spot will probably be in late January. We’ll let you know when it’s approaching.
Can the tech media change its spots
One of the sad truths of the tech media is just how much news is really regurgitated media release, this is part of a bigger problem where online channels demand that sites deliver content and are ‘first’ to get announcements online.
Yesterday’s Google-ICOA scandal where a forged media release was regurgitated world wide across the tech and general media illustrates the weaknesses in the latter imperative when a fake announcement was released through PR Wire, a news release service.
To exacerbate the problem, the forgers used PR Wire’s Premium service which guarantees the release is not only distributed across services like Bloomberg and Reuters but also passed on to Associated Press which in turn distributes the story to hundreds of media outlets world wide.
Which is exactly what happened; here’s the Sydney Morning Herald’s report ripped straight from the wire. A quick Google search on a phrase in the AP report shows 1,259 other outlets also spat out the same Associated Press story.
Nobody at PR Wire, Associated Press or at any of the 1260 outlets chose to call Google or ICOA to confirm the story was true. Neither did anyone at the various tech blogs who chose to rewrite the PR Wire release as ‘news’.
Around the world at mainstream newspapers, tech blogs and online news services writers are under massive pressure to feed the content beast which is why these mistakes are inevitable.
The content beast also means a lot of rubbish gets published, just to keep new material churning across the home page. A good example is in yesterday’s Gizmodo article on how to save money on soda machine gas refills.
While the writer and editors thought this tosh – which was probably inspired from a media release – was worth posting, readers quickly pointed out that using industrial gas for food uses is dangerous and the economics dubious.
A classic example of the audience being smarter than the writer; something becoming increasingly common as poor quality garbage is posted under provocative, attention grabbing headlines.
The question is whether the content beast is worth feeding, readers don’t care and increasingly we’re all struggling to reduce the noise and clutter in our inboxes and social media channels.
Reducing the noise is becoming most internet users priority and this means publications whose value is dubious will end up being winnowed out or, even worse, being ignored.
In the market where users are reducing clutter it’s only the useful, relevant, trusted and genuinely informative sources that will survive.
For Associated Press, this means they are going to have to terminate their relationship with PR Wire if they are going to remain useful and trusted.
AP’s clients are going to have to add more value than just spitting out whatever turns up on the wire as the SMH and 1,200 other sites did with the Google story.
The tech blogs are most challenged of all. Increasingly they have little to offer except a race to the bottom in regurgitating spin and third rate articles.
It’s possible that the Google scandal is good for the tech media, it’s going to force the sites with a future to do smarter, better writing and rely less on PR releases or shouting “first” when they get a story.
The ones who don’t are history and no-one will miss them.
Malware writers are moving onto using social media apps to harvest addresses and personal information.
Last week an interesting media release from anti-virus company Bitdefender appeared in the inbox describing a tricky little scam that promises to change Facebook page colours but actually grabs a user’s information to set up fake blogs associated with the victim’s email address.
Those fake blogs in turn link to a working from home scam, the type which are becoming depressingly common online. No doubt the malware authors have some sort of interest in that scheme.
What makes this malware interesting is how it brings together a range of opportunities for the malware writer – social media, apps, data aggregation, identity spoofing and the Ponzi affiliate schemes that are prevalent as people try to find new ways to supplement their income.
Many people say “I’d never get caught by these scams” but the reality is the scammers are rat-cunning, if not clever. Assuming you’re immune to these because you’re too smart, or you use a Mac or there’s nothing of value on your computer is a risk in itself.
Here’s the media release from Bitdefender.
Google Chrome App grabs identities, forges blogs in victims’ name to promote scam
Bitdefender catches Facebook colour scam with both hands in cookie jar
SYDNEY/AUCKLAND – November 19, 2012 – A Google Chrome app that promises to change the colour of Facebook accounts instead nabs authentication cookies and generates dozens of blogs registered to the victims’ Gmail address, in a new scam analysed by Bitdefender, the leading global antivirus company.
Once the malicious app is installed from Google’s Chrome Web Store, it starts displaying a large Google Ads banner redirecting users to a “work from home scam.” When clicking the sign-up link, users are redirected to a fraudulent website.
“Scammers gave a new twist to the old change-your-Facebook-colour scheme that’s been luring users to fraudulent websites to grab credentials and other sensitive data,” says Chief Security Strategist, Catalin Cosoi. “By creating dozens of blogs for a single account, the scam spreads like wildfire among Facebook friends.”
The blogs generating under the email address of the victims, which are used in further disseminating the scam, have registered a large number of hits among users in the US, the UK, Germany, Spain, Romania, and other countries.
The app can also post wall messages on the victims’ account. The messages use friend tagging to convince the victim’s friends to visit the blog domains. Each time the app posts on a users’ timeline, it links to one of the auto-generated blogs as to avoid blacklisting.
Bitdefender encourages users to use an antivirus solution and the free application Safego, which protects Facebook and Twitter accounts from scams, spam, malware and private data exposure.
Goldman Sachs is taking on new partners, showing how lucrative their fees are.
Becoming a partner of Goldman Sachs is a path to riches and is admission into the highest elites of the Western World’s corporatist society.
The Guardian looks at the process of becoming a Goldman Sachs partner from joining the company as an ‘analyst’ or ‘associate’ through to achieving the highest partner level.
What’s notable about the story are the layers of management and their grandiose titles; the position of “vice-president” being a case in point where it is the next step up for associates and analysts rather than the seat of power such a title suggests.
The sheer number of these vice-presidents and Managing Directors, estimated in the hundreds by the Guardian, is another notable point. The fact there are nearly 500 partner positions in the firm indicates just how fat the fees must be to pay these people.
If Goldman Sachs and their clients were private companies their fees and remuneration would be their own business. Since the Global Financial Crisis, Goldman Sachs and its too-big-to-fail competitors now are explicitly underwritten by the world’s taxpayers.
That should make us all concerned at just how much our grandchildren are going to have to pay for the generous lifestyles of today’s banking elites.
The iPad is becoming accepted as a standard education tool, but are we risking our schools being locked into a walled garden?
If you watch a group of students waiting for the school bus one notable thing that stands out is how they struggle with the slab of books stuffed into their backpacks.
Just taking the health and safety concerns of effects of several kilos of textbooks on young spines makes the idea of giving students tablet computers attractive. But are we risking locking our schools into the walled gardens and corporate policies of Apple, Amazon and the ebook publishers?
Apple certainly see education as being the key area with their product keynote two weeks ago being peppered with references to how great the iPad and iPad Mini are for schools, students and educators.
In an anti-Apple rant – something becoming common among tech journalists fed up of being rudely treated by Apple’s PR people – Current magazine’s Patrick Avenell describes one PR executive’s interview for a media relations job at Apple’s Australian office.
“It was the most bizarre job interview I’ve ever had,” this executive said. “I was asked what my perception of Apple was, and I said all the usual stuff like ‘innovative, design focused, forefront of technology’, and I was told that was completely wrong — It was all about education and learning.”
That focus on education hasn’t been missed by schools as dozens of private schools are issuing tablet computers to replace student laptops and state schools have started experimenting with them. My local public school’s Parents & Citizens group has funded some as a pilot for their students.
Most of these tablet computers are iPads and the much of the take up is driven by the gushing media coverage of Apple’s devices. Often schools aren’t considering alternatives to the iPad or whether tablet computers are appropriate at all.
Audrey Watters at Hack Education has a very critique of the media’s role in promoting iPads and her points about Digital Rights Management and product lifecycles are pertinent.
The product lifecycle aspect is something that should concern parents and school administrators – these are not cheap purchases with tablet computers costing between $250 and $700 each and few of them will stand up to more than two years of constant use, particularly when being thrown around in school bags.
Should a tablet last two years, it will probably be superseded at the end of that time, which is a good illustration of the risks of being locked into a walled garden.
On top of the ongoing replacement costs of tablet computers, the cost of licensing ebooks threatens to be higher than traditional books as each student’s tablet requires its own license for each book rather than the school owning a set and giving copies out to the class studying the text each year.
The ebook also kills second hand books book market and gives text book companies a nice recurring income which is why educational publishers like Pearson and McGraw-Hill are so enthusiastic about putting their titles onto tablet computers.
Anybody who tries to circumvent the control of Apple or any other tablet manufacturer risks being stripped of their devices as a lady in Norway found when Amazon’s computer decided she had done something wrong.
That was by no means the first time such a thing had happened, in 2009 Amazon removed George Orwell’s 1984 from the Kindle store which meant the title disappeared from their customers’ tablets.
Along with being obsessed with corporate intellectual property rights – there is a difference to the rights of authors – tech companies bring their own morality onto their products.
While some educators may share Facebook’s revulsion towards nipples and breastfeeding, having titles deleted mid term because of a DRM snafu or change in corporate policy is not something that leads to good outcomes, or wise expenditure of scarce funds.
It may be that tablet computers are the right choice for schools and iPads are the right models to deliver the ebooks, but like all technology choices there are real maintenance and lifecycle costs along with management risks which may not seem obvious at first.
At a time when schools are being constrained by budget cuts, it would be a tragedy to waste billions and lock a generation of educators into one or two company’s technology platforms and licensing structures.
We need to consider these costs and risks very carefully before we choose to lock students into the corporate worlds of Apple, Amazon or Google.
A question that still bugs me from the Cloud + NBN forum this week is “why would a plumber want a broadband connection.”
It doesn’t seem so long ago that question was asked about mobile phones – in the early 1990s the question made sense as cellphones in those days were heavy bulky things that sat in cars. They were of little use to plumbers or anyone else except the executives and politicians who could afford them.
Today there are few plumbers who don’t have a mobile phone.
Why would plumbers want a broadband connection? Job scheduling, inventory management, stock ordering, quoting and invoicing are five tasks that spring to mind.
One of the big areas for all business is research and training. Keeping up with industry changes, particularly in fields where professional development is required to maintain your license or accreditation, is made far easier with online learning services.
For the plumber, being able to find out what’s new on the market and how to install or maintain the latest products keeps them in the marketplace.
Then there’s the necessity of being listed online – without a broadband connection the local plumber will struggle to keep up to date with the sites customers are using to find tradesmen.
Even asking the question “why should a plumber be online?” betrays just how many of us aren’t understanding how business is changing.
Where next for accounting and cloud computing?
I’m at the Xero Partner Conference in Melbourne this weekend to hear how the cloud accounting service is travelling.
Talking to the other attendees it’s interesting just how many accountants and bookkeepers are moving clients over because of the cloud benefits.
Encouraging for Xero, there’s a big turnout of developers as well, one of the reasons for the successes of Microsoft Windows and Apple iOS is the size and diversity of their partners, particularly those writing software.
The opening session of the conference itself will be interesting as Xero CEO Rod Drury gives his overview of the industry. With competitor MYOB in trouble with its customer base, this should be an entertaining speech.
While Xero aren’t the only game in town, they are one of the leaders in getting other businesses to adopt cloud services. The conference should be interesting in hearing how the sector is developing and how organisations can use cloud technologies.
