BFM March/April 2018

BUSINESSFIRST for Business Leaders

March/April 2018

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THE POWER OF TELEVISION The Australian company gaining an international Advertising Advantage

POWERBROKING WOMEN

· 163 million are starting new businesses · Amy Bach and Jamila Rizvi talk leadership qualities

Education Nation

Curtin University looks to the future Why Melbourne Polytechnic is building industry ties

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AUSTRALIAN MINERS EMBRACE AUTOMATION 3 REASONS EMPLOYEES COMMIT FRAUD FUTURE PROOFING AUSTRALIA

and more

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CONTENTS REGULARS 4 Editor’s Desk 5 News 9 Executive Movement

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INVESTMENT FOCUS

SPECIAL FEATURE – INFRASTRUCTURE 10 How to future proof a city

By Nick Deeks 14 Future proofing Australia

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ASIA FOCUS 30 MOU to grow export opportunities to China

BUSINESS FOCUS 40 5 money management resolutions to keep your business firing on all cylinders in 2018 By John Corias

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ADAD gets set to fly like an eagle TV is as powerful as ever and Advertising Advantage is making the most it. Jonathan Jackson reconnects with ADAD founders Luke Dean and Wally Muhieddine as they take their unique offering to the US. 58 Why onboarding is an easy win for your digital HR strategy By Beth Carr 60 It takes years to build your reputation but only a day to tear it down – What should you do when a crisis hits? By Sharon ZeevPoole 64 Can a lawyer change their spots? By Stephen Moss 66 Navigating IT issues with three easy steps By George Wilson

FEATURES 16 The top three reasons people commit expense fraud and how to put a stop to it By Beth Carr 18 Australian miners embracing automation 20 Mindfulness, meditation and purpose: How to find focus as a CEO By Esha Oberoi 22 Is bespoke better? Why brands are turning to personalization By Leah Pooley

COVER STORY

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46 Why are Australian small and medium-sized businesses settling for average employees? By Sabrina Wuerth 48 Working with family can be tricky business By Darleen Barto 54 Lonely at the top? Don’t let it be so By Grace Thomas

36 Understanding Cryptocurrency. A Practical Guide By Daniele Lima 52 Regulation the key to calm amid the crypto-storm By Darren Sommers

PROPERTY FOCUS 68 Construction set to surge to decade high

LIFESTYLE 69 Say, ‘Goodbye, Fear!’ By Daniel G. Taylor 70 What’s trending in corporate travel in 2018 72 Chrysler almighty! www.businessfirstmagazine.com.au

BUSINESS FIRST LOUNGE

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32 Curtin University’s innovative approach to education

Curtin University is regarded as an innovative institution with a penchant for creating strong industry ties.

Business First speaks with Vice Chancellor Professor Deborah Terry AO about the university’s vision and its impact on Western Australian society.

42 Melbourne Polytechnic is developing students to meet the demands and challenges of an everchanging workforce.

Business First speaks with CEO Frances Coppolillo about preparing students to have a positive economic impact.

50 Jamila Rizvi on leadership, sexism and pay rises

Jamila Rizvi will be speaking at the Women’s Leadership Symposium in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Darwin so Women & Leadership Australia caught up with her to discuss her thoughts on leadership, sexism and all things gender equality.

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56 UNOX’s recipe for success

Unox Australia General Manager is at the coalface of a company that is known for invention and innovation.

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62 Two essential leadership traits

Amy Bach is a health sector leader based in Melbourne. She has extensive experience in senior management roles in healthcare in Australia and the UK. For her, resilience and courage are two key ingredients for true leadership even though they can be hard to develop.

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BF | EDITOR’S DESK

Women in business

BUSINESSFIRST MAGAZINE

Whilst this issue isn’t technically a tribute to the great female CEOs and leaders in Australia, it has panned out that many of our profiles in this March/April edition are exceptional female leaders.

It is rare being able to speak with a female CEO: only 11 of Australia’s top 200 businesses have females in the top job.

That’s a poor statistic by any calculation, but isn’t surprising considering the gender pay gap, according to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, is just over 15 per cent generally and a staggering 28.7 per cent in the ASX 200 (excluding the wages of CEOs/ business heads).

The workplace needs gender equality and parity. Deloitte’s economic modelling for the QLD government found that achieving gender parity on boards will deliver $87 million in productivity gains for that State.

This issue of Business First doesn’t tackle the politics behind equality in business, however it is worth thinking about when reading the following profiles.

Both Vice Chancellor of Curtin University, Professor Deborah Terry AO and Melbourne Polytechnic CEO Frances Coppolillo have similar views on leadership and education.

Professor Terry is helping Curtin position itself as part of the major innovation ecosystem of the future in Western Australia.

Frances Coppolillo is doing something similar in preparing students to have a positive economic impact.

These two leaders are working very closely with industry to ensure that students have the most hands-on education possible.

In what is a very interesting Q&A, media maven Jamila Rizvi, who writes a weekly political column for News Limited and appears regularly as a commentator on Channel 10, Channel 9 and the ABC, speaks to Business First about what it’s like to be a high profile female in media.

Meanwhile, health sector leader Amy Bach gives a first person account for what leadership means to her.

That is a good round up of female leaders to read about and we’ll endeavour to put a dedicated issue together in the near future.

On the cover of this issue is Advertising Advantage.

It’s been a couple of years since we caught up with the founders of ADAD, but the maturity of the company in that time has been substantial. Founders Luke Dean and Wally Muhieddine explain how the company has seen significant year on year growth of 30% to 40%.

Rounding out our profiles is UNOX’s Australian General Manager Wayne Viles.

Viles explains how UNOX has brought innovation to the cooking equipment industry and why it is dedicated to improve businesses’ returns on investment.

Also in this issue, we look at the need to smarten up our cities, the regulations that may be coming to the cryptocurrency and blockchain space, how mining is evolving and the top three reasons people commit expense fraud.

We also look at issues in HR, law, coaching, family business, small business and technology.

Once again, it is a packed issue, so as we move further into the year and knuckle down for the months ahead, make sure you take some time for some light reading.

Jonathan Jackson

PUBLISHER Alan Hyman EDITOR Jonathan Jackson SUB-EDITOR Judy Hyman WRITER Leon Gettler DESIGN Gino Hawkins PRODUCTION Caitlin Lacy Contributors Darlene Barton, Beth Carr, John Corias, Nick Deeks, Daniele Lima, Stephen Moss, Esha Oberoi, Greville Pabst, Michael Page, Sharon Zeev-Poole, Leah Pooley, Darren Sommers, Daniel G Taylor, George Wilson Head Office Level 1, 33-35 Atchison Street St Leonards NSW 2065 Advertising enquiries Phone: 02 8416 5294 Email: bfadvertising@amgroup.net.au Subscription enquiries Phone: 02 8416 5294 Email: bfsubscriptions@amgroup.net.au Associated Media Group Pty Ltd ABN 68 123 058 926 Copyright ©2018 Associated Media Group amgroup.net.au

www.businessfirstmagazine.com.au DISCLAIMER Readers are advised that Business First Magazine and Associated Media Group (AMG) cannot be held responsible for the accuracy of statements made in the advertising. Opinions expressed throughout the publication are the contributors own and do not necessarily reflect views or policy of Business First Magazine or AMG. While every reasonable effort has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in this publication, AMG takes no responsibility for those relying on the information. AMG and Business First Magazine disclaim all responsibility for any loss or damage suffered by readers of third parties in connection with the information contained in this publication.

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BUSINESS SNAPSHOT | BFM

Government won’t tolerate companies employing 20% of workers from overseas Dan Engles Director of Joondalup based Visa Solutions Australia says companies will be caught out if they continually cast their net overseas for their workforce.

“We’re talking about the ‘non-discriminatory workforce test’ which has been banded about. The Australian Government wants to stop companies from having a workforce which predominantly comes from overseas.

“What we are going to see is that if they have more than 20% of foreign staff, Department of Immigration and Border Protection officials will step in and a company will have to prove that they’re not discriminating against local workers and effectively come under scrutiny,” Mr Engles explained.

“Employers will also have a duty to advertise a position on a public online jobs board such as SEEK for minimum of 28 days before they can start the process for a TSS visa for someone from overseas.”

For many occupations, the new visa

Dan Engles Director of Visa Solutions Australia will only be available for two years and then a further two-year extension, but it’s emerged that there will be a few exceptions.

“If a visa applicant is in a senior man-

A welcome redundancy headed for Australian businesses

Last financial year over 7,800 businesses suffered faults across telecoms platforms including the internet, that were so severe they lodged a complaint with the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman, up 41% on the previous year. What’s more, there were an additional 3,232 complaints specifically regarding connections.

To help keep businesses online, www.businessfirstmagazine.com.au

Spirit, has launched Redundancy as a Service (RaaS). Acting as a backup internet for businesses that lies completely redundant until it’s needed, the service provides consistent and reliable internet when conventional networks used by the NBN and other mainstream providers experience an outage.

“Redundancy as a Service safeguards against a number of potential disasters,” says Spirit Managing Director, Geoff Neate.

“A lost connection can halt online sales, customer and supplier communication, destroy productivity and endanger the brand’s reputation, so it’s paramount that businesses have a ‘plan B’ for when their mission critical services experience an outage” The launch follows a successful 2017 for the telecoms company, in which it made another appearance in the Asia Pacific Deloitte Technology Fast 500 and its expansions within Queensland and New South Wales. BFM

agement position from one of the 126 stipulated GATT countries then they’ll be eligible to work for four years plus a further four years regardless of the visa stipulating a two-year restriction.

These will be for positions within IT/ Construction/Finance etc.

“They’ve also said they’ll be looking at providing special provisions to those companies who need high-end specialist staff whose skillset is unique and will need to be sourced globally. A new streamlined so-called ‘Labour Agreement’ will be available for accredited sponsors. These will be for larger companies such as BHP or Woodside, which are well-known in WA and have a strong impact on industry in the state.”

Mr Engles explained that the Minister Alan Tudge will have responsibility for these new skilled visas while Peter Dutton will continue in his role as Minister super Ministry of Home Affairs.”

The new Temporary Skills Shortage Visa scheme will replace the 457. BFM

GLOBAL RECOGNITION FOR VINOMOFO Vinomofo is one step closer to reaching its goal of global domination after being shortlisted for the World Retail Awards.

The ‘Retail Transformation and Reinvention’ award recognises retailers who have stayed in touch with the ever-changing digital landscape and have successfully reengineered and re-energised their businesses to do so, all while delivering sustainable growth.

Coming off the back of an exceptional first year in the Singaporean market, Vinomofo has proven its able to successfully bring all the good times and wines to a new market of mofos.

Since launching in Singapore on the 6th of December 2016, Vinomofo has: • Sold more than 150,000 bottles of wine; • Built up a tribe of just under 20,000 Singaporeans; • $4 million annual revenue (runrate).

The award ceremony will take place in Madrid on the 19th of April. BFM

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BFM | BUSINESS SNAPSHOT

ITALIAN CLUB TO JOIN THE LONDON FOOTBALL EXCHANGE Sporting clubs may be looking to Italian football club FC Bari for an indication of how to increase profits.

FC Bari 1908 chairman Cosmo Giancaspro announced the intention of the Club to join the London Football Exchange in order to access the LFE Loyal Fan Engagement and equity solutions allowing real fans access to the Club on an unprecedented level.

FC Bari 1908 has agreed (subject to contract) to become the first Italian club to join the London Football Exchange (LFE) in order to access the LFE Fan Experience platform by trading football equity on the blockchain and giving thousands of ordinary fans a level of access that they have never seen before.

“We will be delighted to welcome FC Bari to the LFE. This clearly demonstrates the real life use case of how LFE platform can benefit both clubs’ funding options and fans’ involvement in the game.

We applaud the forward-thinking senior management of this historic club who deserve a lot of credit for embracing this revolutionary new model of football finance and engagement,” said Charles Pittar, Corporate CEO at London Football Exchange.

The LFE Exchange will be the first ever football stock exchange that offers fans the chance to buy shares of football clubs built on blockchain. As well as being a onestop shop for clubs of all sizes to raise capital via equity sales, it also offers LFE contributors a wealth of fan experiences and social interaction.

The underlying technology of LFE is unique because it is the first application of blockchain to enable football fans to buy fan experiences and football club shares.

This is made possible because the LFE platform will be built on the Stellar and Ripple networks, which will support speeds of around 1500 transactions per second. BFM

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AMAZON AND ALDI DRIVE SURGE IN CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITY

New retail investment is a key factor underpinning the forecast surge in construction activity.

Forecasts of building and construction activity produced by Master Builders Australia expects the non-residential construction sector to grow by 14.6 per cent in 2017-18 and be valued at $42 billion.

The following commentary is from Matthew Pollock, Master Builders National Manager, Economics.

INTERNATIONAL RETAILERS Of this, $6.9 billion is forecast to come from the influx of international retailers into Australia – particularly the arrival of Amazon and expansions by Costco and Aldi. The latter has plans to open another 30 stores around the country in the next 12 months.

A positive of the forecast commercial construction surge is that growth is expected to be broad based with construction related to office space and resort and hotel accommodation also making a strong contribution.

OFFICE SPACE Office space is set to make the biggest single contribution with a strong pipeline of projects supporting an expectation of related construction work to top $6.8 billion in 2017-18.

TOURISM – RESORTS AND HOTELS Meanwhile, tourist numbers from our neighbours in the Asian region continue to grow and will support a major influx of Asian investment into resort and hotel accommodation.

This will be particularly beneficial for the Queensland construction sector as $9 billion of the $11.7 billion in projects waiting in the pipeline is allocated to major resort projects in Queensland.

HEALTH AND EDUCATION Health and education related construction will also boost the construction industry in some states.

In South Australia the $247 million Health Innovations Building at the University of South Australia is a case in point, as is the reallocation of the University of Tasmania’s STEM facilities. BFM

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BUSINESS SNAPSHOT | BFM

Adoption of automated expenses management systems hits critical mass Automation has finally hit critical mass when it comes to expenses, with more than half of the respondents to the 2017 Concur ANZ spend management index stating that they have an automated expense management solution in place and a greater number of companies than ever before agreeing that they are considering automating expenses.

In 2016, only 27 per cent of respondents had an automated expense management solution and the proportion of respondents that had never even thought about automating expenses was nearly one-quarter (24 per cent). This year, that number has gone down to eight per cent, suggesting an automated expense management solution may be on the cards for even more organisations.

Murray Warner, business development director, ANZ, Concur, said, “It’s encouraging to see such a massive

increase in the number of companies automating their expenses. A dedicated, cloud-based expense management system reduces the possibility for error and dramatically slashes the amount of time it takes to prepare, review, and approve expense reports. It makes it easier for the business to track expenses and identify unusual or out-of-policy expenditure.”

Key results of the 2017 Concur ANZ spend management index included: • While more than three-quarters (77 per cent) of survey respondents have a formal expenses policy in place, only 59 per cent agree that their employees always comply. Just one per cent say their employees never comply but it’s concerning to see that 21 per cent of respondents didn’t even know whether employees were complying or not.

• When it comes to spending, most

employees find that transport is their biggest expense, followed by accommodation and meals.

• Of the respondents that do have an expense management system, 27 per cent integrate it across business departments within business operations. 17 per cent have a standalone travel and expense management system.

• 17 per cent of respondents in this year’s survey said employees can create and capture expenses, and submit, review, and approve claims via a mobile app. This is an improvement on last year’s result when just 12 per cent of respondents used a mobile app.

• Just 34 per cent of organisations can pinpoint an employee’s whereabouts any time, and 38 per cent believe organisations should only track travelling employees’ whereabouts. BFM

MICROSOFT MOVES INTO SYDNEY START-UP HUB In a major coup for NSW, Microsoft will bring its world-renowned intensive program for start-ups to the new Sydney Startup Hub, making it one of only eight locations in the world to host the accelerator program.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Deputy Premier John Barilaro made the announcement, while officially opening the Sydney Startup Hub, which will create thousands of job opportunities across metro and regional NSW. “Last July the NSW Government committed $35 million to create a world leading startup and innovation hub and today we can see what has been created,” Ms Berejiklian said.

“The decision by Microsoft to move in is a huge vote of confidence in our city, our economy and the people that make up our start up community.”

Mr Barilaro said it would not have been possible to attract a program of Microsoft’s calibre without the NSW Government’s investment in the Sydney Startup Hub. “Within Microsoft, there is enormous competition to secure Microsoft Scale-Up for different countries, so it’s an incredible result to see Sydney chosen as the newest location to host this sought-after and highly-acclaimed

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program,” Mr Barilaro said.

Microsoft Australia Managing Director Steven Worrall said the world-class program will accelerate the growth of technology startups.

“Microsoft launched the Scale-Up

Program in 2012, and since then, close to 650 startups have raised around US$3 billion in funding after graduating from programs run in Bangalore, Shanghai, Beijing, London, Berlin, Seattle and Tel Aviv,” Mr Worrall said. BFM

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BFM | BUSINESS SNAPSHOT

Vital steps needed to safeguard the future of super A joint policy report urging vital changes to safeguard the future of Australia’s superannuation system by industry super fund Vision Super and the John Curtin Research Centre, was launched recently in Canberra by Shadow Minister for Finance, Dr Jim Chalmers.

The report, Super ideas: Securing Australia’s retirement income system, looks at the challenges of providing a secure retirement for all Australians, and the changes needed to ensure the superannuation system remains fit for purpose over the coming decades.

“Our superannuation system was essentially designed in the 1990s,” Vision Super Deputy Chair Geoff Lake said, “And while it’s still overall a world-beating system, we need to make sure it can meet the challenges of the 21st century.

“Those challenges include the increasing prevalence of casual and contract work – the so-called ‘gig economy’ – the ageing population, and the shrinking base of taxpayers.

“We all want a dignified, comfortable retirement – so it’s vital that we have a mature, reasoned policy debate about how we preserve the fundamentals of Australia’s world class retirement system, while updating those aspects that no longer make sense in the twenty-first century.”

Dr Nick Dyrenfurth, Executive Director of the John Curtin Research Centre and author of the report, said there are seven main recommendations contained in the report.

“Some of the recommendations echo those made by other industry participants – like raising the superannuation guarantee rate to 12.5% and eventually to 15%, and abolishing the $450 threshold.

“Others are innovative policy solutions, such as the introduction of a compulsory levy on contractors

with incomes above a threshold of $90,000 per financial year to fund the aged pension - unless the contractor contributes an amount equivalent to the SG to a complying super account.

The report also recommends: Financial literacy be incorporated into the national curriculum and measures for addressing gender gap in super. BFM

Crowd funded wine Winery Lane, a boutique online wine retailer is set to crowd-fund more than $1.2 million through birchal, a new licensed equity crowd-funding platform created by the guys behind Pozible.

With Expressions Of Interest open, Winery Lane has already had more than $1.2 million pledged in investment from every day Australians with a formal raise slated for March this year. Founders of birchal expect this number to continue to rise with many Australian’s seeing the huge opportunity for massive growth of Winery Lane as a leading online wine retailer within the Australian landscape.

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“Initially we were looking to secure $250,000 in investment,” said Winery Lane Co-Founder, Stephen Mobb, “the response to our EOI has been mind-blowing and we’re definitely open to raising what has been pledged if this means more wine lovers can join our business and help it to continue growing rapidly.”

Winery Lane is an online wine marketplace that brings wine lovers and winemakers together like never before – working with and showcasing only independent wine and producers, unearthing the hidden gems in the industry. BFM www.businessfirstmagazine.com.au

EXECUTIVE MOVEMENT | BFM

EXECUTIVE MOVEMENT Where the movers and shakers go when it’s time for a new challenge.

Board appoints CEO to implement new vision for Gumala Enterprises

The Board of Gumala Enterprises Pty Ltd (GEPL) recently appointed a highly- experienced resources and energy sector professional to drive the Indigenous business forward.

Mr Tim Larkin has taken on the role of Chief Executive Officer with a clear mandate to diversify the company and take financial, partnership and operational performance across the enterprise to new levels.

His appointment is a strategic move towards a more commercially astute and sustainable business model following the Board’s comprehensive review of GEPL, its capabilities and new opportunities in the Western Australia marketplace.

Mr Larkin brings more than 35 years’ experience in the resources and energy sector to the position following project development and operational management roles with leading companies including BHP, United Group, Leighton Contractors and Laing O’Rourke.

Warren Baillie FGIA new president of Governance Institute

Governance Institute of Australia has appointed Warren Baillie president, effective 1 January 2018.

Mr Baillie takes the reins ahead of an exciting year as Governance Institute continues its work promoting and facilitating world-class whole-oforganisation governance.

“I’m excited by Governance Institute’s new approach,” Mr Baillie said. “We have opened new pathways to membership, and are offering new training courses – such as the Effective Director Course and an on-line Sports Governance program. Our revamped Governance & Risk Management Forums will be held all around the country and focus on strategy, culture and technology.

It’s a great time to be a member of Governance Institute.”

“Our policy and advocacy team and member committees will continue their crucial work engaging with regulators and parliamentarians

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to ensure that good governance standards are maintained across all sectors – from listed companies to not-for-profit organisations and the public sector,” he said. “In particular, we look forward to participating in the upcoming conversation around the ASX Corporate Governance Council’s revision of their Corporate Governance Principles and Recommendations.”

Mr Baillie is the Company Secretary at Woodside Energy. He joined Woodside as a Senior Lawyer in 2005 and was appointed Company Secretary in 2012. Before joining Woodside, he practiced as a Senior Associate in the corporate and commercial area with a national law firm. He has served as a vice president of Governance Institute since 2016.

He will be supported in his new role by vice-presidents Rachel Rees FGIA FCIS and John Mazengarb FGIA FCIS.

New COO at InvoCare

Australia’s largest operator of funeral homes, cemeteries and crematoria, InvoCare (ASX:IVC), has appointed a new chief operating officer for Australia and New Zealand operations.

Damien MacRae is an experienced leader in complex, highly distributed businesses of similar scale and size to InvoCare. His most recent role was two years based in Singapore as Chief Operating Officer, Asia Pacific, of Experian, a leading global information services company. For more than twelve years prior, Damien held various senior management roles with Westpac Banking Corporation, including General Manager of Premium Banking Australia and General Manager (NSW/ACT) of Retail & Business Banking Australia. He has also held various management roles in other leading financial services sector organisations.

Damien will report to the CEO, Martin Earp, and is a core member of InvoCare’s Group Executive.

Nick Nairn now CEO at Stuart Alexander & Co

One of Australia’s largest privately-

owned companies, Stuart Alexander & Co. is excited to announce two changes in their management structure.

After more than 40 years in the business and 20 years as CEO of the company, Garry Browne AM will take on the role of Executive Chair on the Stuart Alexander board, whilst former GM sales and marketing, Nick Nairn has been appointed CEO. Nick Nairn has previously worked for companies such as PepsiCo, Frucor (Suntory), DB Breweries (Heineken) and has extensive experience in the FMCG space and a strong understanding of the challenges and opportunities businesses are facing in today’s highly competitive market.

FOXTEL names Patrick Delaney as CEO

News Corp announced that FOX SPORTS Australia Chief Executive Officer Patrick Delany will become the Chief Executive Officer of Foxtel, succeeding Peter Tonagh, who successfully led the company during its crucial merger negotiations.

News Corp’s Chief Executive Robert Thomson thanked Mr Tonagh for his excellent service to Foxtel, News Corp Australia and REA Group during years of great change and challenge in the marketplace.

“There is no question that Peter Tonagh has been a thoughtful, far-sighted leader and his positive influence will resonate for many years to come,” said Mr Thomson.

“Patrick’s astute and innovative leadership of FOX SPORTS, combined with his broad experience during his nine years at Foxtel, make him the ideal person to take the helm at such a profoundly important moment for Foxtel.”

Mr Delany has led FOX SPORTS Australia since 2011, during which time its coverage of sports has expanded, delivering more than 10,000 hours of live action every year, including every game of NRL, AFL, Super Rugby, A League Football, F1 and Supercars. BFM

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BFM | SPECIAL FEATURE

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SPECIAL FEATURE| BFM

HOW TO FUTURE PROOF A CITY

The race is on for policy makers and urban planners to cater for the 6.1 billion people who will live in the world’s cities by 2050. Australia is forecast to experience exceptional growth, with the population of our major cities set to double in just 50 years. However, a liveability crisis looms if we do not start acting now to future proof our major cities writes Nick Deeks.

P

olicy makers and planners need to anticipate future developments in society and act now to minimise the consequences of outdated structures. Australian planners have forecast the country’s growth for the next century, and must now focus on building housing, apartments, commercial property, retail spaces, open spaces, infrastructure and transport systems innovatively and sustainably.

Policy makers and planners need to future proof our cities for longevity rather than expediency. Planners needs to adopt a futurist mindset that looks 150 years ahead, not hastily respond to population demands with structures that whilst built to last 50 plus years will become obsolete in their usability within the next 20 years.

AUSTRALIA’S CURRENT LANDSCAPE Major cities in Australia are filled with cranes and construction sites. It’s clear the country is in the midst of a construction and infrastructure boom, however the infrastructure boom is not future-proofing, it is catching up. Sydney has invested heavily in metro, light rail and motorways. Melbourne is building a metro expansion and highway upgrades. Perth has the proposed Metronet expansion. Brisbane keeps trying to get the Cross River Rail project to stack up and Canberra is building its first light rail.

This record investment follows years of neglect in dealing with growing population demands.

Australia continues to conceptualise and construct

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old fashioned infrastructure with no real difference to what we did 100 years ago. This results in second rate infrastructure that takes no account of future people movement requirements, faster travel times or innovative technology.

Australia’s major cities are increasingly at risk of losing their top rankings as the world’s most liveable cities. Melbourne is “The World’s Most Liveable City”, but it’s without a world class transport network and currently no direct rail link to and from the airport.

The Victorian Government’s Plan Melbourne strategy addresses Melbourne’s forecasted population by continuing to push out the growth boundary. Sydney’s public transport system cannot cope with demand, which will only intensify with population growth and jobs staying in the city. Australia’s two major cities are also on track for a major undersupply of housing and commercial property stock.

Inadequacies in infrastructure, transport and housing, combined with climate change and natural disasters present many challenges for the future liveability of Australian cities. Governments, urban planners, architects, engineers, builders and regulators need to make buildings more innovative, cheaper and sustainable. Here are seven steps for the industry to future-proof our cities. #1 Polycentric cities - Transforming monocentric cities to polycentric cities, similar to the urban villages of New York, London and Tokyo.

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BFM | SPECIAL FEATURE

Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane should transform their cities into a series of urban villages with multiple CBDs. This would ease demand on housing and mitigate the urban heat island effect to create healthier communities and allow for an urban sprawl that is not just pushing people further out from one main city centre. However, for polycentric cities to be truly effective, we need efficient and comprehensive transportation systems that bring people together for greater liveability and wellbeing. This is a concept currently being assessed by the Greater Sydney Commission.

#3 Multi mixed use buildings - maximising space and operations by developing and repurposing buildings for a multitude of services.

Buildings that are solely residential or commercial will need to become multi mixed use incorporating retail, co-location work spaces, accommodation, childcare, healthcare, recreation and medical facilities. While mixed use facilities exist in Australia, they are not as prevalent as in other cities, such as Hong Kong which takes on a “rail plus property” approach to create amenities for commuters. Multi mixed use buildings need to become part of the design of our cities.

#2 Transport connecting our major cities - Multiple efficient connections between our major cities will enable our hubs of activity and commerce to thrive.

Future cities require efficient, affordable, high-speed connections and must prepare for the normalisation of autonomous and electric vehicles, both of which our Asian neighbours are thriving in. Elon Musk’s Hyperloop, which is being tested in Dubai and the US, could lead to dramatically reduced interstate travel times in Australia. Singapore is testing driverless cars and autonomous public vehicles on roads in real time. Australia needs to consider the implementation of these kinds of technologies to ensure connectivity between our cities.

#4 Micro apartments – delivering affordable housing stock to the market Like other Asian cities, Australia’s population growth is coinciding with an increased desire to live closer to the central business district. To deliver affordable housing stock to the market, in the places where people want to live, developers must look at creating micro apartments and Australians must embrace smaller, high-density living.

Micro apartments provide a great opportunity to explore more economic, sustainable and efficient designs. Recent micro apartment developments such as Casuarina Square in Darwin and Carmel Place in New York, used modular design and prefabrication that halved construction times and the use of

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SPECIAL FEATURE| BFM

resources. These apartment developments maximised space with optimal design efficiencies and shared amenities to create healthy environments for residents.

outcomes. By embracing more efficient processes and materials, the industry will be able to rapidly provide affordable housing stock to the growing population.

#5 Greenification of urban developments – prioritising environmental and community health benefits Natural drainage, vertical and rooftop gardens, solar panels and recyclables should all be part of the green infrastructure of a new property development.

This ideology is becoming prevalent in London, Singapore and Vancouver. Developers often think that incorporating eco-friendly design is too much of a financial burden, but in reality, these design elements reduce maintenance costs over the long-term. They also provide large environmental and community health benefits. Frasers Central Park Mall in Sydney’s Chippendale was developed with sustainability at the core of its design. It incorporates a plethora of green elements, from vertical gardens to an onsite water recycling plant. More Australian developers need to follow suit and greenify their developments.

#7 Social change – changing our habits and expectations Future proofing our cities requires heavy investment and funding, but also social change in accepting the long-term need for smarter and futuristic urban planning. We need to understand this to shift our attitudes in tolerating short-term disruption for the long-term and generational wellbeing of our population. Future proofing our cities in terms of urban planning and construction is protecting the Australian lifestyle. A liveable city contributes to our wellbeing and ability to live a high quality of life.

It is time to accept that cities in Australia and around the world must radically change, with the immense population growth that is forecast.

Governments and urban planners must produce infrastructure, housing and transport systems that will allow our ever-growing cities to remain liveable.

Currently Australia is not equipped to meet the expected population growth. This can only change if our planning, development and construction is focused on future proofing cities through more sustainable, innovative and visionary thinking.

Australia cannot be afraid of change; our planners must lead the way in embracing new technologies and policy makers must enable this leadership.

Australia needs to think in the long-term so we can ensure population growth is met with liveable, affordable and healthy cities. BFM

#6 Sustainable and efficient construction – embracing new technologies in the design and construction of cities Building design, materials and implementation must change in order for construction to become faster, more affordable, adaptable and resilient to change amid a growing population. The use of technologies, such as 3D printing, artificial intelligence and robotics and materials such as prefabricated panels, composite panels and recycled materials will accelerate processes and produce more cost-effective and sustainable

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BFM | SPECIAL FEATURE

FUTURE PROOFING AUSTRALIA During December last year, the Australian Government launched Australia’s first National Cities Performance Framework to track the progress and performance of our largest cities.

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The Framework is published on a Dashboard at smart-cities.dashboard.gov.au to assist governments, industry and the community to better target cities policy and investments, including through City Deals.

Assistant Minister for Cities and Digital Transformation Angus Taylor said the Framework was about encouraging individual cities to improve outcomes.

“The timing of this is fantastic because we’ve just got a really comprehensive dataset from the most recent Australian census, which allows us to see the most updated picture of the economic and growth profile of these cities,” Assistant Minister Taylor said.

“The 30 minute city metric for instance, is new

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connectivity data which hasn’t been applied before.

And we’re going to keep adding new data, because we know there’s great information coming out of not just the public sector, but the private sector.

“The specific goals, to inform potential future City Deals, will come from these metrics. It’s very obvious when you look at each of these cities, what the challenges are that we have to address as a top priority and our City Deals will do exactly that.

“It’s not a matter of one city being better than another, this dashboard tells us about the differences in our biggest cities. It tells us that we need policies that customise solutions for individual cities and a national government has to be part of that, just as local governments already are.”

The initial focus of the Performance Framework is on Australia’s 21 largest cities– each with a population above 80,000. The Framework also includes Western Sydney, recognising the region’s national significance and aligned to the area of the Western Sydney City Deal.

The Framework contains 46 indicators, and draws on nationally consistent, comparable and reliable data sets.

Key indicators include: • ‘Jobs accessible in 30 minutes’ - access to jobs is a key driver of accessibility and quality of life in our cities. On average across our largest cities, 85.4 per cent of jobs are accessible within 30 minutes by car.

• ‘Housing price to income ratio’ - a lack of affordable housing can weigh on a city’s economic performance and can undermine social cohesion and exacerbate wealth inequality. On average across our largest cities, a median priced dwelling costs 6.2 times the median annual household income.

• ‘Access to green space’ - accessibility to green space can provide opportunities for recreation and exercise, improve air quality and reduce urban heat island effects. On average, across our largest cities approximately 80 per cent of dwellings in Australia’s cities are within 400 metres of green space.

• ‘Business creation’- in a dynamic, innovative economy we expect a high rate of business creation.

We need this vitality for our cities to thrive in a fastpaced and competitive global environment. Across Australia’s largest cities, the average business entry rate is 13.9 per cent per year.

• ‘Employment growth’ - being in paid work affects the strength of a city’s economy and has important implications for a person’s economic, social and emotional wellbeing. On average, across our largest cities, employment growth is 2.6 per cent.

• ‘Youth unemployment’ - as well as an income,

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people gain a sense of worth from their work and enjoy greater opportunities for social engagement, which enhances both mental and physical wellbeing.

On average, the rate of youth unemployment across our largest cities is 11.9 per cent.

Addressing the Cities Reference Group meeting in Canberra late last year, Assistant Minister Taylor thanked industry leaders, researchers and nongovernment organisations for helping to shape the Framework over the past year.

“The creation of the National Cities Performance Framework has involved exhaustive exploration,

research and consultation to identify and secure the best city level data sets and indicators we could find,” Assistant Minister Taylor said.

“This Framework reflects the Australian Government’s commitment to open and accessible data sharing.”

The Performance Framework is a living resource to be improved over time through annual updates and three yearly reviews. This will ensure it continues to reflect best available information and provides a strong evidence base to guide new investments and reforms in our cities. BFM

Jeff Desjardins is a founder and editor of Visual Capitalist, a media website that creates and curates visual content on investing and business. View the full article at www.visualcapitalist.com/smartest-cities/

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BFM | FEATURE

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FEATURE| BFM

THE TOP THREE REASONS PEOPLE COMMIT EXPENSE FRAUD AND HOW TO PUT A STOP TO IT Expense fraud is a concept that most businesses wince at; the idea of it festering right under any finance professional’s nose is a truly unbearable thought. But why does fraud take place in some organisations and not others? By Beth Carr.

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ould it be some financial processes are ineffective, enticing employees to try their luck or that employees feel undervalued or could it just be part of the company culture? What is clear is each case is unique and therefore the solutions may alter depending on why it happens.

2017 research on expense fraud commissioned by webexpenses found there were three prominent types of people that committed fraud. With exaggerated and falsified reimbursements costs contributing to global workplace fraud losses of $2.9 trillion each year, it seems the right time to delve deep into exactly why employees are willing to steal from their own company.

THE SUBTLE OPPORTUNIST TYPE 86% of global office workers said that they have never had any of their expense claims challenged or declined.

These are the type of employees that are aware that the businesses they work for are without suitable controls and checks in place to spot ‘little and often’ fraud. Enabling them to subtly fall under the radar and not be pulled up for their falsified claims. The longer they get away with it, the less guilty they feel. This technique is most commonly spotted with businesses still using a manual expenses process, relying solely on the human eye to recognise any errors.

I’VE EARNED THIS REWARD TYPE 39% of those polled agreed if they are travelling for work they deserve a little treat on company expenses.

Some employees may feel unappreciated or perhaps that their company expense policy is outdated and therefore if they are working away from home they see themselves worthy of an extra meal, alcoholic drink or treat.

EVERYONE EXAGGERATES SO IT’S OKAY TYPE 61% agreed with the statement ‘most people increase the miles/kilometres travelled when claiming expenses’.

The type that are simply carried along with the

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crowd, most commonly associated with exaggerating a mileage claims due to it being so common with 47 percent of global office workers admitting to having done it. With “just adding a couple of miles on” becoming ingrained into the business culture, it allows it to be less fraudulent and more accepted, but built up over time this can have a tremendous impact of company finances.

SO WHAT CAN BUSINESSES DO TO STOMP OUT FRAUD? Ultimately you cannot quickly alter or change a mindset of an employee that wants to commit fraud, you can however instil a culture in which expense fraud is neither expected nor tolerated, a clear, transparent and equitable approach to expense management.

You can start with the company expense policy, the foundations for an effective process. 2017 research found that 61% of office workers were unaware of their organisation’s policy or had read it in the past year.

It’s essential for businesses to regularly update, check and transparently communicate their policy to make sure it fairly represents price inflation, legislation updates.

The next stage is auditing your expense process to evaluate the effectiveness of your current management controls. Shifting to digital system enables full visibility of each claim, with real-time reports and out-of-policy alerts highlighting any suspicious expenses before they have been submitted.

Utilising technology within the finance function not only reduces processing times by 25 percent and cuts expense losses by 10 percent, but it also removes the temptation of exaggerating or making a rough mileage estimates with automatic mileage calculations.

Digitising expense management transforms it from being a hazy area perfect for fraud to manifest to a fully transparent process removing opportunity for non-compliance. With an efficient, fair and easy to use tool, businesses can create a new type of employee that is content and complying. BFM

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BFM | FEATURE

Australian miners embracing automation The Australian mining sector is sustaining its positive outlook with Newport Consulting’s Mining Business Outlook Report – now in its eighth year of release – revealing the dark days of the sector’s downturn are well and truly over. However, the report, released today, shows mining leaders are now grappling with ongoing skills shortages and cost pressures.

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ccording to the 2017-18 report, which features an exclusive interview with WA’s Mines and Petroleum Minister, The Hon. Bill Johnston MLA, the sentiment among the mining industry is positive. The number of miners showing cautious optimism has jumped 55 per cent since 2015, with almost three-quarters of leaders showing renewed confidence in the sector’s growth.

With automation fast becoming a reality for mining operations, other key takeaways from the report include a push from mining leaders to embrace new

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technology. Automation and Big Data are top of the agenda for mining leaders, with 21 per cent of respondents believing automated haulage vehicles will be the top technology influence to impact the marker over the coming year. Another key area of technology investment is drones, which are increasingly being used to map, survey and explore mines across the country.

Going forward, companies remain bullish on price forecasts, with more than half of mining leaders predicting an increase in pricing over the

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next 12 months. However, thermal coal remains the exception, with the commodity likely to face more headwinds than metallurgical coal.

Coinciding with a price growth is a noted rise in capital and investment spending. Following on from an uptick in spending in 2016, most miners will dig into deeper pockets, with 42 per cent of leaders moderately increasing spending in 2017-2018, up 23 per cent from 2016. Miners remain concerned about costs, particularly in energy and labour, with companies calling to Canberra to provide support in these areas.

With the Gig Economy set to redefine roles and disrupt job security for miners, Newport Consulting Managing Director, David Hand, says a spate of mining companies are concerned that Australia will face a growing skills gap, particularly in the areas of technology and automation.

“We spoke to many companies of all sizes that voiced concern over a widening skills gap, giving way to a pressing need to upskill and re-train the workforce. Miners must be able to meet the new digital demands of Australia’s mining future,” he said.

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With a growing gap in the number of technical employees trained to manage future autonomous roles, Mr Hand said there were signs that the mining sector was getting on the front foot to ensure its workforce remains agile and flexible.

“Rio Tinto is a prime example of a company leading the field in this area, having recently partnered with the WA Government and TAFE Australia to provide vocational training in robotics for mining workers.

The government should follow Rio Tinto’s lead to close this growing skills gap, which is occurring because of technology disruption.”

The report also showed that over one-third of leaders remain worried about the potentially adverse financial impacts of market consolidation and M&A activity, making some companies reluctant to form new partnerships.

However, as companies continue to look for high quality resource projects across the globe, and as market consolidation continues across geographical borders, Australian miners have been urged to embrace strategic partnerships to retain a competitive edge. BFM

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BFM | FEATURE

MINDFULNESS, MEDITATION AND PURPOSE: HOW TO FIND FOCUS AS A CEO My journey in business was born from a difficult time in my life.

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t 22 years old, whilst trying to overcome a number of personal challenges, I found myself going through a dark period of depression.

With very low feelings of self-worth, I was unable to hold down a job, further compounding the feelings of isolation and powerlessness.

Eventually, I found work as a carer in a local nursing home and realised that many of the people I was looking after were also feeling powerless and isolated.

Helping our most vulnerable sparked a renewed sense of purpose and passion in my life. Being a carer is about so much more than just turning up and assisting with the day to day tasks.

At 24, I saw the opportunity to take this passion and make a greater impact. I launched Afea Care Services, a care business driven by an underlying mission to empower people and support our vulnerable communities. I think there is a lot to be said for having a purpose in life. It creates a deep and intrinsic sense of inspiration, lasting longer than a motivation boost.

A lot of truly successful entrepreneurs are inspired by a sense of purpose and passion to effect change.

Without that drive in the early years, it would have been easy to succumb to the pressures and give up.

I launched with a fearlessness and ignorance of the work ahead of me, having nothing to lose and driven by a passion to improve the lives of those in care. As we mark the 10-year anniversary since I launched the business, I can reflect on both business and personal growth. From a one-man band, I’ve built Afea into a team of 34 full-time staff and 300 carers, with 100% compounding year-on-year growth. In that time, I learnt to love and care for myself as I would others and was able to heal from my depression. As CEOs and leaders, we are constantly giving of ourselves and we cannot give from an empty place. It is so critical to care for ourselves in the process of growing an enterprise.

Despite our success, as with any business, Afea had its fair share of set-backs and failures along the way. We’ve experienced challenges with growth, with staffing and with having to cannibalize the business we had spent years building, once the National Disability Insurance Scheme and My Aged Care schemes were introduced.

To manage myself through change and best manage my team, the most powerful tools I’ve incorporated are meditation and mindfulness. Taking the time out to reconnect and find stillness within myself is

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vital. Whenever times are stressful or I have a major decision to make, I’ll prioritise taking the time out to find this stillness and just sit with the issue at hand. Meditation takes us into a heightened state of relaxation. My best creative output and contributions have come when I have been truly relaxed and present in the moment, with the people and task at hand.

Meditation trains us to be present.

I have also found that my response to anything negative is so much more balanced during the times that I am regularly meditating. It helps you to take a more neutral stance when things are getting rough in business, as they do.

Extensive research has been conducted into mindfulness and meditation, yet in business culture, being ‘busy’ is often worn as a badge of achievement.

That frantic energy of being busy seldom leads to the best decisions being made and can be detrimental over time to health. Mindfulness meditation, even when practised for as little as eight weeks, has been found to significantly reduce worry, anxiety and depression.

Studies have even shown positive structural changes in the brain as a result of incorporating these into your routine.

Countless business owners fall victim to burnout – failing to prioritise their health and wellbeing. While thought leaders like Arianna Huffington have begun to challenge this viewpoint, culturally it is yet to be widely accepted that we can embrace time, space, meditation, and even regular sunshine and fresh air to maintain our health and mental clarity.

From where I began at 22, feeling hopeless and isolated, to now celebrating the 10-year anniversary of a business I’ve poured my heart and soul into – those three things – purpose, mindfulness and meditation, have propelled me forward and carried me through the challenges. Also, being able to make a real difference in someone’s life. We often don’t realise that when we open ourselves to helping others, we can heal ourselves. Afea has helped on average 500 families each week and are looking to grow this to 700 in 2018.

BFM Esha Oberoi is the Founder and CEO of Afea Care Services which empowers people to live their best life and continue living in the comfort of their own homes. Servicing on average 500 aged and disability care clients each week, Afea is at the forefront of best practice in health, ongoing innovation and a truly customer centric experience. For more information visit www.afea.com.au

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BFM | FEATURE

IS BESPOKE BETTER? WHY BRANDS ARE TURNING TO PERSONALISATION “We used to want what everyone else had but now we define ourselves by how different we are.” I came across this quote last year just after I had launched Flowerfox and it really resonated with me. As the founder of a marketplace selling artisanal, bespoke flowers and gifts, I knew all too well just how much customers were yearning for the unique and moving away from the mainstream. By Leah Pooley CEO Flowerfox.

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here’s no doubt about it, craft is cool. From beer to coffee, no one wants to buy from the big guys anymore. As consumers move towards transparency, sustainability and a desire to be more ethically conscious in their purchase decisions, global brands are taking note and are transforming to remain relevant. Take Carlsburg who spent $15 million rebranding last year to look more bespoke, the introduction of McDonalds’ Gourmet Creations range, and handcrafted goods marketplaces like Etsy and Amazon Handmade continuing to dominate.

So why this sudden interest in bespoke? Well actually, it’s not so sudden. There has been a shift towards the individualised customer and handmade products since the 1960s, however, then they were an exclusive luxury reserved for the rich as an indicator of signified status. In 2018, customised products aren’t just for the elite, they are accessible to everyone and most of us just can’t get enough.

Deloitte’s recent consumer review ‘Made to order.

The rise of mass popularisation’ states that 50% of people are interested in customised products and services, and 1 in 5 would be willing to pay up to 20% more for it.

Millennials are the main drivers of this trend as they increasingly place value on authenticity, creativity and buying local. The internet has also had a big role to play in this, with young consumers having higher expectations when it comes to personalisation.

Another interesting trend is that more of us want to be involved in the creative and production process.

Take CustomMade, where customers have the chance to work with the maker and be involved in the design of their product, or Moonpig which allows you to customise your greeting card. People want to be involved in the creation of the thing they’re paying for. It adds to the customer experience and makes it unique.

So why are we willing to pay a premium for bespoke?

Quality – when a maker spends the time and care handcrafting a product especially for you, it’s likely to last longer than something from a production line.

Unique – no one wants to keep up with the Joneses anymore. They’re old news! People want things that stand out and complement their own individuality.

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Personalisation – it’s worth it to pay a little extra for something if it can better meet your needs.

Greener – buying local, handmade goods means no shipping and less energy produced.

More valuable – handmade products are worth more as people perceive them to be more authentic, which means they hold more value in society.

A fuller experience – people want to understand the story behind what they’re buying. They want to meet the maker and be part of the journey.

Feel good factor – not only do people get bragging rights over something beautiful and custom made just for them, they feel good knowing they’ve invested in their own community rather than a faceless global corporation.

Businesses not embracing some level of personalisation in their products will need to adapt their business models or risk losing revenue and loyalty. So what can brands do to stay relevant as customers move away from the production line?

• Experiment with introducing a small amount personalisation to your product range to see what sort of traction you get. If your customers want it, you know you’re onto something and it’s worth investing in • Utilise the customer data you have and personalise your customers’ experience. Deloitte identified that 42% of customers are willing to hand over their data for personalisation • Tell your story and humanise your brand. Share your purpose, your why and your passion so people can be part of your journey. Don’t just make this up though. Be authentic or your customers will see right through you • Partner with popular local companies selling artisanal products and leverage their communities.

You will no doubt help them too by letting them leverage yours • Be where your customer is, which might mean you need to divert from your traditional mainstream media approach. Attend design markets, farmers markets, art shows and other places where you can build relationships at a grassroots level • Build a community around your product and get

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FEATURE| BFM

people talking about it. The best way to entice millennials is by showing them that other people value and trust your brand • Merge your offline and online activity to create a unique experience. A Suit That Fits sells made to order suits online but still sends you material samples and someone to take your measurements • Be up to date with new manufacturing and distribution technologies. These can help you achieve mass customisation without needing to compromise on efficiency and cost • Utilise your customers’ data to predict what they want and adapt your operations to respond to their

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needs • Be as sustainable as possible and tell your customers what you’re doing to minimise your impact • Most importantly, produce a quality product that people want, be transparent and never stop listening to your customers. They will tell you exactly what they want from you. BFM Flowerfox is a curated online marketplace connecting flower buyers to independent boutique florists. Flowerfox is passionate about supporting local businesses and aims to provide local florists with an easy way to sell more online so they can compete against large online only retailers. www.flowerfox.com.au

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BFM | BUSINESS LOUNGE

Left: Wally Muhieddine / Managing Partner Right: Luke Dean / Managing Partner

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ADAD GETS SET TO FLY LIKE AN EAGLE TV is as powerful as ever and Advertising Advantage is making the most it. Jonathan Jackson reconnects with ADAD founders Luke Dean and Wally Muhieddine as they take their unique offering to the US.

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pproximately 103.4 million people watched the Philadelphia Eagles pull off one of the greatest victories in Superbowl history. Aside from the game being a major talking point, and Justin Timberlake’s use of a holographic Prince, it is the ad slots that tend to capture the world’s attention.

Car ads, movie ads, calls to bring back Crocodile Dundee ads, food ads, the world is treated to some of the greatest and most creative advertising conjured up by ad execs.

Outside of the US, those ads are talked about long after the memory of the game has faded.

That is the power of TV advertising.

Think about it: over 100 million people sitting in their homes or at a bar watching TV and being influenced in some way by the lure of a product or service. It’s a cool cost of around US$5 million for a 30-second Superbowl spot. The US alone is a massive market and the Superbowl a great vehicle for key www.businessfirstmagazine.com.au

messaging. But take that message global and a world of opportunity opens up.

It’s that opportunity that Australian business Advertising Advantage (ADAD) has in its sights as it sets up US operations. We’re not just talking a global sporting event, but US TV in general.

ADAD is Australia’s only full service specialist performance TV agency. We first featured them a couple of years ago in the article Through the Looking Glass, when founders Wally Muhieddine and Luke Dean spoke about why they joined forces in 2003 to create a direct response advertising business, that stood out from agency focused advertising models.

Since that article, the company has matured considerably whilst still maintaining its reason for being: that all advertising must drive a real and measurable business benefit for its clients.

Underpinning this philosophy is ADAD’s Pay For Results TV campaigns.

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BFM | BUSINESS LOUNGE

Left: Chris Spanos / Creative Director Middle: Braedy Neal / Executive Producer Right: Bianca Mauceri / Senior Creative

“Our client billings have more than doubled in under three years,” says Muhieddine of the company’s continuing maturity and impact.

The reason for its success he says is that ADAD is “an agency that knows all that matters is the results you deliver clients. Results don’t lie – and to deliver them you need to be smart about how you buy media and measure outcomes.”

To explain that point Dean says, “Those that can innovate in terms of analytics and create real time responses both offline and online, build an effective optimisation platform for campaigns and drive dividends at scale, will be the companies that succeed.

“Our capability is to slice and

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dice the data, look at a dozen categories, cross-reference that with what we know around response and conversion metrics so we can drive success. We offer very smart, accountable and targeted campaigns that still have all the brand building, top of the funnel benefits of mass reach TV.” As we alluded to above, ADAD is the only company in Australia that has skin in the game, which has also facilitated its success. The results focused ethos is part of the company’s DNA. It is legitimate, makes ADAD accountable and is one of the primary reasons behind a 110% growth in client billings.

“We are truly accountable and that means a lot to our clients,”

Muhieddine says. “Agencies don’t have skin in the game, but with our model clients can only pay for results. We walk the talk and that has been an enormous part of our growth.”

TV IS NOT THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM Also maturing is television itself.

That may sound strange when you consider that television is almost 70 years old, but the ways we watch television has expanded considerably and viewership across a range of devices continues to rise.

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you can see by the ACMA graph below, most people still watch their favourite programming on their 4K, UHD 60-inch sets.

And why wouldn’t they? The quality of picture is just so good these days.

Another factor in ADAD’s growth is TV is now available anytime, anywhere. A Think TV research report confirms that television advertising is as effective and as relevant today as ever. It drives more revenue per dollars invested than any other medium, advertising impact lasts longer and importantly, Australians rate TV as the number one influence on their purchasing decision.

Some of the key takeaways from the survey show that attention and sales are strongly correlated, TV commands twice as much active attention as YouTube and 14 times that of Facebook and with the same creative executions tested, TV generates greater sales.

ADAD has the analytics to back this.

“In terms of targeting and measurement, we have invested a lot in our platforms and we lead the way in connecting offline channels with online behaviour,” Dean says.

“There are a lot of exciting

things happening in terms of Video on Demand (VoD), and catch up, where you can get more granular in terms of targeting, which complements the mass reach of linear broadcast TV. So we can take advantage of the compelling sight, sound and emotion of video content, delivering it to different screens at different times to drive customer acquisition at scale.”

ADAD has access to granular data about who is watching certain programming, when and where.

They can correlate what people are watching with whether they are spending more on furniture or homewares or buying pet food.

“TV has the largest possible audience that is responsive and cost effective. Naturally clients want volume but not at the expense of efficiency,” Muhieddine says.

This is not to say that other media isn’t considered. Facebook, YouTube and Google certainly have a place, but what the founders of ADAD have found is that TV still is the most effective medium to get a message across, and move the needle in terms of sales.

“No one is born with a desire to search Google for a brand. You need to create awareness at the top of the funnel to grow. If you can

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“In terms of targeting and measurement, we have invested a lot in our platforms and we lead the way in connecting offline channels with online behaviour.” do it whilst also driving immediate sales then that’s the best of both worlds. And digital channels like search, Facebook and YouTube all have a role to play in converting the awareness and consideration TV builds,” Dean says. “The problem with digital media is there is a lot of noise, a lot of false clicks, and some concerning brand safety issues. But we take this into account and follow the consumer all the way through to purchase.

We do lead with television, but our campaigns take into account and measure all media channels.”

To put that into perspective if digital media proves to be better than TV, then that is where ADAD

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Left: Emma Muhieddine / Account Director Middle: Matt Kitchener / Group Account Director Right: Tracey Gabriel / Account Director

will spend the budget. However, TV is still the strongest medium when it comes to bang for buck.

Muhieddine cites the examples of Pepsi Co. and Unilever as brands that moved heavily to digital advertising only to go back to traditional mass market TV, “I think the pendulum swung too heavily in favour of digital over the last few years but smart brands are realising that the emotional impact, quality content and mass reach of TV is enormously powerful, with a more rational balance returning to the market.”

At its essence, TV has an emotional advantage: 80-inch screens and full surround sound means people are better engaged with a message. It also makes it easier to interact with other media.

“One of the major things to happen,” Muhieddine says, “is that if you see something you like such as a car ad, you can jump onto the website via your phone or tablet and follow up. People are multi-screening and that makes it easier for brands to capitalise on

28 BUSINESSFIRST MAGAZINE

the moment, converting viewers to customers.”

THE INTERNATIONAL ADVANTAGE As TV continues its renaissance as it now networks with complementary media, ADAD has its sights set on other markets.

With several US clients on the books, a move to the US was inevitable.

“We had the idea last year that we can take this proposition internationally,” Dean says. “There was a bit of a vacuum in the US in what we offer: Pay For Results TV with sophisticated measurement and true accountability. We have had great success already and our early campaigns over there have scaled enormously.”

If it can crack the US market, it would be a major achievement for ADAD. Even just 10% of the market would most likely generate billions of dollars. Or, perhaps, a Superbowl ad would suffice to start.

ADAD’s proposition certainly augurs well to accelerate scale in the US. Brands and consumers

want the same things, and ADAD can communicate messages and target the right audiences to drive dividends.

The only thing ADAD need be mindful of is that TV buying is traded differently in different countries and some of the results are dissimilar.

“There are market nuances,” Muhieddine says, “but we have an experienced US team who understands those nuances and can translate our approach and extensive insight into local US market outcomes.”

From here it is all upside in the US. Both Dean and Muhieddine agree that ADAD is once again in a growth phase.

“We are outpacing the market in terms of growth and now it is about taking our proposition beyond Australia’s borders,” Muhieddine says. “Based on current run rate the US market alone could double our revenues within 12 months.

“We can do good things with great brands and we feel we are just scratching the surface. 2018 is a big year of growing our presence.” BFM

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BFM | ASIA

MOU TO GROW EXPORT OPPORTUNITIES TO CHINA Two of Australia’s key business networks, the Australia China SME Association and The Executive Connection have just signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) bringing the organisations together to support and grow business opportunities with China across Australia’s small to medium business sector.

C

hina is Australia’s largest export market.

While Australia’s export relationship with China has focused on international students, tourism, direct investment and agriculture, a shift in the Chinese Government’s policy has opened up opportunities for Australian businesses in the services and consumption sectors.

This is complemented by the China Australia Free Trade Agreement which came into effect in 2015 and is encouraging Australian businesses to penetrate more deeply into the Chinese market.

Despite these new opportunities, Australian businesses are still unsure of how to engage with China and to go about selling their products into China. Many businesses, particularly small to medium size businesses still believe exporting to China is expensive and laden with complicated regulations and requirements.

Chinese consumers are savvy Internet shoppers and utilise online social media platforms such as WeChat to purchase overseas items. The popularity of Internet shopping in China means Australian SMEs are now able to reach Chinese consumers more easily and for less cost.

This is one of the key reasons why the organisation was established, to help Australian businesses capitalise on the huge and growing export opportunities in China. There is now a significant opportunity for Australian SMEs to capitalise on export opportunities with China utilising the Internet and traditional methods of entry.

The Australia China SME

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Association places a unique focus on the development of business relationships between Australian and Chinese SMEs and assists Australian businesses to develop their capabilities to export, source and raise capital from China.

It does this through strategic partnerships, informational and educational forums, the facilitation of introductions, trade missions and other forms of support. Membership is currently free and is growing at a rapid rate as more and more Australian businesses seek out the opportunity to engage and do business with the massive Chinese market.

The new partnership with The Executive Connection will assist many Australian SMEs to access the support, guidance and assistance they need to develop and implement export opportunities to China.

The Executive Connection is a member-based organisation comprising CEOs, executives and business owners across Australia and New Zealand. It has 1,200 local members in Australia and is part of a global network with more than 21,000 members representing a range of industries and backgrounds in 16 countries.

Their members are savvy, successful and profitable businesses ideally placed to launch export programs into China.

China represents a huge market opportunity for Australian businesses however it has proven difficult for many businesses to penetrate for a range of reasons.

The Australia China SME Association is a platform dedicated

to assisting Australian businesses, particularly small to medium sized businesses to develop the capability and confidence to do business in China and overcome challenges along the way.

Business owners and executives in both Australia and China have a strong interest in crossborder investment, trade or business opportunities but are not sure where to start or how to prepare their business for the export potential. This is

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ASIA| BFM

where the Australia China SME Association comes in. We are experts and experienced in doing business with China and can help businesses to better understand and appreciate the complexities involved, undertake the necessary preparations and research, and develop a market entry strategy.

The newly signed MOU is an important step forward in supporting a large segment of the Australian SME community to develop export programs to China.

At an operational level, it is also a strategic collaboration which will provide ‘hands on’ practical experience to The Executive Connection’s members (mainly the CEOs of Australian mid sized companies) in their engagement with China.

As part of the collaboration, Stephanie Christopher, CEO of The Executive Connection, will join the Advisory Board of the association.

Opportunities will be developed for members to be involved in the association’s activities in Australia and China. These will include:

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• Participating in a groundbreaking survey of Australian SMEs to understand the current levels of interest, success and challenges of doing business in China, • Participating in the association’s missions to China, • Meeting Chinese delegations hosted by the association in Australia, . Attending other association events in China and Australia including regular monthly Roundtables in Sydney; and • Collaborating with the association’s strategic partners in China including the Guangdong SME Association, the Shenzhen SME Association, the Australia China Home and Building Materials Alliance and many others.

The MOU represents a significant step forward for Australian SMEs and the business community more broadly. The Executive Connection’s members are ideally placed as the CEOs of Australian mid sized companies (privately

owned, profitable and successful across many industries) to become more engaged in the China opportunity for export, sourcing and capital raising. This means more opportunities for Australian businesses, more local jobs and more flow on benefits for our economy.

The Australia China SME Association’s ultimate goal is to see more Australian businesses benefiting from China’s growing market through export, investment and collaboration opportunities. This will benefit Australia and our future as a nation if we support more Australian SMEs to promote and sell their products and capabilities overseas.

The historic partnership between the Australia China SME Association and The Executive Network will provide the assistance Australian SMEs need to capitalise on the huge export opportunities waiting for them in China. www.acsme.com.au www.tec.com.au. BFM

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BFM | BUSINESS LOUNGE

Building the University of the Future Curtin University is regarded as an innovative institution with a penchant and track record for creating strong industry ties. Today, as it builds on its master plan, it is looking to broaden its appeal and accessibility. Business First speaks with Vice Chancellor Professor Deborah Terry AO about the university’s vision and its impact on Western Australian society.

H

ow do you plan the university of the future?

It’s a question that many of Australia’s leading tertiary institutions would be asking themselves as lifestyles and work practices rapidly evolve.

Preparing students to be

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competent members of the greater social construct isn’t so easy. It requires a vision for the future, which is why Curtin University has hatched the Curtin Master Plan and Vision for 2030 as an extension of its commitment to innovation.

The Master Plan is designed

to showcase knowledge, create vibrant communities and stimulate economic activity. As part of the Master Plan, Curtin’s main Perth campus is being further developed as an important economic and innovative hub.

It is hoped that this plan will

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BUSINESS LOUNGE | BFM

Vice Chancellor Professor Deborah Terry AO

capitalise on Curtin University’s standing as a vital cog amongst the largest concentration of innovative industry and research in Western Australia.

“The university has for some time been focused on how it positions itself to be a core part of the major innovation ecosystem of the future. The product of this thinking is what we now call Greater Curtin,” says ViceChancellor Deborah Terry.

Professor Terry joined Curtin as Vice-Chancellor in 2014, following a 24-year career at the University of Queensland and knows a thing or two about innovation in the tertiary system.

She has a list of accolades to her name including an Order of Australia, but it is her position on the Board of the Committee for Perth and AARNET, the provider of Australia’s network infrastructure

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for education and research, that really highlights hers and the University’s commitment to strengthening economic and social prosperity.

“By opening up the north part of our large Perth campus, the Greater Curtin development is designed to create an environment for industry, academia and the community to better collaborate, to innovate, and to drive the advances so essential to our transforming economy,” Professor Terry says.

“Greater Curtin incorporates the elements that we know are critical to delivering on the vision of transforming the campus into a vibrant innovation ecosystem: transport accessibility; student and other short-term accommodation, meeting facilities and appropriate retail.

“Add to the mix an industry engaged, collaborative university and you have all the ingredients that we hope will attract our partners and collaborators to colocate with us on campus.

“Universities need to play a critical part in creating a connected innovation ecosystem, at the same time as providing students with a rich and engaging campus environment that helps to build their graduate capabilities.”

The current master plan is designed to deliver on the University’s vision of being a leader in this respect. At the same time, it should provide students with the experiences that will position them for future success, through their use of new co-working spaces, entrepreneurial opportunities, and links with researchers and partners.

Western Australia seems the perfect place to make this happen.

We all know Western Australia as the hub of Australia’s resources industry. Even in the current resources downturn, which now seems to be reversing, the sector plays a vital role in the Western Australian economy.

Yet, in the downturn, other industries have come to the fore that are fully aligned with

the University’s research and innovation goals.

“Curtin is on an impressive upward trajectory. We want to build on this position in the future. We have built up significant strengths in science and engineering, many of which involve deep and longstanding industry partnerships.

“Our strengths align with the major pillars of WA’s economy, including both resources and agriculture, and we pride ourselves on being collaborative and easy for industry to interact with.”

Curtin is also broadening its research profile beyond its traditional areas of strength.

“We have major capabilities across a wide range of areas, including those that are so critical to our future, such as digital agriculture; defence and international security; big data; applied economics; clinical health trials, and a leading involvement in one of the 21st century’s largest scientific projects, the Square Kilometre Array.

Curtin has a strong partnership with Bankwest through the Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre, now a well-regarded economic think tank located within the University’s Faculty of Business and Law. The University also hosts Innovation Central Perth, which connects companies with technology solutions and subjectmatter experts from Cisco, and research expertise and intellectual property from Curtin, Woodside and Data61.

The collaboration is designed to deliver digital and data-driven solutions to business imperatives and challenges.

Curtin’s other partners are broad and include Alcoa, The Cancer Foundation, Fremantle Dockers, NASA, BHP and Woodside.

BHP and Woodside are more traditional resource industry partners and have worked closely with Curtin’s Western Australian School of Mines, which Professor Terry says is an important part of the University.

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Established in 1902, the WA School of Mines has recently been ranked number two in the world on the QS World University Rankings for Mineral and Mining Engineering. The Colorado School of Mines currently holds top spot.

The School is based at both the University’s Perth and Kalgoorlie campuses and has a very strong alumni group that provides the School with enormous support.

“In times of downturn we work hard to get the message out that it is time to train in metallurgy and other disciplines to be ready for the resources upturn.

“In order to support the entire resources sector in WA, the School has recently been expanded to include chemical and petroleum engineering and minerals and engineering economics, as well as the traditional areas of mining engineering, metallurgy and exploration geophysics.

“The broad resources sector remains incredibly important and Curtin is a major player in providing graduates into the sector. For instance, we train a

34 BUSINESSFIRST MAGAZINE

very significant proportion of Australia’s mining engineers.”

More recently, the Curtin Medical School was established. The School offers a five-year Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery degree, the only undergraduate entry program available in Western Australia.

A new five storey building on the University’s Perth Campus was designed to facilitate the training of a new generation of doctors.

And the State Government is also contributing $22 million for a major Clinical School to be established on a site near the St John of God Midland Public Hospital.

“Our School of Law is also relatively new and aligns with the overall Curtin mission – to provide students with the skills and experiences they need to be successful in their chosen careers.

The Law School is one of Australia’s few city-based law schools. Housed in a heritagelisted building with the John Curtin Law Clinic and Murray Chambers and surrounded by all of the city’s major courts and statutory authorities, the value proposition for students is clear.

The big picture here is easy to see: innovation through campus development.

“What we are seeking to do through this campus development is work closely with industry to deliver the best outcomes for our

students and to ensure that we, as a major centre of research, strengthen our position as a core driver of the knowledge economy.

“But the focus is much broader than the WA and the nation.”

Through its partnerships and international reach, the focus is providing students with the perspective and experiences that they need to be successful in the global labour market.

Curtin is taking a very forwardlooking approach to creating a global network of campuses and major sites, spanning the Indian Ocean rim and including Malaysia, Singapore, Dubai and Mauritius, in addition major research partnerships in China and a deep and productive alliance with the University of Aberdeen.

“Curtin has always been innovative and collaborative and as we look to be even more industry relevant and engaged in the future, we are working to ensure that this culture of innovation pervades not only our approach to research and collaboration, but also to the student experience,” Professor Terry says.

The Master Plan isn’t the beginning, the middle or end, it is what is needed currently to put Curtin in a position to capitalise on its relationships, further its global standing and give students the best possible learning experience available.” BFM

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Globally ranked university

Your global study destination.

With campuses in Australia, Malaysia, Singapore and Dubai, it’s easy to access a global university ranked in the top 1%* in the world.

Plus, some of our courses allow you to move between international campuses while you study to explore personal and academic opportunities.

Curtin University, your global study destination. curtin.edu/global-study

*Academic Ranking of World Universities 2017.

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36 BUSINESSFIRST MAGAZINE

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INVESTMENT| BFM

Understanding Cryptocurrency.

A Practical Guide.

It is virtually impossible to sit down today and have a discussion with people and not broach the subject of cryptocurrency. Questions such as: should we buy it, how much should be bought, what types of coins should be bought, from which exchange should you buy them, what security measures should be undertaken and so on. Certainly, all valid questions and with the continued escalation of Bitcoin and other alternative coins throughout 2017, cryptocurrencies have now most definitely achieved a global phenomenon status, that have demanded everyone’s attention. By Daniele Lima

D

espite this high level of broad awareness about the existence of bitcoin and digital currencies, there remains a surprising level of misinformation around these issues and currently there also appears to be an information war being waged between the groups that are pro cryptocurrencies and those that oppose it.

This ongoing battle has provided an enormous level of noise through the saturation of information being provided by both sides has tended to confuse, overwhelm and in many cases, scare off potential investors. However, before any logical decision can be made an understanding of the key underlying principles is a necessary first step.

WHAT ARE CRYPTOCURRENCIES? Fundamentally it is a digital medium of exchange that is stored electronically in the blockchain and requires an encryption system to both create coins and validate exchanges that take place within the network.

Crypto-currencies first came out in late 2008 when Satoshi Nakamoto, the fictional name for the unknown inventor of Bitcoin, developed “a peer-to-peer, electronic cash system.” In so doing he pioneered the first digital currency that was decentralised,

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requiring no third party to facilitate the payment.

How do cryptocurrencies work?

For cryptocurrencies to operate effectively the system requires an environment with accounts, balances and transactions that are totally transparent and visible to all. With this form of decentralised system, there is no central server that records all transactions, but rather each participant in the network to have access to all transactions being made to assess that all transactions are valid and no attempts to double spend have been made.

Blockchain provides a robust database that accurately records all transactions with strict protocols ensuring that these entries can only be altered when very selective conditions are met, thereby ensuring the integrity of the data. So, in this way it is like a standard fiat currency where transactions are recorded (albeit) on a centralised database.

HOW ARE TRANSACTIONS MADE AND RECORDED? Cryptocurrencies such as: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Neo, Iota and Monero, are made of a network of users of that coin. Every member or peer has a record of the complete history of all transactions from that network and consequently can see the balance of all the accounts

within the network.

After any given transaction occurs, the details of that exchange shared with the network, sent from one user to each other network member.

Being that the nature of the transaction is known instantly as it occurs, and the confirmation occurs soon after. Once a transaction is confirmed, it can no longer be copied and becomes part of the permanent record of network transactions or blockchain as it is better known as.

Miners that have mined or earnt coins can also then through the same blockchain process confirm their coins within the network.

Following each transaction, each node within the network adds it to the network database and it becomes part of the blockchain.

KEY PROPERTIES OF CRYPTOCURRENCY ACCOUNTS a. Permanent. Once a transaction is confirmed within the blockchain it cannot be changed. b. Anonymity. There are no actual names given to the accounts, so no one can know what you are doing in your account. As such it is impossible to know what addresses are connected to which people. The addresses themselves are randomly generated 30 alphanumeric character strings. c. Real Time Transaction are

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BFM | INVESTMENT

processed nearly instantly within the network and are confirmed in a matter of minutes anywhere in the world. d. Safe. Digital currency funds are woven in a public key cryptography system. Each account holder has a private key that only they know to send cryptocurrency. The system has a high level of security and when combines with double authentication methods using apps like Google Authenticator, make it virtually impervious to crack. e. No Third Party. Unlike traditional financial systems, there is no third-party permission required with cryptocurrency.

Good or bad, there are no external gatekeepers. f. Finite Supply. Cryptocurrencies generally limit how many of each coin will be made available for circulation. For example, with Bitcoin, the supply will decrease over time and will reach its final number of around 21 million coins by around the year 2140. The amount for each coin is predetermined along with a schedule of how the coins will be issued over time and written into the code. This provides an exact number of each coin that will be available at point in the future.

Function of Cryptocurrencies Cryptocurrencies have multiple functionality. Firstly, they are an obvious store of value in the same way that gold is a store of value with a globally accepted price per ounce usually expressed in US dollars. In this way an investor can park their money into cryptocurrencies and take advantage of appreciation that may occur as the price of the coin hopefully rises over time. Bitcoin for example experienced a 1700 percent growth in 2017 for example hitting a record high of over US$19,000 during December 2017.

Secondly digital currencies such as Bitcoin can be used as a means of exchange where you can purchase goods and services with them in the same way you would normal currency. Recently for example Dallas Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban announced that from

38 BUSINESSFIRST MAGAZINE

id

name

symbol

rank

price_usd

price_btc

bitcoin

Bitcoin

BTC

1

11169.5

1.0

ethereum

Ethereum

ETH

2

1059.08

0.0948419

ripple

Ripple

XRP

3

1.20717

0.0001081

bitcoin-cash

Bitcoin Cash

BCH

4

1602.54

0.143509

cardano

Cardano

ADA

5

0.611929

0.00005480

stellar

Stellar

XLM

6

0.631561

0.00005656

litecoin

Litecoin

LTC

7

id

0.0157951

eos

EOS

EOS

8

14.3087

0.00128136

neo

NEO

NEO

9

136.947

0.0122638

nem

NEM

XEM

10

0.861992

0.00007719

iota

IOTA

MIOTA

11

2.3977

0.00021472

dash

Dash

DASH

12

762.359

0.0682701

monero

Monero

XMR

13

318.877

0.0285558

tron

TRON

TRX

14

0.0657303

0.00000589

vechain

VeChain

VEN

15

7.30369

0.00065405

bitcoin-gold

Bitcoin Gold

BTG

16

180.789

0.0161899

icon

ICON

ICX

17

7.94597

0.00071157

qtum

Qtum

QTUM

18

38.9781

0.00349054

ethereum-classic

Ethereum Classic

ETC

19

28.6003

0.00256119

lisk

Lisk

LSK

20

21.4389

0.00191988

raiblocks

RaiBlocks

XRB

21

17.6971

0.00158479

populous

Populous

PPT

22

54.5591

0.00488584

omisego

OmiseGO

OMG

23

16.2238

0.00145286

tether

Tether

USDT

24

1.00598

0.00009009

steem

Steem

STEEM

25

6.04908

0.0005417

zcash

Zcash

ZEC

26

457.001

0.040925

stratis

Stratis

STRAT

27

13.9006

0.00124481

bytecoin-bcn

Bytecoin

BCN

28

0.00722529

0.00000065

binance-coin

Binance Coin

BNB

29

13.1407

0.00117676

bitshares

BitShares

BTS

30

0.489132

0.00004380

now on and Dallas Mavericks product could be bought with Bitcoin. Microsoft products can also be purchased in the same way and as a leading cryptocurrency nation, Japan already has over 25,000 businesses that are registered as being set up to receive payment with cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.

HOW DO I BUY CRYPTOCURRENCIES? Cryptocurrencies can be purchased on any number of reputable exchanges such as:

Coinspot, Binance and Bittrex to mention three. These exchanges and many others have excellent features available and allow simple buying and selling processes that allow any interested party to begin their journey into these digital currencies.

Understanding that Bitcoin continues to be the dominant player in the market at present, investors and users should however continue to study the other less known cryptocurrency options which in some cases present equally strong potential for

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INVESTMENT| BFM

growth. Below is a table of some of the most popular of the current cryptocurrency options.

BITCOIN Bitcoin certainly needs no introduction. It is the pioneer and remains to this day the standard in the market that still has the power to pull the market up and down with its own fluctuations in price.

Widely accepted as a means of payment in many countries. From its initial release with a zero value it recently achieved a peak value of US$19,343 on December 16, 2017.

ETHEREUM Ethereum has quickly risen to second place behind Bitcoin since its release in 2017. It is widely known for a blockchain that not only can validate a set of transactions but can also process detailed contracts and programs.

This added functionality means Ethereum is an ideal tool for blockchain practical applications.

Following the hack of the DAO, which was an Ethereum smart contract, the developers came out with Ethereum Classic.

Additionally, there are other Ethereum offshoots, where even Ethereum hosts various coins including Augur and DigixDao, making it more of a hybrid digital currency.

RIPPLE Ripple remains controversial and disliked option as it is widely adopted by banks as part of a centralised network that serves as a medium to neither store and exchange value, but merely as a coin that aims to protect the network from spam.

MASTERNODES Perhaps the least understood aspect of investing in Cryptocurrencies and one that holds the largest potential for financial gains is that presented by master nodes and here’s how they work. Understandably every cybercurrency network wants to encourage its peers to hold the coins long term to provide the network with a greater level of www.businessfirstmagazine.com.au

stability. What they do is offer daily rewards for doing this. An example of this is the ALQO cryptocurrency that supports masternodes. In this example the user buys 10,000 coins currently valued at US$2.21 for US$22,100.

To incentivise the buyer to hold the coins, each day apart from the expected increase in coin value per se, the network rewards the buyer with 37.5 complementary coins per day, every day as a passive income on top any increases in the coins value. To achieve this, you would simply buy the required number of coins via trading and set up the master node on their website, while buying a 12-month hosting.

Although with master nodes, you can pull the plug and retrieve the funds at any time if you so choose.

Payouts as reward for running the masternode should arrive roughly every 24hrs at a credit of 37.5 ALQO. Over time this reward will decrease as ALQO scales and more masternodes come online.

The first reward will usually come after about 2-3 days and if the hosting for the masternode goes offline and/or restarts then this waiting period starts again.

LOOKING IN TO THE CRYSTAL BALL FOR 2018 AND BEYOND There is little if any real doubt that Cryptocurrencies as a group are here to stay. The technology that underpins their use is real and their advantages over traditional

currencies, well documented.

Equally certain is the fact that many of the coins that come out almost daily, will do little and die.

While the more valuable coins with greater utility and functionality, will consolidate, grow and become part of the financial landscape in 2018 and beyond.

Ultimately cryptocurrencies will change the currency landscape and the status quo that financial institutions are understandably so keen to keep. Perhaps Harold Abraham said best in the film classic Chariots of Fire when he said, “the corridors of power are guarded jealously.”

The battle I spoke of earlier between the pro faction and the negative faction who daily attempt to fill the media with doom and gloom stories of the inevitable fall of cryptocurrencies, are doing little other than temporarily slowing the cyber express, as people globally continue to invest in Bitcoin, Ethereum and in Master nodes.

As a final step as Governments and banks accept the inevitable, they begin to understand the question is how they best approach it moving forward to ensure that they are part of the natural evolution to digitally based, cryptocurrencies. BFM Daniele Lima is Managing Director Road Scholars Training, Business Coaching & Strategic Consultancy.

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BFM | ACCOUNTING

5 money management resolutions to keep your business firing on all cylinders in 2018 Every year without fail, we set resolutions to better our personal lives such as eating healthier or joining a gym. Unfortunately, only 9% of those who set a goal will achieve their target1. This makes it much more important to also evaluate the changes you can make to improve your business and most importantly, make them stick. Setting a goal yearly will show how your business has changed and motivate you to strive forward writes accountant John Corias.

1. Learn strategies to sharpen up cash flow Cash flow is the core essence of any small business with 41% of Australian small businesses failing due to poor cash-flow management2. Avoid becoming one of the statistics and get on top of your business finances now. Simply put, you have a cash flow problem if your outgoings are more than your incomings. If your business structure allows it, a great way to alleviate cash flow headaches is to take payment via credit card or direct debit. This puts you in control of getting paid on time and allows for more cash into your account more often.

2. Don’t stick your head in the sand Many small businesses find it hard to keep on top of both current and future tax obligations. Don’t just stick your head in the sand, it’s important to keep yourself up to date with the constant changes in tax laws and regulations. If you don’t understand something, educate yourself. If that’s proving costly time-wise, take up the services of an accountant as soon as you can. The longer you wait before seeking help, the more you might end up having to back pay in tax. This is a cash flow stress your business can avoid. Another way to keep an eye out for these things is to invest in a good piece of accounting

40 BUSINESSFIRST MAGAZINE

software (i.e. Xero) that integrates with your business - smarter technology can ease the pressure.

3. Review growth, revenue and sales goals It’s essential to take some time and reflect on your past year and assess your business’s growth, revenue and sales goals. How do they compare to last year? Was there anything about your spending last year that raises any red flags?

This can help you understand how your business has evolved from the previous year. The bottom line is crucial for any business to stay profitable. If your business has had no significant growth, try to figure out why.

4. If you’re not happy with your accountant, take charge and search for a new one You might be looking for an accountant to keep on top of business tax payments or looking to switch due to an unsatisfactory current accountant. Either way, there are ways to ease into the transition so it won’t be such a challenge. Make sure you are communicating with your current accountant for a smooth handover and any outstanding work will be performed by the new accountant.

Do sufficient research whether it’s through referrals from your contacts, internet searches or advertising. Prepare your objectives

and reasons for looking for a new accountant before you meet with them so you can ensure they are providing the exact services you require. Take as much documentation with you as possible relating to your accounts, as this will help your new accountant and also give you an idea of the time and cost involved in fixing up the accounts. Lastly, ensure they are a registered tax agent and not prohibited by law from providing the promised services.

5. Learn to say ‘no’ Small business owners are constantly on the lookout for new clients, partnerships and opportunities to increase growth.

Take a step back in 2018 and try to understand that it’s not the best for your business to constantly say “yes” to every opportunity that arises. The real lesson here is to be selective with your decisions and make sure they align with your long term goals. BFM John Corias, Senior Partner of small business accounting firm m.a.s accountants, shares his top five money management resolutions to keep your business heading in the right direction in 2018. http://www.heraldsun.com.au/moneysaverhq/ eight-ways-to-get-ahead-financially-in-2018/ ne2ws-story/ea25a358a88129f7ec3e6dba3ce8d7ab 2 https://www.cashflow-manager.com.au/is-poorcash-flow-the-reason-so-many-australiansmall-businesses-are-failing/ 1

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BFM | BUSINESS LOUNGE

Frances Coppolillo

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BUSINESS LOUNGE| BFM

MELBOURNE POLYTECHNIC: AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY’S WHITE KNIGHT Melbourne Polytechnic is developing students to meet the demands and challenges of an ever-changing workforce. Business First speaks with CEO Frances Coppolillo about preparing students to have a positive economic impact.

I

n February 2018, Melbourne hosted its annual White Night event. The event, which is Melbourne’s version of the Nuit Blanche movement that originated in Paris, turns the city into a kaleidoscope of colour, music, movement and sensation.

Given the breadth of events held during the course of the night, this isn’t just a fun night out: it is also an education.

Which is why Melbourne Polytechnic has become White Night’s first education partner sponsoring Patrick Shearn’s 2018 Liquid Sky installation.

“Industry partnerships like this are a great way for our students to see in practice how the arts and engineering skills they learn here have infinite use and meaning outside the classroom,” says Natalie Robinson, Melbourne Polytechnic’s Director of Marketing and Communications. “There’s a real opportunity for the students to bring that learning back into the classroom and understand the wide variety of opportunities they have, whether these opportunities are offered to them, or created by them.”

“These experiences really illustrate enterprise skills like creativity, innovation, problem solving, collaboration, that are essential in the new world of work that students will be graduating into.”

Robinson’s view here is representative of what a Polytechnic is. Recently appointed CEO, Frances Coppolillo says that a polytechnic represents a continuum of education from Certificates to Masters, but most importantly this continuum is reinforced by deep relationships

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with industry.

At its essence, a polytechnic combines hands-on TAFE (VET) and Higher Education (Degree) programmes to equip students with the knowledge and skills to excel in an evolving and challenging marketplace.

Melbourne Polytechnic stands out because it focuses on practical industry-relevant training designed in collaboration with industry. It is Government funded and owned and is designed to foster and encourage diversity.

Industry relationships are highly valuable in this environment.

“Industry engagement supports workforce development and secondly gives students real life experiences,” Coppolillo says. “Learning is much better embedded into someone’s mind when they are experiencing worksite practices.”

Coppolillo knows a thing or two about best practice in education. She joined the VET sector in 1986, spent 14 years as the Associate Director of the Faculty of Further Education at Melbourne Polytechnic and Deputy Director Programs – Teaching and Learning and was appointed to the foundation Board of the TAFE Development Centre.

She is recognised for her educational leadership and experience in the delivery of quality education and training provision and her commitment to the professional development of staff.

Her leadership is certainly evident when speaking about the importance of relationships in the context of gaining real world experience.

WORKING WITH INDUSTRY The education/workplace relationship works two ways for Melbourne Polytechnic. Firstly, it provides insight into the challenges faced by industry.

This gives Melbourne Polytechnic the opportunity to create offsite programs.

Secondly, industry is encouraged to provide feedback with relation to Melbourne Polytechnic’s courses, their appropriateness to students and how well industry and education can work together to meet each other’s needs.

“We work across higher education and vocational education to create an applied process to learning,” Ms Coppolillo says.

“It is applied, experiential learning in terms of technical skills, but it also gives prominence to enterprise and soft skills that support employment. We want to create applied experiences where students work collaboratively to solve problems, which helps them adapt to new workplaces.”

WORKPLACE EVOLUTION There is no doubt the workplace is changing day by day. New technology, generation gaps, changing HR practices all factor into the way businesses now operate.

Coppolillo says part of the problem is the industrial construct that most workplaces are based on.

“Industry and education is based on an industrial construct which is fast crumbling. So the question becomes, how do we create an environment that enables students to adapt to modern workplace changes and challenges as well as give them the technical knowledge,

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BFM | BUSINESS LOUNGE

people skills and thinking skills required to succeed in this environment.”

Coppolillo, who was appointed as CEO in November last year says in the industrial age 10% of the workforce was required to think and 90% needed to do. What we are seeing now is everybody needs to think and do at the same time.

“As one is crumbling the other is forming, so how do we best create pathways across disciplines that bring learners together and addresses these challenges?”

It all comes down to collaboration: between industry and students, between students and other students.

The way forward is through collaboration, understanding and communication. It is through agility and an enquiry based learning pedagogy that brings together various disciplines and knowledge bases that are attractive to employers.

INTERNATIONAL OUTLOOK When asked about the importance of international relationships, it is clear that Coppolillo sees that all relationships are connected to the end goal of preparing students for the workforce whilst contributing

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to industry and economy.

Interestingly, Melbourne Polytechnic is doing this on a global scale.

“Whilst we are supporting local industry to grow, we also have a global outlook,” she says.

Melbourne Polytechnic has 5000 offshore students working in China and throughout Asia. It has international students coming to study here from over 70 countries, across six campuses and over eighty courses.

It began its China program back in 1995 and has thrived since. Its partnerships are also diverse.

From the Insurance Professional College, to Shandong Management School and Wuhan Tourism School, students can gain valuable experience immersing themselves in different learning cultures and work experiences.

Other partnerships include Hong Kong Universal Education, Shin Ansan University in Korea and Wandee Culinary Technological University in Thailand.

“Our collaborations are varied and we offer offshore programs where people are looking for Australian qualifications, international skills, training and support.”

Importantly, Fuzhou Melbourne Polytechnic (formerly IEN Institute of Minjiang University) is an international institute in cooperation with Minjiang University and Melbourne Polytechnic, and has 18-years experience in Sino-foreign education that is invaluable for Melbourne Polytechnic’s students. It is the first independent Sino-foreign cooperative education institute in Fujian Province, and the 12th of its kind in China.

Finally, Melbourne Polytechnic is involved in an aid-funded project in Mongolia with Umnigobi Polytechnic.

“Education is a big industry and a big export in Australia. It is vital that international and domestic students are involved in an exchange because it creates such big opportunities not only for themselves but for future economic prosperity and understanding.”

CONTINUING A LEGACY Coppolillo is the first female CEO for Melbourne Polytechnic and her goals are certainly aligned with Melbourne Polytechnic.

The goal is to have the Melbourne Polytechnic team contribute to making Melbourne Polytechnic indispensible to the community and industry.

“We want Melbourne Polytechnic to be the place to come to develop community connections and invaluable skills for future employment. We want them to have skills that industry sees as relevant to their workforce. We want them to be highly connected in an economic and social sense.

Our students gain valuable capabilities with us and to continue to improve those capabilities would be a great legacy.”

Melbourne Polytechnic prides itself on being a multi-cultural community that is responsible for improving the skills of and supporting all students, including a significant number of refugees and migrants.

“Like all our students we want them to find their feet, make an economic impact and have social cohesion.” BFM www.businessfirstmagazine.com.au

BFM | SME

Why are Australian small and medium-sized businesses settling for average employees?

New research has found that 50 percent of small or medium-sized Australian businesses settle for hiring ‘ok’ employees. Industry experts and small business owners argue it’s time to change that. By Sabrina Wuerth.

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aking a wrong hire can have a very noticeable impact on your business.

If you have hundreds of employees that influence is already big. Now imagine you only have ten. Every single person in this team will have a significant impact on the company: its productivity, its culture, and ultimately its bottom line.

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) know this. They know that people are their lifeblood. They are aware that they need to win the war for talent if they want to succeed.

But hiring is a true challenge for them. They simply don’t have the time, budget or resources of a large corporate. The

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recent SME Hiring Challenges Survey conducted by Cameron Research Group for professional recruitment consultancy Michael Page confirmed this: 80 percent of respondents stated they are not satisfied with their current recruitment approach.

“We talk to SME clients every day across Australia and globally about how they can reach their goals for business growth, so we already know about their struggle to find talent,” says Matthew Gribble, Regional Managing Director ANZ at Michael Page. “But the numbers surprised even us: nearly half of all respondents struggled to find suitable staff in the first place, and when they did, a startling 50 per

cent often had to employ someone who was ‘okay’ rather than ‘fantastic’. Since SMEs account for 97 percent of all Australian businesses, this means a major part of our economy is settling for average talent.”

So why is it so hard to find the right employee?

The law of attraction “First of all your pulling power is very limited,” says Dan Richardson, Managing Director of Digital Marketing agency Croud.

“You’re not a blue chip. People won’t Google your name and check out your job board. You also don’t have the means to advertise all over the internet. What you’re offering might be the ideal job

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SME| BFM

with all the perks and benefits a candidate could wish for – and better than a large corporate job.

But they’re unlikely to come across your ad.”

Sydney-based boutique public relations firm Atticism faced the same challenges and realised it had to think outside the box in order to get the word out there. Being a PR agency, they did what they do best: They created press coverage. “We decided to quit traditional office hours,” says Renae Smith, Founder and Director. “We encouraged our staff to not work more than 20 hours per week from our office and introduced a ‘Work from the Beach Day’. The press started talking about it. We were featured on TV and in renowned magazines and newspapers and suddenly received all these applications.”

Time is money Another problem is the time and expertise required for recruiting.

“We simply don’t have the resources to be vetting resumes,” says Daniel Giles, Lean Operations Facilitator at the Perth-based Character Group. Our HR team is one lady. So we have to do all of the vetting and reviewing of resumes at the manager or team leader level ourselves.”

Overall, this struggle results in steep hiring costs that 43 percent of SMEs consider excessive according to the Michael Page survey. This is mainly due to high opportunity costs: on average 35 hours are spent to hire one new recruit. A full working week small business owners would prefer to spend driving their business forward.

Giles believes that the administrative aspect of hiring is one many SMEs struggle with. Particularly when one role alone can receive hundreds of applications. Such was the case when he was looking to fill a “unicorn role – a very mythical, difficult beast to find.”

The company received tons of applications but no one was the right fit. “That’s why we decided to work with a recruiter. Michael

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Page put two candidates forward that fit the brief exactly. It was just a matter of picking between the two.”

Enticing them to stay Unfortunately the challenges do not end with a successful hire: after all that money and time spent, more than one in three SMEs say that the new person will often leave the company within six months. Investment in training is wasted. Client relationships might be at risk. The costly recruitment process begins all over again.

So how do you make your best employees want to stay?

“Retention depends on knowing exactly where your strengths lie and getting a little creative with them,” says Gribble. “For SMEs, we believe effective retention comes down to two key concepts: Focusing on the big benefits of smaller businesses, and understanding that it’s the little things that can make a big difference. Ask yourself: what advantages do we have over large corporates? What benefits and perks can we offer that employees would truly appreciate?”

This doesn’t necessary require dipping deeply into the budget.

Today’s employee values far more than salary. Recent studies such as the LinkedIn Talent Migration Trends ANZ show that SME employees consider corporate culture and good relationships with colleagues as a main advantage of working for a small firm over a larger one. They also value closer personal and work relationships with executive staff, being able to identify themselves with the vision of the company and having a direct impact on the company.

“A flexible working environment that considers people’s lives outside of work is also a major trump card,” says Gribble. “Based on hundreds of conversations with candidates across Australia, this is definitely one of the key reasons that top talent make the decision to work for a smaller business.”

Smith agrees: “Our new flexible working policy had a huge

impact on employee motivation, performance and overall results.

People are just happier working for us now and this is the crazy thing: Even though people work pretty much half the hours they used to, they still get the exact same amount of work done. It’s a winwin situation.”

Only the best will do So overall, hiring sub-standard talent and early turnover equals time and money that SMEs simply cannot afford to waste. The benefits of hiring the best – not an ‘okay’ – person for the job are many, from increased productivity, business growth and profits, to higher retention and boosted workplace morale and culture.

“It’s time for Australian small and medium-sized businesses to rethink recruitment: Stop settling for average staff,” advises Gribble.

“Start by identifying the weak points in your overall recruitment process. Do you have any creative ideas on how to get the word out?

Would outsourcing the hiring process to a recruiter save you valuable time and money? How can you professionalise your interview process? And finally: how do you optimise your on-boarding process and make your people love working for you? Identifying the right person will pay dividends in the long-term. So find your new star and go and get them!”. BFM Michael Page is a leading professional recruitment consultancy specialising in the recruitment of permanent, contract and temporary positions on behalf of the world’s top employers.

The Group operates in more than 30 countries worldwide. First established in London in 1976, we’ve been bringing job seekers and employers together for more than 30 years.

We are listed on the London stock exchange and our turnover exceeds US$1 billion per year. We opened our first office in Australia in 1985 and currently have offices in all of the main business centres around the world.

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BFM | FAMILY BUSINESS

Working with family can be tricky business It’s commonplace for SMEs and businesses to be family owned and run but there are several key mistakes many people make when it comes to working with family writes Darleen Barton.

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he first and most common mistake families make is not putting things in writing and working on the basis of verbal agreements. The second is not having a process in place to work through issues and disputes.

Unfortunately, many people do not realise the dangers of not setting out clear strategies, principles and agreements when starting a business with family or involving family members in the business.

In the challenging world of business, working with people you know and trust is an advantage, especially in a family-owned business, however people can fall into the trap of getting comfortable and forgetting the importance of contracts to fall back on. They then find themselves in a difficult position down the track when tensions and problems arise.

Many business owners I work with to address and resolve family based disputes and issues find themselves facing stressful situations due to a lack of clear boundaries between personal and business relationships with their business partners or employees who are also family It is a real skill mastering how to separate your personal and work life especially with such familiar people around you, but it has to be done and this is what I encourage clients to take on and incorporate into their businesses.

Making sure everyone is on the same page from the very beginning by drawing up contracts and agreements for any future conflicts that may occur is highly beneficial

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to not only the family relationships but also for the success of the business in the future.

Issues that arise can often lead to domestic disputes between family members. Situations like this are always difficult to solve peacefully but by putting management and communication strategies in place, they can easily be avoided.

It can be a difficult choice to take a step towards resolution and mediation for conflict, whether between spouses, family members or in an intense workplace situation.

When it comes to family business situations, and any business situation for that matter, what I stress the most is ensuring there are processes in place for open and fair communication to allow you to effectively solve tensions that may arise.

Many business owners come to me hoping to improve business or workplace relations, with a view to increasing productivity and finding a way to bring employees together for a more cohesive working environment.

While this is a viable goal, there is much more to it when it comes to working with family.

The productivity of the business can’t be addressed until there is a cohesive work environment between the family members and ground rules set in place.

In the situation where issues have already arisen, it is important that sustainable methods are used to strengthen long-term family relationships. This will bring real change for those involved to avoid the courtroom environment and

the failure of a business.

One of the key issues that often arises in family owned businesses is disagreement over the direction of the business.

Often family members start a business together with a shared sense of what they want to do and where they want the business to head.

Once the business starts growing and facing typical market pressures, staffing challenges and other issues, this tends to create confusion over where to take the business and how to deal with financial and economic challenges.

While I help many businesses to address and resolve these issues, I always recommend that a constitution be put in place which outlines parameters and guidelines around the involvement of family members. I also look at whether the business is structured in a way that enables the exit of a family member and reduces the risk of claims against the business.

I recently worked with a business where two brothers established a highly successful blue collar business together. One brother wanted to expand the business and set up businesses in other states, where as the other brother wanted to focus on growing and diversifying the range of services available at the existing site.

The disagreement between the two brothers brought the business’ growth to a complete stand still.

Through mediation I was able to assist the brothers to reach a compromise. They expanded services at the existing site and set

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FAMILY BUSINESS| BFM

up another business in one other state only and agreed to focus on this strategy.

Unless businesses are structured well, things can end very badly for family business owners. Everyone evolves, learns, matures and grows with their business – this is natural. What someone wants to achieve in their 20s may be eclipsed by what they want to achieve in their 40s. The key is to manage these changed expectations in a way which

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involves all family members and results in an agreed plan.

What many people don’t understand is that mediation is one of the most important aspects of business when issues arise.

My advice to everyone is put everything in writing, have a plan, have a constitution and have a process to manage issues. If issues do occur, mediate early. Rather than spend a fortune on lawyers, try and work with the other party to achieve a solution through

mediation. Lawyers will then simply be able to assist you to seek ratification of the resolution and if necessary, ratification through the courts.

This will save a lot of heartache and a lot of money. But of course, the best advice I can give is to ensure you are well prepared before any issues occur. BFM Darleen Barton is a Performance Specialist and Business Coach: www.dipac.com.au

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BFM | WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP

JAMILA RIZVI ON LEADERSHIP, SEXISM AND PAY RISES Jamila Rizvi is a writer, presenter and commentator.

She writes a weekly political column for News Limited and appears regularly as a commentator on Channel 10, Channel 9 and the ABC. Her first book, Not Just Lucky, a career manifesto for millennial women, was published in 2017. Jamila will be speaking at the Women’s Leadership Symposium in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Darwin so Women & Leadership Australia caught up with her to discuss her thoughts on leadership, sexism and all things gender equality.

Can you tell us about your leadership journey?

I started working quite young.

While at university, I was involved in student politics and was President of the Student Union for a year. After that year, I was very eager to stay in full time work and I ended up getting a job in Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s office. Later on, I was Deputy Chief of Staff to Minister Kate Ellis where I gained experience in managing the strategic goals of a minister’s office. Then I went into the media and was Editor-in-Chief of Mamamia during a period of high growth for the publication. I saw commonalities in being a good leader across industries and from my time in politics I had gained a background in being a good leader, a good team leader and a good manager.

What is the most important thing that you have learned in your career?

I learned to realise that I was not always right. When we are new to leadership roles, we often think we need to be the one with all the ideas and all the solutions. I came to learn that my way was not always the best way and that I need to listen to my team.

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What key principle has been most fundamental to your success?

Recognising the importance of stability and making people feel safe.

It is essential for anyone working in an organisation, and really important that leaders recognise this. Certainty and predictability are what allows us to take risks.

Having worked in politics and media have you got anything to say about what it is like for women in these fields?

I speak about politics and the media in my book Not Just Lucky, but sexism exists across all industries and is a real challenge for Australia.

Most industries are gender unequal in terms of workforce composition (either mostly male or mostly female) but regardless of whether there are more men or more women overall, the positions of power are nearly always held by men. A good example of this is education in schools, where most people in the sector are female but principals are usually male.

Your book focuses on how Australian women are so used to being overlooked and undervalued in the workplace that when they actually do make it, they are inclined to think that it is down to luck. Can you talk more about this?

The thesis that I put forward in the book is that women are often inclined to say “I was just lucky” when they experience success.

This is down to society, both men and women, having a problem with successful women and this is something that our culture as a whole needs to work to overcome.

Can you tell us about the structural disadvantage that causes problems for women in the workplace?

The way workplaces are set up disadvantages women. The current system was built by men for men over a hundred years ago when it was not even really considered that women would enter workplaces in the future. This system values the

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WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP| BFM

way men are socialised over the way women are socialised. There is a focus on competition over collaboration and merit goes out the window.

Can you tell us about an example of gender discrimination that you have faced yourself in your career?

In my book, I talk about my experiences of this working in politics. For instance, there were marked differences in the tasks female assistants and male assistants were given. The female assistants were asked to do things like picking up dry cleaning and doing the prime minister’s makeup but the male assistants were not. Even so, I know that

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my experiences are not as bad as those of some others. Some of the stories I have heard from other women are of awful discrimination and bias. Not to mention stories of sexual harassment. The recent allegations involving men like Harvey Weinstein and Don Burke show that sexual harassment is not just down to a few culprits or only an isolated problem. It is a problem throughout our entire society.

What advice would you like to impart to our readers?

My book has very practical advice about how to operate more effectively, one of which is the nine steps to asking for a pay rise. The one step I think is most important is focusing on why you deserve a

raise rather than why you need one. Women have a tendency to justify why they need a pay rise.

For example, talking about the cost of living or wanting to buy a house. Yet it is more effective when negotiating with employers to focus on why you deserve a pay rise. For example, talking about how you have increased productivity since taking on the role and the value this has brought to the organisation and that is why your salary should be raised. BFM Jamila Rizvi is a writer, presenter and commentator. Jamila’s first book, Not Just Lucky, a career manifesto for millennial women, was published by Penguin in 2017.

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BFM | INVESTMENT

Regulation the key to calm amid the crypto-storm Digital currency investors should welcome impending regulatory reform, rather than seeing it as the end of the crypto-party, according to leading Melbourne tech lawyer Darren Sommers, of Melbourne firm KHQ Lawyers.

G

ung-ho investors have used a lack of regulation as an incentive to invest in the crypto space, despite the massive risk involved. However according to Darren Sommers regulation would reduce the risk, without diminishing the potential returns – and investors simply had to prepare to reap the benefits.

News that US regulators are looking to Congress to impose more oversight over digital currency, along with reports that France, Germany and Spain, among many other countries, have pledged to regulate Bitcoin, has investors are spooked. Recent crashes in the digital currency, as well as significant volatility in equity markets this week has added to the urgency of calls for regulation.

“Crypto-currency has become something akin to new Wild West of investment markets – it’s a practically lawless and everyone is risking it all trying to cash in,” Sommers said.

“It’s scary how many people I’ve heard of who see a lack of

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INVESTMENT| BFM

regulation as an incentive, whereas it should be the opposite. The massive ups and downs Bitcoin has experienced recently is surely enough to warrant legal certainty.

“Make no mistake, regulation is coming and the authorities won’t hesitate in making an example out of someone when that time comes.

“Rather than risk it all now, investors should prepare properly for a more regulated environment – know what you are willing to invest and what you are willing to invest in – like with anything, do your homework.”

Apollo Capital Chief Investment

solely focused on digital assets had been a challenge given the lack of protection, but was well worth it in order to crack open a new world of investment opportunity.

“It was very challenging launching a fund like new, when the traditional service providers and regulation either doesn’t cater at all to the asset class or we don’t fit into old ways of doing business,” Andersson said.

“Technology will always move faster than regulation. We decided early on to launch a fund that will be fully compliant and licensed from the start, a fund that meets the potential future requirements

“Make no mistake, regulation is coming and the authorities won’t hesitate in making an example out of someone when that time comes.”

Officer Henrik Andersson said his firm welcomed regulation, as it would mean more institutional investors would be drawn to the digital space. His firm is one of the very first Australian investment houses to trade exclusively in crypto assets “At the moment digital is the domain of risk takers and day traders. But institutional investors like super funds and trusts have a cascade effect so if they enter the digital market the benefit is shared and more people win,” Andersson said.

“Certainly, that would indicate greater regulation is a good thing.

“It’s been hard for ‘instoinvestors’ to get exposure to this point, but as more new funds launching, as well as exchange traded products, they’ll start to become more active with more regulation and more certainty.”

He said that launching a fund

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and have the institutional grade oversight of a traditional investment vehicle.

“Our fund provides sophisticated investors with a way to easily diversify into the fast-growing crypto space – whereas the environment has made it too difficult up until now.”

Sommers said that while funds like Apollo were designed for institutional or sophisticated investors, the fact they were emerging should be encouraging for both coin issuers and retail investors alike.

“Better regulation means a better playing field for everyone, and if it’s good enough for them it’s good enough for all investors,” Sommers said.

“Reduce the risk and reduce your chances of violating laws you may not even be aware of. Make sure you know what you’re getting in to.” BFM

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BFM | COACHING

LONELY AT THE TOP? DON’T LET IT BE SO As a CEO or a C-level executive, do you ever feel you are on your own? Do you feel that everyone relies on you to have the right answer, do the right thing, be the right ‘boss’, foresee and smooth out the speed bumps and more? By Grace Thomas Victorian Branch President of the International Coach Federation (ICF)

I

f your answer is “yes”, you are not alone. Most of the CEOs and C-level executive clients I work with lament about this. The term ‘together alone’ rings so true for senior leaders.

As the CEO or C-level executive, you are mainly concerned with performance and growth – individually and collectively.

You work hard to navigate the ever-increasing demands and expectations from shareholders, customers, employees, your family and friends, and from yourself. That is a heavy weight of responsibility on you.

YOU CAN BE FORGIVEN FOR FEELING ALONE! Is this your story? There is a common saying “your story is just a story – fiction”. How do you know where the truth to your story lies?

Someone you know and respect suggests you get yourself an executive or leadership coach. “I don’t need a coach. I am doing just fine” you think, indignantly.

Secretly, you wonder if this may be good advice.

You’ve met a few people who call themselves coaches – some have approached you to offer their services. They might sound the same, yet appear to be very different.

You might think – don’t coaches work on ‘fixing’ people?

WHERE DOES THE TRUTH LIE? How important is it to you and to your company for you to be the best version of yourself as a leader?

What would it mean if you can

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create a positive ripple through the company and beyond, inspiring others to be part of building performance and growth – meeting and exceeding expectations?

WHAT’S IT WORTH? • The 2009 International Coach Federation (ICF) Global Coaching Client Study reported a median coaching ROI (return on investment) to be 700%.

• The 2003 MetrixGlobal study of executive coaching “Coaching for Increased Profitability: How to Deliver and Demonstrate Tangible Results to the Bottom Line” reported an ROI from coaching of 788% • The Manchester Review 2001 reported that executive coaching yields a return on investment of almost six times its cost.

BUT WHAT IS COACHING? Let’s provide some insights to help clear any misconceptions about what coaching is and what it is not. Isn’t coaching the same as mentoring, consulting, training, counselling, managing?

CONFUSED OR CURIOUS? This illustration provides an overview of the differences between coaching and other interventions. Leading cuts across all quadrants showing the complexity of leading well.

COACHING EXPLAINED The International Coach Federation (ICF), the world’s largest coach credentialing body defines coaching as “partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and

Ask

Counselling (Empathy)

Coaching (Future potential)

Leading (Vision & Alignment) Facilitating (Expedited learning)

Other is the Expert Training (Knowledge & Skills

Mentoring (Wisdom)

YOU are the Expert

Managing (Prescriptive) Consulting (Expert Advice)

Tell

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COACHING| BFM

professional potential”.

This common yet powerful formula applies equally to your personal performance and to the performance of your company.

PERFORMANCE = POTENTIAL – INTERFERENCES Coaches don’t tell. Coaches don’t prescribe. Coaches don’t do the heavy lifting for you. The best coaches challenge you to explore deeply, bringing awareness to the fore, enabling you to make conscious choices to build new habits and mindsets that move you towards your potential.

The fundamental premise of coaching is that the answers are within you. The coach helps you uncover, sometimes excavate, the strengths that propel you forward and what’s holding you back from being the absolute best you can be with less effort. Heard of getting more from less?

SO, WHAT OF THESE INTERFERENCES? One of the frameworks many coaches use to explore interferences is the Integral Model developed by Ken Wilber.

This is an effective way of looking at both strengths that support you and the things that impede your performance and growth.

Interferences can come from

one or more, and often from all, quadrants. We have incorporated some of the ways we might explore these in the illustration below.

AWARENESS LEADS TO CONSCIOUS CHOICE AND CHANGE From this exploration, new awareness and insights emerge, creating conscious choice to experiment with new and helpful behaviours that develop into helpful habits. The result? Long term change towards the best version of yourself as a leader and being able to influence your teams to meet and exceed

Individual

I

IT

Structure thought, emotions, memories, states of mind, perceptions and immediate sensations

Structure visible measurable behaviours, competences, skills, body language

Exploration of Interferences We explore your inner game - what are you saying about yourself, your values, mindsets and assumptions...

Exploration of Interferences We look at what you are doing, how you show up, your habits...

Internal

External

WE

ITS

Structure Share values, meanings, languages, relationships, cultural background, expectations, networks

Structure Systems, networks, technology, environment, policy

Exploration of Interferences We consider what others may be saying, what you do for the team...

Exploration of Interferences We take into account what is going on in the environment, the systems, your role and context...

Adapted from Ken Wilber, 2000

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Collective

expectations – yes, those heavy expectations!

Getting the most from a coaching relationship means building a relationship of unwavering trust, quickly. Without trust at the highest level, exploration stays at a superficial level and change is limited, potential remains an unrealised dream. However, as a CEO or C-level executive, if you have a trusted partner sit beside you, walk alongside you, and who is not attached to any other agenda except to help you be the best you can be, you won’t feel so alone and can focus on what really matters, performance and growth.

Contact president.victoria@ icfaustralasia.com and we will direct you to the best person on our team to answers any questions you may have. BFM Grace Thomas is the Victorian Branch President of the International Coach Federation (ICF). Globally, ICF has over 31,000 members, of whom 80% are credentialed, in 149 countries.

Her capacity to work with senior leaders bringing ‘heat and heart’ to all her relationships builds on a strong foundation in corporate leadership roles in Australia and Asia-Pacific.

International Coach Federation (ICF) is the leading global organisation dedicated to advancing the coaching profession by setting high standards, providing independent certification and building a worldwide network of trained coaching professionals.

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BFM | BUSINESS LOUNGE

UNOX’S RECIPE FOR SUCCESS Cooking shows can certainly be entertaining, but for many that watch them they also provide pathways to culinary improvement. That’s to say who doesn’t want to have a crack at perfecting a recipe or two.

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he thing is, you generally need decent cooking tools to create your master chef masterpiece. That includes an oven.

Wayne Viles knows all about top ovens. The trained Patissiere ran a pizza business for 10 years before selling up and securing a position at Robot Coupe as the Sales Manager for Victoria and Tasmania In a roundabout way, that was his introduction to UNOX, which manufactures commercial ovens.

“The owner of Robot Coupe had another business distributing imported products, and UNOX happened to be part of this range,” Viles says.

“I saw UNOX as a great product, and sold a few hundred machines in what we know as 3 Series. This allowed me to build my passion for this product, which just happened to allow me to be associated as ‘The UNOX guy’, which worked very well when the opportunity was offered to me to partner with the factory.

Now, as the general manager of UNOX Australia, he is at the coalface of a company that is known for invention and innovation.

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A RISING BUSINESS UNOX was founded in 1990. They started making small convection ovens to partner with pastry manufacturers. The manufacturers would then offer these ovens to cafés and bars in Italy.

“The rate of innovation and constant improvement processes that take place within the business is startling,” Viles says.

“All of our Combi ovens (a combi oven is an oven with three functions: convection, steam and combination cooking) are web enabled with the ability for software updates automatically sent from the factory. It means that your oven is constantly evolving. It’s amazing.

But UNOX is not only about bringing innovation to the industry, it is also to improve businesses’ returns on investment.

“UNOX has long recognised that the purchase price of Combi ovens extends the return on investment.

UNOX set about changing this equation worldwide, by implementing Lean Manufacturing and On Time Manufacturing systems learned from companies

like Toyota. This has allowed us to offer what we believe to be the Best Value in the market.”

It was that kind of consumer focused thinking that was the foundation of what has become a well-respected industry leader with an outstanding reputation for excellence.

“I like to think of a reputation being based on service, we have a simple philosophy: under promise and over deliver. Many businesses seem to be good at doing it the other way around!”

Viles attributes the company’s success, particularly in Australia, to just answering the phone.

“Be the guy that is more responsive to your clients and more importantly your customer, being the end user. The relationship with the end user is what will allow you to grow, and be the reliable source of information, advice and assistance, and often this might relate to something other than your product.

As far as Australia is concerned, UNOX has only been a factory business since January 2009.

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BUSINESS LOUNGE| BFM

of a small office, waiting for the furniture I had bought at auction to turn up; it was 500 square metres of warehouse and no kitchen, and a very small budget.”

Clearly, Viles’ values are well aligned with UNOX. He is cognisant of the requirements of his stakeholders from clients, to consumers; he is attentive to their needs and he has an infectious attitude that all staff has embraced.

“I am very proud of what our staff allowed us to achieve. They have made sure we are successful and are more important than any product, in any business.”

With the success of the Australian division, UNOX is now the largest manufacturer of commercial ovens worldwide.

Continued innovation With industry demands growing and changing, UNOX has had to continue its innovation trend to maintain its leadership position.

The company is competing against many other manufacturers with myriad products and many with web features.

What sets UNOX apart is its commitment to sustainability.

“UNOX studies and considers every aspect of sustainability and the life cycle of a machine, how it is manufactured, and what happens at the end of its life and disposal,” Viles says.

“We are constantly looking at how to improve, particularly within the manufacturing process and how we can reuse products during this www.businessfirstmagazine.com.au

process. This, in turn, increases competitiveness by reducing costs of manufacturing. As we own 98% of the component manufacturing, we are able to also control the reduction of waste in all of our component businesses as well.

“Power and water consumption are very important as well, with prices rising and the impact on the environment, it is important to be the best here as well. UNOX was the first to use LED technology in lighting the interior of the oven, and removed the light from the cavity to the door to guarantee long life and little or no replacement.

We were also the first to create the Triple Glazed Door, which dramatically reduces the heat loss from the oven, therefore increasing cooking efficiency and lowering running costs. We have our own chemists on staff who have created a range of Eco Plant based chemical for the ovens cleaning system, which we will see here in Australia shortly.”

Clearly there is a large commitment to innovation, service and value.

“We try to offer the best value, before, during and after any process to do with our business.

My personal goal for our business is to have the best service in the industry. Given the nature of our business, and how equipment in a kitchen is often treated, this is difficult, but it is what I would really like to achieve. I think we can do it.”

LOOKING FORWARD Given its growth as a global company, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that UNOX is still a family operated business, which hold these family values close to its hearts.

Certainly, Viles maintains these values.

“Our son Zach has worked for us for the past six or seven years and has been asked to move to the United States office to develop the sales team for the next few years.

Hopefully he will return and I look forward to him stepping in, and me stepping back.”

UNOX is currently the fastest growing oven manufacturer in the world.

Meanwhile, UNOX Australia has always matched and in some periods, outgrown company projections and Viles is looking to keep it this way. BFM

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BFM | HR

Why onboarding is an easy win for your digital HR strategy In a world where technology is evolving at such a rapid pace to bring better efficiency to all areas of business and customer experience, it seems absurd that ineffective employee onboarding could be the one thing standing in the way of your HR digital strategy excelling in 2018 writes Beth Carr.

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n today’s digital age, and whilst businesses look to move away from traditional manual operating processes, it appears that employee onboarding has been overlooked. But with the latest onboarding technology available, forward-thinking HR teams can now embed this critical area of operations into their digital strategy.

Here’s a look at the three reasons employee onboarding is such an easy win for your 2018 digital strategy: AUTOMATING YOUR CONTRACTS “No contract ready and as a result they didn’t pay me on time” Taking the time to manually draft a contract, capturing personal details, and incorporating all relevant information can be both a timely and error-prone task, even more so if you are onboarding a high volume of candidates. Errors within contracts and offer letters can bring substantial delays to start dates and In today’s competitive recruitment space and could cost businesses the right candidate.

Streamlining this part of the process with contract templates, e-mail merge and full visibility of all completed and outstanding tasks quickly enables this to become a painless task for HR teams. As well as providing a quick and paperless experience for the new onboardee, it gives them the option to digitally sign their

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contract and complete it there and then without having to print a single form.

THE FIRST DAY CHECKLIST “I didn’t have a computer for the first month, and then no internet for the first three months.”

The first day checklist can often be quite lengthy, making sure the new employee has everything from their login details to an adequate workspace. 42% of employees confessed to turning up on their first day to no basic equipment such as a computer or laptop. Failing to provide a good experience in the very premature stages of onboarding can quickly cascade into a lack of engagement and a new employee deciding to leave.

Technology can aid this process, enabling HR teams to set up and allocate tasks to relevant personnel ensuring every department is aware of what they need to prepare ahead of the new starter’s first day.

PRE-READING AND TRAINING “I was completely lost because I didn’t receive training.”

Training is fundamental, as the saying goes ‘you get out what you put in’. If you want a confident employee ready to provide results, invest the time and resource to train and support them from the moment the offer had been made.

79% agreed they would have settled in quicker had there been

a better onboarding process.

Through an onboarding system, any documentation or pre-reading can be sent ahead of the first day so new starters and HR teams both know what tasks need to be completed and have a record as and when it has been carried out.

EMPLOYEE ONBOARDING GOING DIGITAL With most areas of business leveraging technology for a more enhanced and efficient way of doing things, it seems onboarding should be the next area ready to take hold of the opportunity.

Making use of a digital solution, improves the onboarding experience for a new employee as well as having tangible time saving benefits all while providing greater visibility of the HR function.

Technology can take away the administrative headache of creating and issuing high volume onboarding projects with the help of standard templates, automatic mail merge and digital signing reducing both time and errors.

Having a centralised online portal with all relevant information, pre-reading, and welcome documentation can provide greater visibility for both the hiring teams and the new starter.

Look to improve your business’s brand and efficiency in 2018 and incorporate employee onboarding into your digital strategy. BFM

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HR| BFM

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BFM | PR

IT TAKES YEARS TO BUILD YOUR REPUTATION BUT ONLY A DAY TO TEAR IT DOWN – What should you do when a crisis hits?

It is a well-known fact that building a brand’s reputation takes considerable time and effort, yet a crisis has the ability to threaten it at any time. Although you may not possess direct control over a crisis when it hits, you can certainly plan carefully and develop your response strategically ahead of time writes Sharon Zeev-Poole.

Sharon Zeev-Poole Director of Agent99

BE PREPARED AND DEVELOP A CRISIS MANAGEMENT PLAN Although many organisations identify that crisis management is a top priority, many fail to develop a robust plan that deals with any sudden or significant negative event. A Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu survey, which polled 300 executives, reported

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that “only 19% would award their company an ‘A’ for its capability in protecting against and responding to reputation risks”, and, “39% ranked their risk-management programs as at best ‘average’, and often ‘below average’”. With this in mind, a crisis management plan will allow any business to determine

and map out the necessary tasks or strategies, training, laws, communications and information that will facilitate any crisis. In turn, this will increase productivity, the welfare of employees and the general public, and will assist to prevent reputation damage.

Depending on the nature of the

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PR| BFM

lists that you can potentially reach during a dire time of need.

OWN UP TO YOUR MISTAKES Attempting to cover up a mistake or crisis will only be to the detriment of your company’s reputation and future. Although a mistake might be accidental or made in good faith, all mistakes must be acknowledged and dealt with promptly. You might not have the exact answer or strategy, but to rebuild public confidence and prevent any further issues from occurring, you need to demonstrate that you are taking an appropriate course of action to rectify the situation immediately.

Taking the non-argumentative approach to crises will not only fair better with the general public, it will encourage a work environment that values truth and integrity, which will enable employees to handle any tough situations that may arise.

business, each plan will differ but the following components should always be considered.

Although every issue must be dealt with promptly, activation guidelines must be established to ensure that the plan is only fully executed when issues escalate to crisis level. You must create detailed action plans to ensure that each employee is aware of the tasks and action items that need to be undertaken during the crucial stages of the crisis.

The plan will include allocated timeframes, designated roles and progress reports. When a crisis hits, it is crucial that you communicate in a timely and effective manner to your stakeholders and the general public. To achieve this, you need to have pre-approved crisis communication and messaging which can be used at any time.

Furthermore, it is imperative that you have comprehensive contact

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ENSURE YOUR TEAM IS SOCIAL MEDIA SAVVY In a world where problems can arise in seconds and spread instantaneously through social media, companies can remain calm knowing they have a set team and protocol in place if an issue arises. Social media can allow you to gauge customer feedback, determine brand deficiencies and even predict causes of crises. It is important that your team are able to actively monitor and track social media mentions of your company, clients and even competitors. Through active monitoring, you might be able to stop a crisis in its tracks by quickly diffusing a negative situation. If you do however enter a form of crisis, steady monitoring will allow your team to efficiently brainstorm an effective strategy by listening to your community.

WHO CAN WE LEARN FROM? In late 2016, Dreamworld faced one of its biggest crises when a horrific accident resulted in the death of four visitors. It is widely thought that the management and board mishandled the response in the initial 48 hour crucial period as they adopted a

legalistic approach and abandoned any emotional response that the general public were requiring, nominated the chief executive as the spokesperson, rather than the company chief executive and reopened the theme park for a memorial service whilst it was still a crime scene.

This response contrasts to BHP’s Chief Executive, Andrew Mackenzie, following the Samarco Dam disaster in Brazil. He immediately flew to the scene to inspect the damage, apologised to the media and general public and arranged water, food and other resources for those affected.

Although it was a devastating incident which resulted in environmental damage and deaths, their response allowed them to take control of their reputation and learn for other potential disasters.

REFLECT AND PLAN FOR THE FUTURE Once the crucial stage of the crisis has subsided and been overcome, all processes throughout the crisis management should be discussed as a team and well documented.

This will allow your team as a whole to effectively brainstorm the best plan of action in regaining lost reputation and set a plan of action in case a similar crisis occurs again. Although reflection will allow you to identify the causes of the initial problem, it can pinpoint broader patterns which will assist in the planning of your overall crisis management plan. This process will aid self-improvement of individual team members which will equip them with the relevant tools to overcome any crisis in the future. BFM Sharon Zeev Poole, the Director of highly regarded boutique PR and communications agency Agent99, has grown the company from a oneman show to a full service, awardwinning agency located in the thriving creative hub of Surry Hills, Sydney.

The agency specialises in launching or relaunching brands in the food, beverage and lifestyle spaces, as well as working with corporates and individuals to raise the profile of their thought leadership.

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BFM | WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP

TWO ESSENTIAL LEADERSHIP TRAITS Amy Bach is a health sector leader based in Melbourne. She has extensive experience in senior management roles in healthcare in Australia and the UK. For her, resilience and courage are two key ingredients for true leadership even though they can be hard to develop.

Amy Bach is a health sector leader based in Melbourne

RESILIENCE I have learnt through my leadership experiences that in order to be an influential leader, some essential components include humility, adaptability and courage.

Another component that has been somewhat surprising to me is the power of vulnerability as a leader. In a previous workplace, I experienced a highly stressful

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situation with a manager who was displaying bullying behaviour towards a number of her direct reports (of which I was one).

After a lengthy period of time trying to optimise the situation with her locally, I concluded that my core values of integrity and respect ultimately left me with two choices: resign (and remove myself from the situation), or

have the courage to call out her behaviour to her manager. I took the risk, with my heart thumping, and chose the second option.

Thankfully, after a period of time, that particular manager was moved on. The aspect that surprised me in this situation was that a colleague I had chosen to confide in during these distressing times rallied and displayed the most incredible

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WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP| BFM

amount of loyalty to me at the time when I most needed support.

This only happened after I chose to let my guard down and allow my vulnerability to show. To this day, that person remains a trusted friend and confidant.

COURAGE Many of the ‘breakthrough’ moments I have had in my career would not have happened without a huge dose of courage. When I was considering applying for a significant (and slightly scary!) promotion a number of years ago, I had to choose to play the courage card as I faced many objectors. My manager at the time, who sadly had not quite grasped the leader versus manager concept, asked me whether I was an only child! Many other people simply said, “Oh well, it’ll be good for the interview experience even if you don’t get the job.” One person reminded me that I did not need to have every item of the position description ticked off to apply, and that there was only one thing I could guarantee: if I did not apply, I could be 100 per cent certain of not getting the offer! That was my number one supporter, my husband Matt. Well, as they say, the rest is history. I got the job.

It is so important to have people around who will back our decisions, even the ‘pipe dream’ ones that may seem crazy to even consider. I have experienced the value of sharing personal career goals with a select number of trusted supporters or ‘inner circle’.

Moreover, a professional mentor can play an important role in the process of establishing next steps, both short and long term.

A side note to this is that many people find there is more value in selecting a mentor through natural connections rather than formal ‘mentor/mentee matching’ programs, and this process may take a bit of time. I went from having zero mentors for the first five years of my career to now having three that I go to for

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different sorts of advice.

All of us lack courage at times, particularly when considering a change of jobs or putting our hand up for a promotion or new project.

Too often people (frequently women, unfortunately!) can convince themselves that they will not succeed before they have even taken the first step. I have mentored women just starting out in their physiotherapy career, and a common mistake that I have also been guilty of seems to be to jump about four steps ahead to the ‘will I or won’t I take the job’ question before even being offered an interview. It is important to harness the support of others to bolster our confidence but also to just jump in! A tactic I have learnt in these situations is to think about what it is I am afraid of, devise a strategy that could minimise the impact if the worst outcome did happen, and then take the plunge before I can talk myself out of it!

A recent example is that I had the opportunity to attend the World Health Care Congress in April this year in Washington, D.C. I considered convincing a colleague from work to attend with me, or at least bringing a friend or my husband along for company.

What I decided in the end was to push myself to go with the scariest option: to go solo. Probably my biggest fear was that potentially awkward moment during the lunch break, when faced with a room full of strangers. It is like being back at the first day of school! Who do I sit with? What if everyone else knows each other already? What will I talk about with these new people? The strategy I used at the conference was that I decided to go out of my comfort zone during each of the breaks and, rather than occupy my time pretending to look at the stalls set up in the lobby (while really just scouting for free pens), sit next to someone in the lunch area, introduce myself, and let the conversation flow from there. The

result was that I had a wonderful experience over the duration of the conference, including some of the most engaging and interesting conversations I have had in a professional setting to date. I formed connections with a CEO of a hospital in New York, a member of US congress, a founder of a healthcare start-up in San Francisco, and a Deloitte management consultant from Hong Kong! If I had attended the conference with even one other person, I would have missed out on many of these real networking opportunities entirely.

So, for anyone in a position that involves leading others, the ultimate decision remains: will you choose to focus on being a competent manager, or take up the more complex but also more rewarding challenge of committing to being a truly influential leader? Leaders achieve through others. They develop, empower and motivate people, shape team culture, display courage and resilience in the face of adversity, and underpin all of this with something that cannot be easily taught, but can certainly be chosen: to lead with passion, authenticity and a commitment to making a positive impact in the workplace. BFM Amy Bach is the manager of a department of allied health professionals within a large private healthcare group in Melbourne, Victoria. A physiotherapist by background, she has extensive experience in both clinical and senior management roles in the healthcare system in Australia and the UK and is currently completing an MBA at Melbourne Business School. Amy is passionate about making a positive impact in a workplace, shaping team culture and staff engagement, and helping to facilitate and empower women to achieve senior leadership positions. She has presented at a number of healthcare conferences on the topic of leadership and staff engagement.

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BFM | LAW

CAN A LAWYER CHANGE THEIR SPOTS? Large Law has followed accounting firms down the path of national and international combination and consolidation. Law firms offering consulting services could be the next move, writes veteran consultant Stephen Moss.

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arge law firm models have changed very little outside a handful of innovative firms, few law firms have dared to step into the brave but not-so-new world of consulting. In doing so, law firms continue to forego a goldmine of management talent, with many of their senior staff having held wide-ranging positions in a range of different industry based roles. Furthermore, many associates leaving the law have followed a well-worn path into a number of popular consulting firms.

Whilst a large amount of intellectual capital within law firms stays idle, the consulting industry continues to drain talent that progressive law firms could turn easily into revenue.

With cautious steps being made by law firms into a range of different areas, how long is it until the traditional “law firm” structure changes?

Not surprisingly, the large

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accountancy firms have already muscled onto the law firm patch.

With the Big 4 professional service firms moving into legal services, how long until we see one of the big law firms reversing the trend and transforming into one of these professional services behemoths?

MIND OVER LEGAL MATTER After studying law and fresh from a career as a psychologist, I was first thrust into the world of professional services firms on the back of the first wave of diversification of accounting firms into a relatively new field called “management consulting”.

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LAW| BFM

continues to grow across the world, and in Australia amounts to a $6 billion dollar industry. Bouncing back from a brief exile in the late 1990s in the wake of the Anderson Consulting collapse, the “Big 4” continue to hold a large market share of this work, with Deloitte, PwC, KPMG and Accenture (formerly Andersen Consulting) holding 40% of this market.

The players so far include Freehills, who owned Mainsheet Corporate before spinning it out to PWC, Minter Ellison, who recently launched a consulting division under ex PwC managing partner Tony Harrington, and Hogan Lovells, who have launched an international consulting offering.

While conflicts are obviously a live issue, as accounting firms have learnt, law firms are much better equipped to deal with these eventualities. Furthermore, the advent of Multi-Disciplinary Practices (MDPs) in the UK and Australia and the expansion of accounting firms into legal practices organically would seem to mitigate against the status quo.

If law firms are going to prosper against their well-resourced competitors, the use of their talent for the best result for the client is essential. If law firms lack the right talent, or are unable to build the necessary processes through existing staff, then acquisitions and consolidation can fill that gap.

The good leaders will not ignore the potential of their staff and the potential for uncaptured revenue.

So watch this space in the legal services arena. BFM Riding the wave of the popularity of the “corporatisation” of professional services firms, I was able to build a practice amongst an old guard of auditors and tax accountants, as a partner of Coopers & Lybrand (now PWC).

While many partners at the time supported and embraced the

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change, there were a number of hold-outs who were hesitant to accept this “upstart nonaccountant partner” infiltrating their sacred ranks. As the work and revenue continued to roll in however, these doubters reduced in number and volume.

Similarly, the consulting market

Dr Stephen Moss is the Chairman at Eaton Capital Partners, a corporate advisory and M&A firm specialising in the professional services sector including legal, management consulting and engineering.

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BFM | IT

NAVIGATING IT ISSUES WITH THREE EASY STEPS Whether you’re a large or small business, the role of the IT department should never be taken for granted.

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he IT team find themselves at the forefront of business success, preventing issues, such as website downtime, from becoming critical problems. The IT landscape is evolving and success no longer means ensuring a system is problem free, but adapting to the changing environment. In particular small business should never underestimate the role of IT, particularly the system administrator (SysAdmin), and continually look at resourcing to keep things running smoothly and navigate issues before and after they appear.

By following these three steps a SysAdmin can ensure any small business is getting the most out of its IT system.

NEVER WAIT FOR A CRISIS One of the most important tasks of a SysAdmin is ensuring the IT department has a plan outlined and ready to be actioned during a network outage, but long periods of smooth running should not be taken for granted – as this time is

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critical to ensure a swift reaction when things go wrong.

Visualising potential issues and countermeasures ensure IT action plans are always up-to-date and ready for when something does go awry. Being ready for downtime is more than a matter of mental preparation; going through troubleshooting steps may reveal gaps in either knowledge, availability of reference materials, or even necessary equipment and replacement components.

Making troubleshooting a daily practice will not only fill gaps during quiet times but also enhance an IT departments preparedness for inevitable outages that every system eventually faces.

COMMIT TO A LIFELONG EDUCATION Whether a SysAdmin has one year or twenty years of experience, there is always something new to learn. IT systems develop at an accelerating scale and being an absolute expert in the field as it was five years ago, may not be as impressive as it looks on paper.

SysAdmins now need to continually evolve with the industry or risk being unprepared. The only way to do this is through education, whether it’s attending formal classes during off hours or keeping up with innovations in the trade magazines. There will always be advancements that could directly impact network outages, and the only way to stop this is through a commitment to education.

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IT| BFM

USE YOUR IMAGINATION While processes and procedures are the basis of any plan, sometimes it’s important to step outside the box and become imaginative. Visualisation can also be applied when looking for ways to improve user experience and increase system availability.

Even if a system is sufficient to a task that it is applied to,

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imagine how it could do it better.

It is easier to structure a process for an actual improvement by using this method. It may be that a scalable system is needed to increase resources to meet demand, or perhaps a new and improved operating system that has become the industry standard is neither new nor improved. The possibilities for improvement are limited only by imagination.

IT success is critical for small business well-being, and without plans and procedures in place it can be daunting to navigate issues.

However, a SysAdmin is the key to IT success. BFM George Wilson, Director of Sales Operations, APAC at Paessler AG – PRTG Network Monitor

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BFM | CONSTRUCTION

Construction set to surge to decade high Activity in the commercial construction sector is set to have the best year in more than a decade.

“

With forecast growth of more than 14.5 per cent (equal to $5.3 billion) commercial building activity will be strong enough on its own to drag the whole industry back into positive territory for the first time in four years,” Matthew Pollock, Master Builders Australia’s National Manager Economics said.

The latest Building & Construction Industry Forecasts produced by Master Builders Australia show that total commercial construction activity is expected to contribute $42 billion to the economy in 2017-18.

“With a small moderation expected in the value of residential construction work and another year of consolidation in the engineering sector, the timing of this surge in commercial construction couldn’t be better,” Matthew Pollock said.

“Better yet, new commercial construction projects will provide job opportunities for workers who may be finishing up on major high density residential projects over the next 12 months or so,” he said.

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“New retail related construction is expected to rise to $6.9 billion in 2017-18, led by the recent introduction of some big international retailers, including Amazon which recently built a large distribution centre in Melbourne’s Dandenong South and plans by Aldi to open another 30 stores across the country in the next 12 months,” Matthew Pollock said.

“Asia continues to be a strong source of tourist visitor numbers, particularly from Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and China.

Asian investment is following the tourists with $4 billion committed to the construction of new pipeline of resorts and hotels with Queensland’s resort sectors forecast to do particularly well,” he said.

“Looking a little further down the track, the Government’s investment in major transport infrastructure is ramping up and will support a boom in transport related construction over the next 5 years. There are currently more

than $170 billion in transports projects in the pipeline, with activity expected to peak in 201920. This work will provide jobs for years and also provide much need productivity enhancing infrastructure. Master Builders has called for a greater focus on infrastructure investment to support businesses, but also to boost new housing supply and help with housing affordability,” Matthew Pollock said.

“On the residential building front, the last three years saw unprecedented growth in new housing construction. We have built more than 200,000 new dwellings per year – a feat unmatched in our history,” he said.

“Despite the forecast showing a moderation in new dwelling construction, we expect new commencements in 2017-18 to top 195,000 and average around 185,000 thereafter. To keep pace with population growth we will need to build at least 185,000 new dwellings each year for the next five years,” Matthew Pollock said. BFM

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THE LEADER’S BOOKSHELF| BFM

SAY, ‘GOODBYE, FEAR!’ From September 2017 through until the start of January, I was homeless. While the Stoic philosopher Seneca, in Letters from a Stoic (Penguin Books, 2004) recommends subjecting yourself to homelessness regularly, the reality is harsher than anything you can imagine. By Daniel G. Taylor.

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magine not knowing where you’ll sleep at night. Will it be a mattress on a floor in a crowded lounge room? Will you get lucky and get a room to yourself?

Or will you sleep in a park in a hidden away, dry spot?

Imagine not knowing if you’ll eat that day. I woke up on January 5 feeling the hungriest I’d ever felt. I couldn’t work out why I was so hungry. Then I did some calculations: the last time I’d eaten a meal was December 23. In between, I’d only grazed.

Imagine the constant threat of violence… the ongoing risk of theft… the never-ending lack of sleep.

MASTER FEARS ABOUT MONEY Every moment I was afraid. I developed anxiety, ruminating over every possible way everyone in my life would turn on me at any moment. I’m not using hyperbole when I say it was the most terrifying time in my life.

In other situations, however, disciplining yourself to think like your enemy can be a good thing.

In Red Teaming: Transform Your Business by Thinking Like the Enemy (Piatkus, 2017), Bryce G. Hoffman introduces a framework the military uses to eliminate cognitive biases as they plan.

Sometimes plans don’t go, well, as planned. During the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), many people found themselves facing similar fears. Until the Crisis hit,

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people believed the fantasy they were safe. In The End of Alchemy: Money, Banking, and the Future of the Global Economy (Little, Brown, 2016), Mervyn King, a former governor of the Bank of England, outlines some fresh ideas about what caused the GFC. While many other writers have written histories or analyses pinpointing the causes over the past 30 years, King offers a compelling argument that the roots had to do with problems with our economic model itself. The titular ‘alchemy’ refers to the way money, and our whole fundamental economic approach aims to provide the illusion that something risky has been made safe.

With enough cash flow, I’d have never ended up homeless. Like many people, through my life, I’d accrued what Pat Mesiti in The $1 Million Reason to Change Your Mind (Wrightbooks, 2009) calls ‘mind viruses.’

Whether she regards herself as one, Jen Sincero is another prosperity activist. In You are a Badass at Making Money: Master the Mindset of Wealth (Viking, 2017) she outlines a step-bystep process anyone can use to transform their relationship with money. Bottom line: If you aren’t rich, you have an unhelpful relationship with money.

Years ago I read Pat Mesiti’s

book before I interviewed him. I was so impressed I applied his ideas.

The result: I had more cash flowing into my life than at any other time.

I’d just started transitioning from being a traditional freelancer to a direct-response copywriter. I hadn’t yet learned the persuasive skills to convert readers into buyers. But for several months, I was earning as much in a week as I previously made in a month.

Now that I’m settled into a character townhouse in the leafy beachside suburb of Elwood, I can write copy again – when you’re in survival mode, creative thinking is impossible.

‘Success’ literature often focuses on the positives of setting goals instead of preparing people for the negatives through facing fears. If you have the resiliency to handle the worst that could possibly happen, that gives you power.

(Watch Tim Ferriss’s TED Talk on fear setting.)

Trust me, after the obstacles I faced at the end of last year, I’m intimate with both powerlessness and power. If your fears don’t stop you, nothing will.

Mental health copywriter Daniel G. Taylor now lives in Elwood, Victoria.

As a copywriter, he helps businesses attract traffic to their websites, engage those visitors with compelling content, and convert those visitors into sales.

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BFM | TRAVEL

WHAT’S TRENDING IN CORPORATE TRAVEL IN 2018

From “bleisure” travel, to the evolving use of technology, to policy planning and smarter spending, the experienced Goldman Travel Corporation team has put together its key predictions for the corporate travel sector in 2018.

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leisure is booming. The line between business and leisure travel continues to blur, with employees increasingly opting to wind down post-business trip with a weekend of leisure in a nearby destination. Overcrowding in major tourist hotspots will spur frequent corporate

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travellers to avoid over-populated picks in favour of authentic local destinations and experiences – switching up the corporate travel norm.

“Seeking out enticing destinations for business travel is a useful tool in the recruitment and retention of professional staff,

especially those who have long been regular business travellers.

In a competitive recruitment market, employers should leverage their travel programs to attract new talent by considering adding destinations and diverse accommodation options which facilitate meaningful experiences

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TRAVEL| BFM

“We expect to see more companies, especially large multinationals, using and analysing big data to inform their travel planning, including budgeting, as well as more emphasis on mobile expense management. Managing expenses is a top priority for companies looking to minimise complicated admin for their onthe-road employees,” explains Goldman.

Spreadsheets simply won’t do any more. Frequent business travellers want - and deserve – access to mobile technology with the capability to capture receipts and track expenditure.

Those approving travel spend back at head office need to be able to seamlessly review reports to facilitate rapid processing and reimbursement of expenses.

with Korea, to tightening visa regulations and in-flight laptop bans, employers have a lot more to consider than just booking flights and hotels for their frequent travellers. Goldman advises companies to undertake formal risk training for business travellers and those coordinating their trips.

“It’s critical that the departments managing corporate travel, or their outsourcing partners, stay connected to the latest geopolitical developments and terrorist alerts which could affect their employees and implement a detailed travel risk management policy” explains Goldman. “Having a formal policy in place helps communicate key factors such as the way the company will communicate any

“We expect to see more companies, especially large multi-nationals, using and analysing big data to inform their travel planning, including budgeting, as well as more emphasis on mobile expense management.”

pre- and post-business, whether it’s a great golf course, immersive culinary activities, or a desert safari in Dubai,” says David Goldman, Joint Managing Director of Goldman Group.

Talking tech is becoming a universal language and there’s no denying mobile apps have quickly become the norm for corporate travellers. Investing in robust technology platforms to help employees manage their timetables, travel spend, expenses and more whilst travelling makes solid business sense.

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Another area where technology use is exploding in the corporate travel arena is in both transport and accommodation, by way of sharing platforms such as Uber. Cost-savvy companies are increasingly booking Uber, which is easily trackable both in terms of geography and spend, is a simple solution available in many countries, simplifying the tiresome issue of transport whilst on business – all while saving money.

With complex geopolitics and global terrorism exposing more travellers to potentially risky environments, safety and security concerns are paramount, and protecting employees is the new global travel imperative. From deteriorating diplomatic relations between countries such as Russia and the US, to escalating tensions

alerts, how and where business travellers can seek assistance during any unforeseen crisis, and tips for travellers to stay safe when on the road.”

The Goldman Group anticipates 2018 will see more companies shift their mindset from prioritising ‘savings’ to focusing upon ‘smarter spending’.

“We’re always striving to educate our clients that the cheapest airfares or hotel rates aren’t always the most appropriate, and don’t always equate to the best value in the long run. For instance, a bargain restricted airline ticket isn’t appropriate if there’s a chance the flight may need to be changed so it’s always best to consider the way your employees travel and then spend appropriately to meet their needs, and your budget.” BFM

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BFM | FAST LANE

CHRYSLER ALMIGHTY! The 2018 Chrysler 300 line-up delivers on the brand’s promise of iconic and elegant design executed with world-class performance, efficiency and quality.

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ffering class-exclusive innovations and advanced technology at the driver’s fingertips, the 300 line-up includes the Uconnect 4 system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, improved features and an awardwinning interface. The TorqueFlite eight-speed transmission delivers up to 30 miles per gallon (mpg) highway fuel economy when paired with the award-winning 3.6-liter Pentastar V-6. Available on the Touring, Touring L, 300S and Limited is the segment’s most advanced all-wheel-drive (AWD) system, which seamlessly engages at any speed to enable optimal traction and control based on conditions, driving style and road surface. Standard on the 300C and available on the 300S, the 5.7-liter HEMI® V-8 engine with 363 horsepower is the most powerful V-8 engine in its class.

NEW FOR 2018 • Chrysler repositions the 300 model line-up to Touring, Touring L, 300S, Limited and 300C to better align with the allnew Chrysler Pacifica • New entry-level Touring model offers cloth interior and 17-inch aluminium wheels • Limited model now offers 20inch aluminium wheels • New Mocha leather interior option available on Limited and 300C models • 2018 300C model comes standard with the 5.7-liter HEMI V-8, offering best-in-class V-8 horsepower and torque • New available options include: • Sport Appearance Package and Chrome Appearance Package on Touring • BeatsAudio and Alloy Package on the 300S • Harman Kardon premium audio

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system, navigation, power sunshade, dual-pane sunroof on the Limited • Harman Kardon premium audio system, navigation, power sunshade, dual-pane sunroof and Sun/Sound/Nav bundle on the 300C

HIGHLIGHTS • Class-exclusive TorqueFlite eight-speed automatic transmission is standard on every model, delivering best-inclass V-6 highway fuel economy, plus best-in-class V-6 and V-8 driving range • All Chrysler 300 V-6 models are available with the segment’s most technologically advanced all-wheel-drive (AWD) system, which includes a segmentexclusive active transfer case and front-axle-disconnect system to improve real-world fuel economy.

This advanced AWD system seamlessly transitions between rear-wheel drive (RWD) and AWD with no driver intervention to maximize fuel economy • Chrysler 300S offers more athletic and youthful appointments to the lineup thanks to a unique 300-horsepower Pentastar V-6 engine with paddle shifters and sport mode, performance suspension, blacked-out exterior accents, 20-inch Hyper Black wheels, leather-wrapped sport seats, exclusive Piano Black interior accents and available signature 10-speaker BeatsAudio system • As the pinnacle of the lineup, the 300C features modelexclusive Platinum Chrome finishes, 20-inch polishedaluminium wheels, sport mode with paddle shifters, available signature two-tone Indigo/ Linen (Black and Mocha also

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available) interior environment with segment-exclusive deepquilted and perforated Nappa leather seats and door panels, hand-sanded natural pore wood, French accent stitching and leather-wrapped steering wheel with unique chrome accent ring Sport mode instantly transforms the personality and performance of the Chrysler 300S and 300C models by reducing shift times from approximately 400 milliseconds to 250 milliseconds, increased engine and throttle responsiveness, firmer steering feel and turns AWD “on” (if off) with AWD models for improved dynamics For drivers who want even more performance from the 300C model, the legendary 5.7-liter HEMI® V-8 engine with Fuel Saver Technology is standard for 2018, and delivers 363 horsepower, 394 lb.-ft. of torque, 0-60 miles per hour (mph) in less than 6 seconds and bestin-class V-8 driving range (EPA estimated 16 mpg city/25 mpg highway/19 combined) Chrysler 300 offers a 360-degree perspective thanks to the SafetyTec Plus Group’s Fullspeed Forward Collision Warning – Plus, Adaptive Cruise Control-Plus with Full Stop, Lane Departure Warning with Lane Keep Assist, Blind-spot Monitoring, Rear Cross Path detection and more For drivers who want more handling capability, a performance-tuned suspension with increased spring rates, performance-tuned steering and bushings, larger sway bars (with V-8 engine) and Goodyear Eagle F1 three-season tires is available on rear-wheel-drive Chrysler 300S models. BFM

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FAST LANE| BFM

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A brave and strategic approach to litigation and problem-solving

We are known for going out of our way to achieve a commercial outcome for our clients, and have earned a reputation as the lawyers who will fight longer and harder than any others.

We often succeed where others have failed, and we are not afraid to take on cases that others are too scared to touch, including against corporations, banks and government.

At Levitt Robinson, we never stop until we achieve the best possible outcome for our clients.

Ground Floor, 162 Goulburn Street Sydney NSW Australia slevitt@levittrobinson.com | (02) 9286 3133