BUSINESS

Setting up solid information management in your small business

by Mark Atkins, Intraversed Pty Ltd

If you’ve never thought about information management (IM) because your business is small, then it’s time to reconsider. Setting certain structures in place now could enable growth for your business in the future.

Small businesses aren’t subject to the same level of risk as large organisations due to IM problems. But the same IM principles can be applied to effective ends.

Information is anything you create from running your business, so managing your information when you’re small doesn’t take much work.

This includes all the important factors when running your business e.g., financial, inventory, and maintenance reports; regulatory and legal (including HR paperwork & policy manuals).

There are three foundations to solid IM:

1. Build a culture that values information.

Without this, it’ll be hard to get compliance with the processes you establish.

2. Define your key language.

Create a glossary of terms for your business’s functions – e.g., product, contract, asset – and categorise them by function – e.g., HR, Sales, Finance.

Write clear and context-relevant definitions of these terms. Review with your team, ensuring the definitions work for everyone.

Use language consistently, adhering to these definitions.

This avoids confusion when you need to implement or upgrade IT systems and reporting.

3. Establish a register of key information artefacts.

Register all your reports, contracts, and other important artefacts.

Artefacts need to be kept up-to-date and retired when they’re superseded. Ensure your register includes where they are stored and who: • created them; • is responsible for checking validity; • to contact about errors in the artefact’s content; Believe me, we’ve worked in many big businesses who would have saved millions of dollars if they’d implemented these three foundations early on!

Mark Atkins is a member of Georges River Business and a regular contributor. Register for free on Council's website.

Teach Ted

'Imagine a world where every parent knows the best possible way to prepare their child for challenging experiences, no matter where they live or who they are being treated by. Imagine too that all care practitioners, not just paediatric specialists, have the tools and knowledge to deliver the most awesome, child-friendly treatment to kids.'

Georges River locals, Sarah Cummings and business partner Sare Christensen, are the Co-Founders of Teach Ted – a childhood educational project that helps children with medical conditions feel confident when facing hospital admissions and medical procedures.

Both Sarah and Sare drew on their professional and personal experiences to create Teach Ted.

Both women will tell you that this business started from an eagerness to help parents and children overcome emotional challenges. They aimed to do this through the art of storytelling little Ted’s visits to hospital. This idea has now evolved to a fruitful partnership with peak medical facilities including Sydney Westmead Hospital and Royal Flying Doctors Service.

The story of Ted empowers a child to tell their feelings through the character. One of the results of this is the time spend on a child's blood test is drastically reduced by half with the use of this book.

Sarah Cummings is ambitious and states 'Our goal is to have Ted’s story on every single Royal Flying Doctor’s planes and clinic throughout the nation.'

Local families and businesses have the opportunity to support this mission by sponsoring Teach Ted’s books and resources to be donated.

Ted and his friends take children into a fun, imaginary world of research-based storybooks and apps. By understanding what might happen and why, children can face new challenges with reduced anxiety and have their unspoken questions answered. Every time you buy a Teach Ted book or toy you’ll be helping them provide free resources to those in need. For every three they sell in their shop, they give one to our donation partners.

Sales also help them to continue to develop free educational resources. It also helps conduct research into other ways to improve the experience of children going to hospital or undergoing medical treatment.

If you would like to help, go to www.teachted.com.au.

Sarah Cummings

The Reconnect Project

Annette Mayne began The Reconnect Project with an environmentally positive vision and a purpose for connecting people.

The Reconnect Project combines the desire to stop usable items from going into landfill and provide a device for people in need. With her background in Communications and extensive experience with businesses, Councils and charities, Annette began The Reconnect Project in 2019 and founded their workshop in Penshurst.

'I’ve worked in waste and recycling projects for almost 20 years. In 2018, I started looking into the issue for electronic waste, particularly for mobile devices and the statistics around mobile phones shocked me. In late 2019 I pitched the idea for The Reconnect Project at a social enterprise crowdfunding event in Parramatta and set up the business as a not-for-profit, Annette said.

Then in March 2020, it really took off. Covid-19 restrictions and social isolation highlighted the need for people to have access to mobile devices. Within a week, I had requests for just over 400 devices from Caseworkers at social service agencies - women's refuges, homelessness agencies, refugee support services - all asking for help for their clients. It's just exploded from there.'

Her humble team of three include tech whizz, Gokhan Tufan, and content producer and fellow upcycler, Anna Hope, along with generous volunteers from the community.

There are an estimated 23 million mobile phones across Australia sitting idly in drawers unused. A combination of phasing out the old and a desire for the latest model of phones, laptops and tablets has meant that e-waste remains a growing issue. Australia’s e-waste is growing at three times the rate of any other waste stream.

That is where Annette and The Reconnect Project step in. Their Repair Workshop is located right in the heart of Penshurst. There you can hand in your old devices to receive a complete overhaul before they are passed on to someone in need.

In early 2021, I opened a repair shopfront in Penshurst. Anyone can come and have their mobile phone, tablet, laptop or any other electrical or electronic device repaired by The Reconnect Project's Repair Shop. It operates just like any other repair store. The difference is, being a registered charity means that the income we generate from offering a repair service then funds the social mission, Annette said.

The Reconnect Project works with caseworkers, women’s refuges, homelessness agencies, refugee and asylum seeker support services as well as youth outreach programs. In their first 12 months of operation, they have provided 252 phones, 23 tablets and 26 laptops to people in need. This includes working with Caseworkers at 21 organisations including Parramatta Mission, The Wayside Chapel, the Women & Girls Emergency Centre and the YWCA.

The difference a device can make to a person’s life in such circumstances could mean they are contactable by support services, have a lifeline for domestic violence help, or have access for a young person to complete their studies or apply for work. It could also mean a connection to the world and their family.

The Reconnect Project is a worthy cause with extensive outreach. Authorised donation stations are also located in Castle Hill, Marrickville, Paramatta, Windsor, or Zetland. But Annette has said the Georges River community has played an important part of the work she does.

'Being able to find like-minded people who support the ethos of The Reconnect Project has been the best part of the community here. It’s about finding ways to keep technology in working condition and helping people in need. I have some fabulous volunteers helping with repairs, and it’s great to be part of a community that is actively providing positive outcomes.'

At it's May meeting, Georges River Council committed to establishing collection boxes at the Customer Service Centres in support of The Reconnect Project.

You can visit The Reconnect Project Repair Workshop at 8 The Strand, Penshurst (directly opposite the train station) or head to their website at www.thereconnectproject.com.au