SYDNEY - ISSUE 82 | NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2016
Directors Vulnerable to Untrustworthy Advisors Page 16
The Psychology of Flawed Leadership Page 18
7 Key Legal Business Musts
Director Government Relations
Page 20
Believe in What You’re doing... BiziNet Magazine
#82 Nov/Dec’16
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Editor and Publisher: Dmitry Greku Cover Story A. Charles Smith Contributing Writers: Steven Brown Bruce Gleeson Rebecca Cushway Steve Sebbes Bekir Kilic Bruce Mott Farrukh Mirza Cher Campbell Art Director: Svetlana Greku Cover Design Elvira Cherry Executive Officer: Daniel Moisyeyev
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The opinions expressed in this journal do not necessarily reflect and are not to be regarded as the official opinion of the editor, publisher or their agents. All information contained within this journal is provided for general information purposes only and on the understanding that none of the content herein constitutes professional advice. The editor, publisher or their agents accept no responsibility for any claim, loss or damages arising out of or in connection with any materials contained in this journal. Readers should not rely on the publications in the journal and seek appropriate professional advice in respect of their own circumstances.
Contents Cover Story
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Kristen Foster Believe in What You’re Doing… A. Charles Smith
Regulars
08
EDITOR’S LETTER
What do I wish for Christmas and the New Year?
32
16
BUSINESS SNAPSHOTS Craig Hingston
BUSINESS ADVICE
Directors Vulnerable to Untrustworthy Advisors Bruce Gleeson
18
The Psychology of Flawed Leadership
20
7 Key Legal Business Musts
22
How Long Can You Afford Your IT Systems to be Down?
26
This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius Millennials…
Rebecca Cushway
Web Security – Your Responsibilities as a Service Provider Daniel Moisyeyev
Dmitry Greku
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BUSINESS ADVICE
Select OZ
24
Outsourcing - Is it in Your Strategy Options? Steve Sebbes
28
How to Stay Cool This Summer
30
3 Networks Coming Together
Farrukh Mirza
Bruce Mott
Steven Brown
Bekir Kilic
Cher Campbell
Watch More @ bizinettv.com.au
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Introducing Our Contributors
Bruce Gleeson
Bekir Kilic
Steven Brown
Bruce Gleeson is a Registered Liquidator and Registered Bankruptcy Trustee with approximately 20 years experience in assisting SMEs and individuals in financial crisis. He is a Director of Jones Partners Chartered Accountants. As an Insolvency Practitioner he believes it is vital that stakeholders (particularly directors and individuals) get the right advice from qualified professionals on the options available to them. Bruce is passionate to ensure that directors / individuals throughout the Greater Western Sydney area have access to quality advice and solutions.
Bekir Kilicis a Managing Director of PRO IT. Founded in 1999, PRO IT’s objective was to provide an alternative to the conventional IT support and outsource services model for banking, finance and the media industries by focusing and understanding the clients core needs, can do attitude and close client/vendor relationship.
Steven Brown founded Etienne Lawyers in 2003. They are best described as having an ‘International Reach with Small Firm Personal Service’.
jonespartners.bizinet.com.au
Bruce Gleeson p | 02 9894 9966 www.jonespartners.net.au
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IT support and outsource services is delivered throughout all major cities located in Australia and New Zealand. Today PRO IT provides data centre “smart & remote hands” for many multinational organisations.
proit.bizinet.com.au
PRO IT Pty Limited p | 1300 727 553 www.proit.com.au
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With qualifications from Sydney and Macquarie Universities, Steven has gone on to have over 30 years in the law. With his own practice and a passion to help others succeed, Steven is a total professional, informing and educating along the way. Steven specialises in all aspects of helping businesses to stay out of trouble and grow. He enjoys the cut and thrust of litigation and is a balanced negotiator for all alternative dispute resolution methods.
etiennelawyers.bizinet.com.au
Steven Brown p | 02 8845 2400 www.etiennelawyers.com
Rebecca Cushway Rebecca Cushway is a Registered Organisational Psychologist and the Managing Director of Careers Excelled since 2005. Being about to support individuals, teams and organisations to create engagement, positive culture, develop their leaders and people is not only a passion for Rebecca but a privilege. Rebecca has 20 years experience as a psychologist, consultant and manager. Rebecca has worked with corporate and government clients, SMEs along with individuals and EAP programs over her working career.
careersexcelled.bizinet.com.au
Rebecca Cushway p | 02 9899 9674 e | Rebecca@CareersExcelled.com.au www.careersexcelled.com.au
AmCham Business Briefing When:
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7 November 2016
5:30 - 7:30pm Brad Garlick Ford
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8 November 2016
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30 November 2016
12:00 - 2:00pm Where:
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Bella Vista Business Alliance BAH When:
15 February 2016
5:30 - 7:30pm Where:
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Sydney
Contact: 1300 889 132
Contact: 1300 889 132
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EDITOR’S LETTER
What do I wish for Christmas and the New Year? Dmitry Greku, M. Sc., Editor and Publisher - BiziNet Magazine
I close my eyes, connect myself with the Universe and send a telepathic message to the redsuited, white-bearded roly-poly man. ‘Dear Santa, please give business people a little more common business acumen and give us the goodwill to respect each other in the manner your largesse demonstrates as we near the festive season.’ Yours etc.
garage. It all happened because of our dealings with one particular guy who owns a lawnmower repair shop. He gave me an excruciating story, convincing me that my 10-year old lawnmower was not red as I suspected all those years. It was actually blue. That's a smidgen of the whole tale. He gave in still trying to excuse his indolence.
Please don't be too harsh on me, I know this is somewhat of a pipedream, but you must agree it’s worth a try. If it doesn't work, at least we have someone to blame and good old Father Christmas has a thick skin –it can never be our fault after all!..
We had a guy recently through our office who initially ordered a set of 250 business cards and then he altered the order. Fair enough, that’s his prerogative. He turned his initial order into 2,000 A4 flyers. However, the 2,000 flyers must come with the same price as the original business card order – both of them are printing jobs, aren't they? That's why! We didn’t quite get this novel logic.
Some of you might remember my “Dumb or Dumber” series. In one of these I shared a story from experience. It was quite a situation when our family lawnmower escaped from a repair shop into another realm, came back in a different colour with quite a few upgrades several days later and finally ended up in my
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There was another interesting one where a guy was in the process of training his donkey to eat less and less so he could stop wasting his money on constantly feeding the hungry animal. But the donkey didn't appreciate this outstanding business plan and died just one day before the final goal (where the donkey would cease eating altogether) was achieved. This is an apocryphal Middle-Eastern folk yarn I read when I was a kid. Back in those underdeveloped times, we used to read these strange things called “books”. But that’s another story. Now, this donkey fable is quite real in our dayto-day business routine.
An Economic Development manager of a local council replied to my business proposal that their economic development strategy is much “broader” than my plan, an opinion which I happily accepted. I followed up with a
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request to send me their “broader” economic development plan to get my understanding right and fine tune my proposal. Well, the answer was that the plan was not ready yet. It must be really broad! Another company replied politely that they need to brainstorm my offering internally before they talk to me. You’ve read that right… “before they talk to me”. But I have yet to even present my project. Magic pudding or what? So, I will be writing my letter to Santa very soon with a fairly short list of gifts for me though including a very important general one. ‘Please have people pretend less. When they say something they have to mean it. Just a return of common courtesy would be a great reason for celebration.’ It should be the norm that when a person says, “Yes” every few seconds, nods his head nonstop and puts on an excited persona that he means to convey to others that they should receive and trust his words and actions as an acceptance. “You gave someone your word – keep it. Be honourable…” We need to respect each other more and simply be transparent rather than pretending and putting on a facade. Let’s start doing and saying what we really mean and bring truth and humanity back to our lives. A safe, happy Christmas and prosperous new year to all. G e | editor@gwpmedia.com.au
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To someone as vivacious and inspirational as Kristen Foster, thoughts of the cultivation of moss under her feet are anathema. She has reached for the sky and one gets the feeling that even there brooks no limitation. Kristen is currently on eBay’s AUNZ Leadership team and Asia Pacific GR management team as Director, Government Relations and Corporate Affairs, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South East Asia.
Top right photo: Kristen Brown Speech to Queen Elizabeth II on behalf of Australian students early 1990s
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GREAT AUSTRALIAN PEOPLE
Director Government Relations
Believe in What You’re doing... by A. Charles Smith For a country town girl who “punched above my weight early”, the cliché she adopts to describe her entry into the world six weeks premature in the Central West New South Wales town of Dubbo, there is a consistency in technique. To further the pugilistic analogy, she is the consummate well rounded country girl at ease in the Heavyweight division of global and regional politics and public policy. Kristen is the eldest daughter of two schoolteachers. She is proud of her upbringing in country New South Wales, a ‘fantastic environment’ where the values of hard work, human decency and community knitted a fabric that shaped her in the walk of life ever since. “You can’t take the country out of the girl— ever!” she says, echoing sentiments of a bygone era, transporting one to imagine strolling around Dubbo as a complete stranger and yet being welcomed by all. The zoo is famous as much for the locals as it is for that renowned tourist facility. Kristen’s promise bloomed at an early age. Proficient in music, she played the cornet for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth during her visit to the town in the 1990s and delivered a public speech of welcome on behalf of
Australian students.As a child in the 1980s and 1990s, Kristen had a typical country childhood surrounded by two younger brothers with whom she remains close to this day. “We hurtled around on BMX bikes, climbed trees and built cubby-houses. We spent a lot of time on sporting fields, on debating teams and playing music. We were a family of allrounders. Mum and Dad would drive us all across the State and Australia to pursue our talents,” she offers as these positive reminiscences of her early life drift across her face. There is emphasis on family values and their inculcation by caring, devoted parents. Both were indefatigable in pursuing better conditions for teachers and students stimulating an interest in music and sports. Her father actively trained and developed some of the most prodigious country rugby league talent in Australian schoolboys from the local level to national representation. Her mother focussed on improving literacy levels for indigenous students in infants and primary schools. She was a brilliant student then with a 98.7% High School Certificate result at Dubbo South
High School that could take her anywhere. “Being the advocate that I am,” she chose journalism and political science winning a scholarship to undertake her degree at the top communications school at Charles Sturt University. Her leadership and mentoring skills were recognised there and she was appointed a residential adviser in her final year. This entailed her being in charge of a dormitory of up to thirty students. But early recognition extended beyond University confines. With a BA majoring in communications and minoring in politics in hand, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) gave her a chance. “I was plucked by the ABC and offered an internship.” Kristen did not vacillate at the opportunity and had the wonderful experience of working at one of the ABC’s flagship programs, Radio National, with people such as Peter Thompson (now ‘Talking Heads’ presenter on the ABC), Pru Goward (now the Member for Goulburn and Australia’s first Minister for the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault) and current host Fran Kelly (one of the country’s most experienced and respected journalists).
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GWP MEDIA grounding to prepare core messages and briefing notes on complex issues. We also ran highly effective lobbying campaigns, including safe working hours for junior doctors in the public hospital system”. Kristen loved her time in that position, marvelling at the capacity and ingenuity of her boss. At the same time she soared in her understanding of the functions of the public health system, the efficacious delivery of its services to consumers, especially at the rural level, and the prudent governance thereof.
Around this time, she completed a Master’s Degree in International y Relations at the University of e n d y S t eBay a h c New South Wales on a part time e e Sp Institute ll e basis, while working full-time, realising that K c M But mixing she wanted to develop a broader outlook with ABC stalwarts was and insight into the wider global body politic. just the start of indulging a passion she had for government and current affairs. She Kristen moved on to the NSW Law Society covered Canberra budget nights and federal and came to work with another capable elections, as well as global issues such as the female leader , Kim Cull (now the Federal Northern Ireland peace agreements, seeing Aged Care Pricing Commissioner) At this first-hand the internecine mix of politics and stage of her career, coinciding with her implementation of public policy at domestic studies, she yearned for further feathers and global levels. to her wings and undertook an internship sabbatical at the United Nations in New York. After three and a half years at the national Her principal duties involved more policy broadcaster she took a position at the summaries and collations this time at a very Australian Medical Association entering the complex level. world of its first powerful female President Dr Kerryn Phelps AM. “It was just after 9/11. The world was changing. It was an intensely political “The ABC was the perfect apprenticeship for environment. One of the things we were doing my role at the AMA. Critically, it gave me the was writing briefings to senior UN officials
Getting down to business eBay South East Asia Japan Israel Team Offside in Thailand 2016
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about what was being said in Congress on global matters. Meeting Koffi Annan was a real highlight, but to be frank, after my time there I wanted to get back to Australia and contribute to politics and policy back home”. Another reason, it emerged, was of the heart. She was missing her future husband and resumed at the Law Society. To earn her stripes in seeing how government worked at the local level, she was convinced by her mentors that a move to Canberra would be propitious. There, as the lead lobbyist for the Institute of Chartered Accountants, she had the pleasure of being pivotal in promoting the establishment of an Inspector-General of Taxation and in the campaign for a National Professional Indemnity Insurance scheme for the accountancy profession. Pregnant with her first child, Kristen and her husband, Preston, returned to Sydney where she was employed by the Financial Institute of Australasia (Finsia, then the Securities Institute). “I wanted exposure to the workings of multinational corporations and the Financial Services Institute of Australasia gave me the chance to expand the parameters of my learning across a range of corporates in the financial services sector.” The new parents, then in their late 20’s, welcomed Hugo in December 2004. Just ten weeks later she had resumed working full time. Notwithstanding her new young family and demanding positions, Kristen managed to complete another Master’s Degree in
GREAT AUSTRALIAN PEOPLE Public Policy at the University of Sydney, graduating with Honours and completing a thesis on whether Australia could have a US style Presidential election campaign in a Westminster political system.
“My boss, Garry Miller was formerly a senior Executive of General Electric for 30 years. He taught me how multinationals work. We ran effective international advocacy campaigns across multi-jurisdictions on highly complex regulatory and legislative issues such as the US sub-prime crisis. These core issues were being discussed at the G20, OECD and domestic government levels. I developed an appreciation that mortgage Insurance was integral in allowing Mums and Dads access to the housing market and learnt many lessons from that period about effective lobbying campaigns.” She was four years on the other side of the world travelling extensively before being
eart Heels4H arathon all Half M Great W
Their second child Jemima, followed in August 2007. She spent almost four years expanding her horizons at Finsia before working at FOXTEL leading its corporate affairs function and then becoming a senior business leader for Fortune500 multinational company, Genworth (formerly a company of General Electric) That role sent her to the US, London, Brussels, France, Spain, Italy, Ireland and Basel in Switzerland, as well as Canberra. Such duties moved her into the realm of mortgage insurance and the coinciding period, the Lehman Brothers collapse and the ensuing global financial crisis (GFC), was a testing time both intellectually and in a practical sense.
headhunted by Visa. Kristen was on Visa’s Australasian business leadership team— leading government affairs and public policy across the Australasian region. She worked closely with Visa’s executives in the US and Singapore and focussed her efforts on core issues such as interchange fee regulations and credit card surcharging, “we had major wins on both those issues”, Ex she says. Kristen S ecutive P ro chool of Go gram @ H represented Visa at vernm ar var d JFK ent the 2014 Australian American leadership bilateral dialogue in Washington DC and New York (attended by select leaders of US and Australian Governments and businesses). Having managed two Master’s degrees amidst an onerous workload and family commitments, Kristen has also completed an Executive Program at Harvard University’s JFK School of Government in Boston US & another program via INSEAD.
Two years ago, she started work with eBay. A belief in the brand, ecommerce and eBay’s culture of giving back lured her to the internet trading conglomerate.
“In simple terms, through eBay, my country home town of Dubbo, and small businesses on eBay there, can do business
AmCham Australia Delegation, Washington DC
Kristen in Centr near D al Weste ubbo rn NSW
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Heart Foundation Go Red for Women Ambassador with Olympic swimmer Cate Campbell
Parliame n Tekedra tar y MidWinter B Mawaka na & Ma all 2016 with eB a nager M eg Engli y Global VP sh with the world.” medium presently account for 88%. Her role oversees the legislation, policies and Free Trade Agreements that allow the “eBay is the place where the world comes seamless movement of goods and services to buy and sell. Nearly 90% of the goods across borders. Reporting in to Brussels sold are brand new. In Australia there are she leads the government relations function more than 28,000 small businesses on eBay for Australia\, New Zealand, Japan and the and seventy of the top one hundred retailers South-East Asian region and in addition are also on eBay including Myer, The Good Kristen works closely with colleagues in US Guys, Target,” Kristen relates. HQ in Silicon Valley as well as regional HQ in Singapore. The concept does boggle the mind when Kristen provides illustrations of the practical Kristen liaises closely with the US, EU and reach of eBay are outlined. APAC teams. She worked across eBay Inc’s major businesses (eBay & PayPal), prior to the “A consumer in Sydney can buy a product separation and creation of two independent from a ‘mumpreneur’ in mid-western companies, in July 2015. America or a ‘greypreneur’ in Birmingham UK can transact with an avid collector of vinyl Kristen attends eBay’s global Leaders records in Goondiwindi or an artisan jeweller Summits as a senior leader and is part of in Thailand.” eBay’s Womens’ Initiative Network which featured Secretary Hillary Clinton at its March Ongoing challenges have been met with 2015 Summit in California. She represented ingenuity and sensible adaptation. In the case eBay at the Asia Pacific American Chambers of significant purchases, rather than raising of Commerce Congress ‘Doorknock’ in eyebrows by shipping to a work address Washington DC in June 2016 and 2015 or encountering the disruption through an and was selected as a delegate for the US inability to deliver when consumers are not Department of State’s inaugural “Innovation at home, an increasing trend has seen goods Roadshow” in Jakarta in March 2016, as being collected at major retail outlets by part of the Obama Administration’s US purchasers at their convenience. This comes ASEAN Connect, under the leadership of US about through the ‘click and collect’ facility. Secretary of State John Kerry. One of the major advantages with eBay’s platform is the gathering in one spot of The statistics on eBay’s influence in numerous retailers’ wares to save the surfer international and national transactions are from the tedium of searching hundreds of enough to give anyone looking to open their individual websites. business to the world cause to take notice. Small businesses exporters through the “We have a ‘deals page’ where the lowest
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prices for goods are on offer. It’s very popular with our user community.” Not surprisingly, Kristen’s particular remit within the organisation has been intergovernment relations. In that capacity she has been very supportive of the ground-breaking Trans-Pacific Partnership established under the stewardship of former trade minister Andrew Robb and the concept of free trade generally. She is providing input into the debate about the applicability of the GST in the internet trading mix. The federal government will soon be presenting legislation on that topic to the parliament. “Australians who buy from overseas sellers are (currently) required to pay GST and excise duties when the value of the goods exceeds $1,000. The Australian Government is proposing to lower this. This isn’t consistent with our major trading partners such as the US, which recently moved to increase theirs from $200US D to $800 USD. That said, we will have a more definitive position when the exposure draft legislation is release. We continue to work with the Treasury and policymakers on the Hill on this consumer issue”. It seems more than a few consumers will be interested in the incidence of GST debate given that eBay’s reach is so widespread with 11 million monthly visitorsin Australia alone and an active base of 164 million users globally. The live listing market has now passed the one billion mark. What is even more surprising is the remarkable increase in mobile phone usage to effect transactions. More than 60% of traffic to eBay is a via mobile, and this number is growing. “People
are
purchasing
anything
from
GREAT AUSTRALIAN PEOPLE Kriste n Firs t Day
of Sch ool at Dubb o
With son Hugo & daughter Jemima in Fiji
nts y pare r With yl & Gar bo r b e u h D C n of Brow
With Grandmother Peg Wilson an influencer on early life engagement rings to Range Rovers from their mobile phone.” One other example that spikes the imagination is the example of a small business called, ‘Lucky Pets’ in Australia supplying customers as far afield as Azerbaijan with pet products. There is a soul to the eBay operation beyond mere commerce as Kristen relates. “Oprah Winfrey sold a large quantity of her clothing using the medium with the proceeds going to benefit girls suffering extreme poverty in South Africa. Then there’s our partnership with the federal parliamentary press gallery in Canberra which has raised many millions for charity through the annual ball.” Taking eBay in its soul direction is something with which Kristen is very comfortable, happy to announce that support for the less well-off and the needy, as well as supporting young entrepreneurs, is consistent with her personal vision. She is mindful of her family, extolling the encouragement she has enjoyed from her husband and the support of her children. “My husband pushed me to do that executive program at Harvard and has been a strong supporter of my career from the get go... My corporate roles have all involved a lot of domestic and international travel to move the needle on regulatory issues for those global businesses. While I’m on the road, my husband’s back home working full time too and making sure our family runs smoothly. We’re an effective team, he’s got my back
ubbo etown D m o h in 40th eir joint ton @ th s e r P d sban With hu (based on Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits). Kristen relished her position as team coach for and I’ve got his. Frankly, our weekends are Lindfield’s junior netball association and her all about our kids”. daughter’s netball team for 3 years. Motherhood has played a significant part in her raison d’etre and accomplishments. She says she wouldn’t be the person she is today without her children, “they’ve taught me what’s important in life and to not sweat the small stuff. I’m enjoying watching them grow, and first and foremost being their mum. We stay connected when I’m away from work, using nightly facetime and Skype and regular SMS when I’m away. And I’m the usual sports and taxi mum on the weekend. Our family motto is always give 100%, be happy in all you do, make the most of your opportunities and respect everyone”. . Outside of the corporate world, Kristen is a Heart Foundation Ambassador and was on its Great Wall of China half marathon team in 2015. She is is a Board member of Holy Family Catholic Primary School Lindfield helping steer with her Board colleagues the school’s new “Leader in Me” program
She is ever ready to speak lovingly of her children. “They have helped to fashion me into a wellrounded person and I couldn’t operate at this level without them.” She has also derived inspiration from the many effective women with whom she has both worked and negotiated (including political leaders on the global stage). But her advice to others starting out in a career goes back to personal attributes and motivation rather than some esoteric pronouncement in short-story form. “Believe in what you’re doing, work hard, give back and make a difference”. She is living proof of this simple ethos for success. G
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BUSINESS ADVICE
Bruce Gleeson, FCA, RITP Principal, Jones Partners Insolvency & Business Recovery
Directors Vulnerable to Untrustworthy Advisors As both a Registered Liquidator and Registered Bankruptcy Trustee, I quite often hear about the plight of a family company director or individual who is in financial difficulty being seduced by unlicensed or unregistered supposed professionals (also referred to as pre-insolvency firms) about how best to deal with their difficult financial position, yet only to end in a worse position both financially and emotionally after taking such advice. Such seduction is akin to bait advertising that occurs both online and in other forms of media. It promotes a sense that everything will be sorted out and that the consequences will be very little. By advertising this way, it is effectively taking advantage of an emotionally vulnerable family company director or individual when what they really need is proper professional guidance. Recently ASIC has commenced writing to directors of companies that are subject to a Winding Up Application to provide facts about untrustworthy advisors. Such communication is also a broader attempt by ASIC to curb phoenix activity which unchecked becomes a very real form of anti-competitive behaviour acting against those businesses that are genuinely trying to do the right thing. What are some of the key signs of untrustworthy advisors? These were outlined in ASIC’s recent communication with certain directors and include: 1. These advisors may contact you “out of the blue” and make promises that can result in bad advice. 2. These advisors may suggest you transfer assets owned by your company into another company without paying for them. 3. These advisors may be reluctant to provide their advice in writing. 4. These advisors may tell you to destroy books and records or withhold or delay providing them to the company’s liquidator, if appointed. Family company directors who believe their companies may be in financial distress (including having received a Winding Up
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Application) should contact sooner rather than later, a Registered Liquidator and resist the temptation to take “cold calls” from selfproclaimed specialists whose experience is often limited to being a former director of a company that went into some form of insolvency administration or a former bankrupt. In this regard, ASIC is currently looking at making it easier via their website for directors to find or locate a Registered Liquidator in their local area so they can get competent advice. Directors ought to be aware that ASIC and the ATO have recently conducted raids across the country in a bid to crack down on “pre-insolvency firms” who have allegedly encouraged phoenix activities, tax avoidance and GST evasion. Typically I see these untrustworthy advisors surface when the ATO or other statutory bodies seek to commence a Winding Up Application against a company to recover monies owed. Upon receipt of the Winding Up Application, directors of the company are “cold called” by these untrustworthy advisors and promised an immediate solution to their problems by having the company placed in voluntary liquidation prior to the Winding Up Application being heard in court. In my experience, the vast majority of family company directors endeavour to do the right thing, however, they are vulnerable to being misguided by untrustworthy advisors who generally receive a considerable fee for what ultimately may be considered as poor advice. I expect that ASIC and the ATO will continue to focus on this area. As a Registered Liquidator with over 20 years experience, I am familiar with the sensitive and pragmatic manner in which financial difficulty needs to be discussed and options explored with directors and shareholders.
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My message to family company directors and individuals who find themselves in this position is to not be tempted by these untrustworthy advisors, but rather review reputable sites like www.asic.gov.au and make sure they are speaking to a professional that holds the appropriate registrations as opposed to someone that just wants a “sale”. Importantly creditors are able to change a liquidator introduced via a pre-insolvency firm (as well as more generally). Thus some transactions that are said to be trouble-free are likely to in fact be the subject of a revearsal if they are not dealt with properly. G Jones Partners offers an initial free consultation for family company directors and individuals in financial difficulty so that they can be assured they are receiving the right advice about the options available to them.
jonespartners.bizinet.com.au
Jones Partners Insolvency & Business Recovery p | 02 9894 9966 e | bgleeson@jonespartners.net.au b | www.brucegleeson.com.au www.jonespartners.net.au
Business Snapshots with Craig Hingston
The Federal Government's Manufacturing Task Force Report has a 5-point policy to reinvigorate industry including the development of innovation precincts. The WestpacMelbourne Institute SME Index has seen business confidence increase from Q2 to Q3 (78.2 points) in 2016, with the Future Conditions Index even higher at 112.9 points. Businesses are looking to 2017 being a more profitable and positive year, driven by a lower dollar and rising turnover, according to the Actual Composite Index.
The CEO's of Westpac, ANZ, NAB and Commonwealth Bank have been questioned for three hours each by State MP's. A Sydney based RV manufacturer struggling to fill 30 vacancies has had to resort to door knocking and flyer drops at schools and TAFEs. The Balance of Trade deficit in August of 2.01Bn was the smallest on record since April as both imports and exports flattened out. A survey of Victorian auto industry employees has found only 13% are looking for a new job so far.
Ford has produced its last Falcon, a blue XR6, after 3.8 million Falcons having been made over 56 years of production. The Enviromental Impact Statement for Western Sydney Airport has been released by the Minister for Urban Infrastructure, the Hon. Paul Fletcher MP. Very few small businesses have taken advantage of the Premier's Jobs Action Plan which provides payroll tax cuts - whilst it was used to create 8416 jobs in North Sydney, 4530 in Blacktown and 4380 in Parramatta...big corporates in the CBD generated over new 40,000 jobs.
Virgin and QANTAS have banned passengers from carrying the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 onboard because of potential fire risk. Tesla has been in the news for the wrong reasons - the latest incident was a car driving into the back of a bus in Germany whilst in Autopilot mode. McKinsey believes that there are 9 billion devices connected to the Internet in 2016 and predicts that number will jump to 1 trillion by 2020.
BiziNet Magazine
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BUSINESS ADVICE
Rebecca Cushway, Organisational Psychologist and Managing Director of Careers Excelled
The Psychology of Flawed Leadership We have abundant examples of flawed leadership across political and business circles. Yet ‘flawed leadership’ continues to be a powerful influence on the attitudes, behaviour and performance of people. So why do leaders sometimes fail to make the impact they seek? Leadership is part of a system that is made up of the Leader, the Followers, and the environment. Most leaders typically focus on managing their own behaviour or influencing the beliefs and behaviours of followers. Very few leaders focus on working with the complexity of the environment they are trying to impact! Leadership is not just about the leader Working from the assumption that ‘it’s all about the leader’, is a fatal flaw. Yet we often see this being played out in political circles. When leaders believe that success is a direct result of how they individually present; or their behaviour alone will determine an outcome, we tend to see a constant recycling of leaders! Five changes in Australian political leadership within as many years, demonstrates that it is not just about the leader. Leadership behaviour does have an impact, but by itself is not effective enough to be a total game changer. It is only a necessary catalyst for change and growth, but will not determine ultimate goal achievement. Leadership is not just about follower support If you caught any of the media leading up to the US presidential election, you would have noticed both candidates spending time, energy and money trying to influence beliefs about the other candidate. Business leaders (who are not democratically elected) spend similar effort on changing beliefs to support the direction they are heading towards. However, leaders often fail to gain follower support early, due too poor pitching, and delivering arguments that do not speak to the diverse audience they want to capture. Pitching that looks like a ‘sell job’, and does not take into account the complexity of issues or needs of followers opens the door to criticism. The ‘Team Australia’ pitch, was overly simplistic and ironically polarised Australians, rather than unified them.
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Leaders need to recognise that first impressions and core beliefs about where we stand on particular issues are difficult to change; even more so when these issues are important. Strategies of pitching groups against each other, including competitors, tend to miss their target, or only speak to converted followers!
uncertain, complex and ambiguous). We are no longer able to make predictions based on ‘tried and tested’ rules for complex scenarios; and for every solution we uncover, there are many causes and impacts. The new problems leaders find themselves trying to solve will often not fit our previous experience.
Following the pitching phase, leaders often take the road of providing evidence of supporting their own position, emphasising it as the only option. In business, if employees choose not to follow the leader they can be sidelined, or marched off the bus.
So what are at the keys to leading effectively in a VUCA world: 1. Focus less on trying to identify individual causes of issues and their flaws, and more on the patterns and trends that are occurring across your workplace to define and solve problems; 2. Notice how issues and challenges have emerged across time rather than specifically isolate an event or incident; 3. Look for multiple causes and effects, rather than one ‘golden truth’ and notice that these may not take a simple straight pathway to an outcome; 4. Understand that environments change rapidly; and accept that, what works in one context or at one time may not work again; 5. Consider that the problems you are solving may not be the most relevant issue to be solved and look for ‘higher order causes’; 6. Look beyond your industry to inform your practice and approach and encourage collaboration to understand the nature of the problem, rather than jump into solving problems; 7. Go beyond basic skill development to fill gaps when training employees and develop a role model flexible thinking attitudes, that challenge assumptions and generate ideas; 8. Role model the process of collaborating with people who have different mind-sets. G
Rather than continue to ‘flog’ a particular view point, it is more effective to help followers understand the complexity of the issues, so they appreciate what lead to a certain decision and why a certain position has been taken, over another. Collaboration in Problem Solving The use of experts in problem solving can be beneficial, yet can also continue to reinforce an existing position that is currently not working. Expertise is based on a solid core of knowledge that has been built up over time. Often we encounter experts with vastly differing opinions (e.g. climate change) and find rather than working together, experts work to disprove each other’s view points, and at times gather evidence to support a pre-existing point of view (just like politicians). A more useful form of collaboration is to encourage experts to investigate broader issues together rather than defending a particular position. This requires the development of a different thinking attitude rather than building specific knowledge banks of evidence to support or dispute a claim. The Reality of Leading in a Complex World The world has changed. Most people would agree this millennium, and particularly since the GFC, we are living in a VUCA world (volatile,
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Careers Excelled p | 02 9899 9674 e | Rebecca@CareersExcelled.com.au www.CareersExcelled.com.au
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BiziNet Magazine
#82 Nov/Dec’16
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BUSINESS ADVICE
Steven Brown, Etienne Lawyers
7 Key Legal Business Musts Title
Steven Brown Page 1
7 Key Legal Business Musts Paper written by Steven Brown, Etienne Lawyers, B.Ec, LL.B, (Sydney), M. App. Fin
Business people need to know a lot. Of the “lots” to AIMM, know of the key legal business musts (Macquarie), FAICD, Accreditedthey Businessneed Law Specialist, FPIAA7 and Lawyers. are to know about the legal issues Chairman in Figof Etienne 1 below. Business people need to know a lot. Of the “lots” they need to know 7 of the key legal business musts are to know about the legal issues in Fig 1 below. Fig 1
The short answer to the question “Why must you know these 7 things?“ can be summed up by the words of Justice Spender, in TPC v British Building Society & Ors (1988) ATPR 40880 at 49,545, when considering the need for a corporation to have an effective trade practices compliance program, he said:
Since a breach of an act may, in some instances, occur regardless of whether there was any intention to engage in prohibited conduct (eg under the Competition and Consumer Act, 2010), to demonstrate compliance with the requirements of legislation, Corporations need to show that they have instituted effective and efficient procedures of managerial control “designed in recognition of human frailties of a proportion of their employees”: Eva v Preston Motors Pty Limited (1977) ATPR 40-048.
“... (B)usiness men, particularly at senior levels, who remain in ignorance of the Competition and Consumer Act, 2010 1974 do so at their peril.” The peril stems from the substantial criminal, pecuniary and other penalties that apply under various statutes that require businesses to comply with. The key 7 areas of law to know are: 1. Competition and Consumer Laws (eg under the Competition and Consumer Act, 2001); 2. Environmental laws (eg Contaminated Land Management Act, 1997, and the Dangerous Goods (Road and Rail Transport) Act 2008; 3. Intellectual Property (eg Trade Marks Act, 1995, and the Copyright Act, 1968); 4. Asset Protection (Corporations Act, 2001, Succession Act, 2006 and theTrust Act, 1925); 5. Tax (Taxation Administration Act, 1953 and the Income Tax Assessment Acts of 1936 and 1997); 6. Industrial Relations (Fair Work Act, 2009, Anti-Discrimination Legislation and Employment Legislation, such as, Workers’ Compensation, Long Service Leave Act, and Holiday Pay Act); 7. Occupational Health & Safety Acts. The penalties that spur businesses to adhere to the prescribed minimum standards of behaviour are various. For instance: Breaches of the Australian Consumer Law can be as high as $1.1m for corporations and $220,000 for individuals. The penalties for competition breaches can be $10m.
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The short answer to the question “Why must you know these 7 things?“ can be summed up by the words of Justice Spender, in TPC v British Building Society & Ors (1988) ATPR 40-880 at 49,545, when considering the need for a corporation to have an effective trade practices compliance program, he said:
Under Environmental legislation, the penalties As prevention is better than cure, it is good involve criminal sanctions such as jail terms business practice to know what you must know “... (B)usiness men, particularly at senior levels, who remain in ignorance of besides pecuniary fines. and implement and use a compliance program. the Competition and Consumer Act, 2010 1974 do so at their peril.” Court cases such a Universal Telecasters The peril stems from the substantial criminal, pecuniary and other penalties that There are various ofbusinesses liabilitytoto contend (QLD) Limited v Guthrie (1978) ATPR 40-062 apply under various statutes levels that require comply with. with. Breaches of the competition provisions clearly demonstrate that the establishment of are in the nature of strict liability. There is a compliance program assist in preventing: no due diligence defence for engaging in breaches of the relevant legislation and goes to prohibited anti-competitive conduct under the the question of mitigation of damage. Competition and Consumer Act, 2010. Compliance programs operate at three levels: Due diligence can be a defence for the Prevention purposes of the Environmental Protection Act. Defence and Despite the strict liability or otherwise of Mitigation of penalty. particular legislation, effective compliance programs play a role. Hence, knowing what to Businesses using a compliance program in not do is critical for business survival. a defensive way or in a mitigation context, must show that its program was undertaken The Courts have consistently said that a systematically and properly carried out. business that has an effective compliance program may raise this in mitigation of a penalty Risk management is the identification, that can be imposed by a Court, either as a measurement and management of risk means of reducing a fine where there is strict through control. Risk management involves the liability or raising an outright defence, where establishment and maintenance of programs due diligence operates as a defence. In TPC designed to minimise the potential exposures v CSR Limited (1991) ATPR 40-076, Justice of businesses to loss. French pointed to the need for corporations to have a training program to achieve compliance with the Trade Practices Act.
#82 Nov/Dec’16
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Effective risk management programs depend upon the ability of responsible officers to • identify potential risks, • take practical steps to eliminate/minimise risks, • implement ongoing controls, • be fully aware of the latest techniques for eliminating/minimising risk, • have up to date knowledge of the legal aspects of risk management. Accordingly, the first step of any compliance program is to identify potential risks. For you to be able to do this you must know what your need to know of the 7 Key Legal Business Issues before you can even identify the potential risks that may arise in your business. The aims of a compliance program are twofold: 1 Pre-emptive, whereby the Compliance Program is designed to create a corporate culture of best practice which promotes compliance with the relevant legislation; and 2. Pro-active; where the aim of the program is to prevent breaches occurring. Different business activities, distribution, marketing, personnel and equipment will mean that compliance needs will always be unique to each business. It is possible to outline the
principals involved in the determination of legal requirements but these serve only as a guide to compliance officers. All corporations share common aspects. The implementation of a compliance program will involve: 1. If you do not already know the key aspects of the 7 Key Legal Business issues you will need to find out what they are. [Etienne Lawyers can do this.] 2. Identification of the system risk activities undertaken by the business. 3. The identification of the legal risks associated with the business activities undertaken. 4. Analysing the nature of the risks ascertained. 5. Identifying steps to reduce the risks controlling the impact of such risks. 6. Keeping records which, for instance, may help to establish that reasonable precautions were taken and due diligence exercised to avoid a contravention. To do this an examination of the structure and exposure to activities of your business is required This can be undertaken by looking at the key operating departments or divisions and for each division briefly listing their major functions and activities. Having
ascertained
INC. GST
the
activities
how each activity is performed in light of the requirements of the relevant legislation. Assess the severity of loss associated from noncompliance. Provide a priority rating by multiplying in frequency and severity indices. Etienne Lawyers has developed compliance programs for businesses. G
Etienne Lawyers p | 02 8845 2400 www.etiennelawyers.com
etiennelawyers.bizinet.com.au
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BiziNet Magazine
#82 Nov/Dec’16
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BUSINESS ADVICE
Bekir Kilic, Managing Director, PRO IT Pty Limited
How Long Can You Afford Your IT Systems to be Down? In business, continuity of operations and access to systems is critical. Any period of downtime affecting an individual user, a team or the organisation can have significant impact on your organisation and the clients you serve. Without access to your systems, the business is losing money with every passing minute. What we are seeing is constant ransomware attacks and it is only increasing. There is information available in many forums about these attacks, yet it keeps happening! Every business needs to be aware and know what they can do to protect themselves. What is a Ransomware/Malware threat? Ransomware arrives into organisations generally via email and through the use of social engineering tactics that dupe recipients into clicking on a link that seems legitimate but actually delivers malware to the computer. These attacks are generally instant, within seconds encrypting files on the computer and on any connected network drives. How do you know you have been hit? It generally starts with someone unable to access a key application. On investigation it is determined that program files and data files have been encrypted. Another way is that you may get the popup ransom note stating the files have been encrypted.
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Protection Industry experts are stating that there is no way to protect yourself completely from this threat, that rapid detection and response is critical. However, here are some tips to help you reduce the risk of infection in your business: • Backups are critical. Use separate credentials for backup software to the backup location. Multiple backups and have them taken offsite. • Educate your staff! Constant reminders, at least fortnightly to keep it front of mind. • Invest in a hardware based perimeter firewall that has its own anti-virus/intrusion detection and prevention capabilities. • A good anti-spam provider that can restrict attachments that flow into your network. • Ensure your Anti-Virus software is kept up-to-date continuously on all PCs and servers. • Make sure your staff access is appropriate across the network so that you limit or minimise the spread. Ransomware is big business; companies continue to pay ransoms or buy unlocking
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software that funds these miscreants who continue to invest in new ways to penetrate businesses. Reduce your risk and be ready to detect and respond rapidly if your business is hit. G
proit.bizinet.com.au
PRO IT Pty Limited p | 1300 727 553 f | 02 872 4 3311 www.proit.com.au
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SELECT OZ
Steve Sebbes, Director, PBO Global
Outsourcing Is it in Your Strategy Options? There comes a point in the life of any successful business when it will require skills or expertise not available within the company. At that point, the business will review its strategic options, these days outsourcing is invariably one of the logical options. With the pressure of growth, competition or evolving mature markets, businesses are forced to think strategically about all possible options for the next stage of growth. Professional Business Outsourcing (PBO) is a process where a party engages another party to execute and manage a specific activity to agreed performance standards. These days, many successful businesses have at least one outsourced function, whether it’s social media marketing through the Instagram account, PR, Accounts Management, IT, technical development or third party manufacturing. When a company outsources its recognising that it needs more scale or support to build market scale, create impact or bring a new function to the forefront for the next strategic growth stage for the company.
Today, outsourcing has splintered into various distinct specialised functions for more efficient service delivery. In addition to the demand for these distinct areas of specialisation such as advertising, administration, accounting, IT support, some companies outsource all their operations or accounting to service providers as it gives them strategic agility. Service providers have risen to fill this need.
Generally, the outsourced function is not one of the company’s core competitive advantages, however this approach can be developed very successfully if the company is using outsourcing to build scale or competitive advantage prior to its own investment in the required skills. Allowing another group to manage a specific process, the company is freed to focus on its core deliverables whilst knowing it does not have to divert significant internal management attention and time to achieve the outcomes of the outsourced process. Simply put, outsourcing brings expertise into your company and keeps it on strategy at times when you might be pushed to manage the additional effort and skills required to take a next step forward as a business in a market that is likely evolving around you.
Today, Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) consists of accounting/finance, marketing, advertising, human resources, claims processing, call-centre outsourcing and technology functions. These contracts can last for short term periods (6 months) or for several years Many businesses with limited time and financial restrictions may use a combination of in-house and third party providers (multisourcing), in order to shorten their turnaround time and improve their competitive advantage in the market. They engage many outsourcing companies to take charge of virtually all of their processes sales, marketing, localisation, coding, design, and testing, freeing management attention to focus on their key competitive advantage or allowing them to build competitive advantage in a lower cost environment that they would not previously been able to access. Companies that successfully adopt outsourcing models go through four key stages to successfully adopt the outsourced function into their strategy:
Despite the fact that the concept of outsourcing has been in existence since the beginning of specialisation, companies have only recently started applying this concept to more specific processes, such as billing and payroll. With outsourcing, the execution of these processes became cheaper and more efficient because the service providers have the focused human and material resources for the job.
1. Strategic thinking stage: development of the company’s perception about the benefits of outsourcing in its processes. 2. Appraisal and selection stage: examination of the company’s outsourcing need, the consideration of several outsourcing approaches, and the selection of an appropriate service provider to execute the project(s).
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3. Contract drafting stage: set up of a legal framework including the pricing and SLA (service level agreement) components. 4. Outsourcing administration and monitoring stage: constant monitoring and fine-tuning of processes and deliverables. Across all the stages, three elements drive the outsourcing process: • Top-level executive support for the outsourcing project from the client’s company. • Quality communication to the employees involved in the project. • The ability of the client to supervise the service providers. The advice legendary business consultant Peter Drucker gave companies was: “Do what you do best and outsource the rest!” Members of the project team from both the outsourcing service provider’s side and the client’s side must possess certain skills that will promote a good working relationship. These skills include flexibility in times of business changes, project management, communication, negotiation and a good understanding of contract deliverables and service level agreements (SLAs). G PBO Global p | 02 8765 5980 e | steve.sebbes@pboglobal.com.au www.pboglobal.com.au
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BUSINESS ADVICE
Cher Campbell, Director, iPlace Recruitment
This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius Millennials… Having been in the Recruitment Industry for 18 years I have witnessed enormous change. From the old school days of advertising in the paper to the transition into the world wide web (as my father in law calls it). It is impossible to have imagined how much things would have changed. As we sat around the office talking about this the other day one of the biggest changes we are experiencing is the way in which Gen Ys or Millennials are being viewed and the influence they are having within an organisation and society in general. We chat to a lot of brilliant candidates who fall into this category and I know that there is sometimes a stigma attached to this generation; “...they want everything done for them. They expect a job to fall into their laps. They don’t want to work”. What we have found is that this generation has an exceptionally strong social conscience, thanks largely in part to social media and how accessible information is. Interestingly, recent statistic showed that approximately 73% of Millennials volunteer with 87% making regular donations. What we have also found is, the motivators to accept or decline an offer are vastly different to those of other generations so I guess that’s where the question came up: How Ready Are You for The Arrival of the Millennials? Nomophobia (noun) “a state of stress caused by having no access to or being unable to use one’s mobile phone” As ridiculous as it might sound, this is a term recently added to the Collins Dictionary. For a generation who know nothing other than being in a highly reactive social environment 24/7, we have often been asked by clients whether they think it’s reasonable to ban the use of social media and mobile phones in the workplace. It’s a hard question to answer as there are so many variables making it difficult to know where to draw the line. A quick post on Facebook or Instagram about the brilliant team bonding session that’s happening right now can make the thousands of friends or followers of that
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employee start to think about what a great workplace that looks like, improving the social profile of your business in one simple post. Millennials influencing changes in the workplace is something researchers strongly agree on. This is not only in terms of workplace practices but also in the way physical workspaces are designed. We have several clients who have gravitated towards agile workplaces meaning that the days of panel based workstations and desks assigned to one particular employee are a thing of the past. Instead the emergence of open plan, collaborative workplaces offering the option for sit/stand workstations is what we are seeing more and more of and definitely something that is of great appeal to this generation. They enjoy working remotely and being able to plug in and go from anywhere within the building.
Being an almost 40-year-old there is a tremendous amount that I have learnt from the Millennial colleagues I have worked with in the past. When it comes to technology they have it completely dialled in and they view things in a way that other generations don’t. Warranted or not I think there will always be a disconnect between how some people view the Millennials and how they view themselves but I think the key here is try and take a little from column A and a little from column B. These are the people of the future and I find working in collaboration with candidates like this and clients who are willing to embrace change they had never imagined possible is one of the most exciting parts of my job and a huge reason why I love what I do. G
According to the Deloitte 2015 Millennial Survey this group of future leaders place high priority on a number of things they consider when accepting an offer and what they look for in their Managers: • Strategic thinkers • Inspirational leadership • Strong interpersonal skills • Visionaries • Passionate • Decisiveness In return they offer key attributes including: • Optimism • Individuality • Education • The desire to collaborate • The ability to work highly efficiently beyond office walls often thriving in remote working environments
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iplacerecruitment.bizinet.com.au
iPlace Recruitment p | 02 02 8865 9200 e | cher@iplacerecruitment.com.au www.iplacerecruitment.com.au
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SELECT OZ
Farrukh Mirza, Azrim Pty Ltd
How to Stay Cool This Summer Following from my previous article, a lot of my clients and connections asked me for some styling tips for Summer. Here are some suggestions on how to look and be cool over the next few months when the temperature will stay from 25 to 40 degrees. Choosing the right fabrics will help you dissipate heat better and cool down your body temperature well. It's even more important for those with sweat or body odour issues to pick the right fabrics, as the synthetic or nonnatural choices will add to the discomfort and inconvenience. And certainly, it's a really bad look walking into meetings or catching up with friends with sweat patches under your armpits and around your collar. Be mindful of your shoes as well, and invest in some quality lightweight socks in cotton-silk so they don't stink up your shoes, and use odour eliminating powders and perfumes as and when needed. Choose lightweight pastel shades that complement your skin tone Most colour stylists will agree that choosing soft pastels in blues, pinks and off-white are better choices than bright colourations like red, orange and yellow. These colours don't suit most people and can make you look worse by contrasting wildly with your skin tone and complexion. For the European fair complexion, it can make them look too red or too pale depending on the choices. Ideally, the fabrics should match the eyes and the hair so they look more pleasing to the beholder. Clear White should be avoided unless it's matched in a subtle manner using accessories or items. For the Asian, Pacific and South American complexion, it is best to wear earthy shades in linen and soft cotton as it accentuates the look of youthfulness. Tones in brown, burgundy, purple and green are highly recommended. For the darker African complexion, it is best to wear off-white and camel shades along with soft pinks, lemons and greens. Although culturally it is valued to be bright, but based on style experts, it does little in improving the visual attraction.
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Dress Down Summer is meant to be a more relaxed state of mind, so it's highly advisable to dress down from the usual suiting. Most fashionistas will wear cropped chinos or cotton trousers matched with softer shades of blue, aqua, brown or turquoise. Wearing off-white or light denim will be a smart move as it allows you to wear a wider range of footwear to suit your lifestyle. Wearing a smart polo or tee shirt is fine, provided it's matched with the right trousers or shorts. Layer Up Summer days may be hot, but the evening will cool up, especially if you're closer to the water in and around Sydney. Taking a soft shouldered half-lined jacket or soft-shell blazer will work to your styling for the evening. When you feel the heat, just take it off. Our recommendations are Linen, Seersucker and Cotton jackets or even the Summer Superfine Merino Wool jackets in Super 160 220. These are more expensive than the Super 100 - 120 varieties, but have more silk and mohair to keep the weight light and easy care.
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Use Texture Textured fabrics add a level of complexity to a simple look and make people stand out with sophistication. Be it an open weave or a loop weave, or the criss-cross pattern of linen, it will make the colours pop and help you wear similar colours with ease. Add Denim Denim is the great leveller in summer and both washed and cut variations are suitable provided they are matched to the outfit and shoe correctly. Lighter denim in ice blue works really well with off-white, soft lemon, pink and baby blue shirts and tees. These will go well with the soft jackets, mentioned above. You can also wear your denim jacket with your tees for a really casual look if needed. Invest in Suede Suede is the leather of choice for summer, be it brogues (formal) or slip on (casual). The rope stretch belts that are now in fashion, are also a good option as they are easy to wear and look smart with both shorts and trousers.
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Add some Accessories Lapel pins and pocket squares are a top option to add a classy touch of colour to your outfit. They work well with shoes and belts and can be a fun addition to your otherwise simple understated classy wear. Sunglasses, watches and hats are highly recommended. Feel free to Roll Up Shirt sleeves can be bought with side tabs so they hold the fold in place and the same can be applied to trousers. This is perfect if you want to dip your feet in the water at the beach or a pool party without having to dress down. These little details can make a garment stand out without the trying-too-hard feel. G At Azrim, we work closely with leading stylists, designers and retailers to create summer looks as well as advise our made-to-measure clients on how best to create outfits that will mix and match with what they have. Azrim: Az Designer Az You p | 02 8765 5980 by appointment only www.azrim.com.au
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BiziNet Magazine
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SELECT OZ
Bruce Mott, Managing Director, Sports BC Pty Ltd
3 Networks Coming Together I wanted to make a statement, grab everyone's attention, I wanted to let people know that I do things differently and I am serious about what I do and of course Sport had to be the theme. At the AmCham GWS launch last month, the Mariani Motorsport 10,000HP Top Fuel dragster certainly helped us achieve that! At Sports BC, we bring together Sports, Business and the Community. We identify Sports teams or organisations that are seeking supporters (sponsors), we learn all about the organisation and importantly what businesses are associated to them, not just current sponsors, we mean all the players, their families and the companies they all work for. We are seeking B2B opportunities, more than just the obvious B2C opportunities most teams promote. In parallel, Sports BC are building a portfolio of Business partners. Providers of many varied products or services that are seeking new markets and new ways to market. These are partners we trust and partners that we know have the same philosophy as us. We then match our partners with the appropriate Sports organisation. Then we introduce a third partner to the relationship and that is a charity, both the sport organisation and the business must support a mutually agreed charity. That is to say that both parties work together to raise funds and awareness for a charity of their choice. Sports BC are building a portfolio of charities they can draw upon or they choose their own. The charity also offers its own B2B opportunities. So that's 3 'networks' coming together, a 'sports' network, a 'business' network and a 'charity' network. All with the same philosophy of charity being an equal partner to the business relationship. Take the Mariani Motorsports team and the sport of Drag Racing for example. Firstly, about the sports team, a Greater Western Sydney based family team that has strong connections to the Drag racing community and the industry in general. Dad, Mario raced
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Top Fuel in the 70's had decided to make a comeback to racing with son, Mark driving the 500km/h in 4.5 seconds nitro dragster. I reached out to them to join our program.
roots in the USA and Australian base right here in Greater Western Sydney, we are actively seeking Australian and USA based partners as we build the program across the industry.
About the sport of Drag Racing, it's a $100 million industry with 3,700 teams in Australia. Each of these teams have an average of 5 businesses associated with them. Wow, that's a lot a B2B opportunities! Drag racing also offers great B2C opportunities with 500,000 plus TV viewers nationally and now through streaming arrangements it is accessing 15 million viewers Internationally and growing.
Now of course I’ve mentioned just one sport and one charity that created this unique opportunity, there are so many more... if you are a business in Australia or USA looking for unique ways to grow nationally or internationally, look to Sports BC. G
This provided the opportunity to partner with international charity "Make-a-Wish" to promote the fantastic work they do for children. We matched a business partner to the team and with all 3 organisations aligned, the team went on to win the Nitro Championships in May, gaining significant national and international exposure, increasing B2B and B2C opportunities and the planning has begun to build on what has already been achieved. This is one successful 3-way partnership in the 100 million dollar sport of drag racing, with its
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Sports BC p | 0408 488 000 e | Bruce@sportsbc.com.au
American Chamber of Commerce in Australia Greater Western Sydney
Join World Business Leaders with AmCham Greater Western Sydney Membership Network with people from across Australian and American business Member list includes some of the world’s biggest companies
Join today Tel: Email: Web:
+ 61 2 8031 9000 info@gwpmedia.com.au nsw@amcham.com.au www.amcham.com.au
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BUSINESS ADVICE
Daniel Moisyeyev, B.IT, GWP Media
Web Security – Your Responsibilities as a Service Provider Everybody is aware that as a consumer, you must be careful with supplying your identity details on an online form, pay by your credit card online via secured connections only and selecting random cryptic passwords for all your logins (tongue in cheek). Having said that, online service providers do indeed have a duty of care to follow good security practices (and some rigid industry standards in a few cases) to ensure that the details of their clients are not compromised. After all, it is the service providers that set the standard in secure online communications that our customers end up with. This article will explain some of steps providers can and need to take to ensure good security practices. Do you have any of these features? If you do have any of these features on your website, you would qualify as an online service provider and would definitely need to consider the security needs of your clients. • An online shopping cart; • A login to a restricted section of your website; • Collection of credit card details; • A form that collects personal identity information; • An interaction facility for your clients. If your website serves as anything beyond an online brochure for your company, you probably need to consider this further. Some practices are outlined below. Safe Passwords Most online service providers have some sort of a login form for clients. In the section of the online facility that requires users to choose their preferred password, it is a good practice to enforce a cryptic password. Some checks could include minimum length, minimum count of number characters, a mix of letters in both lower and upper cases etc. Of course, this may be a inconvenient for users who would prefer to use the word “password” as their password. Although it is highly unlikely that somebody will launch a sophisticated dictionary attack on a typical e-commerce provider to brute force the login of one specific customer, it is nevertheless a good practice. SSL and Public Key Cryptography A website that is geared to use a secure connection via Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)
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is not quite mandatory unless the service provider collects credit card details. However, a lot of online service providers have recently elected to make entire websites accessible via secure connections only. It is a good futureproof practice that ensures all communications of the online service provider with their clients remain secure. A connection via SSL will ensure that all data that is transferred between two end points (service provider and client) is encrypted and serves no purpose to the intruder if it is somehow intercepted. It is a very effective protocol and all that is needed to implement it on your online facility is the purchase and configuration of an SSL certificate from a Certificate Authority (CA). For more information on this topic research SSL and Public Key Cryptography.
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Storage and Collection of Personal Identity Details In respect to the collection of data, the aforementioned SSL protocol is an excellent way to protect personal information that your clients may enter in a form on your online facility – e.g. a registration form. With storage of client data, it is highly likely that it would be stored in some sort of a database in Plaintext (i.e. stored in a decrypted format). While storage of this information in an encrypted format on the online service provider servers would definitely be preferred, it would rarely be the case in practice. In this scenario, it is crucial that the applicable server software is kept up to date and that proper company security protocols are in place such that access to these sensitive customer details are limited to specific authorised staff.
Storage of Credit Card Details Storage of credit card details is a serious matter. We do not recommend online service providers to store credit card details unless the online facility in question is well designed and has undergone rigorous testing. Credit card storage is enforced by a strict industry standard called Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). There are a lot of rules to adhere to should an online server provider elect to store credit cards on their servers. Collection of Credit Card Details Just like storage of credit card details, collection of the same online is also guarded by the aforementioned PCI DSS. I always recommend to all of my clients to use a thirdparty gateway that is already compliant as a first option. If there is indeed a solid case for a custom standalone processing facility, there is a long design and development process to go through in order to develop a custom transaction system. A secure connection (SSL) to collect credit card details from customer will be mandatory, followed by another secure connection to a bank or other processing
endpoint via some sort of a custom application programming interface (API). Open Source Content Management Systems If an online facility uses an Open Source CMS as a base system, one needs to be extremely proactive with security patches and look out for security holes. Online facilities that use Open Source CMS are subject to exploits – a process where automated pieces of software that reside and run in various parts of the world scan various websites and attempt to exploit websites that may use an out of date Open Source CMS. The reason for this is that exploits in these types of systems are quickly made public and taken advantage of. While your web hosting provider will generally be on top of security updates for software that forms the core of the web hosting services (e.g. web server applications, email server applications, database management systems), there may be no automatic process in place that will keep the software that runs your online facility up to date. If a proper security patch is
not applied promptly, the security of the online facility may be at risk. G
If you are interested in Web Design, Development and SEO please contact GWP Media.
GWP Media p | 1300 889 132 e | daniel@gwpmedia.com.au www.gwpmedia.com.au
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BiziNetwork AUTOMOTIVE Lander Toyota 02 8884 4888 112 Sunnyholt Road Blacktown NSW landertoyota.com.au
DESIGN & FITOUT Apex Executive Interiors 02 9635 9100 Unit 17, 12 Kendall Street Parramatta, Sydney NSW 2150 apexei.com.au FASHION
ACCOUNTING Bright Accounting and Taxation 02 8858 3242 33/9 Hoyle Ave Castle Hill NSW 2154 brighttax.com.au
Azrim Pty Ltd 0424 424 829 Fashion & Luxury Goods Sales and Marketing azrim.com.au
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FINANCE Mortgage Choice Norwest 0439 081 118 C68, 24-32 Lexington Drive Bella Vista NSW 2153 mortgagechoice.com.au FURNITURE Bowermans Office Furniture 02 9630 9756 591 Church Street North Parramatta NSW 2151 bowermans.com.au GRAPHIC DESIGN GWP Media 1300 889 132 F78B 24-32 Lexington Drive Bella Vista NSW 2153 gwpmedia.com.au HR Careers Excelled 02 9899 9674 Suite 420, 4 Columbia Court Bella Vista NSW careersexcelled.com.au iPlace Recruitment 02 8865 9200 PO Box 7915 Baulkham Hills NSW 2153 iplacerecruitment.com.au IMPORT / EXPORT Avalu Pty Ltd 0438 160 887 Bringing Australia the best in wines and perfumes avaluglobal.com INDUSTRIAL SERVICES Beralon Pty Ltd 02 9624 8011 Unit 1, 4 Bearing Rd Seven Hills, NSW 2147 beralon.com INSURANCE Action Insurance Brokers 02 8935 1500 301/20 Lexington Dr, Bella Vista NSW 2153 actioninsurance.com.au
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INSOLVENCY Jones Partners Insolvency & Business Recovery 02 9894 9966 Suite 301, Level 3, 4 Columbia Ct, Baulkham Hills NSW 2153 jonespartners.net.au IT GET Technologies Pty Ltd 1300 00 GETT (4388) Level 5, 4 Columbia Court Baulkham Hills NSW gettechnologies.com.au Pro IT Pty Limited 1300 727 553 12-18 Fairfield Street, Fairfield East NSW 2165 proit.com.au LAW Coleman Greig Lawyers 02 9895 9200 Level 11, 100 George Street, Cnr Smith Street Parramatta NSW 2150 colemangreig.com.au Etienne Lawyers 02 8845 2400 Level 57 MLC Centre, 19-29 Martin Place Sydney NSW etiennelawyers.com MANUFACTURING Manufacturing and Design Solutions 02 9614 7068 PO Box 213 Northmead NSW 2152
manufacturinganddesignsolutions.com.au
PRINTING GWP Media 1300 889 132 F78B 24-32 Lexington Drive Bella Vista NSW 2153 gwpmedia.com.au REAL ESTATE Coutts - Castlecorp 02 8883 4000 F126/24-32 Lexington Dr, Bella Vista, NSW 2153 coutts.com.au LJ Hooker Commercial North West 02 8814 1588 Suite 1:08, 29-31 Lexington Drive Bella Vista, NSW 2153 ljhc.com.au STRATA Cleaver Strata Consulting 0408 485 773 PO Box 962 Baulkham Hills NSW 1755 cleaverstrataconsulting.com.au List Your Business in BiziNet Magazine 1300 889 132 www.bizinet.com.au
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LAND A BETTER DEAL AT LANDER TOYOTA The Lander Toyota better buying experience starts from the moment you enter our stunning showroom. Our professional consultants will discuss your needs and present all the options available to you from the exceptional Toyota range.
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WESTERN SYDNEY’S NO.1 DEALER Lander Toyota
112 Sunnyholt Road, Blacktown T 02 8884 4888 landertoyota.com.au Highland Autos Pty Ltd trading as Lander Toyota. MD20304
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Toyota Finance Australia Limited ABN 48 002 435 181, AFSL and Australian Credit Licence 392536.
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