Locked
Keeping a lid on costs while maintaining productivity has become a key objective for many Australian businesses, but successfully balancing these imperatives requires fundamental change. The way tasks were handled before COVID-19 must be re-engineered while the short-term fixes rolled out during 2020 have to be examined and refined. To achieve this, increasing numbers of […]
The latest Deloitte Access Economics Business Outlook figures reveal that Australia is well on the road to economic recovery in 2021. “COVID numbers are very low, the vaccine news is excellent, confidence is rebounding, Victoria is catching up to the recovery already underway elsewhere, there are heartening developments in job markets, and China’s trade war […]
Was your business forced to implement a redundancy programme, as the COVID-19 downturn began to impact turnover and profits? If so, you’re far from alone. ABS data suggested a million Australians lost their jobs soon after social distancing measures came into effect. As business activity ground to a halt around the country, enterprises of all […]
Many of us will notice changes in the people around us and get the feeling that ‘something is not right’ or is different with them. You may not want to say anything for fear of making the situation worse or because you don’t know what to say if they confirm your concerns. While these conversations […]
Today, being disconnected from Wi-Fi would be incapacitating for most businesses. Yet Wi-Fi is a relatively recent innovation. Wi-Fi was invented in Australia just over 20 years ago by the CSIRO. Now almost all laptops, phones and tablets are connected to Wi-Fi. While most Wi-Fi chip companies compete to invent faster speed Wi-Fi chips for […]
The US House of Representatives has condemned President Donald Trump on a single impeachment count of “incitement of insurrection”, making him the first US President to ever be impeached twice. “He must go,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. “He is a clear and present danger to the nation that we all love.” Mr Trump was […]
India is currently witnessing one of the world’s largest planned strikes in human history. Protestors are agitating against new farming laws that would deregulate crop prices and leave farmers vulnerable to large corporations. The protests involve around 250 million people, with many more standing in solidarity with Indian farmers globally. On Tuesday, India’s highest court […]
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way we work, fast-tracking the digitisation of business and our ideas around flexible working. While many people talk about the future of work in the context of big business, the topic is just as important for small businesses. The rise of ‘location-independent workers’ widens the talent pool for businesses […]
Sales and marketing involves understanding your business’ unique selling points and communicating them to a customer base. However, other variables such as the demographics of your customers, their preferred communication channels and rapidly changing technology makes marketing a particularly onerous task. This week we ask contributors to share the marketing techniques that worked for them […]
COVID-19 has tested business owners’ personal and professional resilience like never before and entrepreneurs continue to need internal fortitude as they face ongoing uncertainty. So, what is resilience, and how can it be strengthened? “From a psychiatric point of view, resilience is a complex concept but the easiest way to conceptualize it is one’s ability […]
As Australia’s leading provider of synthetic and medicinal chemistry services, Epichem met the challenges of COVID-19 head on, by protecting its business and employees while supporting the community and launching new innovations. Founded in Perth in 2003, Epichem creates specialised products and provide technical expertise to customers in more than 40 countries in the pharmaceutical, […]
As a small business owner, you don’t always have the backup of formal social supports offered by larger employers. When things get tough there’s no manager, human resources department or Employment Assistance Program to access, so the onus is on you to be proactive about setting up your own support network. Don’t underestimate the impact […]
Automation can remove manual, time-consuming processes in nearly all areas of business, and human resources (HR) is no different. Many of the HR tasks that companies are forced to labour over can be streamlined, which gives leaders more time to focus on growing their business and helping their people succeed. The ELMO 2019 HR Industry […]
American Express has partnered with Sniip, an Australian mobile bill payments platform, allowing Sniip members to pay bills with AMEX. “Until now, customers have often not been given the option to pay their household bills using an American Express card, as many businesses have not made it available for their customers,” said Damien Vasta, CEO […]
Some of the world’s most important advances in robotics are happening here in Australia. While interest and investment pour into the global robotics industry, there are no sensors in the market that can measure friction. “There’s lots of research but it’s not commercially available,” said Dr Heba Khamis, CEO and Co-founder of Contactile. This means […]
As a friend, family member or business colleague you can make an important contribution to someone’s recovery from mental ill-health. Working in small business can sometimes be isolating and when people experience challenges with their mental health, they can be tempted to isolate themselves further. The practical, emotional and social support that a small business […]
Aiming to not just outperform meat but replace it, Australian cultured meat company, Vow, has banked US$6 million of fresh funding. In 2019, Vow became the world’s first company to make a food product from the cells of an undomesticated animal, instead of the animal itself. The company has since grown its library to 11 […]
Data released from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority shows that loan deferrals have decreased, as exits from deferrals outweigh new entries for five straight months leading up to November 2020. A total of $60 billion of loans – around 2.3 per cent of total loans outstanding – were on temporary repayment deferrals as at 30 […]
Democrats will control the US Senate under Joe Biden’s presidency, advancing the Biden administration’s ability to pursue their legislative agenda in both houses. Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff respectively defeated Republican incumbents Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue in the Georgia Senate runoffs on Wednesday. Mr Warnock used his victory speech to acknowledge the social […]
Australia’s electricity supply security is the “most critical [energy] issue at present”, the 2020 Health of the National Electricity Market report reveals. On Tuesday, the Energy Security Board (ESB) published the Health of the National Electricity Market (NEM) report. It found that Australia is at risk of major supply interruptions, making the security of electricity […]
