Small Business
Since the inception of the World Wide Web in 1991, technology, business and daily life has changed significantly. Who would have thought that billions of people across the globe would conduct business from the palm of their hand? And with technology rapidly advancing and more and more people seeking flexible work arrangements, it’s no wonder […]
Video consumption is growing. There are currently 15 million active monthly YouTube users in Australia, and now Google has extended the reach of video campaigns for advertisers beyond YouTube by including video in the SERP’s (search engine results page) – but only on mobile devices. The new format is called outstream video ads and is […]
The thinking around gamification and its role in marketing campaigns needs a serious refresher. For too long games have found themselves the novelty addition to larger marketing campaigns, always a bridesmaid, never the bride. Successful games are more than just fun. The high-quality data they can generate to support smart decisions is of great value […]
Most people don’t really understand branding. They think that they know what it is; they know that it can help a business, yet they are unsure of exactly what to do and how to do it. People underestimate the power of branding, however if I ask you for the first brands that pop into mind […]
We’re not even halfway through 2018 and it’s already been a tumultuous year for Facebook. The Cambridge Analytica scandal resulted in calls to #DeleteFacebook, a share price rollercoaster and questions from political leaders on both sides of the aisle. Bit amidst the chaos, Facebook went ahead with F8, its regular developer conference. This year’s event […]
Seeing Machines has gone from strength to strength since 2000, when the business was founded as part of an association with Australian National University. Today it is at the forefront of driver monitoring technology and has more than 200 staff and operations across the world; including the US, the UK, South America, Europe and in […]
The world is in midst of the ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’, an era characterised by an avalanche of digital innovations changing what customers expect from businesses. In the realm of small business, operators are having to embrace technologies like the cloud, social, mobile, and artificial intelligence (AI) to find, win and retain today’s consumers –more connected […]
When local companies rely on imported imagery to speak to “the world’s best BS detectors” (i.e. Australian consumers) they risk eroding their brand loyalty and support, warn the designers behind stock photography startup Austockphoto. Co-founded by Claire Bonnor and Kassandra Hunt, the entrepreneurial duo behind Sydney-based design agency Boheem, Austockphoto is a stock photography library […]
Ecommerce is growing rapidly in Australia – with a 14 per cent growth in online purchases in the 2017 financial year[1]. Forrester predicts that a quarter of total retail sales in Asia Pacific will be completed online by 2022[2]. The arrival of Amazon in Australia will most likely accelerate this growth trajectory. How do Australian e-tailers […]
Cryptojacking – where cybercriminals hijack CPU power and electricity from unsuspecting computer users to mine cryptocurrencies – can cripple a company’s network, increasing their costs and reducing productivity, warns Fernando Serto, Head of Security Technology and Strategy at Akamai Technologies (APAC). “The idea behind crypto mining on end user devices was originally conceived as a […]
“Uber changed the way business owners think and work in more ways than are instantly noticeable,” says Maria Bellissimo-Magrin, CEO of creative marketing agency Belgrin. Here she examines what business owners can learn from Uber’s actions. Launched in San Francisco in 2010, Uber quickly became one of the world’s most valued tech companies and widely-known brands and their […]
Amid a flurry of high-profile attacks and the tightening of privacy regulations, organisations are increasingly seeking ways to minimise the risk of suffering a data breach. Personal details of customers, credit card numbers and corporate financial records – are all eagerly sought by cyber criminals. In an increasingly digital business environment, keeping such data safe […]
Attracting the right talent to your small business can be an uphill battle and as challenging to a business owner as any other macro force. Not only are you competing with players in your own sector, you’ve also got the big guys to contend with. You know the ones, big staffing budget, big, shiny training […]
Obtaining finance can be challenging for any business but it is an acute difficulty for micro and small businesses in their start-up phase. Having the Best Business Idea in the World won’t necessarily be enough to convince sceptical, risk-averse banks to approve a loan, especially if the business owner doesn’t have a proven track record […]
A friend of mine once confessed: “I’d like to run my own business, but I don’t like lying to people.” It’s a telling indictment on the state of free enterprise in the 21st century. Everyone seems to have an experience of being let down by the system. Whether it’s believing an ad only to find […]
A key challenge faced by employees in 2018 is the delineation of boundaries between work and personal lives, brought about by technological mobility. We now have the ability to access work servers from a park bench and have email in our pockets, granting access to our working lives at all times. Social media now provides […]
The challenges SMBs inevitably encounter as they outgrow their original technological infrastructure can become compounded if they’re experiencing rapid expansion and find themselves overseeing a national workforce. Social entrepreneurs Nic Marchesi and Lucas Patchett, named the 2016 young Australians of the year, know this all too well. Editor’s note: Just as Cisco Start is helping their […]
The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman, Kate Carnell, has released a position paper identifying ways to reduce the complexity of the workplace relations system for small businesses. “We have had significant consultations with small businesses over the last two years and the overwhelming view is the legislation is far too complicated for the […]
It’s no secret that millennials have developed a bad reputation, particularly when it comes to the workplace. Baby Boomers and Gen Xs tend to have a not so complimentary view or the younger generation – but could these millennials have more potential than first meets the eye? [Related: How to transform franchisees into entrepreneurs] Typically […]
The pace of change is set to become even faster during 2018. Technology, globalisation and shifting workforce demographics are completely altering the way business is conducted. According to business consulting firm McKinsey and Co[1], every occupation that exists today has the potential to be at least partially automated, and the firm estimates half of all […]
