Small Business
The futures of finance and technology have never been so closely intertwined as they are today. Cloud computing underpins this. What are the challenges associated with moving finance functions to the cloud and how do you overcome them? The migration of financial applications to the cloud is happening much faster than expected. Research firm Gartner […]
Due to the ‘gigantic profits’ banks derive from processing the ‘lion’s share’ of home loans in Australia, traditional lenders haven’t had a compelling case for servicing small businesses – rejecting around 50% of their loan requests, according to Simon Isaacs, founder and CEO of fintech startup ebroker. “Banks can lend $62.50 for every dollar* of their […]
As 2017 draws to a close, eMarketer [1] predicts that Australian ecommerce sales will reach $32.56 billion. Of this, it is estimated that $20.15 billion, or 62 percent, will be driven by online retail sales. [2] For Australian businesses working in ecommerce, this should be an exciting time filled with opportunity, instead, for the past year […]
New graduates are stepping out of university and finding it harder than ever to gain employment. They often turn to the graduate programs offered by large companies, where in some industries they take on hundreds of new recruits annually. For those that aren’t successful in these initiatives, or find themselves in an industry where programs […]
Small Australian retailers need to figure out what they can ‘uniquely own’ on Amazon and not waste their time on products that won’t win them the Buy Box, according to Brent Bellm, the CEO of ecommerce solutions provider BigCommerce. Bellm described Amazon as the “best online retailer we’ve ever seen”, adding that the company […]
A lack of training and career development is fuelling employee dissatisfaction amongst Australia’s IT workers, with 49% actively looking for new work and a further 40% open to jumping ship for the right offer. These findings are from a survey of nearly 2000 tech workers undertaken by IT workforce solutions specialists Greythorn, which gathered data […]
Federal Government agencies are paying 96% of their small business contractors within thirty days of receiving an invoice, according to a new report. Minister for Small Business, Michael McCormack said the latest Pay On-Time report also found agencies were paying 60% of invoices up to $1 million within 20 days, and that the overall results […]
Less than a decade ago, the concept of an Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered agents answering customer questions in real time was still considered out of reach for businesses of all sizes. Today, these virtual agents, otherwise called chatbots, are very real, indeed with business adoption growing exponentially. Last month NAB rolled out its ‘virtual banker,’ […]
We’ve all encountered ‘difficult’ people in the workplace. Whether it’s a boss, a colleague or a subordinate, it’s challenging working in close quarters with someone whose personality or approach to work doesn’t always gel with our own and who pushes our buttons. You know who I’m talking about – the sort of person who rarely listens to […]
The Small Business Ombudsman has launched an inquiry into access to justice for small businesses, explaining the current legal system puts them in “no man’s land”. According to Kate Carnell, small business operators are at “the wrong end of a power imbalance” in dealings with big business and governments. “Consumer protections don’t always apply to […]
Artificial Intelligence makes headlines every day: alternately promising to save the world, or destroy it completely. There’s no doubt that it holds exciting potential for businesses. A new global study by Capgemini found that 83 percent of firms surveyed reported that AI generated new roles, with three-quarters seeing an uplift in sales related to AI […]
They’re often portrayed as socially isolated, disaffected young men tapping keyboards in darkened basements. Motivated by the promise of global notoriety, they spend hours trawling for IT security weaknesses trying to cause disruption and destruction. The reality of hackers today is somewhat different. Often highly educated, many work in loosely connected groups that share knowledge […]
In the United States, it is becoming vogue for companies to pay for female employees to freeze their eggs, with the likes of Apple, Facebook and Google introducing the policy. It’s being sold as a means for women to further their careers, free of pressure to have children at a particular point in time. However, […]
There’s a virtual armada of icebergs out there today in the form of legacy enterprise resource planning (ERP) providers. These ERP icebergs show many of the same characteristics as their Antarctic counterparts. They’re old and have been frozen in place for decades. What you see is not what you get – the danger lurks beneath […]
Australian businesses are connected to more than 210 million people, globally, through Facebook, while more than one in three SMBs have been built on the social media platform. Kaylie Smith, Head of SMB for Facebook Australia & New Zealand, spoke to Dynamic Business about the company’s local data, including findings from a recent poll of […]
The Christmas Blackout period can bring Australian small businesses to a halt as wage bills take priority and payments begin to dry up. With everybody looking to preserve the cash they have available, business to business transactions begin to slow down from November through to February, leaving some business owners scrambling or tying themselves up […]
The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman has today released a study into factors impacting small to medium enterprise investment. According to Ombudsman Kate Carnell, SME investment is being impeded by limited access to capital as well as red tape and energy prices and that removing these barriers would “give them confidence to grow […]
By actively supporting flexible and remote work, businesses can position themselves as employers of choice in the ever-more-ruthless war for talent. Plus, if they’re seeking to be national or even global in scope, enabling ‘distributed collaboration’ – i.e. the ability for people to work together as a team, albeit remotely – isn’t just a strategy […]
With Amazon having its soft launch in Australia, today, Dynamic Business spoke with Dominique Lamb, the CEO of the National Retail Association (NRA) who admitted the ecommerce giant was a ‘worthy opponent’ for local retailers but one that can’t satisfy demand for ‘retail as entertainment’. [Related: Let’s Talk… Ecommerce and If you can’t beat them, join […]
The holiday season is one of the biggest times of the year for retailers, accounting for as much as 20% of annual sales. With the increased sales, as well as the opportunity to acquire new customers who will shop year-round, early planning and preparation can be key to maximising success. But, what happens when the […]
