IT INDUSTRY

Optus gains mobile subscribers, Vodafone loses

Stuart Corner — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 06:34:49 +0000

Optus has managed to grow its mobile subscriber base despite Telstra's addition of a massive one million new services in the past six months, but Vodafone continues to lose customers.

Figures released by SingTel ahead of Monday's release of its Q3 results show that Optus added 182,000 new customers in the quarter to 31 December 2011. These took its total mobile customer numbers to 9.41 million, up five percent on a year ago.

Optus added 113,000 postpaid customers taking postpaids to 54 percent of the total base, up two percentage points from a year ago. Prepaid customers increased by 69,000. Optus said that prepaid sales had lifted and churn rates had improved.

The number of 3G customers grew to 6.24 million, an increase of five percent from a quarter ago. This included 1.55 million wireless broadband customers, 94,000 added in the three months to December.

Vodafone Hutchison Australia's figures were revealed in Vodafone Group's 3 results, released at the end of last week. (These show only 50 percent of actual numbers because VHA is a 50/50 joint venture).

The show VHA having 6.724 million customers at 31 December, down from 6.838 million six months ago. Vodafone said: "Despite improvements in the network and customer service in Australia, customer sentiment and a highly competitive market continued to adversely impact service revenue growth, which declined 11.1 percent in the quarter."

For Vodafone things were little better on the other side of the Tasman. There customer numbers fell from 2.458 million six months ago to 2.420 million. The company said: "In New Zealand service revenue growth was impacted by voice and SMS termination rate cuts and the uptake of more competitively priced tariffs."

Last week Telstra reported that it had added almost one million domestic mobile services during the half year, including 338,000 postpaid handheld and 436,000 mobile broadband services. They drove mobile revenue growth of 10.9 percent in the half to $4.39b, compared to a year earlier.

Number trouble
When we first posted this article we inadvertently gave the number of postpaid adds for Optus (113,000) as the total adds for the three months. An ever alert (it was Sunday) Optus exec pointed out the error, which we swiftly corrected. However we weren't the only ones having trouble with Optus mobile numbers. SingTel's press release issued on Sunday gave the total number correctly as 9.409 million and said: "The Group’s total mobile customer base grew 13 percent or 50.7 million from a year ago to reach 434 million as at 31 December 2011."

However by the time that release was turned into an ASX announcement Optus mobile numbers had grown to 9.440 million and the total SingTel mobile customer base was up 50.8 percent. The incorrect Optus mobile subscriber total was swiftly amended, but SingTel had to then issue a second amendment to get the percentage growth figure back to 50.7 percent. We don't feel quite so bad now about our mistake :-).

IBM fills its shopping bags with multi-million dollar DJs deal

Peter Dinham — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 13:39:40 +0000

IBM has secured a multi-million dollar deal to develop a complete cross-channel retail platform for Australia’s longest-standing department store group, David Jones, which IBM says will allow consumers to buy on their terms, according to their preferences.
Under the contract, IBM will integrate social media, promotions and rich analytics features to give the David Jones customer the ability to view items online, post items to wish lists, and share their purchases with friends and family. IBM will also integrate the solution into David Jones’ core corporate systems to provide order and inventory management and fulfilment capabilities that support both the online and store channels, enabling the retailer to provide faster and more efficient delivery of products and services to customers.

“David Jones believes that its future lies in its ability to offer a fully integrated multi-channel retail experience to customers,” CEO Paul Zahra said. “IBM has a proven track record of enabling increased brand advocacy and profitable growth for major department stores so it was logical for us to appoint them to enable us to leverage their experience. We want our customers to be able to shop around the clock utilising whichever channel they choose be that in-store, on their PCs, tablets, smartphones or a combination of two or more.”

According to Zahra, for David Jones, “retail is about more than just a transaction – it’s about how the customer interacts and communicates with us at all points of the shopping process.” “We are no longer just a bricks and mortar store - with the continued evolution of e-commerce and social media, shopping has become even more personal than ever before. By leveraging IBM’s expertise in rapid deployment of customer-centric online solutions, we intend to help shoppers meet their individual purchasing needs and emerge completely satisfied with their retail experience.”

IBM managing director Australia and New Zealand, Andrew Stevens, said IBM would draw from similar large-scale implementations overseas, where it is achieving “significant transformation and profitable growth for major department stores globally.” Stevens said the first phase of the solution will be rolled out in the second half of 2012 as part of a stepped approach, with the following phase going live in 2013.

“David Jones’ reputation as one of Australia’s iconic retailers makes this a momentous partnership for IBM’s Smarter Commerce business,” Stevens said. “With online shopping changing the face of retail at an ever-increasing rate, we’re looking forward to developing a solution that is truly cross-channel and will transform the shopping experience for David Jones’ customers.”

According to Stevens, the IBM Smarter Commerce portfolio helps retailers achieve brand intimacy by more effectively automating their purchasing, marketing, sales and fulfilment processes to better serve their customers. “David Jones will become the first major Australian retailer to provide customers with a true cross-channel shopping experience. Customers will not only have the ability to browse and buy, but also pick-up and return items through the channel of their choice, including their mobile phones, online or at a physical store,” Stevens added.

Aussies flock to LinkedIn in their millions

Peter Dinham — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 13:19:41 +0000

LinkedIn reached a global milestone today with 150 million users worldwide now signed up and using the online professional network, including more than two million in Australia – about 10 percent of the population – LinkedIn devotees.

More than 60 percent of the 150 million professionals using LinkedIn are outside the United States, while in Australia our two biggest cities of Sydney and Melbourne have more than half of the total number of LinkedIn members.

According to LinkedIn, in Australia, of the two million members across the country, more than 750,000 are in Sydney and Melbourne has more than 590,000 members.

And, LinkedIn says Australian members on the network come from a variety of industries and leverage the professional network to gain insights and grow their professional brand.

NZ ‘getting on with IT’, but caution prevails: report

Peter Dinham — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:47:34 +0000

New Zealand IT decision-makers are optimistic, but cautious, about their investment plans this year, and an analyst report just published suggests that businesses will just get on with business as usual and still spend on IT despite the prevailing caution.
According to a new report from analyst firm IDC, amid the threat of “another recession” the cautious optimism will continue in New Zealand and that the IT services market in the country will still grow by 3.8% to reach NZ$3.08 billion this year.

While many of New Zealand’s CIOs are reviewing all their IT spending, IDC predicts that many will continue to spend on strategic areas of investment, particularly on mobile devices, virtualisation and security, lifting the opportunity for service providers (SPs) in 2012.

"2012 looks set to be another economically uncertain year, but nonetheless organisations and SPs alike will need to seek opportunities that not only make business sense but also capture the innovative element that will make organisations stand out in the competitive ecosystem,” Rasika Versleijen-Pradhan, senior IT services analyst, New Zealand IT services market, said.

“Ultimately it will require SPs to rethink their aspirations and capabilities in the market, forcing some organisations to move out of their comfort zones.

"As the demand for technologies such as cloud computing, analytics, mobility and the rate of convergence accelerates, IDC expects to see a more fragmented ecosystem develop, resulting in the restructuring of business models for some SPs," Versleijen-Pradhan added.

Other key predictions by IDC for the New Zealand market this year include:

•    Cloud Will Move from a Cost Management to Innovation Driver Role: The role of cloud to help manage costs will shift towards one that will encompass cloud as a means to driving innovation within an organisation.

•    Business Analytics Will Ride a New Wave, Sending "Big Data" Further in Motion: Big Data analytics will become critical in verticals that are challenged by the huge amounts of data sets and the widespread use of collaborative and mobile technologies.

•    The Government Will Reduce and Reallocate IT Budgets: The government has stated that its initial focus will be on common capability, networks and infrastructure and the sharing of business systems resulting in greater shifts in IT spending allocations in 2012.

•    The Services Ecosystem Will See the Formation of More Service Aggregators: This will be driven by customers who lack resources and will look for service aggregators as the external managers to their organisation.

•    Market Pressures Will Reshape and Restructure Existing Outsourcing Contracts: The outsourcing market remains competitive, and existing customers continue to challenge their incumbent SPs to match the services and benefits offered by competitors, sometimes insisting on renegotiating an existing contract.

•    Service Providers Will be Forced to Create Disruptive Business Units: If traditional SPs are to really compete in the cloud space they will need to make some radical changes to their business model. Subsequently this will, lead to the creation of a disruptive business unit.

•    The Channel will Make Bigger Strides in Delivering Higher-Value add Services: IDC predicts that in 2012, the services component of partner businesses will be led by managed and cloud-oriented services as opposed to legacy maintenance and support services.

•    Datacentre Services Will Experience High Growth: IDC's Asia-Pacific Continuum survey in 2011, revealed that 40% of organisations surveyed plan to utilise third party datacentres by the end of 2012.

•    Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Will Maintain its Priority Level: IDC believes that business continuity will remain a key component of the executive agenda, regardless of the next upheaval.

Lenovo to steal PC crown from HP

Stephen Withers — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:00:14 +0000

An analyst is tipping Lenovo as a future global number one PC vendor.

HP's acquisition of Compaq catapulted ahead of its competition in terms of volume. But one analyst is tipping Lenovo to take the lead, though he's not setting a timetable.

According to Beau Skonieczny, a research analyst with Technology Business Research notes that Lenovo is achieving 25% growth in China and other emerging markets, and is already the leading commercial notebook manufacturer with 41% of the market.

Furthermore, the company has acquired Germany's Medion (sold here by Aldi), and that - along with the continuing success of the Lenovo/NEC joint venture in Japan has helped lift its mature market revenue by over 80% year-on-year.

Mr Skonieczny predicts that Lenovo will be able to offset the effect of ongoing hard drive shortages by emphasising its premium (higher margin) products such as the ThinkPad range.

He also suggests that vanilla ultrabooks will not be a hit with consumers, but Lenovo's "more diverse approach to thin, light, instant-on and power-efficient notebooks" - such as the forthcoming Windows 8 based IdeaPad Yoga convertible ultrabook/tablet - will match the needs of particular PC users

Although not directly relevant to its PC business, Lenovo is also enjoying success in China's mobile market with a range of smartphones and tablets.

Shofer ups stake in Xero

Stephen Withers — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 10:31:26 +0000

One of the founders of MYOB has boosted his stake in cloud accounting provider Xero.

Brad Shofer, one of the founders of MYOB, has increased his stake in cloud accounting provider Xero. The size of the investment wasn't disclosed, but it was enough to make him one of the company's 20 biggest shareholders.

The transaction was part of a $15.5 million private placement followed by on and off-market trades worth $3.8 million.

Mr Shofer said "Xero has been one of the companies I have watched closely over the past few years. I have used the software myself and been very impressed with it and with the company as a whole and its overall strategy and approach. Xero has executed well on its promises and is uniquely placed with early mover advantage in a space that has the potential to be very lucrative for those who get it right."

A cloud approach is more readily scalable than packaged software, he said.

Craig Winkler, Mr Shofer's co-founder at MYOB, is another of Xero's top 20 shareholders. MYOB was acquired last August by Bain Capital for around $1.2 billion. MYOB also offers a cloud accounting system for small businesses, and is working on a cloud-based equivalent of its AccountRight product that can accommodate larger businesses .

UXC Connect secures $8 million worth of contracts

Peter Dinham — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 21:57:33 +0000

Australian ICT infrastructure solutions and services company, UXC Connect, has secured four contracts to the value of $8 million to provide its campsite entertainment solution to thousands of workers located in four remote mining camps across the Pilbara in Western Australia.

UXC Connect CEO, Ian Poole, said the company would roll out its Entertainment & Content solution to more than 3,000 rooms across four campsite locations in the Pilbara, delivering IPTV, video-on-demand, IP telephony, internet to the room capabilities and internet kiosks located in common areas across an IP network.

Poole said the new projects were set to commence implementation in early 2012 and are expected to be completed by June 2012.

“The contracts, worth over $8 million, reinforce UXC Connect’s position as the market leader in delivering entertainment systems for the resource and energy industry,” Poole said.

Two of the contracts secured by UXC Connect were granted by Pindan, an award-winning construction company that is building and designing the mining campsites across the remote regions of Western Australia.

According to Poole, UXC Connect has emerged as the leader in providing lifestyle entertainment solutions to the mining, oil and gas sector, now supporting more than 10,000 rooms across Western Australia and Queensland. “The scope for further growth in this sector is substantial, as is the opportunity to continue to grow market share,” Poole added.

Poole said the contracts leverage more than ten years experience in delivering in-room entertainment to four and five star hotels and represent a “growing need for employers to accommodate the needs of remote workers.”

“UXC Connect was selected because of our extensive infrastructure skills, strong technical expertise and proven experience in delivering high-quality entertainment solutions in these remote regional communities.”

Mike Stegena, Director of Titan ICT consultants, said that UXC Connect’s solutions cover the requirements across a range of camps — from ‘fly camps’ to ‘permanent village’ solutions — and are fully scalable for deployment in any location. “UXC Connect is a global leader in resource and energy entertainment systems, using robust and resilient Gigabit Passive Optical Network technology, the same technology used for the NBN, as the foundation of its offering.”

Global economic woes hit Asia Pacific tech market

Peter Dinham — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 11:09:18 +0000

Asia Pacific buyers of IT services and products seem to be hesitating on new purchasing commitments as the region appears to have been negatively impacted by the current global economic conditions, according to a new report just published.
In its latest global market report, analyst firm Ovum says the Asia Pacific region appears not to have avoided the fallout of the current negative global economic conditions and that engagements in the APAC market are being slightly delayed, becoming re-scoped and having a greater cost management focus.

According to Jens Butler, Ovum IT Services analyst and author of the report the Asia-Pacific market appears to have hit a speed bump, with a “year-on-year drop of 25 per cent during the third quarter of 2011 and a sense that the economic concerns that have hit the rest of the world appear to be filtering through to the Asian growth markets.”

“These markets are not falling into a recessionary tailspin, but the historical double-digit market growth figures are trending closer to high single digits/low teens, as many markets see the current economic conditions as an opportunity to take a breath.”

According to Ovum, many vendors are taking the current market situation as an opportunity to invest in infrastructure, partnerships and resources in some of the growth markets such as India, China and Malaysia.

“Sixty-four per cent of contracts signed in the Asia-Pacific services market emanated from the telecommunications sector in the quarter,” Butler added, “with the cash-strapped industries taking a more conservative approach to any form of services investment in the near term.”

Butler also says that megadeals are “not back, but control is consolidating.” According to Butler, the ‘components’ of contracts are consolidating under a number of core suppliers with 60 percent of contracts signed in the past three years having a single ‘prime’ vendor for the majority of the services put to market.

“Some industries are consolidating their sourcing contracts more than others – with energy, healthcare and retail following the traditional “bundlers” of manufacturing and the public sector,” Butler concludes.

Telstra adds one million mobile services, but Sensis plummets

Stuart Corner — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 04:21:55 +0000

Telstra has revealed the addition of almost one million new mobile services in the six months to December 2011, but Sensis revenues plummeted 24 percent in 12 months.

Telstra has reported a revenue increase of 1.1 percent ($136m) to $12.42b for the six months to 31 December compared to the same period in 2010. EBITDA increased by 3.7 percent ($170m) to $4.75b and NPAT increased by 22.9 percent ($274m) to $1.47b million.

Telstra added almost one million domestic mobile services in operation during the half year, including 338,000 postpaid handheld and 436,000 mobile broadband services. They drove mobile revenue growth of 10.9 percent in the half to $4.39b, compared to a year earlier.

Fixed broadband customers numbers grew by 106,000 and Telstra sold 166,000 T-Box and T-Hub services. It now has more than 1.2 million taking bundled offerings,

Fixed line (PSTN) voice revenues declined by 9.0 percent to $2.49b during the half (6.1 percent year on year) and retail fixed broadband revenues increased by 5.8 percent during the half to $835m.

Telstra said: "This decline is consistent with previous periods and is a result of lower usage across all calling categories. There was a 136,000 net decline in PSTN lines during the half compared to 163,000 lines in the second half of fiscal year 2011. However, local call revenue fell by 21.1 percent and national long distance revenue declined by 13.9 percent, an acceleration on the prior half."

IP Access and Data Services revenue increased by 1.1 percent to $901m. Within this category, growth in IP Access revenue offset the decline from legacy technologies. IP Access revenue grew by 8.9 percent or $42m to $514 million.

Network Applications and Services (NAS) revenue grew by 19.4 percent to $579m. Telstra said it had "benefited from improved capabilities and major contract wins in the half." Telstra acquired iVision Pty Ltd in March 2011. Revenue from this business contributed $34m to total NAS revenue in the half.

CONTINUED

The bad news came from Sensis where sales revenue declined by 24.0 percent in the half to $528m. Telstra said there had been an "acceleration in the decline of Yellow print revenues as the market evolved more rapidly than expected," and that Sensis' first half results had also been impacted by the movement of the recognition of the Perth Yellow Pages book into the second half.

Telstra has confirmed fiscal 2012 guidance of low single digit revenue and EBITDA growth, with free cashflow of between $4.5b and $5.0b.

Telstra said The NBN transaction was not expected to have a material impact on its underlying financial results in fiscal 2012 and it re-affirmed its intention to "consider a broader capital management strategy upon implementation of the NBN agreements, following ACCC acceptance of Telstra's structural separation undertaking."

CEO David Thodey's focus on customer services also seems to be getting results: complaints to the TIO were down 24 percent over the year. But Telstra said it still had more work to do in this area.

Telstra also did well internationally. Telstra International focuses on Asia and is predominantly made up of the Asian Reach network assets, the CSL New World mobile business in Hong Kong and a number of online businesses in China.

Telstra said: "Since the completion of the Reach acquisition last year we have undertaken a significant expansion of our presence across the region, with new carrier licences in India, Singapore and Japan to support our corporate customers.

"Overall, our Telstra International revenues grew by 19.8 percent to $823m on a reported basis, and 11.4 percent to $765m after adjusting for intercompany revenue as a result of the Reach transaction."

Space Systems/Loral tipped to win $600m NBN Co satellite contract

Stuart Corner — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 03:40:28 +0000

Communications minister Stephen Conroy is expected to announce today that US satellite manufacture Space Systems/Loral has been awarded a contract worth about $600m for two geostationary satellites to deliver NBN services to about three percent of homes beyond the economic reach of wireless or fibre services.

The Australian Financial Review reported that the deal had been struck, and then seemed to confuse the provision of satellites with the provision of satellite services.

NBN has yet to let a contract for operation of the earth segment of the satellite network, and has not indicated whether it will also outsource provision of services over the satellites to a third party.

However the AFR reported that "Despite signing up a range of high-profile customers [Australian satellite service provider NewSat] was not able to get on the short list of NBN Co's satellite providers." In Fact NewSat has itself just awarded a contract for a geostationary satellite - its planned Jabiru-1 - to Lockheed Martin.

NBN Co CEO, Mike Quigley, told the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the National Broadband Network last October that NBN Co expected to make its purchasing decision for two satellites for the national broadband network within the next "couple of months" before turning its attention to finding a supplier for its earth-based satellite services. He expected services on the planned satellites to be delivered to the bush on time in 2015.

Quigley said it was not practical to try to provide ongoing satellite services to the bush by sharing space on existing platforms, given the bandwidth of services NBN Co is obligated to provide.

"The only satellites similar to the ones that we are going to be launching are being launched over North America. These are big, 80Gbps per second Ka-band satellites with multiple spot beams. Its simply not a practical engineering proposition to share capacity on a satellite ... even if one were available."

NewSat's satellite plans go back to 2007 when it proposed to the Federal Government plans for its own satellite. It expected to fund $100m of the estimate cost itself, $100m from potential partners and get Government funding already set aside for telecommunications to provide the rest.

The proposed Ka band satellite was to have been built by Space Systems/Loral, but the government rejected the offer. NewSat tried again in July 2008 in a submission to the Expert Group working on the NBN Mark 1 (FTTN version).

Mercury IT completes taxi service system transformation

Peter Dinham — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:29:44 +0000

Gold Coast-based IT firm Mercury IT has just finalised a two-year technology transformation of Queensland’s largest regional taxi service.
Mercury IT was initially engaged by Gold Coast Cabs in 2008 to take over the company’s IT support needs, and was asked to completely refresh the taxi company’s IT systems as it planned a move into new premises.

According to Gold Coast Cabs CEO, Martin O’Riordan, the ongoing relationship between Mercury IT and the company has resulted in an IT system that has enabled the taxi company to deliver advanced features of its booking software to customers, including the ability to order cabs with an iPhone app and receive text messages when their cab is approaching their location.

Mercury IT co-founder Luke Halliday, said Gold Coast Cabs decided to move their premises from their original location in Southport to an expanded call centre in Helensvale to enable better customer service, and as such needed a “technology solution that would align with their business goals.”

“Our first task required 12 months of planning due to the fact that the move would incorporate a new network, new radio system, new PCs, and new virtual servers all of which would run over the network.

“What’s more, once the system was ready, the entire IT changeover would have to be completed within a 30-minute window. We had the network built and tested well beforehand and performed extensive testing with the database suppliers MTData and Cabcall to ensure that the systems would operate seamlessly,” Halliday said.

On the day of the change over, Halliday said all of the servers were migrated and working within 30 minutes and communication with the cars “continued without a hitch.”

Final testing and the completion of the mirrored servers will be completed this month, and according to O'Riordan, Mercury IT has maintained a high level of professionalism throughout the process.

“It was a big task, moving the entire operation over to new technology without disrupting our customers, but Mercury IT made us comfortable through the whole process—they even managed all the other vendors so we could rest assured the solution would come together.”

According to Halliday, a company the size of Gold Coast Cabs with over 350 vehicles that operate 24 hours a day is relying on a technology-driven booking system, and accordingly they need their technology to be available all the time.

“The new system has redundancy built in at every layer and we are now in the process of implementing a second location that will be configured as a mirrored disaster recovery site to meet Gold Coast Cabs’ business continuity objectives,” Halliday said.

Aussies don’t trust government, but tech sector ok: report

Peter Dinham — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 19:50:28 +0000

The technology sector is still the most trusted industry sector in Australia, as revealed in a global survey which found that last year people in countries around the world blamed their governments, more than any other institution, for the financial and political crisis they endured, including in Australia where only one-third of the general population trust the institution of government to do what is right.
The survey by international public relations company, Edeleman found, according to the firm’s Trust barometer, that that only one third (33 per cent) of the Australian general population trust the institution of government to do what is right.

“There is a complete misalignment between the public’s expectations of government and what they think is actually being delivered,” says Michelle Hutton, Edelman Australia’s chief executive officer. “Sixty per cent of Australians do not trust government leaders to tell the truth and the majority (58 per cent) thinks the country is on the wrong track.”

Looking at government in Australia, the Edelman survey found that a huge gap has opened up between what people see as important and how well they think important tasks are being handled. While 71 per cent of Australians say it is important that the country’s financial affairs are managed effectively, only 18 per cent think this is happening – an ‘underperformance gap’ of 53 points. Hutton says that 71 per cent believe it is important that the government listen and responds to citizen needs and feedback, but only 13 per cent (58 percentage point gap) think this is happening.

Business, while more trusted than government, still has some hurdles to clear, according to the survey.

However, trust in various business industries is up across the board with Australian informed publics, and technology remains in the No 1. spot for the fourth straight year, while a few industries surged ahead in trust—brewing and spirits and consumer packaged goods both saw an 18 percentage point gain since 2011.

Online news aggregators are also highly trusted, according to Edelman’s Hutton, who says the survey found that online search engines like Google (78 per cent) and News RSS feeds (71 per cents) are critical.

“The prominent role of search engines in the research process highlights the importance of managing what is said about an organisation online,” said Hutton.

And, despite very low trust in the institution of media to do what is right (33 per cent), Australians do trust traditional media sources for company information, with television (81 per cent), newspapers (78 per cent), radio (77 per cent) and magazines (75 per cent) leading the pack.

In Australia, there is also continued distrust of banks and financial services, and Hutton says that despite robust increases (banks up 17 points since 2011, financial services up 14 points), they both remain ranked at the bottom of the list with informed publics. “General population rankings are slightly different. High prices for utilities, along with the public debate around the carbon tax, have seemingly affected trust in the energy industry. At 41 per cent trust, this industry is at the bottom of the list with the general population,” Hutton says.

Reflecting the current debate about the nature of ‘responsible capitalism’, Edelman says that this year’s survey found that to be trusted, business needs to do more than succeed commercially, with 74 per cent of respondents saying companies should be involved in solving social and environmental problems.

The study also examined various factors in Australia that will build trust in a company which reflect this desired role for business. Listening to customer needs (70 per cent) and having ethical business practices (69 per cent) topped the list, along with delivering quality products (69 per cent). Australians also expect business to place the customer ahead of profits (68 per cent) and treat its employees well (67 per cent).

“The public expects business to do more than just make money and create jobs. They expect business to improve the world it operates in, act ethically, treat employees well and help local communities,” Hutton adds. “This is the difference between trusted and distrusted companies.”

Globally, blame for the financial and political chaos of 2011 landed at the doorstep of government, as trust in that institution fell a record nine points to 43 per cent. In seventeen of the 25 countries surveyed, government is now trusted by less than half to do what is right.

In twelve countries, government trails business, media, and non-governmental organisations as the least trusted institution. France, Spain, Brazil, China, Russia, and Japan, as well as six other countries, saw government trust drop by more than 10 points, while also finding that government officials are now the least credible spokespeople, with only 29 per cent considering them credible.

“Business is now better placed than government to lead the way out of the trust crisis,” said Richard Edelman, president and CEO, Edelman. “But the balance must change so that business is seen both as a force for good and an engine for profit.”

Globally, overall, trust in business fell from 56 per cent to 53 per cent, with countries like France and Germany, in the heart of the Eurozone economic crisis, experiencing double-digit decreases. Meanwhile, CEO credibility declined 12 points to 38 per cent, its biggest drop in nine years. In South Korea and Japan, it dropped by 34 and 43 points, respectively.

Fuji Xerox wins multi-agency government contract

Peter Dinham — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 18:39:50 +0000

Fuji Xerox has won a competitive tender to provide the federal government’s Department of Human Services with dynamic content publishing software and services to be used by Centrelink, Medicare Australia, and Child Support.
As part of the tender, Fuji Xerox Australia will update and consolidate document composition and communications channels across all DHS agencies through both upgraded software and a range of ongoing services.

Anthony Cogswell, executive general manager of Fuji Xerox Global Services, said that with the DHS producing over 140 million letters a year, the company would help develop and implement a more “agile and scalable document composition system to establish more timely and impactful communications.”

“Having worked with Centrelink for 15 years, we understood the Department’s requirements. Our approach for those 15 years has incorporated full service and consultation, rather than simply revolving around software installation.”

Smartphones play part in remote health monitoring

Peter Dinham — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:01:38 +0000

A burgeoning market for healthcare peripherals and increasing smartphone processing power will result in the number of patients monitored by mobile networks to rise to three million by 2016, according to a UK market report.
Remote patient monitoring, using the smartphone as a hub, will also lower the cost of mHealth services by reducing the need for costly tailored devices, according to the report by Juniper Research, which also finds that the monitoring of cardiac outpatients is currently leading the field, as insurance reimbursement in the US market plays a key role.

“Remote patient monitoring will step in to reduce the cost burden of unhealthy lifestyles and aging populations,” says report author Anthony Cox.

But, while remote patient monitoring is already showing both positive medical outcomes and cost savings over outpatient care, more trials would “still benefit mHealth in order to further convince the medical establishment of its benefits,” Cox says.

Other key finding from the Juniper research include:

•    Mobile healthcare and medical app downloads will reach 44 million in 2012, rising to 142 million in 2016

•    Clarification from the US FDA (Food and Drug Administration) on which mHealth apps will require FDA approval is still required but is expected to add further impetus to the market.

•    Developing markets continue to benefit from SMS-based education programmes and stand to benefit in medium term from app-based healthcare services such as mobile ultrasound that are now being developed

•    EHR (electronic health records) have yet to gain significant traction even in developed markets but in the long term will become an important component of mHealth offerings

A complimentary mHealth whitepaper and further details of the full study can be downloaded from the Juniper Research website.

Axe Group eclaims system implemented by insurance group

Peter Dinham — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:27:31 +0000

The Axe Group software company’s eClaims software system has been implemented by life insurance company, AIA Australia, and made available, through their portals, to the 2.2 million members of AIA’s client companies, REST and GESB.
In deal with Axe, AIA launched the first phase of their eClaims system in November last year and the new system, the first of its kind in Australia, has been introduced initially for REST and GESB. Claims can be lodged for all types of insurance cover provided by AIA Australia, including income protection, total and permanent disablement to terminal illness.

According to Axe Group CEO, Kimberley Lathe, the Axelerator insurance platform is an innovative software solution that supports rapid configuration and integration, and she says that combining working models with a powerful rules engine and personalisation, the platform is easily configured to deliver a system that has an exact business fit for each insurer and is readily extensible for additional channels and products.

“Claims automation is a critical area in insurance, “as the experience a claimant has with an insurer is often a defining moment.” Using our Axelerator Insurance Platform to automate their claims process will allow AIA Australia to deliver superior services and give them the flexibility to easily and quickly provide their group clients with more services over time.”

Lathe says that, appreciating that a key issue in group insurance is the member experience at claim time, AIA Australia chose to use Axelerator to develop the eClaims solution with the goal of “improving fund members’ experience when lodging claims.” Lathe says the new system is also expected to reduce the cycle time for handling claims between members, funds and administrators.

Axelerator is already being used to deliver online quoting and application systems for AIA Australia’s group clients, and the retail adviser channel. Their previous successful experience with the technology was another major factor in choosing Axe and Axelerator for this major initiative, Lathe adds.

Lathe also said that the current release of the eClaims system supports online lodgement of both single and concurrent claims, with claimants able to upload supporting documents to accompany the claim submission. “Lodged claims are routed via workflow to fund assessors who review claimants’ responses and submit eligibility assessments and any required supporting documents. Future releases will enable straight-through processing of some claims, and other ongoing improvements to the claims process.”

TechnologyOne secures legal aid deals

Peter Dinham — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 13:36:22 +0000

Australian-listed enterprise software company, TechnologyOne, continues to win business with Government legal authorities, securing contracts with the Legal Aid Commissions of Western Australia and South Australia to modernise their legal aid grants management systems.
The new deals follow the successful custom development implementation for the Legal Aid Commissions of Victoria and New South Wales. TechnologyOne originally developed code for Legal Aid Queensland 10 years ago.

TechnologyOne (ASX:TNE) has now developed comprehensive systems for Legal Aid Commissions in five states, helping the organisations streamline their processing of legal aid grant applications and grants management.

TechnologyOne executive chairman, Adrian Di Marco, said the company had worked closely with the state government bodies to develop systems around their needs. “The solutions meet the needs of five of the Australian Legal Aid commissions and we believe they would also suit the remaining three.”

According to Di Marco, despite being built to suit the unique needs of legal aid requirements, the systems are fully integrated with TechnologyOne’s solution and product suites. “The specialist systems handle millions of dollars across thousands of legal cases every year. The opportunity for ongoing collaboration with our customers is very valuable.”

Online group buying market surges to near $500b and growing

Peter Dinham — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:18:32 +0000

Online group buying has taken off in a big way in the Australian market, with the market now worth nearly nearly half a billion dollars and significant growth predicted over the next 12 months and beyond.
In its latest report on the group buying market, independent analyst firm, Telsyte, says the industry in 2011 was valued at $498 million, with some 5,000 deals published and an average of one million vouchers sold each month.

Telsyte expects the group buying market to grow an additional 30 per cent in this year, exceeding $600 million, and to reach $1 billion no later than 2015.

According to Tesyte’s senior research manager, Sam Yip, increased focus on physical product sales in group buying will “change the face of the industry and introduce competition between deal of the day and grocery and discount online department stores.”

The best performing category in 2011 was physical products – like jewellery, electronics and clothing - and Yip says physical products now accounts for 30 per cent of the total market.

According to Telsyte, 2012 will be a year of continued market growth fuelled by the refocussing of group buying sites on driving customer loyalty, and Yip says that loyalty programs and targeted deals will continue to drive sales, while leading sites will enhance their mobile commerce strategies and expand their offerings.”

Telsyte reveals that the top eight group buying sites for the 2011 calendar year were Scoopon, LivingSocial, Spreets, Cudo, Groupon, OurDeal, Deals.com.au, and Ouffer.

“About 95 per cent of the market revenue is generated by the top eight sites,” Yip says.

While there were more than 80 sites in operation in 2011, Telsyte expects that the barriers to entry will increase in 2012 and some sites will fail due to lack of scale.

According to Yip, this year the local group buying sites will battle it out with the multinational players meaning bigger discounts, better quality deals, more offers, and more loyalty programs - all for the sake of winning and keeping Australian customers.

Telsyte reports that the Q4 results show the continued rise of the multinational group buying sites like LivingSocial and Groupon, with Groupon market leader in December 2011, and LivingSocial the leader in Q4.

However, as reported by iTWire, Australian owned and operated Scoopon was the overall market leader in 2011.

Aussie Scoopon beats internationals at their own game

Peter Dinham — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 11:55:38 +0000

Aussie-owned and operated group buying company, Scoopon, has for the second year running outperformed multinational players LivingSocial and Groupon, to retain overall leadership in the Australian group buying market.
In a newly published report, independent analysts, Telsyte, says that in 2011 the Australian group buying market grew to over 80 buying sites, but that Scoopon was able to hold onto its market leadership in the face of fierce competition, particularly from international players in the local market.

Telsyte predicts a continued shift towards product deals and away from services as deal sourcing becomes “increasingly competitive and growing consumer appetite for discounted goods drives more people online in search of savings.”

Scoopon’s co-founder Gabby Leibovich, attributes the site’s retention of market leadership to the company’s focus on deal quality over quantity, organic and loyal membership base, as well as an “industry leading commission structure.”

“It’s a true David versus Goliath battle,” Leibovich said. “The international entrants have come in and exerted their weight with massive spend on marketing campaigns and recruited an army of hundreds to try and buy their way into the Australian market.”

“We on the other hand have always let our deals do the talking, and despite little marketing effort have built the country's strongest and most loyal membership base of over 1.8 million members who have signed up simply because they are genuinely interested in what we have to offer.”

According to Leibovich, deal sourcing and the successful delivery of a quality experience to customers is crucial to the success of any group buying site, and he believes that Scoopon’s industry leading commission structure is a key strength that allows them to attract quality deal providers and strong repeat business.

“Our main competitors have huge expenses and it's the deal providers, the small businesses that feature with them, that end up paying for it through very high commissions and complicated contracts. We offer the most competitive commission structure and best value for the buck, which is one reason why most of the businesses that feature with us tend to do repeat business.”

Leibovich says Scoopon is well placed to capitalise on the trend towards product deals and away from services, with access to centralised product sourcing, warehousing and distribution capabilities through sister sites CatchOfTheDay and GroceryRun, which enables the company to access quality product, as well increases the reliability of product delivery to its customers.

“As a group we have over five years experience in sourcing quality product and have built strong economies of scale around warehousing and distribution. This gives Scoopon a definite leg up over its competitors, especially given many sites are relying on third party suppliers where deal quality is questionable plus who often deliver goods up to six weeks after the sale – if in fact they are able to deliver at all! A costly exercise, which as we have all seen, has resulted in mass refunds.”

The new report from Telsyte shows that the group buying market has grown over seven times from 2010, with Australians spending just under $500 million on group buying in 2011, and predicted reach $1 billion by 2015.

PieNetworks' chairman Justin Milne resigns

Stuart Corner — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 05:32:40 +0000

High profile telecoms industry figure, Justin Milne, has resigned from the board of Internet kiosk maker PieNetworks, less than a year after joining the board and being appointed its chairman.

During his tenure the company's founder and long time CEO, Campbell Smith, left the company and was replaced with a former colleague of Milne's - Craig Turner and the company moved its HQ from Perth to Sydney.

For much of its ten year history the company's focus has been on Internet/payphone kiosks. But in August year, Milne flagged a change of strategy, when he flagged plans to offer the devices with content and services tailored the requirements of client companies.

For months now PieNetworks has been negotiating a contract to supply Telstra with its Hotspot Webphone, following its acceptance after a large scale trial in 2010. Turner told the ASX at the end of January "Progress has not been as rapid as either we or the Telstra team had anticipated – particularly due to pressures on the Telstra team from other projects and business issues.

"Nevertheless we have made progress on all aspects of the agreement, and anticipate a small Telstra order in the coming quarter for delivery this financial year, and subsequently a larger Telstra order for delivery in the 12/13 financial year."

New Start-up Incubator to start cooking in March

Brenton Currie — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 03:55:33 +0000

The Sydney Morning Herald reports a new Aussie startup incubator will be starting in March.

Founded by Stephen Baxter (former co-founder of Pipe Networks), River City Labs seeks 70 startups (from Australia, but mainly focused on Queensland). Located in Fortitude Valley, River City Labs seeks to set up a Silicon Valley style Incubator (like the successful Y-Combinator), where startups get assistance from both the other companies in the incubator as well as from investors and board members of the related investment fund.

While Baxter will not be funding the startups himself, he has put aside $10million for investments over the next 5 years.

This is a strong move to replicate the Incubator model, something that has not been used much in Australia.

The start-up scene is less active in Australia, we do have some Venture Capitalists, but we do not have the frantic ecosystem of start-ups, Incubators, Angel Investors, VC funding and Tech Startup reporting, as best illustrated by the TechCrunch/Michael Arrington/Paul Carr kerfuffle last year.

One interesting aspect of the start-up phenomenon is the focus on Queensland. One reason why Australia has a less focused Venture Capital marketplace is that we are generally less geographically focused, The US has NY, Chicago and Silicon Valley, Israel is a small country, and much of the Chinese start-ups have had both a good and bad time lately. Australia has 3 moderate sized cities on the east coast, however Adelaide and Perth has also spawned some large communication companies (iiNet and Exatel for example).

However, if there is a large pool of talent and ideas, as well as an active University system in Queensland, the Incubator may work nicely and may even attract talent from the southern states.

For more information of the River City Lab, check out their website here. Also keep an eye on the site for pitching sessions in the future.