Events

 

 

Moving to the cloud seems to be the buzz phrase of the year.  Applications and services are hosted from the cloud, data is stored in the cloud – and servers are moving to the cloud.  Everyone from your accountant to your graphic designer is likely to be using the cloud for some or all of these business processes.  So does your business need to become more cloud oriented?  What does that mean for you?  What are the benefits and what are the potential pitfalls?

Proponents wax lyrical about access from any device, reduced reliance on on-site IT management and cost savings.  But what about the time and effort to transition to the cloud?  And how about the risk of reliance on your internet service to operate your business?  And can you trust your cloud provider with the security and privacy of your data? 

How do you consider the tradeoffs between cost, security, ease of management, vulnerability to far-away providers and ease of access?  Do the benefits outweigh the costs?

For this event we have assembled a quality panel comprising two business owners who have tackled this issue in their own business – and an expert who has seen the issues as they unfold from a professional point of view:

Mark Greenslade:  Mark is General Manager of Family Law Results, whose servers, data and key business processes have been operating in the cloud for some three years.  Mark will share some of the roadblocks and successes in their journey to the cloud from the perspective of a management team who were not IT professionals when they took their first steps in a direction that was largely uncharted in the legal industry.

Philip Adamson:  Philip is a director of OutSource IT, who deliver outsourced IT support to SMEs.  Philip and his team have done quite a number of successful cloud migrations, but they are also now seeing businesses coming back OUT of the cloud in various areas because they went in without the proper information and preparation. Philip believes the media has a lot to answer for in regards the benefits and expectations around the cloud.  Philip will share some of his experiences as an IT professional in this space.

Danielle Butler:  Danielle is owner of Medical Uniforms New Zealand, whose staff operate entirely in the cloud using Unleashed, Xero and Zoho – as well as free cloud based services like MailChimp.  Danielle likes to challenge the status quo of how a business should look – and she “has her head in the cloud”.  If you’re curious about Cloud technology and finding ways of utilising it to make your business better, come and hear what Danielle has to share.

 

This event will be held at the BNZ Partners facility on Constellation Drive, North Harbour at 5:30pm on Thursday 17 October 2013 – and will run through to 7:30pm on the night.

As always for Business Owners Forum events, this session will be free of charge and completely free of sales pitches from the supporters or the panelists.  And there will be pizza, beer and wine to lubricate quality discussion.

Business Owners Forums are held monthly – alternating between Whangarei, Albany and Newmarket venues.  This event will be repeated in Newmarket on Wednesday 20 November.

If you’d like to attend this event, email Fraser Hurrell before this event fills up.  And if you’d like to be included on the invite list for future events, just add your contact details in the box to the right.

 

 

Most Kiwi business owners are also directors – and also provide day to day management.

In the early stages – and while your business is relatively small, this can be perfect.  After all, no-one will care about your business and work it like you will right?  But for business owners with ambitions for growth, you may at some point find that you’re not the ideal person to manage your business.

It may be that you are a brilliant founder with great technical and entrepreneurial skills – but not a great manager.  It may be that your business needs specific skills in order to grow – and you just don’t have those skills.  It may be that your business needs a separation between governance and management.  It may be that you wish to retain ownership of your business – but not direct involvement in day to day operations.

In any of these situations, you will be faced with finding the right person to manage your business.

This is a process fraught with problems – and often they rest fairly and squarely with the business owner him or her self.  At this event we will assemble a quality panel comprising two business owners who have successfully or unsuccessfully tackled this issue in their own business – and an expert who has seen the issues as they unfold from a professional point of view.

This event will be a repeat of the June Business Owners Forum event – and will be held at the BNZ Partners facility on Broadway, Newmarket on Wednesday 17 July 2013 – and will run through to 7:30pm on the night.

 

Greg Murphy.  As founder of high-growth software as a service company Unleashed Software, Greg has been through the process of relinquishing direct control of the business he founded in 2009.  Greg has some valuable insights to share from his own journey through this process.  Often the most powerful insights at business owners forums come from business owners who have negotiated their way through the topic of the month – and Greg’s story will be of great interest to business owners embarking on this journey.

Allen Mackay.  As a partner at People Partners  – and in his previous life in executive search and recruitment, Allen has made a profession of finding the right person to manage his clients’ businesses.  There are ways that you can increase your chances of finding the right person to manage your business – and Allen knows most if not all of these.  And the good news is that he will be on the panel at this event to share some of this intellectual property with the Business Owners Forum.

Damien Grant.  It’s always good to see Damien at the Business Owners Forum, but as an insolvency practitioner most business owners would prefer to avoid meeting him professionally.   One of the ways to increase the odds of Damien’s crew taking possession of your business assets is to take your eye off the day to day management of your business.  The dilemma is that’s probably exactly what you intend when hiring someone to manage your business.  Damien will discuss ways to mitigate the risks from stepping away from the day to day management of your business – and will share some chilling reminders of what can happen when this doesn’t go so well.   

 

As always for Business Owners Forum events, this session will be free of charge and completely free of sales pitches from the supporters or the panelists.  And there will be pizza, beer and wine to lubricate quality discussion.

Business Owners Forums are held monthly – alternating between Whangarei, Albany and Newmarket venues.

If you’d like to attend this event, email Fraser Hurrell before this event fills up.  And if you’d like to be included on the invite list for future events, just add your contact details in the box to the right.

 

The majority of Kiwi businesses are owner managed.  The shareholders are the directors – and also provide day to day management.

In the early stages – and while your business is relatively small, this can be perfect.  After all, no-one will care about your business and work it like you will right?  But for business owners with ambitions for growth, you may at some point find that you’re not the ideal person to manage your business.

It may be that you are a brilliant founder with great technical and entrepreneurial skills – but not a great manager.  It may be that your business needs specific skills in order to grow – and you just don’t have those skills.  It may be that your business needs a separation between governance and management.  It may be that you wish to retain ownership of your business – but not direct involvement in day to day operations.

In any of these situations, you will be faced with finding the right person to manage your business.

This is a process fraught with problems – and often they rest fairly and squarely with the business owner him or her self.  At this event we will assemble a quality panel comprising two business owners who have successfully or unsuccessfully tackled this issue in their own business – and an expert who has seen the issues as they unfold from a professional point of view.

This event will be held at the BNZ Partners facility on Constellation Drive, North Harbour at 5:30pm on Thursday 20 June 2013 – and will run through to 7:30pm on the night.  Here are the panellists for this event:

 

Greg Murphy.  As founder of high-growth software as a service company Unleashed Software, Greg has been through the process of relinquishing direct control of the business he founded in 2009.  Greg has some valuable insights to share from his own journey through this process.  Often the most powerful insights at business owners forums come from business owners who have negotiated their way through the topic of the month – and Greg’s story will be of great interest to business owners embarking on this journey.

Stuart Crisp.  As a director of Kinross Partners, Stuart has made a profession of finding the right person to manage his clients’ businesses.  There are ways that you can increase your chances of finding the right person to manage your business – and Stuart knows most if not all of these.  And the good news is that he will be on the panel at this event to share some of this intellectual property with the Business Owners Forum.

Damien Grant.  It’s always good to see Damien at the Business Owners Forum, but as an insolvency practitioner most business owners would prefer to avoid meeting him professionally.   One of the ways to increase the odds of Damien’s crew taking possession of your business assets is to take your eye off the day to day management of your business.  The dilemma is that’s probably exactly what you intend when hiring someone to manage your business.  Damien will discuss ways to mitigate the risks from stepping away from the day to day management of your business – and will share some chilling reminders of what can happen when this doesn’t go so well.   

 

As always for Business Owners Forum events, this session will be free of charge and completely free of sales pitches from the supporters or the panelists.  And there will be pizza, beer and wine to lubricate quality discussion.

Business Owners Forums are held monthly – alternating between Whangarei, Albany and Newmarket venues.  This event will be repeated in Newmarket on 17 July.

If you’d like to attend this event, email Fraser Hurrell before this event fills up.  And if you’d like to be included on the invite list for future events, just add your contact details in the box to the right.

 

Without a certain appetite for risk, most business owners would instead be happily employed in someone else’s business.  But of course where there is risk, the worst can happen.

Being a business owner involves a mix of risk and reward.  The prudent director is mindful of the risks inherent in his or her business – and takes appropriate steps to mitigate these by good planning and forethought.  This is the topic for the May Business Owners Forum event in Newmarket.

We are not talking here about risks that are commonly insured such as fire, theft, public liability and loss of a key person.  This event is not about insurance – rather, it will focus on those risks that fall entirely on the business to identify and manage ahead of things going wrong.

There are a wide array of things that can go wrong for businesses – and risks to one business might be irrelevant to the next business.  But there are patterns – and there are usually good strategies that business owners can put in place to mitigate the effects of these risks.  The objective of managing risk is to ensure your business is protected when things go wrong.

This event will be held at the BNZ Partners facility on Broadway, Newmarket at 5:30pm on Wednesday 15 May 2013 – and will run through to 7:30pm on the night.  This event will be more or less a repeat of the 18 April event in North Harbour.

Selina-Jane Trigg.  Selina is principal of law firm Family Law Results, based in CBD Auckland and Papakura.  She has specialised in family law for 16 years – and is a self-described “Family Law Geek”.  Selina’s work includes advising clients on avoiding the risks to their businesses in the event of  death or separation.  High on the list of bad news she has to deliver to her clients is that their family trust is not the protection they thought it was!  Selina will entertain, inform and frighten.

Damien Grant.  As an insolvency practitioner, Damien is every day involved in the aftermath of “things going wrong” for businesses.  Damien has pretty much seen it all – and he knows the patterns, precursors and predictors of business carnage when he sees them.  Damien will share some of these at this event – and his insights are sure to resonate with business owners.

Keith Ward.  Keith is a business man who has had some successes and some challenges.  Keith ran Recycle Boutique, owned Maggazino and was one of the founders of the Breakers, but came unstuck with a perfect storm of unrelated events.  He has truly walked through the shadow of death and has spent some time in the care of the Official Assignee.  Keith’s story is a valuable one to all business owners.

As always for Business Owners Forum events, this session will be free of charge and completely free of sales pitches from the supporters or the panelists.  And there will be pizza, beer and wine to lubricate quality discussion.

Business Owners Forums are held monthly – alternating between Whangarei, Albany and Newmarket venues.  This event will be repeated in Newmarket on 15 May.

If you’d like to attend this event, email Fraser Hurrell before the end of 16 May.  And if you’d like to be included on the invite list for future events, just add your contact details in the box to the right.