It’s been a fun year - 11 Events, over 500 meals consumed and more than 1,000 glasses of wine tasted. With our themed evenings, guest speakers and panels proving very popular, we’ve managed to fill the room to capacity a number of times this year. A special thank you to all the members and guests who have attended the events and made them so vibrant and successful. Our speakers often comment on our engaged audience, making it a rewarding experience for them as well.

This has also been a strong year for membership growth, as we increased by over 40% on last year, which was 50% up on the year before. One of the highlights has been the popularity of the new Small Company Membership introduced last year at $175+gst. Another drawcard has been Hudson Gavin Martin making their legal template pack available for use by all full Company Members, as part of the standard subscription.

None of this would have been possible without the efforts of the Executive Committee, and our Guest Speakers. They volunteer their time and energy for the good of the software industry in New Zealand, and the NZSA is thriving thanks to their wonderful contribution.

We take a break from our regular monthly events in January as the Executive Committee makes plans for 2016. If you have any thoughts or ideas you think we should include in our planning, we’d love to hear them. Our next evening event is scheduled for Tuesday 9th Feb.

I hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable time over the holiday season.

Best wishes and seasons greetings, Roger Ford (president@nzsa.org.nz)

What an amazing way to conclude the NZSA networking events for the year! A fully packed venue, dressed up in all manner of Christmas and British ornamentation, set the mood for the sold out evening.

​The ‘Best of British’ theme, courtesy of UKTI, had plenty of welcome surprises. Pol Roger Champagne on arrival, an Aspall premier Cru cyder and a Sandeman Founders Reserve Port tasting, a true ‘British’ Christmas roast (complete with Yorkshire pudding!), table gifts, spot prizes, and even a bagpipe performance!

Following on from the delicious food, wine and entertainment, Nick McInnes the British Consul Director for the UKTI, travelled from Sydney to give an overview of the role the UKTI plays in assisting businesses in their UK plans. Larry Stenberg (from Endeavour Solutions) and Peter Dickinson (from Greentree) did a wonderful job of outlining some of the key dos and don’ts of establishing business in the UK. Peter’s take home message emphasised the importance of quality personnel, both in terms of local talent and additional team members, to get your business off to the best start.

The evening concluded with a hearty Q&A discussion with our Larry, Peter and Paul Beare, from Paul Beare Ltd - which provides expert advice for businesses setting up in the UK.

A big thank you to all who entered the Christmas Wish draw and provided UKTI and the Committee with thought provoking and sometimes amusing ideas!

Nathalie Morris, Founder & Managing Director of Ubiquity

For our first 2016 event, we are pleased to announce Nathalie Morris, founder and Managing Director of Ubiquity has agreed to speak. Nathalie will share insights about technology marketing from two perspectives:

As a tech entrepreneur Nathalie will talk about marketing technology and the lessons she’s learned turning a good software tool into a good software company.

And as a hugely experienced marketer she’ll share examples of how companies she has worked with have used technology to achieve an integrated single view of a contact and data driven communications to improve customer engagement and add value to their customer relationships.

Nathalie will answer questions from the floor and be available after dinner for a quick chat about the material covered in her presentation.

​​​​The Executive Committee will be holding its annual planning session in January. This is an opportunity for us to change things, broaden benefits to members, and tackle challenges in the software industry. We would love to hear your ideas and feedback.

Please take a moment to offer your thoughts and comments about the NZSA here or pass on your feedback to info@nzsa.org.nz.

​We are pleased to announce the recent addition of Jo Patterson to the Executive Committee. Jo has a wealth of experience in the tech marketing sector, helping companies with brand strategy, key messaging development, lead generation and sales performance particularly in the B2B space. She joins us at an exciting time, as we aim to step up our marketing capabilities. We are delighted to have her on board.

​

A reminder if you haven’t already downloaded your copy of the Market Measures 2015 report, you can get a copy here. Don’t miss out on the chance to gain valuable insights into the broader global tech sector – it may help you improve your own operations!

Concentrate’s Market Measures Report is available FREE to all NZSA members. Just use the discount code ‘MMSA’ at the checkout.

Download now

​

A reminder about the Business Intelligence Summit 2016, taking place at the Rendezvous Hotel, Auckland, 15th – 16th February. Register before 26th January and save $200.

Business Intelligence is rapidly accelerating the New Zealand business landscape into a data driven future. With experts forecasting double digit growth in BI investment by 2018 in New Zealand and Australian markets, it is time to start planning now. Taking a business focused approach, this event is designed to focus on increasing ROI and delivering added value to the customer. This summit looks into how BI impacts the wider organisational strategies and structure, and the power of using BI in decision making. Working in collaboration with industry leaders, we recognize the challenges BI programmes bring to leadership, legacy systems, company culture and the difficulties in communicating meaningful stories from the analytics at hand. Now is the time be inspired by how companies are taking the leap into BI and revolutionising their business for the future.

Register here

The NZ Hi-Tech Awards celebrate New Zealand’s most successful high-tech companies and highest achieving individuals.

Originally launched in 1994, they have evolved into a platform for recognising the best all of our technology industries: ICT, electronics, software, biotechnology, creative, telecommunications and digital media.

A full list of categories and entry criteria can be found at www.hitech.org.nz. All entries are submitted online.

Key dates

• Entries for the 2016 Awards will close at 5pm on 7th March 2016
• Finalists will be announced at simultaneous events in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch on 30th March 2016
• Winners will be announced at the Gala Dinner in Auckland on 20th May 2016 along with the recipient of the 2016 Tait Communications Flying Kiwi Award.

Source: Scoop.co.nz

Peter Simon is a well recognised implementation expert in the field of market validation. His services are used by many successful entrepreneurs and investors such as Dr Rob Adams, who has founded or financed more than 40 companies. Market Validation Master Classes are run FREE for startup founders and angel investors to help grow NZ's entrepreneurial ecosystem. Brought to you by Flying Kiwi’s ADI Clinics and supported by Callaghan Innovation, WNT Ventures and UoA Business School.

More Details here: NowGrow.NZ

The New Zealand Government recently introduced draft legislation that will require offshore sellers to include GST at 15% on sales of digital products and services sold to New Zealand private consumers (ie. B2C supplies). The Government has decided to not apply the rules to Business to Business transactions. A wide definition of “services” is proposed, which includes both digital services (eg. movie and music downloads) and other services purchased online (eg. web design, software, publishing, consultancy services).

The new rules will apply from 1 October 2016. This is a relatively short period and businesses affected should consider planning for the new rules as soon as possible.

NZ GST-registered buyers of services 

Offshore sellers will be able to zero-rate remote services sold to NZ GST-registered businesses if they enter into a special agreement with the NZ business buyer. It’s expected this will be utilised if the offshore seller incurs costs with NZ GST that it wishes to recover. Therefore, some NZ buyers of remote services may be approached to sign these zero-rating agreements.

More info here: http://www.pwc.co.nz/tax-services/publications/gst-direct/issue-28-gst-law-reform-on-offshore-online-purchases/

Source: NZ Tech

Thanks for a wonderful year and have a safe & Merry Christmas!
The NZSA Executive