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NZSA Newsletter
NZSA News: July 2017
NZSA President's Update

We held our AGM in June. It's a time to look back over the last 12 months, talk about the strategies for the next year, and elect the new Executive Committee.

We’ve had another great year of events, with our monthly dinners proving as popular as ever with our members. Our goal over the last year was to increase our presence and participation in the Tech and Digital industries in NZ. We made great progress, which has broadened and increased our membership, and provided the NZSA with a number of opportunities to work with others to build and improve the software industry in NZ. We also laid the groundwork to provide more membership benefits in the future, as we put in place a platform to support online membership services.

The next twelve months will be an exciting time for the NZSA as we take advantage of the networks and support we’ve been working on, so keep an eye out for our announcements!

I’m delighted to announce that Aryan Noordhoek has joined the Executive Committee for this year, Aryan has been an active member in the past, and we’re delighted that he is back in Auckland and on board! I’d also like to say a huge thank you to Gavin Lennox and Kerry Frith, who retired from the Exec Committee this year. They have both served for many years, and been significant contributors to the success of the NZSA. Gavin also served as the President before me, and was a tough act to follow!

While the committee is making a big contribution, it's all the members, event attendees, and sponsors that come together that make the NZSA a special place. So a big thank you to everyone who helped make the last twelve months such a great year!

Roger Ford
President, NZSA

Upcoming Events

Our very successful An Angel At My Table event returns in August. With prize money up for grabs we expect strong competition from early stage businesses and start-ups for what traditionally is one of our most popular events on the NZSA calendar.

Entries close at 5pm on Monday, 17 July 2017. Finalists will be announced on Monday 24 July and provided with a personal pitching coach to help them prepare for the big night.

There are sure to be plenty of laughs and you’ll see first-hand what angels look for, the questions they ask and how they make an investment decision. Members of the audience can get involved too – voting on the prestigious Peoples’ Choice Award.

An Angel at My Table is usually a sell-out event with standing room only at the back. Book early to avoid disappointment.

October 10: Ruth Brown - Head of User Experience, Trade Me
Warning: don't try and change a company's culture the way I tried
This is a story about how I made a hash of trying to make Trade Me a more user-centred culture and what I've done since that's worked.

Recent Events

Thank you to the following guest speakers who spoke at our recent networking dinners:

May 9: Scaling software product businesses without losing the magic
Gareth Cronin, General Manager of Partner Product Projects at Xero, spoke about some of the challenges of keeping the development team fully engaged as the company and the product grows, the importance of strong and consistent storytelling, to keep the ‘why’ front and centre and carefully choosing which ideas are put into the development process. We heard about the pros and cons of ‘replatforming’ versus ‘scaffolding’ - the former producing feature parity while the latter can strategically replace weak parts to strengthen the overall user experience.

Gareth Cronin

June 13: Platforms: taking software from good to great
Greg Sharp, CEO and Founder of IT services company Base 2, came on after the AGM to entertain an audience comprising many first time visitors, including Ian Skelton, Customer Manager – Digital, at Callaghan Innovation. Greg used the analogy of eating an ice cream to talk about the impact on user experience of SaaS products choice of hosting service and location. He also shared the latest US statistics which predict 25% of SMBs will be hit by ransomeware in the next 12 months.

Greg Sharp

July 11: Attract good people and smart money
Prominent angel investor Josh Comrie shared very practical insights about resourcing challenges facing start-ups – what still works to attract money and people, what’s changed, and what he is increasingly seeing in 2017. Josh talked about how established companies now face strong competition for resources from the increasingly diverse range of software companies out there, and what they are doing about it. Josh also shared what angels really look for, and how this compares to funding from founders, friends, family, and fools.

Josh Comrie

Other Industry Events

The Women in Tech and Telco Summit, 25, 26, 27 and 28 July
The NZSA is very pleased to be sponsoring the first Women in Tech and Telco Leadership Summit to be held in New Zealand. The summit aims to bring together New Zealand's most prominent and inspiring leaders in the Tech and Telco space. Speakers will share motivational and empowering leadership journeys and insights into overcoming obstacles and embracing change to succeed in this industry. Experts in the field will give their practical advice for attendees to develop strong communication, collaboration and creativity in the workplace and help you take the next step in your career. Registrations are now being accepted for the Women in Tech and Telco Leadership Summit, 25, 26, 27 and 28 July 2017.

The NZSA has secured a 10% discount for members wishing to attend the summit. Please contact admin@nzsa.org.nz to get your 10% NZSA membership discount booking code and book here.

The ConfereNZ 2017 IT & Enterprise Architecture Forum
The IT & Enterprise Architecture Forum is back in 2017 as the key event within NZ for Enterprise Architects and technology evangelists to discuss utilising emerging technologies to help transform business models and deliver strategic business value.

2017 IT & Enterprise Architecture Forum
Members update

We're delighted to welcome these new company and individual members who have joined since our last newsletter.

NZSA new company members:

AUT Enterprises (AUTEL) is the commercialisation arm of AUT, developing AUT’s commercial capability into a tightly focused, highly effective delivery platform that is sustainable, economically viable and socially responsible. For more information visit autel.aut.ac.nz

Xtracta - driven by founder Jonathan Spence’s experiences as an end user of data extraction software, Xtracta makes great quality, innovative software that is easy to use, easy to deploy and low cost. Jonathan started Xtracta to develop what is now known as the Xtracta App. Find out more at www.xtracta.com

e-merge Data Solution Ltd - Helping you keep track of your mobile workforce and facilities. If you have a mobile work force or facilities in different locations, keeping track of things can be difficult without the help of remote monitoring, job dispatch software or a good workflow management system. e-merge Data Solutions was started to equip utilities service providers with technology and software to manage metre-reading staff workflow, their mobile devices and the huge amount of information these mobile workers were gathering. Visit www.e-mergedata.com/utility-services.html

Sinc Ltd - Sinc was inspired by our own experiences as small business owners and managers. Sinc provides ‘The Tools You Need In One Place’. Manage employee hours, productivity, HR and safety. Visit sinc.business to find out more.

Excellent Software & Solutions has specialised in 'one stop shop' mission critical wholesale distribution and retail management systems since 1990. Their approach to IT focuses on maximising long term value and nurturing long term mutually beneficial relationships with their customers. Their client base is a community of independent businesses with similar needs sharing the cost of a specialised IT service which is focused on increasing their competitive advantage. For more information visit www.xls.co.nz

Correction from April newsletter

We apologise to Engage Solutions who we incorrectly acknowledged in the previous newsletter.

Engage Solutions have a simple mission: to make sure people are fully kitted out and trained for the job they do and they get home safely at the end of the day. www.engagesolutions.co.nz

New Individual members

Anteni Schalken
David Gandar
Hayden Vink
Martin Abert
Karla Cooke
Sheridan Dickson
Donny Lai
Helena Bahrami

Industry News & Events

Ubiquity – Spark buys Ubiquity Software
Spark New Zealand has bought Auckland-based marketing automation firm Ubiquity Software for an undisclosed sum, saying it will help beef up data analytics unit Qrious.

Auckland-based Spark has signed a conditional agreement to buy Ubiquity, which provides automated marketing services over a software platform supported by in-house staff, the company said in a statement. The country's biggest telecommunications firm will use its Qrious data warehousing service to inform Ubiquity's marketing platform to “gain scale and critical mass significantly quicker than if Qrious was to develop this software capability on its own”, it said.

Qrious, launched in 2014 as part of incubator Spark Ventures, is a data and analytics business owned by the telecommunications provider and claims 1.2 billion datapoints flow into its platform. Those sources include anonymised Spark mobile location data, Roy Morgan Helix Personas customer profiling and other datasets including census and weather.

Spark chief executive Simon Moutter said. "We believe combining the powerful analytics capabilities of Qrious with the marketing solutions of Ubiquity and expanding Qrious into the data-driven marketing sector will unleash even more value for New Zealand businesses."

NZSA sponsors Ubiquity was incorporated 17 years ago and is owned by founder Nathalie Morris and chief technology officer Guy Bibby.

Read more 

HGM partners with UAE-based Banks Legal
Hudson Gavin Martin are partnering with UAE-based Banks Legal to provide end-to-end support to New Zealand businesses wanting to take advantage of the business opportunities presented by Expo 2020 Dubai.

New Zealand is currently exporting approximately NZD750m (Dh1997m) in goods and services to the UAE, now its 12th largest trading partner.

For businesses present in, or interested in entering the UAE and wider MENA markets, Hudson Gavin Martin and Banks Legal are offering their extensive experience advising businesses on how to operate in the UAE and wider MENA markets.

Edwin Lim, Partner at Hudson Gavin Martin, says: “Expo 2020 Dubai is a fantastic opportunity for New Zealand, and New Zealand businesses. The world wants and needs the innovations that keep coming from New Zealand and the market opportunities for New Zealand businesses in the UAE are real.”

Read more here 

IBM - Found in translation: Cognitive computing breaking down the language barrier
Lost in translation. Not just a charming Bill Murray movie from the early noughties, but an experience all too common in our modern globalised world. As human beings, one of our most fundamental needs is to connect with those around us. This is evident throughout our thousands of years of history, as humans bridged the gaps in their communities – and beyond – with a tool to build these connections: Language. Read more

UKTI - Business investment in the UK: Guidance for overseas businesses
The Department for International Trade, formally UKTI recently released updated guidance for overseas companies looking to set up and locate their businesses in the UK. The guidance includes information on UK business investment and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) opportunities. Read more here

 

NZSA would like to thank the following organisations for their support:
ibm Hudson Gavin Martin Ubiquity UK Trade & Investment
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