Ben Kepes – Disclosure Statement

Disclosure statement – Updated January 27th 2012: As a specialist on Cloud Computing and software as a service (SaaS), Ben is sometimes paid by companies for advice and speaking engagements. While these relationships could prove challenging when it comes to writing about those companies, Ben strives to retain his editorial independence at all times. Notwithstanding this independence, Ben considers transparency in these matters to be crucial. To this end here follows a full disclosure of Ben’s interests.

Ben is a Director of Diversity Limited, a business owned by the Kepes family that is a vehicle for investment, analysis and consultancy. Diversity has holdings in manufacturing, property and technology companies and undertakes advisory work. A full list of current engagements follows;

• Ben is a non-executive director of RIS Group, a NZAX listed company in the EFTPOS terminal software space
• Ben is co-founder of LiveMigrate (helping small businesses migrate their accounting systems painlessly)
• Ben is an adviser to and investor in Cloudability (an awesome tool to track your cloud spend)
• Ben is curating the CloudU educational program for Rackspace (an awesome place to learn about the cloud and refreshingly not being used as a marketing tool)
• Ben is an adviser to the defrag conference and Glue conference (two of he best goddam conferences on earth)
• Dell Inc has provided some sample hardware for Ben to trial on a long-term basis (nice shiny bling… thanks Dell)
• Ben is an adviser to Connect2Field (awesome software for service companies to manage their field workers)
• Ben is the Australia/New Zealand organizer for CloudCamp - CloudCamps receive sponsorship from a number of vendors (this is me giving back to the community, gratis)
• Learning Source - Ben is an adviser and a shareholder (software for training providers to manage their operations)
• Cactus Climbing - Diversity is a shareholder in, and Ben is a Director of, Cactus Climbing, a business manufacturing backpacks and outdoor clothing (some of the best outdoor gear and workwear on the planet)
• Ben is a shareholder in and a director of a number of private and not for profit organizations (any conflicts between these and my writing will be disclosed)

Previous clients of Diversity Analysis and/or Ben Kepes include (to the best of my knowledge this list is complete, but E&OE):

• Diversity has consulted to Telecom New Zealand
• Ben consulted to VentureBeat on the agenda for the CloudBeat conference
• Ben was an adviser to Focus.com
• Ben has consulted to SITA
• Diversity has consulted to MYOB
• bizchat – Ben was co-founder of bizchat, a community site for small and medium businesses in New Zealand. Bizchat is a not for profit but obtained start-up sponsorship from Telecom New Zealand
• designindustry – Ben has contracted to designindustry as a design strategist
• LeftClick – Ben has previously advised LeftClick
• Intuit – Diversity has worked with Intuit and the Intuit Partner Platform
• Diversity has consulted to Xero
• Ben has consulted to Environment Waikato
• Mindtouch – Diversity has written a whitepaper supported by Mindtouch
• Zuora – Diversity has consulted to Zuora
• Ben was an adviser to the 2C Light Company
• Zuora, Aria, Monexa and Vindicia supported the creation of a Diversity Analysis whitepaper
• Intacct supported the writing of a Diversity Analysis whitepaper
• Rackspace supported the writing of some Diversity Analysis whitepapers
• Ben has written case studies and spoken at an APAC presentation for NetSuite
• Ben was co-editor of CloudAve – CloudAve was sponsored by Zoho
• Diversity has consulted to Zendesk
• Ben was an adviser to WaveAdept prior to its acquisition
• Ben curated the Business Insight website for IBM New Zealand
• Ben was an adviser to Patch Productions
• Box.net was a Diversity Analysis client
• Ben was an advisor to billFLO prior to its acquisition
• Ben was an adviser to RPM Retail
• Ben was a contributor to the Distracted Enterprise site which is sponsored by Mainsoft

Certain vendors comp travel and expenses claims. For the benefit of doubt, T&E reimbursement is a common practice among writers based outside of the US.

In his role as an industry commentator, Ben often receives free  product from vendors. This is standard in the industry and Ben does not consider that these various arrangements require disclosure. For the purposes of clarity however, where product or benefits exceed USD200, these will be disclosed also.

Ben is always interested in talking to organisations that could utilise his skills and experience – contact is welcome;

E ben@diversity.net.nz  |   M 021 2384136
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