Category Archives: Economic Development

December 10, 2008 Posted in Business, Economic Development, Efficiency, New Zealand, Society, Strategy 3 Comments

We’re Not All Rogues!

By Ben Kepes

With the recent press around the proposed 90 day trial period for new employees in New Zealand (and well done to Rod for picking up on this as well), it seemed an opportune time to republish a piece I wrote for Unlimited magazine a few months ago – when the

December 4, 2008 Posted in Business, Economic Development, Efficiency, New business, New Zealand, Strategy, Web x.0 5 Comments

Bizchat is live….

By Ben Kepes

It’s been a long time coming! For some time now I’ve been alluding to a community site I was involved in creating. We’re finally ready to peel a few layers of the onion back. Bizchat has arrived on the world and awaits its members. So what is bizchat? Well in

November 21, 2008 Posted in Business, Economic Development, Efficiency, IT, New business, New Zealand, Society, Strategy 1 Comment

What NZ SMEs really need….

By Ben Kepes

Rod posted about their report into productivity gains for the New Zealand SME community. As Rod pointed out – this is an extremely important issues given that; Small Business contributes $50b to New Zealand’s GDP!  We believe online technology is the key to improving productivity in the sector. The numbers

November 17, 2008 Posted in Business, Economic Development, Efficiency, New business, New Zealand, Society, Strategy 1 Comment

Governments Role in Business

By Ben Kepes

I was alerted to this article which tells of the Australian Government’s funding of 57 research projects to the tune of $3.6 million. Each of the projects was given $64000 to continue development of their projects. The projects where in such diverse areas as online-training, animation and video-ad serving. Reading

November 10, 2008 Posted in Business, Economic Development, Efficiency, IT, New business, New Zealand, Strategy 2 Comments

Wellington IS the World…

By Ben Kepes

Or almost…. On Friday night I had the privilege of MCing the Unlimited Potential Wellington to the World event. W2W showcased two things I consider very important, the application and commercialisation of research, and new business. It was a great evening, I caught up with a bunch of people I

November 6, 2008 Posted in Economic Development, IT, New Zealand, Strategy 6 Comments

The World Isn’t Flat – Let’s Accept That Now…

By Ben Kepes

So the latest OECD rankings are out and the NBR writes about them bemoaning the data caps that all our domestic plans have. They back their concerns up with the following table showing prevalence of data caps on ISP plans in different countries; And what do we notice? Two of

November 5, 2008 Posted in Economic Development, Society 3 Comments

It’s All About Connectivity

By Ben Kepes

The Sunday Times (Of India) reports in their print edition that Natham, a small village in Tamil Nadu, will be the first experiment in a new WiFi mesh strategy. The Times reports that a base station has been identified 10kms away, while a rickshaw which is based in Natham will

November 4, 2008 Posted in Business, Economic Development, Efficiency, New business, New Zealand, Society, Strategy 7 Comments

Banking 2.0 (Or At Least a Start)

By Ben Kepes

I’m not a huge fan of banks. While they’re (currently a necessary evil) – it’s hard not to think that they’re generally just a middle man taking a (substantial) cut for no real benefit. I mean if they provided a great service and made our lives easier we wouldn’t mind

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November 3, 2008 Posted in Business, Economic Development, New business, New Zealand 1 Comment

Wellington to the World – This Friday

By Ben Kepes

Just a reminder for those of you who are in Wellington (or will be this Friday) that the Wellington to the World event is happening. I’m honoured to have been asked to MC the event – both as a former (and still in mind if not in body) Wellingtonian and

October 28, 2008 Posted in Business and the Environment, Economic Development, Society 1 Comment

Awesome – VSA 2.0!

By Ben Kepes

The always informative (if generally technophobic) Mr Raf over at Sustento gave me a heads up about Nabuur. In their own words Nabuur seeks to be; an online volunteering platform that links Neighbours (online volunteers) with Villages (local communities) in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Connected through Nabuur.com, Neighbours and

The Author

Ben Kepes is an analyst, an entrepreneur, a commentator and a business adviser. His business interests include a diverse range of industries from manufacturing to property to technology. As a technology commentator he has a broad presence both in the traditional media and extensively online. Ben covers the convergance of technology, mobile, ubiquity and agility, all enabled by the Cloud. His areas of interest extend to enterprise software, software integration, financial/accounting software, platforms and infrastructure as well as articulating technology simply for everyday users. More on Ben

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