Category Archives: My businesses

February 8, 2008 Posted in Economic Development, My businesses, New Zealand, Society 2 Comments

Life as an employer in New Zealand…

By Ben Kepes

This morning I was pointed to an article with comments from Deputy Prime Minister Michael Cullen. The gist of the article was that Cullen is challenging Kiwi businesses to lift wages in order to reverse the huge trend to outward migration from New Zealand. The thinking goes that NZ employers

February 5, 2008 Posted in Economic Development, My businesses, New business, New Zealand, Strategy Leave a comment

Dodgy con-job consultancy…

By Ben Kepes

I got this email the other day at my Cactus email address. It was from someone purporting to be a high level management consultant with connections to VC funding sources over seas. The email went like this (identifying names removed); Dear xxxxx Being a climber myself and a Cactus enthusiast

December 12, 2007 Posted in Business, My businesses, New business Leave a comment

Business partners….

By Ben Kepes

A great post here from Will Schroter about choosing business partners. I’m involved in several different businesses with different partners, all of whom bring different strengths and weaknesses to the mix. I’ve seen many business partnerships crumble in the past, people sometimes don’t realise that entering business with another person

December 4, 2007 Posted in Business, Design, Efficiency, IT, My businesses, New business, SaaS, Strategy, Web x.0 Leave a comment

On Facebook and turnarounds…

By Ben Kepes

So – unsurprisingly Facebook did a partial turnaround on its privacy policy for Beacon, deciding that consent would be required before users activity data was published. Posts have claimed that this is the “canary in the coalmine” event for social media. Let me go out on a limb here –

November 29, 2007 Posted in Business, Economic Development, IT, My businesses, New business, New Zealand, Society, Strategy 2 Comments

Our individual parts in the digital future…

By Ben Kepes

I’m sitting here watching the live webcast of the Digital Future Summit. A friend IMd me an said; this needs blogginghow are we going to bat above our weight in a digital economyI replied; i know – but it’s such a big problem – starts with education but touches all

November 23, 2007 Posted in Business, IT, Manufacturing, My businesses, New Zealand, Strategy 1 Comment

Should government funding be here?

By Ben Kepes

Papers inadvertently released today tell the complex and inefficient story behind ICT-NZ the government set up industry group tasked to further the aims of the ICT industry here in New Zealand. ICT-NZ is funded via a complex chain of sources and is a perfect example of complex governmental organisations proving

November 14, 2007 Posted in Business, Efficiency, IT, My businesses Leave a comment

Freeparking – great service….

By Ben Kepes

As you’ll notice, I’ve shifted my blog to my own domain. I spent a bit of time hunting around for someone to host the site and finally decided on a local (well only an hour away) ISP – freeparking, a South Island based ISP. I had a bit of trouble

November 12, 2007 Posted in Business, Design, IT, My businesses, New Zealand, SaaS 3 Comments

Xero and the BNZ finally get Cosy….

By Ben Kepes

Xero announced the other day that the BNZ has become the latest bank to support fully automated bank reconciliations into Xero. I probably spend about four hours a month reconciling the bank accounts on the 3 businesses I run through MYOB – that four hours could be far better spent

November 6, 2007 Posted in Business, Design, Economic Development, Efficiency, Manufacturing, My businesses, New Zealand, Society, Strategy 3 Comments

Competitive advantage… how?

By Ben Kepes

I’ve just been interviewed by a researcher from the University of Otago. Otago has undertaken a long-term research programme looking at how New Zealand firms derive world class competitive advantage from their geographical location, the networks they utilise, industry clusters they are involved in and from local sources of world-class

November 6, 2007 Posted in Business, Design, Economic Development, Governance, IT, Manufacturing, My businesses, New business, New Zealand, Strategy Leave a comment

Well done Leon and team…

By Ben Kepes

Surveylab was founded by Leon Toorenberg, a Wellingtonian and some-time Cactus acquaintance. Cactus is now a supplier to Surveylab and it’s great to read how they’re starting to cross the chasm. On a personal level it’s really nice to see a NZ startup that combines software and hardware products. While

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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