Last Week (June 12-13, 2013) I attended the Digital Productivity Conference in Brisbane organised by the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy.
As the Managing Director of a Boutique Telecommunications and Internet Service Provider, I thought it important and useful that I attend. I am glad I did.
I’m glad I went and not because I am in need of convincing of the value of high speed internet. High speed internet improves business processes and allows new products and services to be developed. I am not convinced of government’s ability to cost effectively manage the building of a network but I do hope it eventuates sooner rather than later.
Rather, my reason for attending the conference were inherently selfish. I wanted to see ideas of how other businesses and industries were using high speed internet. This allows me to develop my own ideas and case studies to help promote my own products and services. These ideas will become the crux of other posts on this blog but first I wanted to make some comments on the opening remarks from the current Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy:
– Only 43% of Australian businesses have a web presence
– A business that is highly engaged online is 2 times as likely to be growing and 4 times as likely to be looking at hiring staff instead of downsizing.
These are pretty damning statistics but they make sense. A digitally engaged business is evolutionary. They are embracing the new railroad (the idea of high speed internet as the new railroad is something I will touch upon in future posts) and recognising changing consumer patterns. As they are marketing their business, and engaging with customers where customers want to engage, these businesses are poaching and gaining new customers at a remarkable rate – especially in an economy where confidence is still low.
We are at a crossroads. Marketing and technology are intertwining. High speed internet will see products and services evolve at a rapid rate. I mean, Facebook didn’t even exist 10 years ago and statistics show that Australians are now spending 2 days per month on Facebook. what will be around in 10 years time?
High speed internet and an appropriate ICT plan and structure is vital for business productivity and economic growth. Why do most businesses ignore this fact? How do you make businesses realise that sometimes they need to spend some money investing in technology but that their return on investment will be ten-fold?
The most important question though is, how do you see the NBN benefitting your business?