Business Pulse December 2017/January 2018

DEC E M B E R 20 1 7 JAN UARY 20 1 8 BUSINESSPULSE

TACKLING TAX

HALCO BAGS BIG IMPORT DUTY SAVINGS

ENGAGE ONLINE

STREAMING IS THE NEW SENSATION

SHAPE SHIFTER WA COMPANY LEADS THE WAY IN 3D METAL PRINTING

Print Post Approved No. 100004175 ISSN 1328-2689

Now supporting more than 9000 Members DECEMBER 2 017 BUSIN ESS PU L SE 1

HELLO TO SOME OF CCI’S NEWEST MEMBERS

McKenzie Products and Services Doug McKenzie Partner Pneumatics & hydraulics workshop equipment & repairs.

T (08) 9358 6688 E doug@mckenzieproducts.com.au W www.mckenzieproducts.com.au

Haztech Solutions Lee Hughes Managing Director Haztech Solutions is an electrical and instrumentation company specialising in brownfield maintenance and hazardous area inspections.

Avon Youth Community and Family Services Jim Hauraki Chief Executive Officer

E info@haztechsolutions.com.au

We are a not for profit organisation that delivers a range of promotion, prevention, intervention and support services to increase Social-Well being outcomes for young people, their families and the communities they live in across the Wheat-Belt.

W haztechsolutions.com.au

T (08) 9622 2612

T (08) 6141 3195

E ceo@avonyouth.org.au

Big Bubble Desiree Howard Office Manager Amazing shop where you can get general cleaning products, soaps, candles swimming pool hardware and chemicals, bread flours and mixes, cake decorating, craft and home-brew.

T (08) 9274 1992 E desireehoward@westnet.com.au W bigbubblemidland.com.au

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W www.avonyouth.org.au

WE JOINED CCI TO KEEP UP TO DATE AND IN TOUCH WITH WHAT’S GOING ON IN LOCAL BUSINESS AND ANY LAW CHANGES

WE JOINED CCI TO ACCESS RELIABLE AND EVIDENCED BASED (LEGAL) HUMAN RESOURCE INFORMATION

WELCOME A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR ROBYN MOLLOY

Business Pulse Editor

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ith consumer confidence at a three-year high and business confidence continuing to improve, WA businesses can end the year on a higher note. It’s the perfect opportunity, in our last edition of Business Pulse for the year, to look at the next big things for 2018, as is the theme for this edition.

With 3D printing generating a lot of coverage lately — the CSIRO announced it had printed a lifesaving 3D sternum — we take a look at how the technology is set to shake up the manufacturing industry, with Aurora labs leading the way for WA. Don’t miss the Q&A with serial IT entrepreneur Geoff Rohrsheim, who tells it how it is when it comes to getting the best from your website and explains how you could be missing a generation of customers.

We also look at how to use video streaming as a cheap marketing tool, opportunities in the defence shipbuilding industry and how a company saved thousands by nutting out free trade agreements and therefore slashing import duties.

CCI Chief Economist Rick Newnham shares his thoughts on how, as a nation, we must pull together to fix the GST system, while Education and Training Minister Sue Ellery outlines why WA must innovate to meet the future workforce needs.

We would like to thank you for your loyal readership and input to Business Pulse this year and wish you a safe and happy festive season.

Our next edition with have the theme ‘Profit for Purpose’.

To share your stories email robyn.molloy@cciwa.com.au.

It’s your business to register.

DECEMBER 2017 JANUARY 2018

IN THIS EDITION Message from the CEO

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Message from the Chief Economist

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Advocacy in Action

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CCI@work

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Win for WA shipbuilding industry

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Cover story: Manufacturing turns to 3D Automated vehicles on rise

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Member Message: Pat Walker, RAC

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Stream your way to success

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IT essentials for the year ahead

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On track with inventory

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Company saves thousands of dollars on import duties

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Reading the market for trends

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New highs for business and consumer confidence

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Q&A

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Gig workers amp up

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Guest columnist: Sue Ellery

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Winners and Grinners

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Five

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Published monthly by Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Western Australia (Inc) 180 Hay Street, East Perth WA 6004 T (08) 9365 7555 F (08) 9365 7550 E info@cciwa.com www.cciwa.com President Agu Kantsler

If you employ workers in the construction industry you may be required by law to register in the Construction Industry Long Service Leave Scheme.

Find out by visiting www.myleave.wa.gov.au or by calling 08 9476 5400.

Chief Executive Officer Deidre Willmott

Editor Robyn Molloy (08) 9365 7628

Graphic Designer Katie Addison (08) 9365 7518

editor@cciwa.com

katie.addison@cciwa.com

Advertising and Subscription Paula Connell (08) 9365 7544 advertising@cciwa.com

Disclaimer: This information is current at 1 December 2017. CCI has taken all reasonable care in preparing this information, however, it is provided as a guide only. You should seek specific advice from a CCI adviser before acting. CCI does not accept liability for any claim which may arise from any person acting or refraining from acting on this information. Reproduction of any CCI material is not permitted without written authorisation from the Director of Advocacy. © Copyright CCI. All rights reserved.

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Are you unhappy about how much GST Western Australia sends to the Eastern states?

If so, why send your staff’s super contributions there too?

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Before making a decision about WA Super, consider your financial requirements and read the Product Disclosure Statement available at the Fund’s website, www.wasuper.com.au, or by contacting the Fund. Personal information collected will be kept strictly confidential and in accordance with the Fund’s privacy statement available on its website. WA Local Government Superannuation Plan Pty Ltd ABN 64 066 797 162, AFSL 269006, as Trustee for WA Local Government Superannuation Plan ABN 18 159 499 614.

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GREEN SHOOTS AS DOOR CLOSES ON EVENTFUL YEAR A MESSAGE FROM THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

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t has been a big year for WA businesses, many of which are still working to transition from boom-era WA to post-boom, while also trying to navigate the inevitable uncertainty that comes with any state election.

An election combined with a later-than-usual state budget has certainly made for a long year. But thankfully, as CCI’s latest Survey of Business Expectations — included in this edition — has indicated, signs of green shoots in the economy are emerging and business confidence is continuing to improve. Our latest survey for the September quarter has identified that 47 per cent of businesses expect the WA economy to improve or stay the same in the short term, and 60 per cent in the medium term — up 13 per cent and 5 per cent respectively from the previous quarter.

These are good indicators for WA businesses and appropriate for this magazine’s theme, The Next Big Things, showcasing WA businesses transitioning to keep pace with today’s gig economy, the introduction of driverless vehicles and advents in technology that are changing our 21st century workforce.

The next big thing CCI is focused on is ensuring defence contracts boost local jobs, businesses and the WA economy.

CCI recently hosted our second Defence Industry Conference, which brought together more than

230 defence decision-makers, experts, supply chain purchasers and prospective suppliers for industry insights.

In last month’s edition of Business Pulse, I advised you of CCI and WA defence industry’s concerns that the tender for the $35 billion Future Frigates program does not adequately secure Australia’s future sovereign naval shipbuilding design and export capability.

I am pleased to update you that I am expecting to meet with the Minister for Defence Industry Christopher Pyne, to discuss this issue on behalf of WA businesses that will miss the opportunity to be part of growing our sovereign capability and exports, if the transfer of intellectual property for the design, build, and maintenance of the Future Frigates is not mandated.

CCI was pleased to welcome the Commonwealth Government’s powerful vote of confidence in WA’s superior defence capabilities, with 10 of the 12 Offshore Patrol Vessels to be built by Austal and Civmec at Henderson from 2020. This recognises WA is a national defence leader primed to take on future defence opportunities across the supply chain.

GST reform The GST campaign has also continued to ramp up, with more than 200 people from WA business and all sides of the

political spectrum joining forces to call for GST reform at CCI’s Join the fight to fix the GST breakfast.

businesses. I’m pleased to advise you that this festive period will be boosted by news from the

47 PER CENT OF BUSINESSES EXPECT THE WA ECONOMY TO IMPROVE OR STAY THE SAME IN THE SHORT TERM This follows CCI being the only organisation to propose changing the GST calculation to partial equalisation to the national average, which has now been recommended by the Productivity Commission in its draft report.

CCI has now submitted its proposal to the Productivity Commission, which shows that Australia can immediately fix the GST system, with no state being worse off, if the Federal Government commits $5 billion to the transition. This shows that fixing the GST is within reach and must be a high priority for the Federal Government.

Extended retail trading hours

State Government that it will extend retail trading hours for the Christmas and New Year period, in line with last year’s retail trading hours. This is a significant win for WA businesses and consumers who have come to expect and use extended trading hours to help balance work and family commitments, increase employment opportunities and create a more level playing field to compete.

I wish you and your families a joyous and safe festive season and a prosperous new year. ¢

Deidre Willmott Chief Executive Officer

The festive period is a time for family and celebration, which I trust will be enjoyed by all Members, their loved ones, and their employees. It is also a very important time of year for

TO GET INVOLVED: cciwa.com @CCI_CEO

DECEMBER 2 017 BUSIN E SS PU L SE 3

POLICY

FIX GST SYSTEM FOR ALL AUSTRALIANS CCI CHIEF ECONOMIST RICK NEWNHAM

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s the adage goes — “if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together”.

If we want to fix the broken GST system, we must all go together.

This was the premise behind the Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA’s Join the fight to fix the GST breakfast forum, that was attended by more than 200 people from WA business, the community and all sides of the political spectrum in November.

It was also reflected by our guest speakers — WA Premier Mark McGowan, Minister for Social Services Christian Porter, representing the Federal Treasurer, and Fortescue Metals Group Non Executive Chairman Andrew Forrest AO. Simply put, this event was a call to arms for all West Australians — no matter what industry they come from or what their political persuasion is — to come together as part of Team WA to say enough is enough. Now is the time to fix the broken GST. But as much as this was an event that brought all West Australians together on a unity

ticket for GST reform, it wasn’t a ticket that said: ‘poor WA, we don’t receive our fair share’. That argument does not convince a nation. We must make the national case for reform.

When the GST was introduced, it was never envisaged that the system would ever come under so much strain. Our east coast friends are always keen to point out that the current arrangements have served WA very well for many decades. They’re right. WA has been a net beneficiary over the years.

But WA has also forged ahead and developed its own resources and now accounts for more than 40 per cent of Australia’s merchandise exports.

Instead of being rewarded for developing our economy, WA is now punished by stripping away its GST share, leaving us with just four per cent of the national pool.

It’s a stark lesson for other states: if you develop your economy, you will be punished through less GST. Why would governments ever burn political capital and have the difficult conversation with their electorates about developing

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their economies when they know their GST will follow the same fate as WA if they do? Why not sit back and enjoy the ride?

The current system weakens incentives for state governments to take action and promote economic growth. This is clearly holding back the national economy.

government, regardless of where they live.

2. The system must be progrowth. State governments should be rewarded, not punished, for developing their own economy.

3. The system must be durable. Whatever we design must last.

IF IMPLEMENTED, OUR PROPOSAL WOULD HAVE RETURNED $3.5 BILLION TO WA IN ADDITIONAL GST So, what can we do to fix it?

CCI is proud to be the only organisation to propose a change to the GST which has been backed by the Productivity Commission. If implemented, our proposal would have returned $3.5 billion to WA in additional GST in the last year alone.

It would also ensure every Australian citizen, no matter which state or territory they live in, continues to have access to the national average of public services, while incentivising individual states and territories to develop their own industries and grow the national economy.

Our proposal was built on the following three principles: 1. The system must be fair. Every Australian should continue to expect a high standard of services from their state

We want a system where, regardless of the industry a state government chooses to foster, that state should largely reap the benefits of that hard work — not other states.

CCI has made this case for change to the Productivity Commission and it has agreed.

We must change the broken GST system and every Australian stands to benefit.

We must demonstrate, as a unified voice, that this change will benefit all Australians. Our unity as West Australians, behind the proposal which has now been backed by the Productivity Commission, is crucial if we are to be successful.

If we are going to fix the GST once and for all, we cannot go alone. As a nation, we must go together. ¢

POLICY

DOWN AND DUSTY ON HOT ISSUES FOR BUSINESS

Tis the season for submissions at CCI, but there’s no prize for best dressed, just a focus on good policy

JOANNE WEBBER

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n consultation with, and on behalf of our Members, the CCI policy team has prepared several submissions to state and federal government reviews and inquiries lately.

Lowdown on dust The Port Hedland Dust Management Taskforce’s Report to Government with seven recommendations for managing dust in Port Hedland was released for public comment in August.

The Port of Port Hedland is the world’s largest bulk export port and driver of economic and social prosperity in the town. Homes and businesses are close to the port, the product of a time before planning principals guaranteed a good separation of industrial, residential and commercial activity or the health risks were well known.

Since 2009, the taskforce has established interim measures to limit exposure to dust. It has also collected data on dust types and levels across the town to

evaluate effects on health.

In supporting the taskforce’s recommendations, CCI was keen to ensure the operational capacity and efficiency of the Port were not inhibited.

Among the recommendations was the continuation of compliance monitoring in residential areas, the implementation of a coordinated, risk-based approach to industry regulation, enhanced engagement with the community and public annual reports.

The Government will finalise its response after considering submissions.

Health check In June, the State Government announced the Sustainable Health Review to ‘prioritise the delivery of patient-centred, high quality and financially sustainable healthcare across the state’.

It costs more to deliver public health services in WA, mostly because of higher wages and salaries growth. CCI focused its submission on restraining growth in the health budget and bringing the cost of delivering services down to the national benchmark, the Projected Average Cost.

‘The Silver Tsunami’, ‘Going Grey’, however you describe it, Australia’s population is ageing and placing pressure on the sector.

CCI advocates for greater dialogue with the Federal Government and a redirection of federal funds to Transitional Care places, which are cheaper than hospital care and are well provided for in a residential

aged care setting.

Technology should play a bigger role in health. Telehealth can address our geographical challenges by providing lowercost regional health services and sharing digital hospital records with GPs reduces duplicative procedures. CCI’s submission also addressed the growing number of private patients being treated in public hospitals.

The Sustainable Health Review panel will release an interim report by the end of the year and CCI Members will have further opportunity to comment in early 2018.

Do it like the Danes CCI is taking feedback from Members on the Senate inquiry into ‘the benefits and risks of a Bipartisan Australian Defence Agreement, as a basis of planning for, and funding of, Australian Defence capability’. Yes, it’s quite the title but it excites the policy wonks here. Putting party politics aside for the benefit of the nation? Could it work?

CCI is firmly in the ‘yes’ camp. The Danish coalition government, which is made up of three parties, has shown it can be done — and that’s with another four opposition parties providing input.

The Danish Defence Agreement 2018-2022 is currently under discussion and will be the fourth, five-year agreement struck in this manner. For all its failings to improve healthcare or install gun reform, the United States has managed to garner bipartisanship

support for a record $700 billion budget under its 2017 National Defence Authorisation Act. There are some policy issues that should transcend party politics and the defence of our nation is surely the most obvious example.

The rate of change in Australian politics provides even further justification of a change in policy setting approach.

The Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade will provide its report by April 30, 2018.

State IR review CCI has been canvassing Member views for its submission on the McGowan Government’s Ministerial Review of the State Industrial Relations System.

The review is being undertaken to reflect the significant changes in the IR landscape and meet the needs of small business employers, employees and the public sector.

With the majority of CCI Members likely falling under the federal IR system, this review is important as it may consider the definition of an employee.

The State Government has advised that it does not intend to refer any industrial relations powers to the Commonwealth.

A final report is due for Government consideration

by January.

Joanne Webber is the External Relations Advisor at CCI. She can be contacted on (08) 9365 7575 or joanne.webber@cciwa.com ¢

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CCI@WORK 1. Speed

Networking Series OCTOBER 11 This new series — the CCI Quick Connect speed networking series — is becoming increasingly popular with businesses wanting to forge new networks. The second event in the series, it attracted more than 60 business representatives.

The one-minute pitch format allowed participants to master their delivery and make new connections. ¢

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2. Cyber

Security Sundowner OCTOBER 12 Australian Cyber Security Research Centre Chair David Irvine, the only person to head up both the Australian Secret Intelligence Service and Australian Security Intelligence Organisation — outlined the challenges of digital warfare to about 75 businesses.

He was joined by former adviser to the White House on cybersecurity Ben Flatgard and Perth USAsia Centre’s CEO Gordon Flake. ¢

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3. Hackathon OCTOBER 30 About 70 students from 14 schools presented pitches to Youth Affairs Minister Peter Tinley and Youth Affairs Council of WA CEO Ross Wortham at CCI’s annual hackathon. Facilitator David Castelanelli says the year 10 students showed creativity beyond their years when presenting the issues they wanted to problem solve, including mental health and teen pregnancy. ¢

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To register your interest in receiving more information about any of our 2017 events, please email functions@cciwa.com 6 B US I NE S S P U L S E DEC EM B ER 20 1 7

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4. Join the

Fight to Fix the GST Breakfast OCTOBER 31 More than 200 people from WA business and all sides of the political spectrum joined forces to call for GST reform.

Guest speakers were WA Premier Mark McGowan, Federal Minister for Social Services Christian Porter and Fortescue Metals Group Non-Executive Chairman and Chair of Minderoo Foundation Andrew Forrest AO. They encouraged the audience to press the case that the GST system reduces incentives for each state to develop their own economies, which in turn was hurting the entire country. ¢

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5. CCI WA

Defence Industry Conference DECEMBER 3 More than 230 business representatives, industry leaders and politicians turned out to the CCI Defence Industry Conference to learn about what’s happening in defence and the exciting future it heralds for WA. A packed program saw representatives from some of the world’s top shipbuilders take to the stage including Leurssen, Damen and Navantia; while Perth’s Austal Ships outlined the company’s success in a global market.

Representatives from Forgacs, Laing O’Rourke and ECU also shared their thoughts on what is an exciting time for WA as the industry ramps up in response to the Federal Government’s Defence White Paper. ¢

CCI’s The Guide email hits your inbox every Monday morning by 9am giving you a look ahead at the important events, courses and dates to help you do business better. For more information go to cciwa.com/the-guide

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WHAT’S ON THIS MONTH DECEMBER 4

DECEMBER 6

Join us for the next event in our Lighthouse Leadership Series for an exciting opportunity to hear from outgoing CCI CEO, Deidre Willmott, as she shares insights into her career, leadership tips and how CCI has evolved under her direction.

Go to cciwa.com/events

Join us at the next WA Works Sundowner series for informal drinks, networking and the opportunity to hear from Lendlease, who has been shortlisted to tender on the Metropolitan Network Contract and the Statewide Electrical Infrastructure Contract for Main Roads WA worth almost $1b.

DECEMBER 2 017 BUSIN E SS PU L SE 7

IN BRIEF

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF...

MICHAEL GORMALLY, GENERAL MANAGER NORTH, SEA CONTAINERS WA

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arrive at 7am after I’ve been to the gym at 5.30am. The day of the week determines where and what you may find me doing. Take a Monday morning, I meet with my staff and we have an objective meeting to discuss five to six objectives each staff member aims to achieve for the coming week and the steps to achieve them.

The key is to keep it short, take no longer than a minute on each.

After this I jump into the operational weekly meeting.

It’s very important for me to hear firsthand what topics are being discussed. This way I can find efficiencies in our procedures while keeping safety our priority.

It’s our 10-year anniversary next year and we’ve achieved so much in that time. Starting in a small yard in Fremantle with two to three staff, we now have a workforce of 27 strong and call a 25,000sqm yard in Wattleup home. In July, we opened another depot in Welshpool and entered the Victorian market by opening a depot in Melbourne.

We also have 11 locations throughout New Zealand.

We’ve grown 30 per cent in three years with no plans on slowing down.

We have our amazing staff and loyal customers to thank for this as most of our business is from referrals or repeat customers.

We pride ourselves on being the

BESTSELLERS LAST MONTH 1. F ind Your Why: A Practical Guide to Discovering Purpose for You or Your Team – Simon Sinek, $35 2. Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action – Simon Sinek, $24.99 3. Ready to Soar: Turn Your Idea into a Business – Naomi Simson, $29.99 4. Blue Ocean Shift – W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne, $44.99 5. Way of the Wolf: Straight line selling, master the art of persuasion influence and success – Jordan Belfort $29.99 Source: Boffins Books in Perth CBD

best in the industry in providing customer service and high-quality products. We never take our finger off the pulse when it comes to our customer’s needs. Nothing is too much to ask from us.

Culture is important to us. It’s a word you hear daily in SCWA and stems from our Managing Director Kevin Cooper. Things such as nights out in the casino, no work on your birthday, BBQs and personal development courses are just a few examples of what we do for our staff. It’s no surprise we have such a low staff turnover — it’s such a fun environment to work, while at the same time everyone challenges themselves to be better.

Sea containers are a bit of a global phenomenon at the minute for housing, pop-up bars and shops. There’s an event in Perth city in December with bars, music setups and amusements, all from sea containers. We’ve

recently done a cool pop-up bar at Ascot racecourse. We have a long history of modifications by our outstanding fabrication team.

They can do simple things like adding a window and door for mum and dad to put in the back garden or really complicated major builds like workshops, laboratories and cafes. The strangest thing I built was a doomsday container for a client who buried it — strange, but it did look awesome.

Another part of our business is our Containerised Storage Solutions. People are beginning to see that we are considerably more affordable than traditional storage options.

We love giving back to the local community. We have done 50 sponsorship deals for schools in the past four years and been involved in an accommodation unit for Sea Shepherd and the Water for Africa project. ¢

LESSONS LEARNT John Van Der Wielen Chief Executive Officer HBF Health Growing up I learnt … I’m one of five children, a migrant son, and I learnt that high integrity, hard work and compassion for others were important because there was a lot of us in the one house and not much room — so we all had to get along.

From my family I learnt … We were encouraged to be honest in our opinions and have a reason to elevate those opinions. In a large family I learnt to debate, argue and share honestly my feelings.

The most valuable lesson I learnt in school … I wished I’d focused more when I had the chance. That sounds like an old man, but if you had your time again you’d work harder.

THE BEST WAY TO PREDICT THE FUTURE IS TO INVENT IT Lori Mitchell-Keller, SVP and Head of Global Retail for SAP quoting futurist Alan Kay 8 B US I NE S S P U L S E DEC EM B ER 20 1 7

This year I’ve learnt … It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in, the corporate challenges and the strategies to deliver on them remain the same globally. Are you clear about your direction? Are you honest about the data you’re seeing? Are you leading your people the right way and do they know what’s expected of them?

One lesson I wish I had learnt earlier … If you’ve got a strategy, then stick to it and don’t waver. For example, I released a product in Australia called Top 200, an index investment fund that links the top 200 shares into an indexed investment tracker fund. I believed in it but after 18 months I withdrew it because it wasn’t selling enough. Today, top 200 and tracker funds and index investments are all the rage.

A small but crucial lesson to learn is … Don’t quit too early. I might have been too early with Top 200 but the strategy was right. It wasn’t’ a hunch, I’d done the research, we looked at what people were paying, it was designed logically and I’m applying that at HBF today.

IN BRIEF

SUCCESSION STRAYS FROM FAMILY LINES

The humble family business could soon be a thing of the past with the next generation simply not being ready, or willing, to follow in the footsteps of their flesh and blood, a new survey has found.

Australian early-stage succession consultancy firm Fracchia & Co interviewed 97 large family business owners around the world about self-preparation, global and macro forces and successor preparedness.

Fracchia & Co. Co-Founder Danielle Fracchia says a fundamental shift in mindset is required to embrace succession planning and transition as a process, not an event.

“Declining interest in family business involvement, skill and capability gaps and misalignments, and the dynamic forces of globalisation are just three of the leading factors threatening the sustainability of multi-generational family businesses,” she says.

“Confidence in handing over the reins to the next generation of family business owners continues to diminish at a rapid rate … it is the primary theme keeping them awake at night,” said the other half of the firm Gianni Fracchia.

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Number of Australians aged 14+ subscribed to Netflix — a rise of 29 per cent on the previous three months.

THE STORY: SUBSCRIPTION ECONOMY THRIVES

Monthly subscriptions are set to change the way we shop for transport, groceries, entertainment and more, if Australians go the way of the Brits

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“UK CONSUMERS’ AVERAGE MONTHLY SPEND ON SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES HAS TRIPLED IN THE PAST YEAR”

YOU ARE THE HR MANAGER HOW WOULD YOU HANDLE THIS SCENARIO?

An employee comes into your office in tears, saying she felt bullied by her manager but she does not want to make an official complaint.

Do you have any obligation to do anything further?

E 100m The number of consumers who will shop in augmented reality by 2020, according to technology researcher Gartner.

ccording to global subscription experts Zuora, 90 per cent of the British adult population now subscribe to their favourite stores, brands and services instead of purchasing them on a ‘one-off’ basis — an 11 per cent increase on the previous year.

UK consumers’ average monthly spend on subscription services has tripled in the past year — from £18.49 to £56 — driven by an increase in the number of businesses offering subscriptions to their customers as an alternative payment option.

An estimated 1.7 million people in the UK opt for subscription-based grocery shopping services instead of the traditional weekly shop.

Zuora CEO Tien Tzuo said the subscription economy is being driven by subscribers, not vendors.

“Customers today, especially millennials, see less separation between their business and personal selves and expect their business relationships to be more personalised,” he says. ¢

mployers have a duty of care to provide a safe working environment for all employees and this may constitute a hazard which is no different to any other unsafe workplace practice. So you need to consider this when deciding on your next steps.

Now that you are aware this employee feels as though she has been bullied, you need to consider whether or not there is any risk to her safety or mental health.

If so, you should follow any company policies and procedures you have to deal with bullying in the workplace, which may include a mediation between the parties or a workplace investigation to establish whether or not the conduct constitutes bullying.

For more information, contact CCI’s Workplace Consulting Team on (08) 9365 7600 or email advice@cciwa.com ¢ DECEMBER 2 017 BUSIN E SS PU L SE 9

BUSINESS NEWS

AUSTAL JUMPS SHIP FOR OPV DEAL

WA companies are set to benefit from the $3-4 billion naval contract to build 12 offshore patrol vessels for the Royal Australian Navy

ROBYN MOLLOY

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erman shipping giant Luerssen has been named prime contractor for the SEA 1180 program and will team with ASC in Adelaide to design and build two of the vessels before construction transfers to Perth in 2020.

Luerssen will then work with WA companies Austal and Civmec/Forgacs to complete the next 10 OPVs at Henderson, south of Perth.

The hotly contested bid, part of the Federal Government’s $90 billion spend on new naval ships and submarines, saw three shortlisted contenders vying for the lucrative deal. The bidders included Austal, who joined forces with Germany’s Fassmer as well as Civmec/Forgacs and ASC, who both formed partnerships with German shipping giant Luerssen and Dutch shipbuilder Damen.

In a twist, Austal was included in the deal with Luerssen, with

Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne saying the government wanted to use all the resources available to it.

The details of the deal were still being finalised. Construction is due to start on the first vessel at the end of 2018.

CCI CEO Deidre Willmott says the announcement is recognition that WA is a national defence leader ready to take on future defence opportunities.

“WA has the capability to make a substantial contribution to the national shipbuilding effort through our superior facilities at Henderson, which is strategically located with direct access to the Indian Ocean and HMAS Stirling — the Royal Australian Navy’s largest base.

“Our skilled workforce is also ready to take on all aspects of the OPV contract, from the design and build to future maintenance and sustainment.”

CCI has played a key role in leading WA’s defence advocacy by founding the WA Defence Industry Council — an initiative to bring together WA’s defence industry to work with Federal and State Governments to promote

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WA’s elite defence capabilities and competitive advantages.

“The Council’s collective advocacy has already led to WA’s Henderson being named one of Australia’s two shipbuilding hubs, and helped to secure an extra $100 million into WA’s defence infrastructure at HMAS Stirling and the Henderson strip,” Willmott says.

Civmec Chairman James Fitzgerald says the contract will create hundreds of jobs at its Henderson facility and underpin work at its yard for at least a decade.

“We will update the market on the financial details of the project after the commercial negotiations with Luerssen conclude,” he says.

Civmec is constructing an $80m shipbuilding facility, which Luerssen CEO Peter Luerssen has described as having the potential to make the company the “leading shipbuilders in this part of the world”.

Austal CEO David Singleton says contract negotiations are expected to take place over the next few months.

“The Australian Government has made a commitment to a continuous naval shipbuilding industry and Austal looks forward to playing a role in making this happen. As I have said many times, the OPV program is very important for our Henderson workforce and we welcome the fact that our employees will have an opportunity to build these vessels,” he says.

WA capabilities The State Government is inviting WA-based enterprises and entrepreneurs to submit assessments of their industrial and innovation capabilities to meet defence requirements to take advantage of Australia’s $200b defence rebuilding program.

The data will be published in

a directory in 2018 to promote WA industrial capabilities to the Department of Defence’s procurement agencies, defence prime contractors and international markets.

Representing up to 200 areas of new business opportunities, defence requirements are outlined in six Defence Capability Streams: intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, electronic warfare, space and cyber; key enablers; land combat and amphibious warfare; strike and air combat; maritime and anti-submarine warfare; and air and sea lift.

Voluntary assessments by WA businesses of their industrial and innovation capabilities against Defence’s requirements can be submitted to Defence West for inclusion in the directory.

Visit www.defencewesthub. com.au for details.

Defence grants Businesses with a good defence-related idea may qualify for federal grants designed to foster military innovation with $10m to be invested over 10 years in Australia’s SMEs. The initiative, Small Business Innovation Research for Defence, is a two-stage program providing an initial funding round of $100,000 to research potential technology over six-to-nine months.

The second stage will be tested against the defence application, with funding of up to $750,000 over one to two years.

Small to medium enterprises will be required to address future defence problems aligned with the priority areas in the fund.

For further information visit www.business.gov.au/cdic.

Keep up to date with major defence projects by subscribing to WA Works. Visit cciwa.com/ wa-works. ¢

BUSINESS NEWS

OCEAN OF NEW SHIPBUILDING OPPORTUNITY CCI’s recent Defence Industry Conference provided West Australian businesses with an insight into opportunities expected to flow on from naval shipbuilding in South Australia

BY STEPHEN BELL AND ROBYN MOLLOY

H

eavy hitters in the defence industry turned out to the CCI Defence Industry Conference with CCI CEO Deidre Willmott enthusiastic about the industry benefits expected to flow from the $3-4 billion SEA 1180 program to build 12 offshore patrol vessels (OPV) for the Royal Australian Navy.

Winning bidder, German shipbuilder Leurssen, who will team with three Australian shipbuilders including ASC, Austal and Forgacs Marine and Defence, has promised to transfer intellectual property to Australia to help build the country’s naval shipbuilding capacity and the future export potential of OPVs.

for WA businesses supplying that project,” Willmott told more than 230 representatives from politics, industry and the supply chain.

Contract concerns Willmott raised concerns that the contract for the $35 billion SEA 5000 Future Frigates program — which has shortlisted UK’s BAE Systems, Italy’s Fincantieri and Spain’s Navantia — does not seek the development of a partnership with a local shipbuilder.

“We believe that the transfer of intellectual property for the design, build and maintenance of the future frigates must be mandated from the very beginning of the design process,” Willmot said.

Willmott told the conference she had written to the Minister for Defence Industry Christopher

THERE IS NO DOUBT THE OPV CONTRACT WILL BUILD OUR EXPORT CAPABILITIES Under the Federal Government’s requirements, the successful bidder must maximise Australian industry opportunities via a local workforce, use local steel and specify how they will transition their existing supply chains to Australian supply chains.

“There is no doubt that the OPV contract will build our export capabilities and opportunities

Pyne expressing concerns about the approach of the process that is under way. She was due to meet with Pyne to discuss CCI’s concerns further as Business Pulse went to press.

WA’s supply chain also enjoyed a masterclass on how to do business with Defence.

Newcomers found plenty to latch onto in the address by Paul Hosie, Defence Industry

Paul Hosie, Defence Industry Facilitator for the Federal Government’s CDIC.

Facilitator for the Federal Government’s CDIC, who promised suppliers it was worth their while to read the last four pages of the 2016 Defence Industry Policy Statement.

“Those are the annexes and that tells you where the rubber hits the road in terms of funded programs to help businesses get into defence,” he said.

“These are really exciting times — $195 billion over 10 years is a lot of money in anyone’s business.”

CDIC employed 50 people across Australia specifically tasked with helping industry hook up with all parts of Defence, including its business units and prime contractors, he said.

He warned defence newcomers that unlike, earlier versions, Defence’s latest Australian Industry Capability (AIC) program had ‘teeth’ to ensure the primes enforced its requirements.

“Any defence contract over $20m will require an AIC plan as part of the tender documentation,” he said.

From there, the CCI masterclass swapped to a high-powered supplier forum.

Top tips Hofmann Engineering Managing Director Erich Hofmann said his top tip for a business trying to break into defence was to develop a recognised quality control system.

“When we started doing the Collins Class submarines 30 years ago, that was the impetus for us to start our QA system in earnest,” he said. “The other important

thing is to make sure you have a good cashflow from other work.

“You may be used to working with other industries, where you give a quote, a few weeks later you get an order, which you then deliver on and get paid.

“In Defence, you may have a year of discussions, several quotes, a whole lot of quality audits, and then about two years later — if you’re lucky — you will get an order. So, you need something else to keep the coffee machine going.”

Warning on admin Maritime Defence Solutions Managing Director Terry Gropp also urged defence newbies to understand the amount of administration required to satisfy Defence’s strict quality and system requirements.

“When we talk of sustainment, it is normally 40 per cent production and 60 per cent paperwork,” Gropp said.

The third panellist, Calytrix Technologies CEO Shawn Parr, offered a different slant, suggesting that genuine innovation and agility were key factors in getting on Defence’s radar.

“As you bid into large programs you must understand your value proposition to the prime — often, it’s not just what you bring, but how the prime will view that.

Check out what’s happening on major projects by subscribing to WA Works. Call Paula Connell on (08) 9365 7544, email paula.connell@cciwa.com or visit cciwa.com/wa-works ¢

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Research and development in 3D printing by a small WA business threatens to turn the world of metal manufacturing on its head

HAMISH HASTIE

A

lack of speed and excessive cost has held additive manufacturing or ‘3D printing’ back as a viable manufacturing alternative, but that could soon change thanks to Western Australian innovation.

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The world is excited about 3D printing because it means you can create extremely complex objects in one piece, potentially doing away with elongated and labourheavy manufacturing processes.

The global buzz around 3D printing is a relatively new thing given its modern form was actually invented in 1984 by American Charles Hull using a process he coined ‘stereolithography’.

Now that many of the original patents have expired, the whole sector has exploded. Start-ups to multinationals like GE can print things smaller than the head of a needle or large heavy industrial parts in sectors like automotive and aerospace manufacturing.

There are also some extraordinary spin-offs in health and agriculture sectors where scientists are 3D printing food and even organs.

The printing process works by moulding thousands of

specifically designed layers on top of each other.

A computer-generated 3D model is sent to the printer in much the same way you would send a word document to an inkjet printer.

Your chosen material, whether it be plastics or certain metals, is then laid out on a bed inside the printer.

Lasers melt the material together in a precise layer and, once complete, the bed drops down a fraction and another layer is moulded directly on top of it.

Bibra Lake-based Aurora labs has only been operating for three years and claims to be close to solving the speed/cost problem for 3D metal printing.

Aurora already sells one of the world’s lowest-cost small format 3D metal printers but Managing Director and Interim Chairman David Budge says it is currently testing a larger format printer with increased capability

THE NEXT BIG THINGS and dramatically improved printing speeds.

“When we first looked at the industry, we realised there were really two fundamental problems with 3D metal printing in the market today. Firstly, machines were enormously expensive.

Secondly, they were very slow,” he says.

“When you take enormously expensive machines and put them alongside a very slow production rate, the parts you produce have to be very expensive to warrant their manufacture.

“From our view, that’s why 3D metal printing has been very limited in its size in growth today.

could replace a significant portion of that.

“It has the potential to significantly reduce the lead times for components for mining and oil and gas and other industries that use a lot of components. They can potentially have a part in a matter of days instead of waiting weeks or months.

“This is why we’ve got a lot of large companies interested in what we’re doing. This could absolutely affect business’ bottom line.

“Instead of having significant capital locked up in different types of spare parts on the shelf which may or may not be used,

WE’RE LOOKING TO BE ABLE TO PRINT METAL PARTS OF UP TO A TONNE OR MORE IN A 24-HOUR TIMEFRAME “However, with the technology we’re developing at the moment, we’re looking to be able to print metal parts of up to a tonne or more in a 24-hour timeframe, which is considerably faster than any other printers currently in the market.”

Budge says 3D metal printing has the capacity to disrupt manufacturing and impact bottom lines in ways never seen before.

“Potentially our machines will be able to produce parts cost competitively with traditional manufacturers,” he says.

“The metal manufacturing market is fairly large, in the order of US$3-4 trillion. 3D printing

you only need a bunch of printers and consumable metal powder.”

The whole cost structure of metal manufacturing will be impacted as well.

“There is no additional cost for more complicated parts,” Budge says. “The cost is the same for a 10kg solid block of stainless steel or a 10kg counter current heat exchange with 10,000 tiny tubes all the way through it.

“Suddenly, incredibly complex parts can be produced for the same cost as a block of metal.

The more complex the part, the bigger the savings.”

In addition to the large format printer, Aurora is also looking to

Xerox drives into 3D printer market The leap from traditional printing to 3D printing seems like a natural progression for the world’s biggest printer manufacturers. Fuji Xerox first identified additive manufacturing as a natural evolution for its business in 2015 and by the end of that year had launched its first 3D solution.

Fuji’s Wide Format and 3D Solutions marketing manager Tatjana Ferguson says additive manufacturing in Australia is an emerging technology and interest continues to increase and follow global trends.

“Additive manufacturing interest is coming from many different market segments as companies diversify their operations and move away from high-cost, labour-intensive processes and transition to creative, high-value niche technologies,” she says.

“More companies are becoming aware of 3D printing technology and are investigating how it would fit into their businesses.

“Early adopters include the education sector and government departments as well 3D print hubs which have opened throughout Australia.”

She says Fuji Xerox see the biggest opportunity for 3D printing in education, technical architects, engineers, construction, designers and manufacturing.

“Our product offering also fits across several other market segments including government, defence, medical and dental, automotive, aerospace, arts and entertainment as well as jewellery and fashion,” she says.

The most common materials used in 3D printers are thermoplastics and photopolymers, both of which have many useful applications.

Ferguson says this makes them perfect for demanding designers and engineers in aerospace, automotive, medical and other industries.

It now offers customised solutions for businesses with 3D printers, software, consumables, finishing equipment and spares.

bolster the metal powder or ‘ink’ side of its business.

It is also creating an iTunes style online store so original equipment manufacturers can upload certified product designs for customers to print on a ‘pay- per-print’ basis.

Budge says the technology will evolve rapidly over the next five to 10 years and Aurora aims to be at the front of the wave.

University of WA head of

Mechanical and Chemical Engineering Associate Professor Tim Sercombe says the process is still extremely slow, particularly in metal printing.

“The process is slowly gaining more and more industrial relevance,” he says. “But it still has some significant drawbacks, particularly in the time it takes to make a part.”

He says while there hasn’t been a great deal of major disruptive innovation, particularly in metal 3D printing, for seven or eight years, major disruptive change may be around the corner and it might just come from WA. “There was a step change probably 10 years ago with the types of laser we were using,” he says.

“Now those lasers have become bigger, which means you can do it faster — but it’s still only incremental changes. They’re also introducing multiple laser systems that are all helping the speed but not really producing a major change.”¢

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DAYS NUMBERED FOR DRIVERS The days of scoffing in your rear-view mirror at the driver behind you for talking on the phone or eating a bowl of cereal will soon be numbered

HAMISH HASTIE

I

n less than 10 years you probably won’t have a rear-view mirror or even be facing forward in your vehicle.

That car behind you might actually be a truck with no one at the wheel except for some lasers, cameras and some very clever software.

This will be the brave new world of automated vehicles — a concept that has emerged from realms of science fiction to shake up every aspect of transportation.

Automated vehicles aren’t a new technology.

In fact, it’s so refined that trains, as well as massive agriculture and mining vehicles are already using it.

The road is the final frontier, however, and while WA might

not be testing truck platooning like Europe — where driverless trucks travel in a close convoy, with the first truck determining route and speed while wirelessly communicating with the others — we are having our own wins.

The RAC WA Intellibus has been traversing the South Perth Foreshore since Australia’s first automated vehicle trial began in 2015, ferrying more than 10,000 people over 6680km.

In November, Federal Finance Minister Mathias Cormann announced $980,000 for the trial to continue for another two years to help solve the challenges of transitioning to automated vehicles.

From a business point of view, vehicles that are automated present unprecedented opportunities.

Lionel Samson Sadleirs Group Chief Executive Ian Kent manages a huge fleet of trucks and has been keeping a close eye on the development of automated vehicles. He believes they aren’t far away and anyone

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aged five and under probably won’t even need a licence.

“The day-to-day tech is already being embedded,” he says.

“A number of new model cars are now almost driverless. They won’t let you get inside the safe distance to the car in front. They won’t let you change lanes if there’s a car there.”

He says automated vehicles will reduce staffing issues, traffic congestion and improve safety, which will ultimately benefit its customers.

“Fleet utilisation is a critical component of the efficiency of our business,” he says.

“One of the highest components of capital that we put in our business is a purchase of fleet — so maximising that investment is critical.

“Driverless technology should give us the capacity to improve that utilisation. If you take a lot of the human element away, less crashes and less traffic on the road, there would be a whole load of things that improve utilisation for us.” With the good comes the difficult. And the advent of autonomous vehicles presents

some serious challenges.

Kent says one of the biggest will be the impact on the current workforce. But he doesn’t believe unemployment will go up.

“If we implemented driverless technology in our fleet tomorrow, 175 drivers wouldn’t have a job,” he says. “Driverless technology in agriculture and mining has taken huge labour out of the market but our overall employment across the country has stuck around that five per cent mark.

“All these things have been happening around us but the overall unemployment rate has not changed. So the big challenge behind it is how to retool these people.”

The transition period will also be tough. Kent says regulators will need to act fast when the technology becomes more prevalent, both with education and infrastructure.

He says driverless long-haul trucks will be tricky on WA roads because highways are mostly single lane and the early stages of driverless trucks will logically start on linehaul (point to point) journeys. ¢

THE NEXT BIG THINGS

DRIVERLESS BUS TRIAL PREPARES ROADMAP FOR CHANGE

The RAC hopes its automated vehicle trial will lead the way to reduced death and injury on our roads, says Pat Walker

R

AC is proud to be delivering Australia’s very first automated vehicle trial right here in Western Australia.

Leading the world, the RAC Intellibus was launched in August 2016 with the support of the State Government and the City of South Perth.

Operating on the streets of South Perth for more than 12 months, 5100 passengers have already participated in the RAC Intellibus trial as it travels along a 3.4km route in South Perth — interacting in exactly the same environment as you experience every day as you drive to your destination.

technology, and help Australia prepare a roadmap for the changes to support and safely transition to this technology.

There is a lot of excitement about the benefits of automated vehicle technology that are being delivered through the trial, including the ability to

5100 PASSENGERS HAVE ALREADY PARTICIPATED IN THE RAC INTELLIBUS TRIAL

Nearly 10,000 people have also registered to take part in the trial so far and the RAC Intellibus has now travelled more than 6150km in autonomous mode.

The RAC Intellibus trial aims to increase the understanding about the potential impacts and opportunities of driverless vehicles, give Australians the chance to see and experience the

change the way we commute.

And automated vehicles also have the potential to be ‘the next big thing’ for road safety.

In fact, driverless vehicles could be the game changer we are searching for because of their potential to remove 90 per cent of the major causes of road crashes — human error.

This human error will be

removed because they don’t drink and drive. They don’t speed. They can’t drive tired and they won’t send a text message from behind the wheel.

Road traffic injury is one of the biggest causes of hospitalisation and death for Australians aged under 45. Road trauma not only has a personal cost for the victims, their families and loved ones, it also has an economic cost. In WA alone, road trauma has cost the State more than $2.8 billion over the past five years.

Having our own trial here in WA has also allowed us to contribute to research initiatives and assist with the development of important public policy to help ensure Australia is ready for the inevitable arrival of driverless vehicles.

We are also gaining and sharing practical knowledge by including issues relating to vehicle registration, insurance, liability, risk trial guidelines and standards so that we can prepare and adapt to the future of this technology.

The streamlining of the regulatory processes for adopting

autonomous vehicle technology is critical. In fact, WA’s Road Traffic Code mentions the word ‘driver’ 988 times. This is something to consider, given ‘automation’ means the vehicle will act as both the vehicle and the driver.

For driverless vehicle technology to really make an impact on road safety, we need to get as many people familiar with this technology as possible.

It’s one way we know we really can help to save lives and stop serious injuries on our roads.

When it comes to road safety, we cannot ‘set and forget’ because we can’t afford to be complacent — we also need to embrace technology and the potential benefits it brings. One of the challenges for all of us is to show leadership in the delivery of driverless vehicle technology, continue to advocate, adapt, and deliver the solutions.

RAC thinks this is something we can all support.

Pat Walker is Executive General Manager Advocacy and Members at the RAC. ¢

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STREAMING SUCCES Video streaming has proven itself to be an affordable and effective marketing tool for businesses of all sizes — if done correctly CARRIE COX

W

ith more than 100 million hours of video watched daily on Facebook alone and a 360 per cent increase in the number of videos populating daily Facebook feeds, it might be time to ditch the static posts and market your business a different way.

Video streaming has proven itself as an easy and costeffective hook to get your target audience’s attention, whether it be on Facebook or multiple social media platforms.

You don’t need to download it.

Just click and play it.

With 79 per cent of Australians on social media, according to the 2017 Sensis Social Media report, and 56 per cent of Australians on the internet more than five times per day, the potential audiences are enormous.

Relevance is vital While anyone today can create and upload video to a social media platform for free, publishing irrelevant content could actually harm your business. In other words, don’t post that video of your latest corporate retreat just because you can.

The Head of Digital Projects and Strategy at Perth’s The Brand Agency, Paul Hamilton, says video streaming, like any form of marketing, should be based on strategy underpinned by sound research.

“People and customers are looking for relevancy and engagement through channels — things that mean something to them,” Hamilton says.

“These days they are bombarded with content, so unless there’s some relevance to your message for them, it won’t necessarily

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be noticed or welcomed.”

Hamilton suggests first looking at what other businesses are doing in your market — what channels they’re using and what messages they’re sending. What appears to be working for them and what isn’t? What engages you as a consumer right now?

in the world to do a live stream (video broadcast in real time) on YouTube. The event was a stunt jump on a Harley Davidson in Sydney in 2009 but more recently The Brand Agency has effectively live streamed cooking demonstrations for Kleenheat to engage audiences. “These

IT’S SO IMPORTANT TO TAKE A CUSTOMER-CENTRIC VIEW OF EVERYTHING YOU’RE DOING

“If in doubt, get some expert advice,” advises Hamilton. “And remember that it all has to start with the customer — not with your business. It’s so important to take a customer-centric view of everything you’re doing from a marketing perspective.”

Test and learn Hamilton is a fan of video streaming and has used it to great effect for numerous businesses, big and small. In fact, he was one of the first people

events hit the mark strongly, generated interest across social channels, highlighted the brand values and attracted great feedback,” he says.

When done well, the appeal of live streaming lies in its authenticity. “There’s an element of rawness to it because you’re seeing it in the moment,” Hamilton explains. “It feels less controlled than other types of marketing messages. For an audience, there’s something very engaging about it happening there and then.”

THE NEXT BIG THINGS

Internal streaming

He says this was particularly evident in the 2016 and 2017 Kleenheat live streams.

“In 2016, we had a much larger production approach and filmed a more broadcast solution, so essentially like you were in the audience,” he says.

“However, for 2017 we ran a more behind-the-scenes approach with the talent. We made it more casual, which allowed more personality and authenticity to shine through and, ultimately, had a better alignment with the brand.”

Even when viewed after the event, streamed content can feel live to an audience — the appeal lies in watching an event that seems unscripted.

That said, Facebook figures show users are three times more likely to watch a live video than something that’s no longer live.

Hamilton’s final piece of advice is to always test the effectiveness of your content marketing, a much easier task these days thanks to the free analytics attached to many platforms. “Look at all your metrics and gather all the feedback,” he says. “You have to test and learn as you go — that’s the only way you’ll know how relevant your content is to your customer. Relevance is vital.”

Facebook trends Facebook is a handy starting point for exploring the impact of video on audiences. Though only one social media platform, it is still by far the world’s most popular, with 1.59 billion active users worldwide in 2016 (next in line is Twitter with 329 million active users). According to the State of Social Media Report 2016, 93 per cent of marketers now use Facebook to promote businesses, brands and events.

The same report showed that videos on Facebook have a 135 per cent greater reach than a photo. Sixty-five per cent of people who watch the first three seconds of a Facebook video will watch for at least 10 seconds.

More than 100 million hours of video are watched on Facebook every day. Since 2014, there’s been a 360 per cent increase in the number of videos populating daily Facebook feeds — the joint result of improved, cheaper technology and receptive consumers.

If Facebook use is a guide, streaming is a marketing tool no modern business should ignore.

Significantly, Facebook expects its platform to be ‘all video’ within the next five years. ¢

While it’s most often used for external communications, live streaming is becoming an increasingly powerful tool for communicating with internal stakeholders too. Western Power learnt this in July when it successfully streamed its first ‘town hall’ training presentation to staff in remote locations right around the state.

Head of Stakeholders and Communication Pete Kerr told Business Pulse the event had been a response to the challenge of communicating meaningfully to a vast network of people.

“We’re often seen to be head office-focused and we have all these amazing people working in our regional depots who may feel overlooked at times. This was our attempt to do something about that in a significant way,” Kerr says.

“The initial idea was to put together a presentation and take it on the road but that quickly got very difficult. Then a bright spark in my team suggested a live streaming exercise.

“We hired out the Mandurah Performing Arts Centre for the day and brought together about 400 people from the organisation to attend a series of training exercises, corporate videos and customer-focused messages.

“We put a lot of planning into making the content fresh, diverse and compelling. The centre provided the setting up, AV and lighting — in fact, for less cost than hiring the Perth Convention Centre we got the venue, lunch and AV all included.

It was worth going out of town to do it. With the help of an external AV company, we broadcast the event live and it reached about two thirds of our work office, which was about 3000 people at the time. We also put it up on the intranet for people to watch after the event.

“The feedback we received about the inclusivity of the streaming event was really fantastic and it made us realise that we need to do this sort of thing more often. It’s a really costeffective way of reaching a lot of people in a way that has a strong impact. It ticked a lot of boxes for us.”

Catch these Live Streams

Ted Talks Google Tech Talks 99U Big Think The DO Lectures

PopTech The McKinsey Podcast Planet Money Marketplace

Periscope Meerkat

Popular platforms

Facebook Live YouTube

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BE AGILE, GET MOBILE OR YOU’LL RISK BEING LEFT BEHIND Geoff Rohrsheim had never used a computer until the final years of his engineering degree. Now he’s a serial IT entrepreneur How important is it for a website to be mobile friendly?

ROBYN MOLLOY

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eoff Rohrsheim is an entrepreneur who jumped into the digital age by chance while studying engineering in the late 1980s and realised it was the career path for him. He’s since co-founded Hatch Creations, Chamonix IT Consulting (which oversaw CCI’s digital transfromation), Cevo, Expose Data and Kloud Solutions and in doing so has helped many businesses and government departments remain agile. He talks to Business Pulse about his learnings along the way.

What should WA businesses think about for 2018 when it comes to technology?

Everyone is talking about disruption and being disrupted.

The best thing all organisations can do is to keep up with technology so they don’t get blindsided by someone else jumping in. Uber is a classic example. If taxis had produced an app, Uber wouldn’t exist.

Level one to be in the game, you must be mobile friendly. I say to business managers ‘On your site can you search and find your product or service and pay for it on a mobile phone? Can you do any process like fill out forms?

If you can’t do all that on your mobile, you’re in trouble’.

The United States and Europe are leading the charge. Australia is typically good at fast following.

We don’t invent the wheels, apart from the Atlassians (an Australian enterprise software company) of the world, who are pretty amazing with what they’ve done. And A-connect is another one.

It’s learning very quickly to embrace the technologies and making use of them so we don’t get swamped by these big international companies who think ‘far out these guys are a bit behind, we’re going to clean up here’.

What’s your best example of helping a company increase its productivity?

Two months after a company went live with their customer

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journey, which is all mobile and personalised, they recorded an 80 per cent increase in online sales, which was actually quite staggering. Previously people were getting online, searching, getting prices then having to ring and pay — and that’s when they would drop out. As soon as it was easy and slick and could be done on the phone with your thumb, they were finishing the sale.

My children are 18 and 20, so they do it all on their mobile.

If you are an organisation that doesn’t allow that generation to buy from their mobile phone, they are not buying from you.

We discovered with this business, as soon as they were able to, all of a sudden they were buying from us.

How hard is it for businesses run by older people who are not technologically savvy to embrace technological change?

It’s very difficult. My first advice is to make use of the younger employees. It’s turned around from when we would look up to

the senior people. It’s the other way around now and we need to be saying ‘Hey, you guys, we want to form an innovation team and engage the young ones’.

Then get a clean piece of paper and say, ‘If you were to start this business again today with all the technology you know, how would you do it?’ It’s a very different looking business.

It’s a fun exercise and it’s what your competition, the potential disruptor, is doing.

Three ways to make the change: 1. Build it yourself. Build the Uber thing.

2. Buy something. Start-ups are out there. They’ve done a good job in their back yard and for not a lot of money, hundreds of thousands of dollars, you could buy them and their idea. They’re happy because they are a couple of young kids who have made their first sale and you’re happy because you’ve got yourself some capability.

3. Partner model. Go to the incubators out there and say this is what we’ve got, we want to invest $100,000 or $200,000 on version two of our business and we’d like you to do it for us.

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Where does a business start when it comes to making the changes?

A lot of it is back to basics. For the successful ones, there was a requirement or problem they solved using the technology at the time, so phones, faxes etc.

Now we’ve got the internet and so much power in the hand with a mobile device, drones and all sorts of things we can make use of to solve the exact same problems but in a different way.

What will happen in the next 30 years?

Internet of Things will be massive.

Wireless is cheap and the internet is everywhere. Secondly, there’s the cloud and somewhere to store all this data cheaply.

Before we had to put a sim card in everything and pay for the data to be sent and it just didn’t add up. Because of wi-fi and the cloud, we can send stuff cheaply and store it incredibly cheaply in the cloud. Then we have these amazing tools — the Amazon Web Services, Microsoft and Google — to actually analyse that information. That’s the incredible

thing. The machine learning they are talking about, we as humans cannot possibly consume that amount of information.

So what do we do with all the information?

We’re actually producing too much data. That’s the future.

Businesses need a data scientist.

They need access to people who can make sense of the data for them. It will have a lot of data about its sales, customers and products. But what about all that external data, such as Australian Bureau of Statistics, weather and whatever else is out there? The problem we have is the people running the businesses are not thinking like this because it’s not what they grew up with.

You didn’t grow up with it either. How did it all click?

I was studying aerospace engineering in 1988 and was of the generation where we didn’t use them. No one had a PC. My lecturer said ‘Guys, this is the future — IT and engineering — you have to learn this’. He gave us an assignment that would have taken a month of Sundays if you

did it our way with paper, pen and calculator and it forced us to write programs. We thought ‘that’s pretty efficient and productive’ … that’s what I look at in all my businesses and with my customers: how can we do what we’re doing but much smarter, faster and productively.

partner in 1999. We were one of the first. They can’t help you financially but they can introduce you to a few customers who are trying to do a similar thing. That’s what you need as a start-up. ¢

How important has partnering with Microsoft and Amazon Web Services been?

They are crucial. In the early days of the business, get the attention of the Microsoft sales force — they have hundreds around the country or region and you have none when you’re starting — and if you can make them aware of your capability or the problem you are solving and they tell their customers, then you’ve got this free sales force rowing for you — which is brilliant.

I became a Microsoft DECEMBER 2 017 BUSIN ES S PU L SE 1 9

THE NEXT BIG THINGS

Ertech Chairman Gavin Miller (left) and Track’em CEO Kashif Saleem (right) take the stage with Microsoft.

PITCHING WITH BIG MICROSOFT HITTERS

A small WA business received worldwide profile when the owner presented a key note speech at a large Microsoft event

ROBYN MOLLOY

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sset and materials tracking may not seem like a topic worth pitching to a million people, but it’s paid off for a Perth entrepreneur who has rubbed shoulders with some Microsoft heavy hitters at the company’s Inspire event in Washington this year.

Track’em CEO Kashif Saleem and Ertech Chairman Gavin Miller talked up the asset tracking system and how it helped Ertech keep tabs on thousands of pieces of equipment that needed to move from Barrow Island back to the mainland earlier this year.

Getting equipment on and off Barrow Island, home to one of the world’s largest natural gas projects, required a comprehensive quarantine regime as the island is a Class A Nature Reserve.

The contract resonated with Saleem, who started Track’em because he realised there had to be a better way for companies who were ‘losing’ equipment and having to replace it because

no system seemed to keep track of it all.

He said Track’em can manage items as large as forklifts, trucks and shipping containers to those as small as nuts and bolts: “On an average job site, we save the client approximately $500,000.

On larger and more complex implementations, we can save millions.”

Being invited to the Microsoft partner event — which attracts 18,000 people and is streamed to more than a million people around the globe — affirmed Saleem’s vision that his business was on the right, well, track.

Saleem received a 1am phone call one day in May from someone who he thought may have been purporting to be from Microsoft.

“Initially, I wasn’t sure if it was real. I thought maybe it was a prank ‘deposit-the-money-in-thisbank-account’ kind of call. But then I got an email from Microsoft at 4am and realised it was fully legit,” he said.

“They really loved my story and asked how I felt about doing a keynote presentation. I remember thinking ‘I haven’t done a keynote before but to do one at a Microsoft Partner Conference is going to be unbelievable’.”

“The story was not just about

20 B US I NE S S P U L S E DEC EM B ER 20 1 7

technology but also how it makes a difference, how it creates efficiencies, how it saves the environment.”

Presenting to the worldwide audience was the culmination of years of hard work and months of preparation.

It was a surreal time — not just to be the only Asia Pacific company invited to the event, but also to be in the same room as Microsoft Executive Vice President, Worldwide Commercial Business Judson Althoff and Corporate Vice

ON AN AVERAGE JOB SITE, WE SAVE THE CLIENT APPROXIMATELY $500,000 While not easy to bring a computer program to life to a studio audience, the presentation was helped along by a drone which popped out of the crowd to scan barcodes into a computer.

He said the demonstration revealed the true power of Track’em, which uses Microsoft Azure Platform.

“We did hundreds of rehearsals online to make sure we were ready to be on the stage,” he said. “The amazing thing about Microsoft is they have a backup plan of a backup plan and they don’t leave anything to chance.”

President of Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Group (WPG) Gavriella Schuster.

“It was global validation in terms of who we are and the scale capabilities of a Perth-based company,” Saleem said.

“It all comes down to our values of how we can help people and the planet. Seeing the wastage of resources through reordering of lost or misplaced items was the inspiration behind Trackem to begin with.”

To view the presentation visit https://youtu.be/ZybB43tl7GU ¢

THE NEXT BIG THINGS

WA REGULATIONS ‘SIMPLY RIDICULOUS’

Smarter retail trading hours need to go beyond the festive season

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CIWA has welcomed the State Government’s announcement that retail trading hours will be extended this festive period, but has called for the Government to review WA’s ‘simply ridiculous’ retail trade regulations.

From December 5, general retail shops in the Perth metropolitan area will be allowed to open from 7am to 9pm on weekdays, 7am to 6pm on Saturdays and 8am to 6pm on Sunday and public holidays. This will exclude Christmas day, when larger retail shops must close.

Extended trading hours will end on New Year’s Day. Commerce and Industrial Relations Minister Bill Johnston has also approved extended trading hours for Australia Day,

which will allow shops to open from 8am to 6pm.

CCI CEO Deidre Willmott says CCI has long called for WA’s restrictive trading hours to be modernised to give local businesses the ability to compete at their very best, and to decide when they want to open their doors.

CCI wrote to the WA Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety — responsible for assessing applications to vary the Retail Trading Act — to seek extended trading hours for general retail shops in the Perth metropolitan area during public holidays and the Christmas and New Year period.

“The announcement is welcome news for consumers, who will have greater choice,

flexibility and convenience; for business, which will benefit from the increased activity; and for workers, who will have the opportunity to earn more money during this peak business trading period,” she says.

Wilmott says that while CCI welcomes the festive period announcement, WA still has the most restrictive retail trading hours in the country and encouraged the State Government to review them.

Tasmania, Victoria, New South Wales, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory all have totally, or almost totally, deregulated shopping hours.

“WA’s regulations are also simply ridiculous. They restrict what shops can sell at certain times and what products different

types of shops can sell,” she says.

“For example, the regulations allow some shops to sell light bulbs but not light fittings or outdoor lighting but not indoor lighting.

“CCI encourages the State Government to continue to review WA’s retail trade regulations and, at the very least, bring us in line with the rest of the country.

“This would significantly improve WA’s attractiveness as a tourism destination and encourage WA consumers to support local retailers who are trying to compete with online shops that don’t have to close at 5pm.

“And it will inject about $200 million into our state, according to estimates by the Productivity Commission.” ¢

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BUSINESS NEWS

Halco Managing Director Ben Patrick with a queenfish.

SHIPLOADS OF SAVINGS A Fremantle-based tackle company has realised massive savings in import duties thanks to consultancy support provided by CCI

ROBYN MOLLOY

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global tackle company based in Fremantle has hauled in tens of thousands of dollars in savings on import duties following a review

by CCI’s International Trade and Investment Centre (ITIC).

Halco Tackle Company manufactures in Indonesia but uses its Fremantle head office to distribute to more than 70 countries.

Managing Director Ben Patrick says the claim back is a big catch for Halco. It not only represents a year’s worth of import duties — about 20 times the consultancy fee — but also offers future savings on every shipload arriving from its wholly-owned and managed factory in Indonesia.

Australia for which we should not have been paying import duty,” Patrick says.

“Reclaiming a year’s worth of duty has been a significant saving and all shipments going forward now are properly done.

It was quite a time consuming and complex process, but it was worth doing now that everything is set up.”

ITIC’s Manager Darren Levy says the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand free trade agreement allows the company to bring most of its manufactured goods into Australia duty free.

“Many importers don’t realise that if the product arrives in Australia without the correct paperwork, clearing agents will simply process it and charge the import duties”, Levy says.

“It’s up to the importer to find out whether the product is eligible for a tariff discount and organise the required paperwork

RECLAIMING A YEAR’S WORTH OF DUTY HAS BEEN A SIGNIFICANT SAVING Patrick says the company — which specialised in lures, jibs and terminal tackle — has always used free trade agreements for exporting but had missed the boat on its imports into Australia.

“CCI did an investigation for us and we found there were a lot of products we were bringing into

to arrive with the goods.”

Levy says ITIC used a complex calculation to identify which of Halco’s products were eligible for discounts under the very specific free trade agreement rules. ITIC also informed Halco’s Indonesian office how to obtain the appropriate paperwork. In this

case, it was the local Chamber of Commerce office that issued the required certification.

Patrick says leveraging the agreements has also had a spin off for Halco’s supply chain: “Now that we are taking advantage of the agreements, it’s making us look for local suppliers because it will actually minimise the amount of import duty we have to pay”.

Patrick is from a long line of savvy businesses. His great, great grandfather Captain James Patrick established shipping giant Patrick Steamship Co. Ltd in 1919. The company continues today as Patrick Terminals and is synonymous with the Australian waterfront.

When his father Neil Patrick decided to get out of the family shipping business, he bought Halco in 1980 from its founder Hal Cooper, who started it in the garage of his Mosman Park home in 1950.

Ben started working at Halco in 1997 and took over from Neil in 2002. Global markets have been a key driver of growth for the business. The company now turns over in two months what used to take a year when Patrick bought the business.

“It’s a bit like a lot of industries — there’s a lot of players in it now, but we have successfully grown our worldwide market share. The fastest growing and toughest market to get into was the United States, but we’re also exporting to Southern Africa, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, South East Asia — the whole world really.”

Patrick recalls being told he was mad to move

manufacturing from Australia to Indonesia and that China offered better prospects.

“I started the factory from scratch in Batan (a small island south of Singapore) 11 years ago on a greenfield site with an Australian manager and slowly transferred the manufacturing there over eight years,” he says.

“I was told I was an idiot going into Indonesia by lots of people because back then it was ‘China, China, China’. Two years ago, the world’s largest lure manufacturer closed its Chinese operations and moved within about two kilometres from us. So that was a bit of vindication.”

The decision, influenced by a Batan Chamber of Commerce delegation that came to Perth about 12 years ago and later hosted a trade mission to the island, was based on four criteria including that going offshore would: 1. maintain or improve quality, which meant the company had to make products itself 2. guarantee supply 3. protect intellectual property and 4. produce product at the same or better price. ¢

DECEMBER 2 017 BUSIN ES S PU L SE 23

BUSINESS NEWS

CUSTOMER FOCUS FOR SOFTWARE Take a look at what your customers need, then choose the software to grow your business, says technology expert Robert Samuel

HAMISH HASTIE

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ith the business software market becoming more crowded, it can be a tough choice for a growing business looking for that technological edge of who to choose.

Grant Thornton Technology and Growth Advisory Partner Robert Samuel says choosing your software should come after exhaustive planning into what you actually need to achieve growth.

at delivering their promise to customers and then the technology that’s going to enable that to happen.

“They need to take a three-year view of what their business needs to look like, then they can start building towards that from a tech perspective.

He says the “unsexy stuff” requires investment first: “Get rid of the server under the desk and put everything in a proper cloud environment. Then invest in a decent foundational finance system that you can then bolt on other bits and pieces onto.

“With many businesses, it’s about knowing your customer

DON’T START WITH WHAT SOFTWARE THEY NEED TO BUY, BUT WITH WHAT CUSTOMERS THEY SEEK TO SERVE On the shopping list for many businesses are: adopting a cloudbased network; human resources or human capital management systems; financial management systems; office and graphic suite software; marketing systems; and customer relationship management (CRM) software.

“Good businesses don’t start with what software they need to buy, but with what customers they seek to serve,” he says.

“They need to look at what they need to be really good

really well and a CRM is a technology that enables that. For others, it’s about getting your workforce right — so workforce optimisation software can help deliver results efficiently and effectively with your team.”

Samuel says the technology and software that businesses implement in an effort to grow need to be installed with the future in mind.

“A lot of tech is genuinely scalable and that’s a critical decision point. If you have plans

24 B US I NE S S P U L S E DEC EM BER 20 1 7

to grow, you need to make sure the tech you’re investing in is going to be able to grow with you,” he says.

“Whether putting in a new finance system or putting in a core business system, it’s like open heart surgery — you don’t want to do it too often. You want to make sure you’re not making decisions on your technology investment based on the business today, but on the business you’ll have tomorrow.”

Measure advertising and know the costs Traditional marketing and advertising used to be a fine art but with the digital sector adding cold hard facts to the mix it’s become more like a science.

It comes in many forms now with Google Adwords, social media and email automation allowing a more tailored experience to consumers to nurture them through the journey until they become a customer.

Ammo Marketing works with Perth start-ups so it knows how effective a targeted and meaningful marketing campaign can be to grow a business.

Founder Cam Sinclair says everything is now measurable.

“Advertising no longer needs to be a guessing game,” he says.

“In fact, it’s imperative that you are able to measure everything possible because what is measured can be improved.

“The reason Google is one of the biggest companies in the world is that you can see transparently everything that is going on. You know if you’re going

to spend a dollar you’ll get a certain result from that spend.”

Sinclair says there are some key aspects every business should consider when entering the digital marketing world and he likens the whole process to a funnel.

Plan the process “Initially you need to map out a clear step-by-step process for people to become a customer,” he says.

“What does that look like from when they first find out you exist through to what’s the first step they need to take towards becoming a customer and then what do you do to actually turn them into a paying customer?”

He says the second key thing is to measure everything.

“How many people click on your ad or your post in the social space or on Adwords or whatever else you’re doing?” says Sinclair.

“Once they land on your site, how many of them convert to customers? Once you’re able to measure that, then you’re able to optimise it.

“Then you’re able to lubricate that process so that a greater proportion of people are moving through the funnel each time.

“Once you have that information, the awesome thing is you will actually know exactly how much it costs to acquire a customer.

“This is a level of transparency in your marketing spend that you’ve never had before.

That’s the beauty of digital and that’s the reason it’s taken off so hard and is killing traditional media.” ¢

BUSINESS NEWS

TOYING WITH TRENDS

In the lead up to Christmas, toy store owners are waiting to see if their research skills pay off

HAMISH HASTIE

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hrow those fidget spinners and loom bands in the garbage. They are so 2017.

Products have a finite shelf life in any industry but toys are especially impacted by sugar hits of popularity before inevitable crashes into obscurity.

Fickle children get bored easily so Toyworld Kalgoorlie owner Jacob Altes must be on top of any new toy trend if he is to keep his loyal customers happy.

Altes and his wife Rochelle have owned the Kalgoorlie Toyworld for more than 19 years and they have seen thousands of toys come and go and — in some cases, come again.

He spots trends by speaking to customers, suppliers and keeping an eye on the internet.

“We take notice of what the customer is asking for,” he says. “Fidget spinners were first seen on the internet and then customers started asking for them. It was the same as the ‘Pie in the Face’ game.”

He says they also take part in the annual Melbourne Toy Fair in March — Australia’s only annual trade event for the industry.

Exhibitors showcase their toys for the next year and Altes and his wife choose what they want to stock up on. To ensure they have stock for Christmas, they place a lot of their orders at the fair.

“Orders are collated by the importers, who then send in their order to the manufacturers,” he says.

“Delivery depends on previous orders and supply of raw material — but if everything goes smoothly, stock starts coming to our store mid-June.”

In his almost two decades as a toy store owner, Altes has picked up on a few patterns over the years and he says one of the biggest influences on toy trends are popular movies and TV shows.

“I would say there are about

10 toys a year that have that ‘must-have’ demand,” he says.

“The Star Wars brand has been the longest running toy item along with the WWF wrestling characters.”

He says there are also cycles where a lot of toys make a comeback.

“For example, Tamagotchis were big about eight years ago and now there is a new batch coming out this month,” he says.

“Older generations also buy toys because they had one when they were younger and would like to get another one for nostalgia’s sake.”

Toyworld Kalgoorlie is right on top of toy trends. One of the biggest sellers Altes can recall was the Australian edition of Monopoly, which featured Kalgoorlie as a property.

“We ordered what I thought was enough to cover, but within the first day I had to plead with my supplier to ship lots more to the store — and ASAP,” he says.

“We sold over 200 sets.”

In the past year there have been plenty of hot toys, including the Pie in the Face game that slaps players’ faces with a face full of cream.

Altes says the game exploded in popularity after it was first featured on the internet.

“The suppliers got hold of it to be distributed in Australia, but there was such a high demand we had to wait almost two months to get them into the store,” he says.

“Currently LOL Dolls, Beanie Boos, scooters, bikes and all sorts of ride-ons are going out the door due to the nice weather now and with Christmas not long away.”

Try as they might to accurately sort the next big thing from the duds, they don’t always get it right. Altes says a crystal ball would come in handy.

“Hatchimals were in very high demand last Christmas but unfortunately at that time we didn’t know what the product was — so we ordered lightly and sold

out really quick,” he says.

“When we tried to reorder, there was a three-month wait for them.”

When it comes to purchasing stock, Altes draws a lot of inspiration from his family and considers whether his own children and family members would be happy with the products.

“Owning a toy shop is by no means boring as there are so many changes and trends,” he says.

“There is no formula to get numbers right. It is a case of looking at a product to see if it’s safe, functional and well presented.

“There have been times we have been asked to stock an item but we decline because we do not think it has value for the customer nor is it of a quality that I would buy for my own children.

“My grandchild is due in March.

I’m going to be a grandad — so I better not sell Toyworld.” ¢

DECEMBER 2 017 BUSIN ESS PU L SE 25

BUSINESS NEWS

THREE-YEAR HIGH FOR BUSINESS CONFIDENCE

Business confidence in Western Australia has not only bounced back, it is the highest it has been in almost three years, according to results from the latest business confidence survey

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CI Chief Economist Rick Newnham says business confidence has rebounded in the September quarter following a short stumble in recovery, with 47 per cent of respondents expecting the WA economy to improve or stay the same in the short term.

This is up 13 per cent on the previous quarter and the highest it has been in almost three years.

The latest WA Super–CCI Survey of Business Confidence conducted by CCI — included with this edition of Business Pulse — is the only WA-specific index in the country.

It provides a snapshot of state-wide economic conditions and business expectations.

“Medium-term business confidence has bounced back, with 60 per cent of respondents expecting conditions to improve,” Newnham says.

Business sentiment regarding employment has also drastically improved since its all-time low in June 2015, with over half of businesses (57 per cent)

expecting to keep employment numbers steady over the coming quarter and 23 per cent expecting to increase the size of their workforce.

“These are encouraging signs for WA jobs and a signal that economic recovery is ongoing, but unfortunately this hasn’t yet flowed through to wages growth, with 62 per cent of businesses experiencing almost no change in their wages.”

Consumer confidence the rise Meanwhile, consumer confidence in WA is continuing an upward streak, reaching a three-year high in the September quarter, according to results from CCI’s quarterly Survey of Consumer Confidence.

The survey, also the only one of its kind in WA, canvasses the views of adult consumers across both metropolitan Perth and regional WA. Newnham says the trend increase in consumer confidence over the past three years was

‘UNDER COVER’ INSURANCE WARNING

W

orkCover WA has warned businesses to check their insurance for worker’s compensation cover to avoid costs and fines.

The warning came after the agency noticed a number of cases in which businesses had found their insurance package excluded workers’ compensation liability.

WorkCover WA said businesses without workers’ compensation cover could be liable for: costs in excess of $600,000 in benefits if a worker is injured fines of up to $5000 per worker any avoided premiums going back five years liability for the cost of any action taken at common law or legal costs involved in any court action.

Further information on employers’ rights and responsibilities can be found at workercover.wa.gov.au/publications. ¢ 26 B US I NE S S P U L S E DEC EM B ER 20 1 7

a positive sign for the WA economy, which has been struggling to recover since the mining industry’s transition from construction to production.

“CCI’s survey has revealed that 69 per cent of WA consumers believe the state’s economy will strengthen or remain the same over the next 12 months — up nine per cent from the June quarter,” Newnham says.

“Short-term confidence has also continued to grow — up eight per cent from the previous quarter to 71 per cent.

“Consumers are, however, continuing to feel the pinch from the state’s economic downturn, with living costs such as groceries, utilities, and transport now the strongest factors influencing consumer confidence (69 per cent).

“About 65 per cent of consumers also stated that homegrown political news influenced their thoughts about the economy.”

Read the full results at cciwa.com/advocacy/economics ¢

ACCC TARGETS UNFAIR CONTRACT TERMS

T

he Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is hailing its enforcement of unfair contract terms laws that were recently extended to cover small businesses as a success.

Since the laws were introduced in November last year, the ACCC has successfully taken action against a national company and has commenced proceedings against another.

It has also stepped up its education campaign, engaging with businesses in efforts that have seen tens of thousands of new or existing contracts improved.

ACCC Deputy Chair Michael Schaper says this is just the tip of the iceberg as Australia’s two million small businesses sign an average of eight standard form contracts a year.

Schaper says the ACCC is serious about enforcing the new laws and would continue to take action to ensure small businesses were protected. ¢

DECEMBER 2 017 BUSIN ES S PU L SE 27

CCI ADVICE

YOUR EMPLOYEE QUESTIONS ANSWERED We have an employee who we have been performance managing and he recently told us that his heart is no longer in it and he would prefer to resign. Is there a risk in accepting his resignation?

It is possible that the employee may bring an unfair dismissal claim and state that he has been forced to resign, even if he writes a letter of resignation.

However, if it is genuinely the employee’s decision, you need to ensure that you pay him out all of his Award or other legislative entitlements and review his contract to ensure that he is paid out any contractual entitlements that are more favourable.

It is also worthwhile considering asking the employee to enter into a deed of settlement and release that confirms that it has been his decision to resign and that he has been paid everything he is entitled to, after he has been given the opportunity to seek legal advice. ¢

DO YOU HAVE A QUESTION FOR ONE OF CCI’S EXPERTS?

editor@cciwa.com

@ CCI_WA #asktheexperts

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CCI ADVICE

PREPARE YE FOR THE WORKFORCE OF TOMORROW

ACCI Workplace Relations Director Scott Barklamb offers an overview of future workforce challenges for business

HAMISH HASTIE

A

dvents in technology and changes in workforce demographics will cause seismic disruption over the next few decades — and businesses need to be prepared, according to Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Workplace Relations Director Scott Barklamb.

He spoke about a few trends employers should take notice at a CCI industrial relations breakfast.

Technology Barklamb says technology underpins most of the trends and is presenting managers with plenty of challenges. He says the internet of things and big data are examples of major innovations that will impact future workforces, with predictions of widespread job displacement. But all is not lost. Previous generations of innovation have created new jobs to replace those displaced.

Barklamb says there are skills that workers can nurture to soften the blow of this displacement, including human or soft skills.

“Problem solving, strategising, creativity, disruption — these are the skills specific to humans that futurists predict will find more of a role in a displacement world.”

“The gig economy — where you contract to specific tasks — will grow. And we’ve also seen a rise in new forms of external providers, intermediaries, labour hire and very visible use of new technologies to organise work, such as Airtasker,” he says.

With more companies expected to outsource tasks on platforms, more workers will need entrepreneurial skills.

“More Australians will be managing uncertain or changeable incomes — for example, if they’re floating in and out of these engagements and they’re not necessarily retained full time in between them,” he says.

Where you work will also change with implications for how workplace relations are regulated.

With more working remotely, entitlements and protections will come under pressure to adapt.

“As ever, the challenge will be to get our employment laws right, to strike the right balance and to deliver a practical, useable system,” Barklamb says.

Expectations Changing demographics — including the surge of millennials,

the ageing population and the influx of migrants — means the needs of workers are expanding and diversifying. Barklamb says the traditional age of workforce growth is set to slow to near zero.

“We’re going to have to understand the flexibilities that older workers will want.

The probability of having to manage illness and ageing among boomers will increase.”

When it comes to millennials, some of their job expectations may have caused an involuntary shudder to employers 10 years ago — but it will soon become the norm. Work-life balance will challenge employers of millennials. “They will want both flexibility during work as well as extended flexibility, such as taking a sabbatical or working overseas. A lot of these things that we traditionally think of as eccentric, risky behaviours may confront a lot more employers.”

Barklamb says the addition of migrants to the workforce means diverse workplaces which will carry both opportunities and challenges. Organisations’ values will become more important than ever to staff. But it was worth

noting that industrial relations laws already hamper employer efforts to weed out employees who don’t adhere to those values, particularly on diversity.

“We see in some unfair dismissal cases that organisations are not being able to implement their values in regard to workplace incidents relating to race and migrant status,” he says.

“A lot of times what we see are managers wanting to stamp down on unacceptable behaviour — but they’re held back by our unfair dismissal laws.”

Globalisation Barklamb says the shrinking world that technological and communications innovations is creating is impacting every facet of business. “The rest of the world will have all the new technology we have — Australian cannot bank on having any future technological advantage.”

There is also a global push for businesses to be more accountable and transparent, which is presenting itself currently in the fight against modern slavery. ¢

New methods How businesses get work done is changing rapidly with suggestions that the use of contractors, consultants and others not directly employed will increase.

DECEMBER 2 017 BUSIN ESS PU L SE 29

CCI ADVICE

NO SENSE OF ENTITLEMENT FOR GIG WORKERS There is growing interest in entitlements, including by the State Government in its IR review, which is examining the definition of employee under State legislation. Aaron Dockery looks at some of the issues and possible responses

AARON DOCKERY

What is the gig economy?

The gig economy is the most commonly used term to describe the labour market in which people engage in work via platforms/providers, such as Uber or Deliveroo. Named after casually working ‘gigs’ due to the freelance nature of the work, the gig economy is rapidly expanding.

A report by Ernst and Young in 2016 claims that by the year 2020, one in five Americans will be providing one of these ‘on-demand’ services. The current global marketplace sees 15 per cent of workers accessing these platforms — and the consensus is for this to expand.

Entitlements for gig workers?

People working with these platforms receive a payment per job completed and, as such, are currently (arguably) classified as independent contractors in Australia. Australian courts have not yet ruled decisively one way or the other as to whether such arrangements are that of an employment relationship or a contracting arrangement. In other words, gig workers are currently slipping through cracks of the Australian employment law framework.

Their entitlements, including remuneration, are entirely at the mercy of the provider they are using to access work.

This leads to situations unheard of for many Australian workers where contracts allowing for remuneration can be unilaterally varied.

Given the lack of regulation, a gig worker performing two separate job that are substantially

similar jobs could potentially receive significantly different pay for each and have no say in the matter.

This independent contractor status means the Fair Work Act 2009 (the Act) and the National Employment Standards (NES) do not apply to these workers.

Consequently, these workers are not protected by statutory minimum entitlements to pay, leave and other similar such entitlements. There is also no access to general protections claims or unfair dismissal remedies. It is also quite common for gig workers to miss out on superannuation, workers’ compensation and occupational health and safety protections.

Workers will also miss out on the minimum entitlement prescribed by industrial awards.

These provide for seemingly innocuous things, including allowances, penalty rates for weekend, public holiday and shift work and annual leave loading.

Considerations NSW workplace health and safety legislation was changed in 2012. The definition of ‘employer’ was changed to ‘PCBU’ — a person conducting business or undertaking. The definition of ‘employee’ was also changed to ‘worker’. These definition changes had the effect of encompassing far more employment classifications than was the case previously.

Contractors, subcontractors, outworkers, apprentices, trainees, work experience students and volunteers were all captured under the new definitions.

This change was referenced in an Australian Senate report entitled Corporate avoidance of the Fair Work Act 2009 that outlined tax implications, minimum wage and safety regulations as concerns in relation to the gig economy.

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How the government goes about combating these challenges is unclear. A recently published research paper by University of Adelaide professor of law Andrew Stewart and director of the Australia Institute’s Centre for Future Work, Jim Stanford, highlights several options for countering the issues raised by the boom of the gig economy.

Options for change 1. Should we rely on existing laws? Relying on existing laws essentially results in the status quo being maintained. This means regulation and understanding of the gig economy will be incrementally improved using test cases. It also means that until those test cases provide precedents, the provision of minimum entitlements is up to the providers. Airtasker is currently the only gig platform that has agreed to minimum working conditions, which includes a guarantee of paying above comparative award rates.

2. Redefine the definition of ‘employment’? As opposed to incremental changes, ‘redefining employment’ is a quicker and bolder approach to finding a solution to the gig worker-entitlement conundrum. However, depending on how the issue is approached, this could result in disrupting the discernment between true independent contractors and employees as currently defined. Any definition changes would need to be carefully considered so that issues with sham contracting are not further exacerbated.

3. Consider a new employment classification such as ‘independent worker’ or ‘dependent contractor’?

Creating new employment

classifications specifically for these gig workers could potentially enable them to access the entitlements that they currently cannot. The argument for this approach is that gig workers operate in a distinctly different way to both employees and independent contractors.

However, consider that this approach may cause a similar issue to sham contracting — presenting another opportunity for employment misclassification.

4. Look at implementing rights for ‘workers’ as opposed to ‘employees’? This is perhaps the most extreme option of the five options as it would grant entitlements to anyone who ‘performs work’. This could potentially be too costly an approach but could be an option for the most essential rights, such as workplace health and safety regulations.

5. Look at redefining ‘employer’? As opposed to the most extreme option, this would be the most difficult to implement as well as the most unlikely. With this proposal gig workers would have different employers for different legal purposes.

The provider and the end consumer would essentially both share ‘employer’ status and the requirements that come along with being an employer. In the United States, this is known as ‘joint employment’ but is a concept Australia has been reluctant to adopt.

Aaron Dockery is a CCI Employee Relations Advisor. For more information contact (08) 9365 7660. To provide input to CCI’s submission to the IR review email Belinda Blackman on belinda.blackman@cciwa.com ¢

CCI ADVICE

SKILLS OF THE FUTURE

Dynamic duo aim to tap into curriculum through innovative new app

STEWART MARSHALL

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s workforces across the world continue to evolve, the skill sets of the next generation must continue to evolve with them, says Perth start-up Futuristic Skills and Capabilities.

The company, founded by university students David Castelanelli and Conor McLaughlin, has set out to ensure “all young Australians are equipped with the essential skills for the changing workforce” through their web-based teaching application Futuristic Skills.

The duo — through extensive discussions with Perth schools, careers co-ordinators and high school students — have identified up to 10 future skills they feel will be transferrable across workforces in the coming years. Their aim is to have the web-app included in the national school curriculum.

McLaughlin says the development of their future skills was built in line with reports from the Foundation of Young Australians and the McRindle Institute of Research, which both suggested massive changes to jobs will occur in the future.

“These two corporations have written reports about the future of jobs and work, and they’ve estimated that about 60 per cent of the jobs that currently exist, won’t exist in 2025 — which is staggering,” he says.

“As a result, there is massive change about to happen. For those new jobs that are about to come in, new skills are needed — and those skills aren’t currently being taught.

“So, we made it our mission to teach high school students these new skills by 2025.”

The skills included in their web-app cover a variety of areas. Castelanelli says that determining these skills only happened by remaining openminded and basing all decisions off feedback gained during preliminary research.

“When we started, we came in with the mindset of being open-minded and we were not going to fix anything at any point, just base everything off the testing and feedback from the schools and industry reports,” he said.

“They all said the main areas that students needed to learn

were emotional intelligence, problem solving, adaptability, creativity, critical thinking and the ability to work on tech-topics.

“It is really a starting point for students to learn about these areas before they leave high-school.”

Castelanelli and McLaughlin have run trials in 10 schools

across Western Australia since the business was founded in March.

The duo plan to launch the Futuristic Skills and Capabilities app for the start of the 2019 school year.

To download the essential guide — cciwa.com/educationservices/resources-and-tools ¢

DECEMBER 2 017 BUSIN ES S PU L SE 3 1

CCI ADVICE

LEGAL REPRESENTATION UNDER THE SPOTLIGHT

There can be a fine line between legal assistance and advocacy

HAMISH HASTIE

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he definition of ‘legal representation’ by lawyers and paid agents in matters before the Fair Work Commission has been put under the spot light recently following a significant full bench decision.

The question of what constitutes legal representation in commission matters was analysed in detail after a Sydney grocery store team leader lodged an appeal against a rejection of his unfair dismissal application in March.

It was found that substantial work undertaken by a legal firm engaged by the employer in the preliminary stages of the matter constituted legal representation before the commission and therefore required permission under section 596 of the Fair Work Act 2009.

This work included preparation of submissions, witness statements, examination and cross examination questions and strategy for the hearing but fell short of representation at the hearing itself.

The employee resigned in November last year and soon after lodged an unfair dismissal application.

Commissioner Cambridge rejected his application because there were no indications that he was forced out of his role.

Prior to the hearing, the employee received an email from a law firm stating they were engaged by the employer and assisting in the matter.

During the hearing, the employer’s representative — an employee relations specialist — was accompanied by a senior associate from the same law firm.

Section 596 of the Fair Work Act 2009 and rules 11 and 12 of the Fair Work Rules state parties must seek approval from

the commission if they wish to have legal representation in a matter. The employer had not sought permission for legal representation.

When questioned, the employer said he was only there to provide assistance and would not be advocating on the employer’s behalf.

The commissioner accepted this, saying he was unable to stop anyone assisting a party in a matter before the commission, only when they sought permission for legal representation.

In April, the employer made an application for an order of costs, which totalled $6500 for internal costs and $25,885 to cover legal expenses, for which two tax invoices were submitted.

Central to the former employee’s grounds of appeal were that he was misled in regard to legal representation of his employer in the matter.

After analysis of scant case law, the full bench found s.596 of the Act “was not confined to permission for courtroom advocacy”.

The full bench said it appeared to have been drafted in a way that “was intended to put beyond doubt that all aspects of representation in connection

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with a matter were to be encompassed”.

With benefit of the knowledge of the law firm’s tax invoices, the full bench determined the employer was legally represented in the matter from at least February 2017.

Permission to appeal was granted but the appeal was then subsequently dismissed because the full bench did not believe a different ruling on legal representation would have led to a different outcome.

It is important to note that

PARTIES MUST SEEK APPROVAL FROM THE COMMISSION IF THEY WISH TO HAVE LEGAL REPRESENTATION IN A MATTER They said the law firm should have filed a “notice of representative commencing to act” in accordance with rule 11(1) of the Fair Work Rules.

They found the senior associate’s role in the hearing was similar to that of an instructing solicitor or junior counsel assisting senior counsel.

They said the commissioner erred in proceeding with the hearing on the basis that the employer did not need permission for legal representation because the senior associate was not advocating for the employer orally.

in limited circumstances, representatives may not have to seek permission to appear on behalf of the employers and employees. The exemptions are listed in section 596(4) of the Fair Work Act, which enables some employer associations to represent the parties in the FWC, including CCI. For weekly updates subscribe to HR Link by calling Paula Connell on (08) 9365 7544. For advice call (08) 9365 7660 or email advice@cciwa.com for more information. ¢

CCI ADVICE

A CLEAN SET OF EYES

$20k goes a long way in reviewing your business to see if you’re heading in the right direction ELISE VAN AKEN

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nnovative small and medium-sized businesses are benefitting from the Entrepreneurs’ Program run by the CCI and the Federal Government.

Eligible participants in this free service can access matched grants of up to $20,000 and meet with expert business advisers to improve their operations and grow their businesses.

Two WA companies — EX Engineering and software developer Lateral — have deemed the program a success.

It supports businesses in the growth sectors of advanced manufacturing, food and agribusiness, medical technologies and pharmaceuticals, mining equipment, technology and services, and oil, gas and energy resources.

EX Engineering owneroperators Warwick and Jenni Greville, who manufacture and supply electrical goods for hazardous areas, applied for the program after it was recommended by a contact.

The four-year-old company has grown to nine staff and recently moved to larger premises in Belmont.

“It’s a great program where you get a personalised review of your business and the business adviser directly engages with you,” he says.

“We wanted a review of our business because of the growth we were having, and we are always wanting to improve.”

While Greville has more than 20 years’ experience in the industry, his previous roles were totally different to what he does now.

“I found the program a lot more relevant to where I am now than, say, going back to university,” he says.

Having external consultants helped put EX Engineering’s position in the market into perspective for its operators.

“It’s really important to have a network of people that you can get advice from and discuss issues and concerns with,” he says.

“With the size of the business, where we are now and where we want to take it, I feel a lot better skilled to do that.”

While Lateral is not in the eligible growth sectors, providers of enabling technologies and professional services to the sectors can also apply.

Lateral CEO Thushara Weerakody discovered the program when searching for guidance on critical business decisions.

Established in 1986, Lateral has about 40 staff at an office in Subiaco and two in Melbourne.

Clients include the Department of Health, Patersons, Murdoch University Group and Hollywood Fertility Centre.

“In a few interviews with the business adviser we discussed the challenges the business was facing, our opportunities and the goals we wanted to achieve,” Weerakody says.

“We also provided them with

documentation that we had around business strategy and financial reports.”

A business adviser works with the company leaders to develop a business evaluation report which includes an action plan. If a company chooses to implement any items in the action plan, they are eligible to apply for a matched funding grant to the value of $20,000.

Weerakody says the process is straightforward and if successful in obtaining the grant, he will use it to implement one of the key action points from the review.

“I felt the business evaluation action plan report was excellent,” Weerakody says.

“I’ve worked with consultants in the past who have listened a little to some of the discussion, but the business adviser, Andrew Canion, very much captured the details of our meeting and summed up the situation.”

Applicants don’t need to be a CCI Member but they must have been trading for at least three years and have had turnover of more than $1.5 million in one of those years.

To find out more about the benefits and criteria of the Entrepreneurs’ Program, which is run by CCIWA, please call Belinda Blackman on (08) 9365 7728. ¢

How the program can help you

Improve your business management capability

Broker connections with research, knowledge and technology organisations to encourage innovation

Find and support the right commercialisation solutions and connections to get your novel product, process or service to market.

Are you eligible?

To be eligible, your business must have been trading for three years and have had turnover of more than $1.5 million in one of the last three years.

Your business must also operate or service clients in one of the following growth sectors:

advanced manufacturing

food and agribusiness

medical technologies and pharmaceuticals

mining equipment, technology and services and/or oil, gas and energy resources

providing enabling technologies and/or ICT and professional services to one or more of these growth sectors.

DECEMBER 2 017 BUSIN ES S PU L SE 3 3

OPINION

CATCH METRONET FOR SOME TRAINING

Training is a dynamic industry. It must continue to change as jobs and the labour market change, writes Sue Ellery

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key focus of the McGowan Labor Government is jobs, maximising training opportunities and increasing our skills base.

We are committed to include training in everything we do as a government because we know training and education are critical components when it comes to driving productivity.

My priority as Training Minister is to ensure we do what WA does best — we innovate — to give Western Australians, and young Western Australians in particular, the opportunity to get ahead of the game and get the skills they need to take up the jobs of the future.

We need a workforce that can meet the economic needs of the state — and a training system targeted to the needs of industry, the jobs of the future and job opportunities for Western Australians.

We know employers want people with qualifications and the skills required are diversifying as technology and innovation change the way our workplaces operate.

Last month I announced a partnership between Rio Tinto and TAFE WA to create

a new training curriculum to prepare workers as industry advancements, innovation and automation transforms a range of industries.

Rio Tinto is contributing $2 million towards the initiative, which will see them work with trainers from South Metropolitan TAFE to assess industry changes and future training needs and ensure this is reflected in new curriculum.

The Minister for Education and Training Sue Ellery.

rail rolling stock — a whole new industry for WA. Our Priority Start policy will be expanded to include more State Government construction and maintenance projects. All business cases for construction projects will be required to outline how many jobs, including apprenticeships and traineeships, will be created.

We will also be making sure companies follow through on

TRAINING CAN OPEN DOORS TO NEW JOBS, A MORE REWARDING CAREER, EVEN A BIGGER PAY PACKET The first of its kind in the country, this is a great example of industry and government working together to improve the job prospects of Western Australians and provide the skilled workers industry requires.

Training can open doors to new jobs, a more rewarding career, even a bigger pay packet. And we know for business, a workforce of skilled employees helps them remain competitive and productive.

The building of Metronet is a huge opportunity for training and upskilling. A specialist Trade Training Centre will be created at North Metropolitan TAFE to focus on building and maintenance of the Metronet network and

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their commitments by monitoring their progress.

A strong and secure TAFE must remain the bedrock of our training system. Private training providers have an important role to play in offering tailored and alternative training options that meet the State’s development objectives.

Under the previous government TAFE fees skyrocketed and enrolments dropped. At a time of economic stress, the training sector should be expanding, attracting students into the labour market and allowing people to move in and around the labour market.

We are introducing Industry Skills Centres — one-stop

shops on TAFE campuses that will liaise directly with emerging and established local industries and bring together a range of existing government functions and agencies.

Anyone, including employers or people in training, will be able to visit these centres to discuss training for their career or business needs.

We are also revamping the State Training Board to get it back to providing independent advice on behalf of industry. We know that to have the training system we need, we must be listening to industry and then taking a strategic approach to allocating limited government funding to where it is needed most.

The Federal Government isn’t making it easy for WA. The proposed new Skilling Australians agreement sees the Federal Government abandon general training funding. While they will continue to fund apprentice and traineeship training places, we know the growth in disability and aged care for example, means we need more training in those general areas, not less.

WA currently stands to lose $54 million each year from 2017-18, leaving the State Government to pick up the shortfall. Regardless, training is an exciting industry to be part of.

I look forward to the challenges and opportunities of the training portfolio and working with you to ensure the industry is the best it can be.

Sue Ellery is the Minister for Education and Training. ¢

LEGAL ADVICE YOU CAN TRUST CCI’s Employee Relations Consulting team has substantial experience in representing employers in unfair dismissal and general protection claims. Bringing together our practical and technical expertise in this area we provide cost effective solutions to successfully resolve claims against employers.

With one of the largest teams of employee relations specialists our consultants and lawyers understand the issues affecting your industry and can provide tailored and real world solutions for your business.

Have an urgent issue? Call us today on (08) 9365 7660

(08) 9365 7720 | erconsulting@cciwa.com | cciwa.com DECEMBER 2 017 BUSIN ES S PU L SE 3 5

RESEARCH

AUSSIE YOUTH NOT BLOOMING: SURVEY

Youth wellbeing is having an impact on the bottom line of business

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ew research by Skillsroad, a career support initiative for youth, has found that young Australians are not flourishing like they should. In fact, they’re just doing ok.

— sought to identify the concerns and issues affecting youth when it comes to their transition from school to work, and to address the current concerns of employers who are struggling to attract and retain young staff despite soaring youth unemployment.

The census links average levels of wellbeing to high job turnover, the national skills shortage, increasing university and vocational dropout rates and a myriad of employment issues.

According to the census, 52.3 per cent of young people still at school are planning to attend

WHEN APPLYING FOR A JOB, YOUNG PEOPLE RANK PAY ABOVE ALL ELSE Data from the Skillsroad 2017 Youth Census — commissioned by Apprenticeship Support Australia — suggests average levels of wellbeing are not only affecting our youth, but also the bottom line of Australian businesses.

The national census — which surveyed 13,227 Australians between the ages of 15 and 24

university, despite fears of financial hardship for some and a lack of jobs in some sectors after graduation.

Only 15.8 per cent are considering VET pathways — including apprenticeships and traineeships — despite VET graduates being more likely to be in employment post completion

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than university graduates.

More than 60 per cent of respondents said their biggest worries in starting their career were not knowing what to do (30.4 per cent) and not liking the career they chose (30.4 per cent).

When applying for a job, young people rank pay above all else as the most important factors they consider.

Apprenticeship Support Australia Managing Director Darren Cocks says this shows young people are likely to prioritise money over career paths they’re genuinely passionate about, increasing the chances of them ending up in a career they don’t enjoy and impacting their confidence and resilience.

“Given, when an employee resigns, it can cost as much as 400 per cent of their salary, the cost of churn is a heavy burden for many companies,” he says.

“Pursuing careers that are intrinsically important to young people is far more likely to result in engaged staff who enjoy their work, have fewer sick days, benefit from higher levels of wellbeing and are, therefore, more likely to stay longer.”

The census confirmed that parents possess a huge amount of power in shaping the careers of young people as they were

ranked the most likely person to turn to for career advice.

“We need to supply parents with information and tools so that career conversations are positive, unbiased and comprehensive,” Cocks says.

“These conversations need to happen early and present youth with all the options so they have the best chance of choosing the path that suits them, makes them happy — minimising the risk of a false start — and increases wellbeing.

“As a community, we need to be mindful we are not pushing any one career pathway — whether it’s because of a lack of resources or a misguided belief that one tertiary system is better than the other. We need to encourage young people to find out what truly interests them and play to their strengths.”

Businesses are encouraged to download a copy of the census for insights into the younger generation of workers.

Investing in apprenticeships and traineeships helps to safeguard your future workforce.

Call Apprenticeship Support Australia on 1300 363 831 to find out how we can support your business through apprenticeships and traineeships. ¢

BOOKLOOK

‘SOUL NEEDED IN NEW IA WORLD’

Ethics and opportunities for everyone will guide economic growth in the next big technological revolution, argues Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella

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hy do I exist? Why does our institution exist? What is the role of a multinational corporation in our world? What is the role of a leader in digital technology, especially as the world turns to tech as such a crucial input to drive growth?”

These questions haunt me, and they motivated me to write Hit Refresh. Finding answers set me on an intellectual and introspective journey to discover what I uniquely can contribute to society and how to rediscover the soul of Microsoft, to define our role as a global company. They guide me daily in the pursuit to bring empathy together with big ideas in order to make a real difference.

Profound change on its way The coming industrial revolution — one that builds toward ubiquitous computing and ambient intelligence and is fuelled by software — will be more profound in its impact on the economy than those revolutions that came before. It’s why I developed a set of design principles that shape how we — Microsoft and others — create this next wave of technology.

I encourage feedback, debate, and ultimately commitment to building out the ethics that will govern our society going forward.

The world used to grow at four per cent per year, but it is now growing at roughly two per cent.

So, we need new technology breakthroughs in order to have the type of growth we had in the 20th Century. Mixed reality, artificial intelligence, and quantum computing are going to be game changers, creating new economic surplus, but also disrupting the workforce, eliminating the routine jobs we take for granted today. Some

argue that robots will take all our jobs, but this so-called ‘lump of labor’ argument — the notion that there is a limited amount of work available — has always been disproved. It’s just that different types of labour will be needed. And humans will add value where machines cannot.

As we encounter more and more artificial intelligence, real intelligence, real empathy, and real common sense will be scarce.

New social contract needed The new jobs will be predicated on knowing how to work with machines, but also on these uniquely human attributes. In the face of these many coming shifts, there must be a new social contract that helps to achieve economic surplus and opportunity on a more equitable basis. To get there, what will the new labour movement look like? There has been talk of a Universal Basic Income. How will we re-skill and retrain workers — not just high-end knowledge workers, but also low-skill and mid-skill labour? Can the service sector and people-on-people jobs be the source of new employment for many displaced from traditional manufacturing or agricultural sectors?

Finally, as leaders, what is our role? At the end of the day, leaders of any company are evaluated based on their ability to grow the business, to clear the way for innovations that inspire customers. As CEOs, we’re accountable for generating the best returns to shareholders. But I also subscribe to the notion that the bigger a company is, the more responsibility its leader has to think about the world, its citizens, and their long-term opportunities.

You’re not going to have much of a stable business if you don’t think about the growing

inequities around the world and do your part to help improve conditions for everyone. We approach this goal by focusing on multiple strategies and constituencies — leveraging our core business for positive social impact, and improving personal productivity; making sure our business is socially responsible by investing in sustainability, accessibility, privacy and security, and through philanthropy. Microsoft Philanthropies is the world’s largest corporate philanthropy with more than $1 billion in contributions across a wide variety of causes including teaching digital skills like coding and computer science, affordable access to the internet, and humanitarian assistance. And we use our voice — under the banner of A Cloud for Global Good — to advocate for policies that advance the goal of economic opportunity for everyone. In fact, all of my proceeds from this book will go toward these causes.

Role of CEOs in the new world The C in CEO is about being the curator of culture. After all, it really comes down to people. It’s the sum of a million decisions made by thousands of people every day. It’s about helping employees live out their own personal mission in the context of Microsoft’s. Microsoft no longer employs people — people employ Microsoft. What is possible to achieve when we shift the mindset of more than

100,000 people from being employees to employers? Our entire purpose is to make things that help others make things — and make things happen. Our services are irreplaceable tools in countless enterprises and organisations around the world.

Anybody at Microsoft can look at our constellation of assets and dream of what can be and bring it to bear on any problem in any geography.

This culture needs to be a microcosm of the world we hope to create outside the company. One where builders, makers, and creators achieve great things. I know that we are on the right track when I hear a colleague express an insight that could only come from empathy, or when a product breakthrough results from someone who used Microsoft as a platform for his or her personal passion and creativity.

This is an extract from Hit Refresh by Satya Nadella and is published by HarperCollins Australia. RRP $32.99. It is available from Boffins Books in the Perth CBD. ¢

DECEMBER 2 017 BUSIN ESS PU L SE 3 7

ACHIEVEMENTS

WINNERS are GRINNERS CCI congratulates its winning Members on their outstanding achievements

RAC Best Workplace Safety and Health Management System award RACWA has taken out the Work Safety Awards WA category for best workplace safety and health management system.

RACWA received the award for developing an integrated safety and health management system that focused on critical risks, workplace health and reducing the risk of injury in manual tasks.

The Work Safety Awards recognise outstanding occupational health and safety management, solutions and innovation in Western Australian workplaces.

Rosewood to the rescue Fundraising Charity Calendar Aged care provider Rosewood is bringing back the 1940s next year through a fundraising drive to help raise awareness of Alzheimer’s disease.

The Alzheimer’s WA Charity Calendar was created amid concerns about a rise in early onset dementia in younger women.

The vision began with Perth model Pamela Jackson, who joined friends and colleagues to create a calendar to raise funds for Alzheimer’s WA, inspired by the Academy award-winning 2014 film Still Alice.

Still Alice tells the story of a linguistics professor who is diagnosed with familial Alzheimer’s disease shortly after her 50th birthday and the fallout of the diagnosis.

“The film was just so powerful,” Jackson said.

“I remember sitting in the cinema thinking, ‘This is a woman around my age suddenly learning to live with such a debilitating and life-changing illness’.

“It really hit home, I had to do something, it resonated so deeply with me.”

Jackson, who has had relatives living with dementia, enlisted the help of friends and colleagues from Perth’s modelling industry, including local photographer David Broadway, to create a series of photographs with a 1940s theme.

“The 1940s theme of the calendar reflects the heyday of women now in nursing homes, many of whom are living with Alzheimer’s and other dementia-related illnesses,” she said.

“We wanted to support Alzheimer’s because we found that so many people we were working with had been touched by it, or had known someone with dementia of some sort.”

Alzheimer’s WA estimates that there are 39,600 people living with dementia in WA, and without a medical breakthrough that number is estimated to reach 69,000 by 2050.

Rosewood chief executive officer Mario Zulberti said Rosewood was proud to sponsor the calendar, which would help support those with Alzheimer’s and dementia-related illnesses.

Calendars are available for $20 and can be purchased online or from Alzheimer’s WA, 55 Walters Drive, Osborne Park or Rosewood, 67 Cleaver Street, West Perth.

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Burch Family Wines Best Australian Sparkling Wine Burch Family Wines has been toasting a barrel of success this year.

One of its labels, Howard Park Wines, celebrated a win after taking out the prestigious ‘Best Australian Sparkling Wine’ trophy at the Champagne and Sparkling Wine World Championships in London for the Jeté Brut Blanc NV. It also won an award for ‘Best in Class Australian Non Vintage Brut Blend’.

The Marchand & Burch Chardonnay took out three titles at the Australian Cool Climate Wine Show 2017: Best Wine of Show, Best White Wine of Show and Best Chardonnay of Show.

It was also awarded gold medals at this year’s Rutherglen Wine Show, Royal Melbourne Wine Show, Perth Royal Wine Show, Sydney Royal Wine Show, Australian Cool Climate Wine Show, Gold Medal Wine Showcase Magazine Tasting and the China Wine and Spirits Awards.

ACHIEVEMENTS

Nauti-Craft

Scitech

Maritime Australia Industry Innovation Award

Creative Industries award

A Dunsborough-based company has won a prestigious national award for its innovative solution to improving the ride, handling, comfort and safety of marine vessels, especially at high speeds and in high seas.

Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne presented the Civil SME Innovation Grant to Nauti-Craft Chairman Chris Heyring and Managing Director Ken Johnsen at the recent Maritime Australia Limited Industry Innovation Awards in Sydney.

Johnsen said the award recognised the efforts of the Nauti-Craft team in developing a marine suspension system that could deliver tangible health, safety and operational benefits to vessels in the defence and civilian sectors.

The Maritime Industry Innovation Awards recognise and reward local companies and individuals at the forefront of naval and maritime innovation.

Scitech has won the Creative Industries category in the recent Western Australian Industry and Export Awards for its engaging and interactive travelling exhibitions.

The 2017 award is the organisation’s third win in the category, qualifying it for the awards’ ‘hall of fame’ status.

Scitech currently has 10 exhibitions touring internationally, each attracting an average of more than 100,000 visitors.

The win in the Creative Industries category — sponsored by CCIWA — is the second for the travelling exhibitions in just a few months.

Scitech also recently won the Association of Science-Technology Centre Roy L. Shafer Award for Business Practice in San Jose.

Scitech Chief Executive Officer Deb Hancock said the organisation was proud to be influencing inquiring minds internationally while also increasing revenue to reinvest into STEM education in Western Australia.

Brightwater Oats Street Rehabilitation Program A brain tumour turned Lisa Evans’ life upside down but Brightwater’s Oats Street rehabilitation program has been helping her get back on track since 2015.

A graduate of the program, Lisa now lives in her own home and is putting her old data-entry skills back into use as part of the Giving Back program.

Lisa now spends two hours a week working alongside Brightwater’s Occupational Safety and Health team based at Osborne Park. She describes her return to the workplace as a confidence boost and an important part of rehabilitation since her acquired brain injury.

“Those couple of hours mean everything to me,” Lisa said. “I feel like I am contributing and part of the workplace, and I enjoy getting some normality back.”

Lisa has been supported back into the workplace by both her Giving Back Coordinator and her line manager, Yvonne von Guttenberg, Brightwater’s Occupational Health and Safety Coordinator.

“We trialled a couple of sessions and together we soon learned how to overcome any minor obstacles and hiccups before settling into a productive, independent routine of work for Lisa,” Yvonne said.

“I would love to encourage other companies to consider analysing and breaking a traditional job role down into smaller components that may be suitable for a person with a disability or impairment.”

For more information, email sarah-jane.brummage@brightwatergroup.com

If you have a winning story about your business or organisation you’d like to share, email

editor@cciwa.com

DECEMBER 2 017 BUSIN ESS PU L SE 3 9

FIVE

WAYS TO BE AGILE ON YOUR MOBILE DEVICE

THE APP’S AUTOMATION FEATURES MAKE TRACKING EXPENSES MUCH EASIER

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Vend Used by thousands of retailers worldwide, Vend turns your iPad into a point-of-sale system that allows you to conduct business on the go. It works with different receipt printers, cash drawers and barcode scanners, avoiding the need to purchase extra equipment. To get up and running, download the app, set up your store and start processing transactions. The app comes with additional features such as inventory management, reporting and analytics, customer loyalty tools and sales insights. The interface is simple and intuitive, with the ability to work offline and be integrated with other supported retail apps.

PayPal Here for iPad The PayPal Here app lets you accept cash, credit cards, and PayPal payments using your mobile device and the PayPal dongle. It also gives you the ability to send receipts via text or email, and view and manage your sales history from the app. This software allows retailers to accept various payment forms from anywhere, reducing checkout walkaways.

Since the app lets people check-in to a store with their PayPal accounts, merchants can access more details about each shopper, including purchase history and profile. This enables merchants to personalise interactions, recommend products and process payments quicker.

Xero Xero allows you to stay on top of your company’s finances ­— even when you’re on the go. Besides allowing you to create, approve and send invoices using your mobile device, Xero lets you upload receipts and track expenses — so you always know how much money is coming in and going out of your business at any given time. The bank reconciliation feature automatically imports your bank, credit card and PayPal transactions so you can keep track of all your financials from one dashboard. The app’s automation features make tracking expenses much easier, and the bank reconciliation tool can automatically import and categorise transactions.

Retail Calculators This app puts multiple retail calculators in one program so you can make common business computations with your smartphone. The seven free calculators are Contribution Margin, Loan Payment, Inventory Turnover (Stock Turn), Markup, Money Conversion, DCF Valuation, and Shift Hours. There are 36 other calculators available via in-app purchases for just a few dollars each.

Retail Calculators quickly gives you the values and numbers you need to make important business decisions, including pricing merchandise, understanding contribution and gross profit margins and calculating loan payments.

Deputy Say goodbye to messy time sheets and confusing charts to roster staff. Say hello to Deputy, which allows you to create, update, cancel and set shifts from your mobile device. Messages are sent via text, email or the web so employees can receive scheduling updates and notifications wherever they are. Deputy saves time and money with its easy-to-use interface and mobile capabilities. The app was also developed with staff in mind. Deputy allows staff members to self manage by picking up shifts, switching schedules and requesting time off. These self-serve features not only give staff control, but also help avoid stress and save time for managers.

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