Spark Business Hub | Taranaki

When visitors step into the new Spark Business Hub building in New Plymouth, they will be able to immerse themselves in cutting-edge technology.

“We are setting up two experience centres,” says Spark regional business owner Charan Singh.

“A lot of businesses need small conference rooms, so, rather than show them on paper, they can come here and experience it.”

The purpose-built hub at 194 Courtenay Street is all about engaging with small and medium enterprise (SME) businesses employing 1 to 100 people – and more. “We would like to be technology partners with all the SMEs in the region.”

Josh Ferries, site lead at the hub, outlines what people will find in the experience centres.

“These will replicate conference rooms with Microsoft Team calls, using smart whiteboards, which feed into the group calls.”

Someone can be up writing on the board, but their body and hand won’t appear on screen; just what they are writing.

The rooms will also be equipped with IoT sensors, which can detect changes in an environment and collect data. “That’s from sensing if the room’s vacant right through to noise pollution, so people can experience and see the dashboard,” Josh says. “Everything that you experience or see through the hub, you can buy, except the furniture, of course.”

Or Spark staff can visit business customers with technology needs, Charan says.

Generally, people walk into the hub with any problem they have, like a mobile has stopped working. “We are educating customers with a new way of being served – instead of coming to us, we will come to you.”

This is all to help cut down the time people are away from their businesses or family.

But, of course, customers are welcomed at the hub, which employs four full-time people.

Charan owns all three of the Spark business hubs in the lower North Island region, covering Taranaki, Whanganui, Manawat , and Kapiti coast to Paraparaumu.

The Palmerston North hub has eight staff, and Whanganui has one staff member, who also visits H wera.

Sitting in the New Plymouth hub, Charan and Josh say engaging with the SMEs is vital so the Spark team can understand what a business does. They can then advise them on their technology needs, providing options for everything from laptops to apps, broadband to landlines – and everything in between and beyond.

“We are not like a retail store,” Charan says.

The hub staff are problem solvers, helping to find technology solutions, both temporary and permanent.

“We don’t leave customers in the lurch or without a fix,” Josh says. “Our advice is free, and they know that we won’t over-sell a solution or sell something that does not work.”

And they have skilled help on the spot.

“We have IT experts sitting with us,” Charan says. “Our IT partners are local Taranaki people – James Robinson and Trent Riddick.”

The men from IT360, also an SME, are based at the hub.

Charan and his team champion local businesses who are Spark customers and use or recommend their services.

Half yearly, he closes the hub and takes the whole team to visit a local business. This helps build understanding of a company’s operations and strengthens relationships.

“We are trusted technology advisers who give back to the community. We are linked to a big brand, but we are linked to a true regional New Zealand SME business with a local face,” Charan says.

L to R: Josh Ferries, Charanpreet Singh, Kerry Frank (Manawatu/Whanganui Site Lead).

“I always tell people that the face of my Taranaki site is this man here,” he says of the man he calls “Dr Josh”.

Josh was born in New Plymouth, who first met his wife at primary school, West End Te Kura M rere. After leaving Spotswood College, he worked as plumber for a few years, then moved to the ANZ Bank, and started work with Spark nine years ago.

Originally from Punjab in northern India, Charan studied in his home country and in New Zealand, gaining a certificate in automotive electrical engineering from Unitech. “I realised that getting under the hood of a car wasn’t me.”

The proud father of one daughter, comes from a business family back in India, so that seemed to be a natural direction to take.

“I started my career at Spark as a doorto-door salesman and moved all the way up through the departments to the business hub as a salesperson.”

He became an owner of the three Spark Business Hubs in February 2021.

“I give kudos to the people who have been my great mentors and to the people I met on the journey,” Charan says.

Contact the team on: 06 759 2647 or hubtaranaki@spark.co.nz