Category Archives: Uncategorised

Strong Wifi is critical to business success

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In business we are using more technology than ever and the internet is now an essential service for our business. With an increase demand on online applications and services having good practical secure Wifi is critical.

Business demands technology to be mobile, flexible and not hardwired when possible.

Sometimes we forget that we are still using the standard modem that was provided to us when we signed up for broadband services. This can be enough, but we are seeing a lot that isn’t.

There are several issues to consider when looking to address the WiFi need of the businesses.

  • How many devices are going to be connected?
  • What type of data will be transferred, Streaming, Skype, etc
  • SecurityConsider the number of devices connecting and take into account not only laptops and PCs but also mobile devices and other connected devices like sensors, alarms and any thing that may be IoT.If you only use the internet for online banking and general work-related activities that don’t need large amounts of bandwidth then you only need think about the location of the modem to ensure strong signal. But if you have a greater need then its time to look at upgrading to commercial grade access points modem and security.

A common question often centres on the need for a business-grade access point over the many less-expensive alternatives with similar specifications. It is worth noting that an important premise for a business- grade access point is reliability under sustained, heavy usage, which is unlikely to be the case from an access point picked from the bargain bin

The cost of the hardware has come down significantly, making the choice to replace your standard modem at the same time as installing a business grade access point very cost effective.

Not only has the cost of the access point come down but the functionality as become more user friendly. A number of Access Points can be managed via a cloud base portal.

The tools are available to enhance your existing network and can be easily installed. But what shouldn’t be forgotten is how you ensure the security of you data and importantly customer data.

As more Internet of Things (IoT) smart devices are introduced into company networks, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to assure the security of those devices and the network where the company’s most precious information is sited.

For example, a rather unusual and recent case involved a casino whose database was hacked via a smart thermometer monitoring water in an aquarium located in the casino’s lobby. Once the system had been breached, the hackers were able to pull the database back through the thermometer and into the cloud.

It’s important when storing customer data that you have the tools in place to protect it. In all cases an IT professional should be consulted when upgrading to ensure you are protecting the data and are meeting compliance requirements.

Consider the nature of the work your employees do and how much of that is dependent on the internet. If you work in a highly internet-dependent field, then having a strong, business-grade internet connection that can handle all of the traffic that is using it each day will be vital to your employees being able to remain productive throughout their workday.

A slow internet service can frustrate employees who are trying to be productive with their workday. Keeping employees happy with the tools they need to complete their job in a timely manner (such as business- grade internet) makes the investment worthwhile.

Getting the right solution for your business and needs will mean you are well place to take advantage of new technologies that will be relevant to you. Staff will be more productive, and customers will be confident you protect their data.

If you want to know more then please feel free to contact me.

WilliamsWarn: taking local brewing technology to the world

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After originally targeting homebrewers wanting a simple, quick way to make quality beer, Hastings company WilliamsWarn now has its sights set on a second, larger market – the hospitality sector.

WilliamsWarn launched its BrewMaster appliance in 2011 leveraging their unique pressure fermentation system, building up a base of customers keen on an easy way to brew beer or cider at home, or even in the office, in just seven days.

“The BrewMaster got us on the map with home users who are able to use it to brew world-class beer,” says Jeremy Absolom, the company’s general manager commercial.

“The challenge with it was that because it was a handmade New Zealand product it came with a large price tag. But what it did was nail our brand to the quality beer our appliances can produce in that one-week time period.”

Since then WilliamsWarn has been able to address the pricing issue through some new designs and manufacturing partnerships in China, which has brought unit costs down.

The company has now gone on to develop the BrewKeg, a trademarked innovation (like the BrewMaster) that allows the brewing process to be completed utilising any fridge or chiller, and then dispense the beer through a normal tapping system or kegerator.

“What that did was allow us to use different size pressure fermenters (BrewKegs) and open up to the opportunity of working in hospitality,” says Jeremy.

“Over the past couple of years that’s where our real focus has been – on developing a range of products and ingredients that suit bars, restaurants and cafes that want to develop their own branded beer or cider, and either produce on or off premises for their customers.”

The company’s BrewKeg allows bars to become brewpubs.

The BrewKeg system even allows WilliamsWarn customers to scale- up to the extent that they’re effectively running small breweries with a low carbon footprint.

“Because of our modular system, you can have breweries using 50 or 100 BrewKegs and producing tens of thousands of litres a week. It allows them to scale as demand grows, as opposed to having to put a big lump sum up front to build, say, a big German-style brewhouse.”

As well as saving on the significant capital costs of establishing a brewery, the BrewKeg system – where WilliamsWarn provide all the required ingredients – doesn’t need a high-ceiling building or the specialist staff normally associated with large-scale brewing.

“BrewKegs can operate in a fairly normal facility, with regular ceiling heights, normal floor weights and the same level of staff you’d employ in any bar or restaurant, because they’re working to recipes rather than having to make all the ingredients from scratch,” says Jeremy.

With a renaissance of people enjoying fresh beer off tap and increasingly looking for locally produced food and beverage, the BrewKeg concept is generating a lot of international interest and is behind a strong period of growth for WilliamsWarn, which has doubled its staff numbers over the past couple of years to 14.

“It’s early days but we’ve certainly got growing interest in a number of key global markets,” says Jeremy.

“Because of the simple nature of more sustainable brewing using BrewKegs, we’re finding we can get people up and running in different parts of the world without having to spend a lot of time training them. We can do a lot of that remotely.”

www.williamswarn.co.nz

Business angels at the ready

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Much-needed ‘angel’ funding is beginning to flow into local start-up businesses thanks to a new group that brings entrepreneurs and investors together.

Deals are being done between Hawke’s Bay entrepreneurs and members of a new group established to bring together local investors willing to provide venture capital to early- stage and growth businesses in the region.

The Hawke’s Bay Angel Investment Group (HB Angels) is a network of entrepreneurs and professional investors prepared to collaboratively invest in and support local entrepreneurial talent.

The group has more than 30 members and recently established a board chaired by Havelock North businessman Dean Prebble, a former New Zealand Trade and Enterprise trade commissioner.

Dean has been the driving force behind establishing the investment group, which held its first meeting in November last year.

“There is a tremendous pool of talent in the region and HB Angels will be able to provide capital and support to help those businesses grow and expand,” Dean says.

Other members of the newly-formed board are Jonathan Norman (vice-chair), Rick Cranswick (treasurer), Sharon Chapman and Ailne Bradley.

“The vision of using the private sector to unlock, support and attract fresh entrepreneurial talent to Hawke’s Bay through robust opportunity identification and the building of investment portfolios under a fund structure is a proven model nationally and will benefit the local and regional economy,” Dean says.

To date HB Angels has facilitated relationships with local private equity groups and Manawatu Investment Group (MIG), which has seen a number of early-stage Hawke’s Bay businesses receive time and capital from members.

The group is part of a national association of similar regional organisations – the Angel Association of New Zealand – and would typically make equity investments in businesses of anywhere between $50,000 and $1 million.

Rick, the former chief executive of the region’s largest chartered accounting practice Crowe Horwath, said it was encouraging to see the level of interest shown by both entrepreneurs and investors since the formation of the group.

Its board is made up of people with a broad cross-section of skills that would help the group move forward, he says.

“Entrepreneurship is alive and well in Hawke’s Bay and there is now a place to come to get support and perhaps funding. Importantly, the group works with The Icehouse to help entrepreneurs with businesses needing funding to get investment-ready, so they’ve got a better chance of getting deals over the line.”

Dean says the group’s previous meetings in November, May and August were supported by Napier City Council and were well attended, generating strong interest from potential members.

The New Zealand angel investment community has been going for about 10 years and clubs around the country have a total of about 650 members. Over the past decade, $500 million has been invested into nearly 1,000 deals.

“HB Angels is the 12th club in New Zealand,” Dean says.

“Although Hawke’s Bay has a lot of other groups and entities investing in start-ups, this is the first formalised angel investment group.”

Club members usually meet once every two months and at each event, members can expect between two and four presentations from start-up ventures based either within or outside the region.

Members are able to decide whether, and how much, to invest in any particular deal presented to the club and often several members will invest jointly.

Aside from investing directly through the group’s nominee company, members are also able to take a stake in what would be the group’s first start-up fund – a portfolio of least 10 investments.

This type of portfolio approach improves the risk/return profile of an investment. Given the start-up nature of the type of investments angels are making, long- term returns can range from zero to large multiples of the original investment.

For commercial investments, where several investors are involved in the same deal, the group plans to work closely with MIG, a Palmerston North-based group with a 10- year track record of angel investment.

“We encourage investors to become actively involved in the investment process,” Dean says.

“Opportunities to participate in due diligence and take on a ‘lead investor’ role are available to members, with coaching and support provided to fulfil these roles.”

One brain for all

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Never have we travelled so quickly. New discoveries seem to be endless, networks give us roads to transport data faster and further and smarter than ever before. Where will it end.

A concept or Ideology that has been discussed and studied for some time is the concept of a Global Brain. With the exponential increase in connected devices, IoT, the Global Brain hypothesis is becoming more relevant. So in this article I wanted to touch on the concept of a Global Brain and discuss benefits and the pitfalls.

To explain what the Global Brain is or refers to is complex and beyond the word limit of this article, but for the purpose of explaining at a very high level what the Global brain refers to I will keep it simple and my apologies if it seems a little too simplistic to some.

The Global Brain then is the emerging intelligent network formed by all people on this planet, together with the computers and communication links that connect them together. Like a real brain, this network is an immensely complex, self organising system, that processes information, makes decisions, solves problems, learns new connections and discovers new ideas. It plays the role of a collective nervous system for the whole of humanity. No person, orgainsation or computer is in control of this system: Its “thought” processes are distributed over all its components.

We in essence have an entity that goes beyond the collection of data, or the storage of data and starts to act and behave in a way that provides outputs in decisions and actions that are relevant. Very much like our own brain but can access all data and results from all of history and then use this to enhance all humanity.

Assuming this can be achieved, one benefit talked about is the concept of “mind uploading”. The ability to have your brain copied to the cloud enabling superhuman ability to process information by using the world wide data stored in the centralised cloud brain. The concept is further explained as being entwined with our consciousness meaning we could rely on the cloud brain to make decisions for us based on the input from our consciousness.

If this complex Global Brain could somehow collate all data points from everything that was collected (IoT) and apply logic then we have an entity that could solve many of humanities biggest problems. It doesn’t take much to imagine what could be achieved, a world where everyone had enough food, a planet that could collectively address climate change, just two examples.

Combining everything that is known to humanity about growing food would expediate the eradication of some plant diseases, would enable food to be grown in hostile environments and generally improve efficiency of food production.

Likewise the collection of data globally could managed CO2 emissions by switching on and off main sources when emissions are too high, coordinating the worlds emissions

to operate within the parameters of the planets requirements (currently 65% of global emissions are from industry and fossil fuel)

The benefits of a system are clearly huge and will impact absolutely everything we do, possibly even extend human life.

But just because we can doesn’t mean we should and therein lies the greatest challenge to the Global Brain. What will it be used for and who will use it and for what purpose.

It would be unimaginable if a government was able to use this power for evil,

but then some would argue if we have a global brain this its utopia so that wouldn’t happen. However as I said at the start we are at the cusp of this and so these questions need to be answered. Technology is like money, not good, not bad, it merely exists.

There needs a fundamental shift in the world’s governments and organisation’s approach to collaborate in order for this concept to materialise. Getting all universities, governments and individuals to collaborate will be the greatest challenge humanity face but yet the greatest goal.

So the disadvantages of this system could well be in its developmental evolution. Setting the ethics, dealing with privacy, dealing with surveillance are very important.

Its exciting times, the reality is there is momentum and as we connect more and more devices to the internet its almost a natural evolution to have a Global Brain…. in my lifetime? Maybe.

I’m looking forward to the ride, I’m already impressed with things like adaptive cruise control in my car, Augmented Reality, blockchain, the Internet of Things, so my suggestion is make yourself a cup of tea and watch this space!

Changing buyers bring changing values

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The ‘leaky homes crisis’ is an ongoing construction and legal predicament in New Zealand. A perfect storm of trending building design features and the use of untreated timber culminated in many homes built between 1994 -2004 that suffered from weather-tightness problems. Hawke’s Bay has its share of homes built in this era but to date there has been relatively little impact on the value of these homes when they have come to sell.

There are many reasons why homes from this era were leaky. A major one was the increase in the use of cladding systems such as fibre cement sheet and EIPS1, more commonly known as monolithic cladding, that relied on a paint finish as the primary defence against water ingress. Such cladding systems allowed for little construction or thermal movement so that fine cracks that appeared insignificant, and would have been relatively insignificant in traditional claddings such as weatherboard, allowed continuous ingress of moisture into the framing which were ideal for rot. A further exacerbating factor was the change to the New Zealand Standard for Timber Treatment in 1995, allowing the use of untreated Pinus radiata timber for wall framing. As this timber has little natural resistance to rot when wet, damage occurs more quickly.

Hence, nearly a decade on it appears there continues to be a stigma associated with homes built in this era, especially if they display cladding and design features associated with weather tightness issues. Therefore, any home with a monolithic cladding became a red flag for buyers, especially in the bigger city property markets. We are beginning to see this stigma shift to Hawkes Bay homes built in this era as we see more buyers from out of town enter the local property market, irrespective of any weather tightness issues or their actual condition. Not only has our office had this experience, we have also had feedback from Real Estate Agents who confirm that over the past 18 months it has become increasingly difficult to sell property with this cladding type. Furthermore, it is having a definite impact on the consideration vendors are receiving. However, how much of an impact remains to be quantified?

In late 2016 researchers2 from Massey University released a paper entitled Leaky Building Stigma: Can it be Eliminated by Remediation. The purpose of the study was to examine whether meeting the regulatory standards for remediation work eliminated the negative stigma effect on remediated properties or whether the stigma remained. The study’s findings indicated that for monolithic- clad dwellings, the price discount due to leaky building stigma is significant. Depending on the severity of the leaking problems, there is about 11% reduction of value, on average, for general market stigma and an additional 5% -10% for post-remediation stigma.

Earlier this year, our office valued a home with a monolithic cladding system. There were no signs of the home leaking, however (in a strong market) the home sold for 11.26% below our valuation. As a Trustee I am also involved in a sale of a property with a monolithic cladding system. The house has not sold yet and is not leaking but certainly carries the stigma of such. We have had two contracts fall over due to outside advisors strongly recommending their clients seek a home with a different cladding type. Based on both offers to date it would suggest a 9.5% reduction on valuation however this may yet be greater as the home has not sold yet. Therefore, the above research may prove to be relatively accurate in its estimates of value discounts.

Whilst Hawke’s Bay has had its share of properties affected by the ‘leaky home’ syndrome, it has not been on the same scale as that of other cities, especially Auckland. It remains to be seen if our out of town buyers will continue to influence the perceived stigma of homes built in this era on our local property values.

  1. Externally Insulated Plaster System
  2. Song Shi, Iona McCarthy, Uyen Mai