We've all been there.  You’re huddled in a meeting room, feverishly brainstorming and sharing ideas. The digital lead passionately discusses tactics to include in the product launch strategy. You try to add your thoughts, waiting patiently for a pause in discussion. Working through new strategies and spending time with your team makes being in the office valuable.  And for advocates calling for the end of working from home - the thrashing out of ideas on-site ...

ChatGPT provided this introduction to this article: "As a business owner, you hold the key to harnessing the potential of ChatGPT responsibly. Explore the delicate balance between efficiency and ethical considerations when leveraging AI language models. Gain insights into best practices that promote fairness, privacy, and transparency. Empower your business with the responsible use of ChatGPT, ensuring integrity in customer interactions and maintaining trust in the digital landscape." Does it make sense? Did it make ...

It wasn't that long ago that many companies heavily relied on software such as Microsoft Excel to help provide reporting and analytics to manage their business.  Working through tabs, filtering data sets and looking at brightly coloured graphs was part of many Monday sales meetings. That's if you had colour toner; otherwise, you looked at monochrome reporting that all looked the same.  Thankfully, those reporting days are behind us.  Today you can communicate complex information ...

Imagine you've stepped out for your morning coffee. After a frantic morning of back-to-back meetings, you're in a hurry, so you duck quickly into the café across the street. But, as you go to tap your smartphone to pay, it pings. Another email from your boss. It's marked urgent. Swiping away the notification, you're curious. He is out of town at a conference. As you idly wait, you decide to open the email. Your boss ...

Living in a cosmopolitan city like Melbourne, getting complacent is easy. We have had a challenging few years during the pandemic but living in Melbourne, or Australia more broadly, we are a lucky country. That's not to say we don't have our issues and are not immune from threats ranging from natural disasters to cyberattacks.  As you know, Melbourne has experienced two earthquakes in the last few weeks. Fortunately, they have not caused widespread damage ...

Apologies for the delay in getting this month's newsletter out; it's been a Cruel Summer, I mean Winter. The last time we were this caught up with superstars was when Lady Gaga decided to pose for a photo next to our front door. It's been a crazy end of financial year for us, and the release of Taylor Swift tickets required much attention. Anyone with teenage daughters can attest to this. We've been telling them all ...

You've undoubtedly found yourself in a fire drill when working in a tall office building in Docklands or along Lonsdale Street. You understand how it feels when you hear the first beep, beep, followed by the whoop, whoop. So you know, by working on the 19th floor... it will be a long way down the emergency stairs to the marshalling point.  But here's the thing, practising an evacuation saves lives, and all employees should participate, ...

Managing IT costs is crucial for businesses of all sizes. As technology continues to play an increasingly important role in daily operations, investing heavily in IT infrastructure and security measures can be tempting. However, excessive spending on IT can quickly drain a business's resources, leaving little room for growth and innovation. To strike the right balance between cost reduction and data security, companies need to adopt effective strategies that can help reduce IT costs while ...

A client sent me an email from Dubai International Airport. He was very proud of himself as he had worked out how to get onto the Wi-Fi without any support. He even sent me a screenshot of the Wi-Fi connection he was on. I could see straight away it was an open connection, and he was at risk of exposing his data to others on the same Wi-Fi. A quick phone call and we had ...

Over the years, we've received the odd phone call from a prospect. Each time we answer it and hear the question, it sends shivers up my spine. "Our server has died, and apparently, we don't have any backups. Can you help us?" This is the worst-case scenario for a business and a challenging conversation. We want to help, but there's not much we can do. It's heartbreaking. As a business, your data is one of ...