Technology

I was driving home last week and noticed a Thai restaurant I hadn’t seen before. Feeling adventurous for dinner that night, we thought we’d try it out and order some take away. I jumped on Google and, to my surprise, the mysterious Thai restaurant could not be found. I tried Google Maps, and again, no result.

At this stage, most customers would have given up and moved on. But on a desperate hunt for a delicious Penang curry, I even went so far as to stalk them on Google Street View. Unfortunately, their phone number wasn’t visible in the window, so we decided to go back to our trusty local. Read more

These days we spend more time looking at screens almost anything else. About the only time I look at printed material is when I’m on a plane and all the devices have to be turned off. What is worth pondering is whether these connected to the Internet devices with their large amount of storage is changing the way we think.

I pick up my Kindle. It has the capacity to hold the contents of a complete library. Now I don’t really want to wander around with 3,000 books but I am finding that I often have 4 or 5 books on the go. Usually some fiction, some business management book, some technology book and some science fiction. I find that I jump from one to the other. My reading habits have completely changed. Of course I could have done this in the past but who wants to carry around 4 or 5 books? Read more

The latest technology revolution isn’t just under way, it’s about to get bigger.

Hot on the heels of the “consumerization” of IT is a new uprising, one poised to forever change how we use technology at work. Known as “Bring Your Own Device,” or BYOD, it promises to provide the workforce with increased flexibility and mobility while possibly lowering costs for IT departments.

The consumerization-of-IT revolution took place after technology devices marketed for personal use—most notably, smartphones and tablets—began being released and adopted faster than corporate IT groups could test, deploy and support them. People bought these devices in droves and brought them—iPhone and Android, iPad and Kindle Fire—to the office. Read more

Looking at my iPhone and iPad today I realized there had been a changing of the guard. The apps I traditionally assumed I was using have kind of fallen by the way side and a new breed has taken their place. Change is normal and the tools we use do go in and out of favor every now and then but I thought it would be nice to mark the moment with a little blog post.

Here are my top three right now. Read more

I was recently at a family BBQ enjoying a beer and a sausage in bread when I was asked the following: ‘Hey mate, you work in computers(sic), what’s all this Cloud computing stuff about?’

Now, being the families resident ‘computer nerd’, I’m often asked computer related questions (either that or cartoon related questions). Usually the questions are along the lines of ‘should I buy a Mac’ or ‘why isn’t my email working’. Most can be fairly easily answered with a paint-by-numbers answer, but this one required a bit more effort. Effort that by the end of the conversation – which only ended because if we didn’t stop talking, all of my auntie’s awesome trifle would’ve been eaten without me getting any – still could’ve been delved into a lot more.

This ‘Cloud computing stuff’ question became a 45-minute discussion about a bunch of seemingly unlinked topics – business, computers, iPhones and iPads, MYOB, the Patriot Act, Russians; the list went on and on. Read more

In my day job helping accounting firms attract and retain talented partners and staff, I’m often asked what things separate good professionals from great professionals. Leaving technical and relationship building skills to one side, invariably it is the “small things” that really make a difference. One small thing – believe it or not – is voice mail.

Accountants, like other professions, need to communicate with their clients, prospects, government departments, suppliers and a host of others. Naturally enough, the telephone is a common method of communication. When you use the telephone you can’t avoid the inevitable … voice mail. Read more

Five seemingly small things that will make a big difference to the way you use AccountRight

Recently I have had the opportunity to spend time with our Seminar Presenters on the upcoming AccountRight Masterclass seminars, and had got an in depth look at the newest version of our much loved AccountRight software.

It took me back to the day we released Premier version 12, the whole interface had moved away from a grey background to the current white look. Most of the clients I spoke to thought it looked great, and while a handful thought it was too ‘bright’, they generally appreciated the cleaner, sleeker look. Read more

Kodak made photography accessible to the entire world. For over a century, if you took a photo then you likely took it using a Kodak product. Just like Google, Microsoft and the inventor of Velcro, they created a product that changed the way the world operated forever.

Kodak sold cheap cameras and expensive film – that was their business model and it worked for 120 years. Unfortunately on the 121^st year, that business model was no longer viable. Less than a fortnight ago, Kodak filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy.

But where did it go wrong? Read more

Most savvy business owners are well aware of the way the technological world is changing, and the impact that it’s having on the way we do business.  In less than 7 years, Facebook went from a college start-up to a global phenomenon of more than 800 million people, and Apple managed to get over 25 million iPads into the market in less than 13 months.  We’re more connected, in more mobile and social ways than ever before. Read more

I’m often asked about the benefits of new technology, in particular the industry’s latest buzz word – cloud technology, and it’s easy to highlight many.  Convenience, freedom, functionality; technology has changed the way we work, play and consume information, at a rate exceeding unlike anything we’ve ever seen in human history.  But one of the single biggest benefits that is sometimes overlooked is choice. Read more