NZBusiness June 2015

Is data telling your business to make the right decisions? Mat Wylie explains how to use data to take the guesswork out of business. Long gone are the days where, as David Ogilvy famously quipped: “Fifty percent of my advertising works, I just don’t know which 50 percent.” All areas of a business can and should be measured to understand where it is succeeding, along with those areas that still need improvement. Traditionally ignored areas, previously considered too difficult to measure accurately, should now stand as KPIs within every business. The ability to analyse large and complex data sets (‘big data’), are crucial to the operations and development of businesses. Chris Lynch, ex-Vertica CEO, explains that, “big data is at

If you’re in business for yourself, Tanya Unkovich offers eight strategies to help you develop a stronger personal discipline. You’re lying in bed listening to the comforting sound of the heavy rain on your roof. It was blissful until you were interrupted by the buzz of your new iPhone. “I hate that new tune”, you say to yourself, when actually what you really mean is “I don’t want to get up”. The inner bargaining commences as to why it would be considerably nicer to roll over and spoon the cat, instead of going to the gym. You remind yourself about how productive and energized you feel once you have exercised, so you quickly throw back the sheets before any more

Part one of a two-part series by Carmel Murphy on the importance of effective networking for building yourself and your business. Kiwis enjoy doing business with people they know, like and trust. My passion is to support people to create meaningful and authentic relationships via networking forums and training opportunities. To provide the tools to build rapport and connect meaningfully on a personal level before selling a product or service. So, a key question to ask yourself is, on a scale of one to ten, “How well do I currently do at initiating and bringing in business?” Don’t despair if your score is low!More than most, I understand the difficulty of getting yourself across well in conversation. Just six years

Dr Mike Ashby highlights the value that a good board can offer a business owner. If we’re smart business owners, we will realise that we really don’t need to do this on our own. In fact, it’s not even a good idea to do this on our own. The research is clear: nearly all companies that get from small to medium and more had outside help. Think of it as the scaffolding you need around your business to build it from the outside.The reason we need scaffolding is because the first casualty of business ownership is objectivity. We get attached to certain ideas, people, and ways of doing things. We get so attached to our opinions that they become beliefs,

Cath Vincent says it’s time to step up and conquer your fears to open up new business possibilities.  As I approached the doorway to the coffee shop, I could see that my client had already arrived and was casually flicking through the newspaper. “Any news?” I asked, as I smiled a greeting. “The economy is still bad.” I looked to the article he was reading and was surprised to see the large headline “The Economy Is Improving”.(Underneath, in much smaller type, the subheading read, “But You Might Not Notice for a While.”)This was the first hint that my client’s beliefs about business might be holding him back. He continued by explaining that “it’s just so hard to achieve sales in this

By Michael Whitehead.   “What does it take to be world-class?” It’s a question I’ve had put to me – almost always rhetorically – by fellow executives, by self-styled thought-leaders, and by other, less convincingly “world-class” authorities.  At a TDWI conference in Las Vegas recently, a clerk cheerfully described the hotel in which I was staying as “world-class.” Right. Between the house music boom-booming down in the courtyard all night – audible as hell thanks to the single-paned glass in my 12th-floor room! – and the airborne toxic event that was the hotel’s ventilation system, I judged her claim … less than convincing.  It was also recently asked of me by an organization looking to embark on a complete refresh