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NBN in the Enterprise - Innovation & Business Skills Australia

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<strong>NBN</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Enterprise</strong>An <strong>in</strong>vestigation <strong>in</strong>to <strong>the</strong> <strong>in</strong>surance brok<strong>in</strong>g and pr<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>dustries3. Competition from large <strong>in</strong>cumbents <strong>in</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r <strong>in</strong>dustries:Fear of larger, better funded competitors or new entrantsmov<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>to <strong>the</strong> market and us<strong>in</strong>g onl<strong>in</strong>e offer<strong>in</strong>gs to ‘cherrypick’ high volume, low return products or services that oftenrepresent <strong>the</strong> backbone for smaller, regional bus<strong>in</strong>esses.This is occurr<strong>in</strong>g with banks mov<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>to onl<strong>in</strong>e <strong>in</strong>surance andICT companies mov<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>to content storage and web-to-pr<strong>in</strong>tservices.4. Competition from overseas: Fear over new entrantsfrom countries with low labour cost, limited compliancerequirements, and/or protected markets us<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> newbroadband channels to reach regional or niche marketspreviously not accessible due to poor connectivity.5. Uncerta<strong>in</strong>ty of <strong>NBN</strong> <strong>in</strong>tegration with mobile broadband:Many progressive bus<strong>in</strong>esses – especially those deploy<strong>in</strong>g ICTto enhance services to rural and regional customers – rely veryheavily upon mobile cellular network connections. Research has<strong>in</strong>dicated two potential problems. The first related to <strong>the</strong> <strong>NBN</strong>distract<strong>in</strong>g attention away from efforts to improve poor mobilecoverage. Secondly, bus<strong>in</strong>esses generally lack <strong>in</strong>formationabout how services delivered over <strong>the</strong> <strong>NBN</strong> would be <strong>in</strong>tegratedwith mobile broadband services (from a ‘bundled’ subscription,cost or a technical perspective).6. Red tape and regulations: To enable <strong>the</strong> efficiencies possibleunder <strong>the</strong> <strong>NBN</strong> regulations affect<strong>in</strong>g occupational health andsafety (e.g. at home workers), employment conditions (hoursof work), digital transactions and even compliance standards(e.g. use of a digital signature) need to be addressed to preventcosts be<strong>in</strong>g passed on to bus<strong>in</strong>esses.The topic of offshor<strong>in</strong>g – a potential impact of <strong>the</strong> <strong>NBN</strong> – wasseen to reside somewhere between a positive impact and athreat. Two participants <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> research – one an early adopterof high-speed broadband, and ano<strong>the</strong>r participant secur<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong><strong>NBN</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> near future – have planned to outsource or off-shorehigh‐cost, high-skill roles as well as skills that are <strong>in</strong> short supplydue to <strong>in</strong>creased competition from overseas – especially <strong>in</strong>pr<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>g. At least one company, identified as superior <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> ICTmaturity matrix, will utilise improved broadband connectivityto move parts of <strong>the</strong>ir value cha<strong>in</strong> to low-cost, English speak<strong>in</strong>gcountries such as India or Philipp<strong>in</strong>es. This was seen by o<strong>the</strong>remployers as an opportunity lost to <strong>Australia</strong> and local workers.The f<strong>in</strong>al po<strong>in</strong>t underp<strong>in</strong>s a general f<strong>in</strong>d<strong>in</strong>g from <strong>the</strong> research.While a few bus<strong>in</strong>esses have positioned to deliberately leverage<strong>the</strong> <strong>NBN</strong>, <strong>the</strong> vast majority expressed reservations as to how soon<strong>the</strong> <strong>NBN</strong> would be adopted by customers and <strong>the</strong> uncerta<strong>in</strong>ty<strong>in</strong>creased <strong>the</strong> risk of early-mover <strong>in</strong>vestment. More than twothirds of bus<strong>in</strong>esses <strong>in</strong>volved <strong>in</strong> this project suggested <strong>the</strong>y hadno idea as to when or what type of <strong>NBN</strong> connection (fibre, fixedwireless and satellite) may become accessible to <strong>the</strong>ir bus<strong>in</strong>ess.This translated <strong>in</strong>to only five of <strong>the</strong> 15 bus<strong>in</strong>esses <strong>in</strong>volved <strong>in</strong><strong>the</strong> case studies suggest<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong>y had developed strategies orbus<strong>in</strong>ess goals to leverage <strong>the</strong> <strong>NBN</strong> or any form of high-speedbroadband.More than two thirds of bus<strong>in</strong>esses <strong>in</strong>volved <strong>in</strong> this projectsuggested <strong>the</strong>y had no idea as to when or what type of <strong>NBN</strong>connection (fibre, fixed wireless and satellite) may becomeaccessible to <strong>the</strong>ir bus<strong>in</strong>ess.4

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