Bay of Plenty Business News April/May 2017

More documents

Recommendations

Info

22 BAY OF PLENTY BUSINESS NEWS April/May 2017 Fintechs won’t feature in five years - report Today’s companies are too focused on start-ups at the expense of other potential sources of disruption, reveals the New Zealand PwC Global FinTech Report. The risk highlighted by the report is that the focus on start-ups comes at the expense of other potential sources of disruption. A staggering 100 percent of New Zealand respondents felt that the most disruptive force in financial services in the next five years would be start-ups, compared with a global average of 75 percent. Compared with our global findings, local companies are overestimating the impact of start-ups and underestimating the disruptive potential of themselves and their competitors. “This makes me think that in five years we won’t be talking about FinTechs anymore,” says Andy Symons, financial services leader at PwC. “The FinTech revolution won’t just be driven by startups. It will come from the established competitors you thought you knew, but who are already a step ahead in transforming their businesses to meet changing customer expectations.” “The distinction we’re now seeing between FinTech startups and incumbents is only temporary and will disappear completely as corporates realise their own transformational potential and today’s start-ups mature. “Where today’s corporates aren’t focusing is on their existing competitors – our global respondents were twice as likely to predict disruption coming from existing financial service institutions as our New Zealand survey participants,” says Andy. FinTech partnerships – outsourcing innovation or the start of transformation? The report finds that financial services companies are relying too heavily on start-ups for innovation with almost 85 percent saying they are entering into partnerships with FinTechs, compared to 45 percent globally. “The risk that comes with these partnerships is that established firms treat a FinTech partnership as a chance to outsource innovation to a start-up, rather than signaling the beginning of a much wider transformation of their operations,” says Andy. Preparing for the FinTech revolution Today’s corporates will have to look beyond simply partnering with FinTechs and create a two-speed innovation strategy if they want to survive the changes coming. This will mean bringing together the best of both worlds – the existing expertise within the business; and the innovation, creativity and digitally enabled business models of today’s start-ups. The FinTech revolution won’t happen overnight, but it will happen – and companies of every size across financial services have to be ready for it. Sky’s the limit with business programme Rotorua business owner Lee McKenzie urges others to apply for Incubate, a 12 week programme that helps start-ups or newly established businesses and social enterprises succeed and grow. Lee owns Ace Company, an online retail store selling racing drones, parts and accessories mainly to the New Zealand market, but he is growing the company’s export sales. He started the business 18 months ago and has a goal to become the leading drone racing brand in the country and take drone racing and freestyle mainstream. Drone racing is quickly becoming a popular sport and is a growing industry. ESPN, Mountain Dew, SKYTV, and Red Bull are all investing in drone racing overseas and there are now professional athletes in the industry. Lee graduated from the Incubate programme in March, which is run by Firestation, the Bay of Plenty’s business growth centre which delivers the programme in partnership with Rotorua X. It is also supported by Employers and Manufacturers Association BOP. “It’s a great, affordable programme that gives you valuable tools to move forward with your business,” says Lee. “The sessions are reasonably intimate and easy to feel comfortable in.” He originally applied for the Incubate programme to help improve his business acumen and get guidance on how to realise his dream for the company. Lee said the programme delivered this with some extra benefits as well. “I had some amazing businesses in the programme with me that I could draw off their experience. I'm going into another Firestation programme for the networking opportunities as well as the material. Plus, I just loved the learning,” he said. He received one-on-one coaching sessions and group training modules to build business capability to help develop and grow a sustainable organisation and would highly recommend it to others. “The aspect I enjoyed the most about the incubate programme was firstly the training, it was great to be in an environment where you were learning through the material provided.” “In addition, it was incredibly valuable to receive feedback from other participants as well as providing feedback to them. That room got so chocca full of ideas and inspiration,” said McKenzie. Incubate gives participants coaching and training to set goals, implement actions and increase overall success through business planning. At the end of the 12 weeks they present their business plan to the group. The big focus from the programme is encouraging participants to implement what they have learned and make progress in the business. “The biggest change we made as a direct result of Incubate was to completely overhaul our branding, which changed our business culture and has had a massive impact on how we do things.” “The best part is I'm proud of our new brand and am happy to show it off. The old branding I was a bit hesitant about it,” he said. Applications are open for the next round of Incubate. The programme is generously subsidised thanks to funding from Rotorua Lakes Council. Applications close on April 26 and the programme starts mid-May. It requires a time commitment of two to three hours per week. Rotorua businesses and social enterprises are invited to register their interest online at http://bit.ly/ Inc-9 Owner of racing drone business, Ace Company, Lee McKenzie. 07 578 9144 Tauranga Windscreen 54 First ave, Tauranga 3110 info@taurangawindscreen.co.nz www.taurangawindscreen.co.nz 15094 Hamilton Windscreen LWP.indd 1 2/12/10 9:23:50 AM
Bay of plenty BAY OF PLENTY BUSINESS NEWS April/May 2017 23 First on the scene Farmers Autovillage hosts a Tauranga Chamber of Commerce BA5. 1 2 3 1 Mark Vercoe, Roger Matthews and Mike Farmer, Farmers Auto Village. 2 Deborah Workman, Kirsten Daley and Paul Forward, Orbit World Travel. 3 Mike Lambert, Port of Tauranga; Deborah Naysmith, Metlifecare. 4 5 6 4 Matt Bloxham, Matrix Metal Solutions; Sheila Logan, VIP Home Services. 5 Debbie Smith, Public Trust; Barry Foster, Heartland Bank; Jacqui Beilby, Public Trust. 6 Tony Marsden, Silc Ltd; Mark Baker, Bridge It NZ. 7 8 9 7 Nav Mally and Brett Down, Crombie Lockwood NZ. 8 Neil Gedge, Elliott’s Funeral Services; Kevin Kerr, Tabak Business Sales. 9 Eddie Jackson, Bronwyn Jackson, Grief Support; Stan Gregec, Tauranga Chamber of Commerce.
Page 1 and 2: Bay of plenty APRIL/MAY 2017 VOLUME
Page 3 and 4: Twin cyclones dismal news for busin
Page 5 and 6: BAY OF PLENTY BUSINESS NEWS April/M
Page 19 and 20: PROFESSIONAL SERVICES BAY OF PLENTY
Page 21: PROFESSIONAL SERVICES BAY OF PLENTY

Bay of Plenty Business News April/May 2017

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?