Waikato Business News November/December 2017

64 WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS November/December 2017
Campaign underway to help residents
activate their installed fibre
Broadband infrastructure company
Ultrafast Fibre is getting a communication
campaign underway to help residents who
may not realise they have dormant fibre
connections and could easily be accessing
the best broadband available at their home
or business.
Hamilton has approximately
1,700 homes
where Ultrafast Fibre
runs into the house or business
premise, but for some reason
the people living there are either
not using the internet or have a
slower and in some case more
expensive internet connection
on another technology.
Ultrafast Fibre chief executive,
William Hamilton, says it
is possible that these properties
have new residents who were
not made aware of their Ultra-fast
Broadband connection
when they moved in.
“We are doing our best to
make contact with these people
so we can be sure they have
all the information to make an
informed choice of whether or
not to connect to fibre,” says Mr
Hamilton.
Mr Hamilton says not using
fibre that is already attached to a
house seems a waste of the very
best technology available.
“Of course we respect people’s
right not to connected, just
so long as they know they have
the technology there if they
want it,” he says.
Anyone not sure if they can
be connected to the Ultrafast Fibre
network can check their address
online at www.ultrafastfibre.co.nz/check-my-address.
If a home does already have
an Ultrafast Fibre connection to
their house, it is a simple matter
of placing an order to reconnect
through a broadband service
provider of their choice.
Ultrafast Fibre (UFF) has
successfully completed deployment
of a 3,000 kilometre
fibre optic network to eight
CEO William Hamilton
central North Island cities and
towns of Hamilton, Tauranga,
Whanganui, New Plymouth,
Tokoroa, Hawera, Cambridge
and Te Awamutu. Further work
is underway in other smaller
towns increasing the size of the
network.
Research shows SMEs too reliant on email
Despite huge advancements
in digital marketing
with new tools
to reach customers, New Zealand
small and medium enterprises
(SMEs) lean heavily
emails to communicate with
them.
Research from Dot Kiwi,
the internet domain name provider,
showed small businesses
are staying clear of advanced
digital tools that lets them market
to customers en masse. Instead,
word of mouth is relied
heavily upon, and email is the
best way to keep in touch.
Dot Kiwi’s managing director,
Angus Richardson, says
Applications are opening
in December and
in January for a range
of Council-administered funds
to support community projects
and events in the Waikato district
for next year.
Waikato District Council
general manager strategy and
support, Tony Whittaker, says,
“There are funds for supporting
creative and performing arts,
heritage, conservation and a
range of other community projects
and events – so get your
thinking caps on and tell us
what you need!”
Three funds have closing
dates in February for their first
round of applications for the
year:
while word of mouth will always
remain the best form of
marketing, other opportunities
to generate new customers are
being under-utilised.
“For more than 80 percent
of SMEs word of mouth
is the main way they get new
business leads, but then the
question is how do you convert
these leads – the answer
for more than four out of five
SMEs is email.
“Of those businesses which
rely on email, however, only
30 percent send promotional
emails, and 28 percent newsletters.
Most email communication
remains conversational,
with only 19 percent of SMEs
investing in the use of automated
digital marketing tools
to assist with sending bulk
emails,” says Mr Richardson.
Looking beyond the basics;
mobile apps, online video and
augmented reality remain very
much in the domain of big
business. The survey found
around half of SMEs spend
less than $1,000 annually on
marketing per year, which
means big ticket items are out
of the question.
“Around two thirds of
SMEs we surveyed don’t offer
an app and don’t plan to in the
next 12 months. The same goes
• Waikato District Council
Discretionary Grants Fund
(opens 1 December, closes
2 February)
• Creative Communities Fund
(opens 1 December, closes
23 February)
• Heritage Project Fund
(opens 19 January, closes 23
February)
The Waikato District Community
Wellbeing Trust Fund
has a single funding round
for the year which opens on
26 January and closes on 30
March.
In the past financial year the
council committed grants totalling
more than $750,000 for
distribution to 160 community
groups and charities throughout
the district enabling communities
to come together to
meet local needs.
These included more than
$610,000 of targeted and discretionary
council funds, another
$48,441 distributed on
behalf of the Creative Communities
Scheme Fund, and
$88,250 distributed on behalf
of the Waikato District Community
Wellbeing Trust, an
independent trust the council
administers.
The Heritage Project Fund
was a new council initiative last
year. Among the first projects it
funded were heritage signs for
Raglan and Te Kowhai, and
restoration work on the exterior
of the Tuakau Museum.
for online videos and big-business
marketing tools, such as
augmented reality, which is
beyond most SMEs. Comparatively,
51 percent of SMEs
have social media pages, and
41 percent are investing in advertising
through those channels.
“It’s great to see some
SMEs experimenting with
apps, video and augmented reality,
but for a SME with relatively
small marketing budgets
it’s probably about figuring out
how to optimise their existing
digital presence.
“This could include adding
an e-commerce functionality to
Musical parody of reality talent
show debuts in Hamilton
Hamilton’s home-grown
musical writer Chris
Williams debuts his second
locally-written show, The
Quest, at The Meteor Theatre
from 1-9 December.
After experiencing the successful
launch of his first musical
State Highway 48 in 2014,
which culminated in a national
tour in 2016, he’s written a parody
that’s bound to please all
audiences.
“This show is completely
different to State Highway 48,
which dealt with the themes of
recession, depression, job loss,
marriage break up and communication,”
says Williams.
“The Quest is a funny and
insightful parody of reality talent
shows. Sections of the show
include a televised version of
the programme itself. The rest
of the musical takes a behindthe-scenes
look at the TV network
where the desperate bid
for daily survival takes place.
“We also get an insight into
the contestants’ lives and witness
their struggles to deal with
the reality of reality TV.
“Twenty-two original songs
make up The Quest and we
can’t wait to put it on stage,”
says Williams.
Williams is collaborating
with Hamilton-based talent to
bring The Quest to life.
Nick Wilkinson will direct
the show. His credits include
Jesus Christ Superstar, Bouncers,
The Addams Family and
State Highway 48. He’s also
well known to local audiences
for his acting with recent credits
including Noises Off, Evita,
Mamma Mia and Phantom of
the Opera.
“I’ve worked with Nick
Wilkinson since we launched
State Highway 48 in 2014,” says
Williams. “He’s a very talented
director who has contributed a
great deal to The Quest’s story
development and dialogue.
Nick Braae, a senior academic
staff member at Wintec’s
School of Media Arts, is the
music director.
Summer applications welcomed
“Nick Braae is working on
the musical’s arrangements
and score and has assembled a
band of amazing musicians who
promise to rock the house. He
has impeccable music credentials
holding a PhD in music
from Waikato University.”
Waikato is the home to most
of the cast of The Quest, including
Kersten Hickman (State
Highway 48, Phantom of the
Opera) as Stella, the lead female.
Other Hamilton-based cast
members include: Henry Ashby,
Falstaff Dowling Mitchell, Fiona
Greaves, Heather Connolly,
Eden Dowling Mitchell, Tamsin
Rose and Liam Pascoe.
“For the male lead, we’ve
recruited Kyle Chuen who is
their website where appropriate,
having social media presence
linked to their website, or
use of tools such as SEO, and
most importantly, developing a
secure domain name strategy,”
adds Mr Richardson.
Despite the heavy use of
email for communication,
the research showed 57 per
cent of SMEs don’t have any
strategies in place to protect
the domain name they use for
their emails or website. With
recent events such as emails
being discontinued, now more
than ever SMEs should think
carefully about their online
presence. This is particularly
New Financial Services
Council board appointed
The Financial Services Council (FSC)
held its 2017 AGM in November and
appointed a new board.
Chairman Rob Flannagan said the FSC has
developed a new strategy and delivered strongly.
The strategy is firmly centred on consumer
outcomes and on building a professional, trusted,
financial services sector. It has been a good
year, and the industry is set to serve New Zealanders
well.’
Looking to the year ahead, chief executive
Richard Klipin said the the FSC is in good
shape financially and operationally. “The industry
is key to the health, wealth and wellbeing
of New Zealand, and we are now looking
to how we need to adapt to meet the needs of
the industry in 2020 and beyond”, he said.
The new Board voted in at the AGM
concerning considering the
prevalence of phishing scams,
which can take the form of
fake websites, or more commonly
fake emails.
“Our research showed despite
sophisticated marketing
tools on offer, email is still the
lifeblood of SME communications.
However, on the whole
SMEs are too relaxed about
making sure similar domain
names aren’t snapped up by
other people. It’s not always
about people being malicious
and pretending to be you online,
it can just be an honest
mistake but your website visitors
wouldn’t know that.”
The Quest musical director Nick Braae, from left,
writer Chris Williams and director Nick Wilkinson.
one of the country’s most experienced
musical theatre performers.”
“Hamiltonians will know
Kyle best as Jean Valjean in
Hamilton Operatic’s 2017 production
of Les Miserables. His
career began in 2007 and he’s
been in several musicals each
year since then, including greats
such as Billy Elliot, That Bloody
Woman, Guys and Dolls and Jesus
Christ Superstar.
“We are really excited about
having someone of Kyle’s calibre
joining our cast. The show
is guaranteed to be immersive,
entertaining and funny,” says
Williams.
The Quest is running at The
Meteor Theatre, December 1-9.
Tickets can be bought at: http://
themeteor.co.nz/event/thequest/.
comprises:
• Ana-Marie Lockyer, ANZ
• Charlie Trotter, FNZ
• Crispian Knell, Suncorp/Asteron
• Kristy Redfern, AIA
• Lance Walker, Cigna
• Nadine Tereora, Fidelity
• Naomi Ballantyne, Partners Life
• Nick Stanhope, Sovereign
• Nigel Jackson, Westpac
• Simon Hoole, AMP
• Susan Basile, BNZ
Mr Flannagan said the new board was a
great team with strong experience.
“The team brings a keen focus on the future
and means we can continue to build on the
strong performance this year and expand the
ways we serve the industry and consumers.”