Waikato Business News July/August 2018

82 WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS July/August 2018
BAY NEWS
The Groundswell effect
Enthusiastic participants at the Start-up Weekend event during
last year’s inaugural Groundswell Festival of Innovation.
Photo/Richard Robinson Photography.
Leading technology and business experts
will illuminate the key challenges of digital
transition during Tauranga’s second annual
week-long festival of innovation.
By DAVID PORTER
The inaugural Groundswell
Festival of Innovation
in 2017 proved
there are hundreds of innovators
in Tauranga and the Bay
creating remarkable products
and services. And that they are
more than willing to share their
knowledge.
This year’s festival - which
will run from August 27 - September
2 - is poised to build on
that momentum, say the organisers
and innovators taking
part in what many believe will
become an even bigger regular
event on the city’s calendar.
“What’s really special about
Groundswell is the incredibly
positive and collaborative
atmosphere you experience at
each event,” said Nigel Tutt,
chief executive of Priority One,
which initiated Groundswell.
“Everyone who attends
is genuinely interested and
engaged, and it’s really encouraging
to hear so many stories of
innovation taking place across
a diverse range of contexts.
Not all businesses are innovation-led,
nor do they have to be.
But change is inevitable, and it
never hurts to listen to others
and hear thought-provoking
stories of what is happening
right now - and what is possible
in the future.”
Groundswell features a
range of events from digital
technology and clean tech, to
fashion and textiles, to social
and educational innovation,
all featuring leading tech innovators.
All events sold out last
year, with attendance across
the week reaching 5000, and
the organisers are expecting an
even bigger turnout this year.
Jodie Tipping, the chair and
founder of co-sponsor Cucumber,
who is on the Groundswell
organising committee, told Bay
of Plenty Business News there
were many exciting things happening
on the innovation front.
“But it was getting to a point
a couple of years ago that you
just weren’t hearing about them
and that’s why we developed
Groundswell,” she said.
“My personal ultimate goal
would be to see Groundswell
become a movement of its own
and not just a one-off festival,
because innovation touches so
many different organisations.
“It’s not just tech or whatever,
it’s very broad. The more
we can create a community and
awareness of things that are
happening, the better it will be
for our community.”
Managing digital
transformation
One of the key challenges -
especially for many of the
small-to-medium enterprises
(SMEs) that make up the great
majority of business activity in
New Zealand - is the sheer pace
and scale of the digital transformation
that has taken place in
recent years.
Liz Maguire
One of the big
quandaries we
have in our world
is how do you tell
if something is a
trend or a fad.
– Liz Maguire, ANZ
Liz Maguire, head of digital
transformation for ANZ, who
will be speaking at Groundswell,
said that companies had
to be across new technologies
and work out whether they
were going to be valuable to
them.
“One of the big quandaries
we have in our world is how do
you tell if something is a trend
or a fad,” she said.
“The fundamental reality is
that people do not change their
behaviour and adopt new technology
unless there is something
better about it for them.
For the vast majority of people,
there has to be a reason why
you are going to use it.”
As Isuru Fernando, IBM
Isuru Fernando, IBM NZ
New Zealand analytics & AI
leader, told Bay of Plenty Business
News: “Disruption is all
around us – with examples like
Uber and Airbnb – companies
that have reinvented business
models.”
Disruptive technologies
such as Artificial Intelligence
(AI), Internet of Things (IoT),
or Blockchain were no longer
the sole domain of large companies
with big budgets, he added.
“We are seeing many smallto-medium
organisations right
here in New Zealand making
use of these technologies to
power their ideas. They are
able to start small, experiment
and then build out the ideas that
work, quickly and easily.”
Fernando said IBM NZ
was partnering with great local
organisations and startups that
were exporting their products
and services all over the world.
“And what is also interesting
is that the large incumbent
organisations in New Zealand
are thinking like startups,” he
said.
“They are structuring their
innovation teams to resemble
those of small organisations and
making a comeback by building
platform business models
using all of the data available to
them, and turning it into insight.
And they’re adopting Agile
methodologies, using it as an
innovation engine for business
transformation and employing
new ways of working to foster
speed-to-market and competitive
advantage.”
Russell Craig, Microsoft
NZ’s national technology officer,
said that globally there was
an incredible phenomenon of
acceleration in the tech sector.
“It’s very hard for everyone
to keep up,” said Craig.
“The challenge that people
- particularly in smaller
businesses - or non-commercial
organisations, face at the
moment is how to make the
right choices.
“The first challenge is trying
to wrap your head as an organ-
Russell Craig, Microsoft NZ
isation around what’s actually
happening in this area of digital
transformation, because in
many ways it’s quite an abstract
concept.
The challenge that
people - particularly
in smaller businesses
or non-commercial
organisations - face
at the moment is how
to make the right
choices.
– Russell Craig,
Microsoft NZ
“At the same time, most people
are alert to some of the more
obvious sweeping changes that
are taking place. Look at the
retail shelf space and the phenomenon
of Amazon there.”
Retailers were already facing
the challenge with online
shopping, and the media had
been dealing with it, he said.
“That’s going to extend to
all our businesses in New Zealand
eventually, no matter what
industry they are in.”
First find the relevance
Craig said technology came
second in terms of making the
right choices.
“First you need to understand
how technology could
be relevant to your business to
help you change for the future,”
he said.
“It’s important to try and
make things real at the local
level. For example, with
Airbnb, local businesses need
to ask themselves what it is that
consumers like about it. It’s the
flexibility and convenience. If
you’re a local motelier, how
can you use digital to somehow
match that customer experience
of finding somewhere to stay?
That’s all it’s really about.”
Craig said one of the things
he’d be talking about at Groundswell
was trying to frame up the
idea of digital transformation.
“What does it mean from
a global perspective? What’s
happening in the technology
sector, with particular relevance
on the impact of technologies
such as AI, machine learning,
big data and analytics?
“And obviously cloud computing,
the technology platform
that can enable any business
from a local plumber through
to Microsoft’s just- announced
strategic deal with Walmart.
Why did they partner with us?
Because they need to compete
against Amazon.”
ANZ’s Liz Maguire said
everybody was looking at how
to handle the impact of digital
transformation. She noted that
the scale of change could be
easily seen in the banking sector,
with less than two percent
of payments now happening in
a bank branch these days.
“There are amazing pockets
of innovation in the country,”
she said.
“But my sense of it is that
there’s a worrying amount of
companies that haven’t done
as much as they should have.
I think there’s much more that
could be done.”
Maguire said there was a
need to address the practical
issues.
We are seeing many
small-to-medium
organisations right
here in New Zealand
making use of these
[disruptive new]
technologies to power
their ideas.
– Isuru Fernando,
IBM NZ
“There’s lots of theory, there
are lots of academic models.
But the thing for many companies
is, ‘where do I start? How
do I get my board across this?
How do I really understand
whether what I’m doing is good
for our customers? I’ve got 101
things to do, so how do I really
know which ones are important’.”
Cucumber’s Jodie Tipping
said that in both larger and
smaller business there were
people who are scared of technology.
The more we can
create a community
and awareness
of things that are
happening, the better
it will be for our
community.
– Jodie Tipping,
Cucumber
Jodie Tipping
“They don’t really know
what to do and what not to do,
and I don’t think it’s just in the
small business space,” she said.
“We advocate ‘little and
often’ - don’t be scared to try
things. We work with organisations
to understand what their
customers are doing, to make
sure they’re applying the right
technology for the business
they’re in.
“Groundswell is an opportunity
for the community to
actually create what they want
Tauranga and the region to be,
rather than waiting for things
to happen. I really hope it gains
momentum.”
Priority One’s Nigel Tutt
said the organisers were excited
about the breadth and depth
that had emerged for this year’s
event.
“The Tauranga Art Gallery
and Toi Ohomai School of Creative
Industries will be alongside
the likes of PowerSmart,
Cucumber and Google’s leading
education expert,” he said.
“Bringing people together
to create unexpected connections
and have meaningful
conversations is a big part of
the festival - it’s how ideas like
Groundswell came about and
who knows what will come out
of this year’s festival?”