March 2023 - Bay of Plenty Business News

8 BAY OF PLENTY BUSINESS NEWS March 2023
Business
vs dating
“You don’t know what you don’t know” is a well-known adage.
“You don’t know who you don’t know” is equally valid in my opinion.
“I never knew who I was living with until I spent a year trapped at
home with them.” This is the catch cry of many in our post-Covid
society. People are hitting the internet in droves to find their next exwife,
ex-husband or consciously coupled life partner.
CREDIT CONTROL
> BY NICK KERR
Nick Kerr is regional manager for DebtFree NZ Ltd and director
of International Private Investigations Ltd. He can be reached
on 021 876 527 and Nick@debtfreenz.com
People are swiping left,
swiping right and social
media is stalking potential
mates with an RSI enduring
level of dedication; They
have learned that you cannot
know too much about a person
if you are to successfully couple
with them in a long-term
fashion.
If this level of investigative
fervor was used in the business
world I would be one very
impoverished credit management
advisor, not to mention a
very bored fraud investigator.
The separation between
personal and business life is
essential to have a good worklife
balance (many of us have
learned that the hard way), but
just because the arena is different,
awareness of warning
signs should be no less diligent.
The reason this, some
may say, strange comparison
has come to me is the result of
two phone calls I received just
last week.
The first call was from a
friend seeking advice: she had
matched with a chap on a popular
dating app, they had begun
chatting, the guy seemed like a
genuine ‘good bloke’ and he
asked her if she would like to
meet up.
She had his name and did a
full social media stalk on him
and could not find anything
at all, bar a very locked down
Facebook page.
She mentioned that all of
his pictures were quite dated
and none clearly showed his
face. Also, he wanted to meet
in a rest area near a forest.
After reviewing the evidence
I deduced that her conversation
with this person was
possibly the prelude to a very
unpleasant experience.
The second call was from
a client who had completed
some earthworks for a major
development in the South
Island.
The developer had not paid
the final progress claim of
$115k.
I asked him the usual questions:
“Did you submit a payment
claim with the correct
paperwork? Is there an agreed
‘terms of trade’ and does it
have the proper provisions?
Did you credit check the
developer? How old is the debt
and who is the debtor?”
My client had done all of
the post engagement steps perfectly
but unfortunately he did
not do a credit check or simple
google search.
I did one while he was on
the phone and the first four
results were a picture of the
developers face with headlines
like, “Bad paying developer
strikes again,” “Developer
sentenced to home detention
for fraud,” and “Bankrupt
developer found guilty.”
His credit report linked him
to three aliases used within
the last 12 months and several
judgements against his true
legal name.
My client will be suing for
the remainder through his lawyer,
but it doesn’t look good
as there a quite a few others in
line.
The two scenarios above
demonstrate to me that best
practice is best practice in all
areas of life. My friend avoided
a potentially dangerous situation
and my client learned a
very expensive lesson.
Just a thought
Nick
Business continuity and disaster
recovery in 2023
Our thoughts go out to all those who have been affected in the recent
cyclonic events and our thanks to those incredible folk who are
involved in the response and recovery efforts. The work will continue
long after Gabrielle has exited the headlines. Friends, family, friends we
have not yet met, and businesses who have been affected will need our
support and assistance for a long time. Let’s look out for each other
and, where we have opportunity, let us do what we can.
TECH TALK
> BY YVONNE BLANCH
Yvonne Blanch is an Account Manager at Stratus Blue.
She can be contacted at yvonne@stratusblue.co.nz
As we have seen with the
catastrophic weather
events that have
affected our country in the
last few months, damage from
natural events can be swift
and devastating and have long
term consequences, not only to
families and homes, but also to
businesses and livelihoods.
Previously damage from
weather events may have been
able to be remedied quickly,
with power restored, roads
cleared and communication
networks operational, but
such has been the severity of
Cyclone Gabrielle that long
term and widespread damage
has been suffered by our communications
infrastructure and
the power and transport networks.
Our IT relies on these
utilities to continue to function.
All businesses should
plan for what they can do to
mitigate any issues, continue
business as best they can and
maintain livelihoods while services
are being restored.
Does your business have
a Business Continuity and
Disaster Recovery (BCDR)
Plan? If you do, it is a good
time to review and update it,
taking into account what we
are learning from the weather
events of 2023. If you don’t
have a BCDR plan, there is no
better time than the present to
start.
BCDR planning doesn’t
just cover what to do with your
IT infrastructure, applications,
data, internet access and telecoms
but also all other operational
facets of your business
such as where you work (office
and home), how you travel,
what to do in the event of theft
or power outage etc. Do you
have up-to-date and securely
accessible in all circumstances
contact information of your
employee’s next of kin?
Your IT Account Manager
should be able to assist with
advice on and implementation
of solutions regarding your IT.
Make contact and start talking.
You should consider what
hardware, applications, data,
and functionality your business
requires to function and
how long you can function
without it.
How will you protect it?
How will you access it and
operate it in disaster scenarios?
Also, how can you keep
it secure while operating in
less-than-optimal situations?
The bad actors aren’t going
to go on holiday and wait until
you’re back to normal before
resuming their attacks. Your
vulnerability will be noted
and added protection will be
required against the digital
as well as the warm blooded
looters.
Let’s work together for
recovery but also to make our
business landscape more resilient
and robust in the future.
The worst thing we can do is
not learn from the past.