April 2023 - Bay of Plenty Business News

8 BAY OF PLENTY BUSINESS NEWS April 2023
RESPONDING TO
THE NURSING
WORKFORCE CRISIS:
Doubling the
intake of nursing
students at
Waikato for 2023
The University of Waikato has
welcomed a record 211 new
students into its Registered
Nursing programmes for
2023, more than doubling
the intake from 2022.
Dr Jo Lane
Acting Dean of Te Huataki Waiora
School of Health Dr Jo Lane, says
the increase in numbers is encouraging
in the face of severe staff shortages in
the health workforce.
“We’re really pleased to welcome so
many high-quality nursing students to
study. At a time when the health workforce
is in crisis, it’s imperative that we do everything
possible to enable students wanting to
enrol in health training to do so.”
The University of Waikato is the newest
provider of Nursing programmes, developing
and delivering these in partnership with
Te Whatu Ora Waikato, with an emphasis
on equity, mental health and addictions, and
Māori and Pacific health.
It offers two programmes that lead to
becoming a Registered Nurse, a traditional
three-year Bachelor of Nursing degree, and
an accelerated graduate-entry Master of
Nursing Practice degree. The latter allows
students with a previous degree in any subject
to complete their Nursing training in
just two years and be work-force ready.
“Graduate-entry is a really common
model overseas for professional healthcare
programmes that is starting to become
established in Aotearoa. However, we’ve
been just blown away by the demand for
our graduate-entry Nursing programme,
which is already the largest in the country.
I’m so proud of what our Nursing team has
been able to achieve so far.”
“We have nearly 70 students starting this
year who are wanting to change careers to
become Nurses. That is just so encouraging,
particularly given the rich life experiences
that they will bring to the profession.
I can’t wait to see them graduate and enter
the workforce at the end of next year.”
Dr Lane says graduate-entry programmes
are not only a faster way to
address health workforce pressures but are
also a more cost-effective pathway that does
not compromise the quality of training.
“It’s an accelerated programme, so graduates
still meet the same Nursing Council
standards and in fact complete 300 more
clinical placement hours than required to
ensure they are work-ready. However, the
cost for both students and the Government
is around 25% less than a three-year Bachelor
of Nursing degree.”
“Given the success of graduate-entry
health programmes in other countries,
including Australia, I would love to see the
Government explore this model further in
areas where there are other critical workforce
shortages, including medicine and
midwifery.”
Locally-made app tops New
Zealand App Store charts
Tech entrepreneur Steph Kennard has launched a
free app that in just three weeks has topped the New
Zealand app charts beating out Google to gain the
coveted number one spot.
Making the most of your
Microsoft 365 subscription
I’m going to say it as it is. If
you’re operating a business, no
matter what size, you should not
be using any version of Microsoft
Office with a number other than
365.
You should also not be using a
Personal Home or Family version
of Microsoft 365. There are multiple
versions of Microsoft 365 for
Business available and one of them
or a mix of them is going to be perfect
for your business.
Subscribing to Microsoft 365 is
going to assure you of a constantly
improving, up-to-date, secure and
growing suite of applications that
can enhance productivity and even
reduce your costs.
So, before you zoom out, monkey
around or slack about and
spend your money on expensive
applications to fit a specific need
and then pay more (in time or
money) to integrate them into your
existing Microsoft 365 environment,
check out what you already
have.
For businesses in today’s
office-optional world Microsoft
Bonnet is a free, easy-to-use
app that solves a major problem
for New Zealand drivers
by centralising vehicle administration.
In two weeks, the app has
been downloaded over 10,000
times and 21,700 cars have been
loaded onto the app.
In a New Zealand first, Bonnet
users can keep track of WOF,
regos, paid Road User Charges
(RUCs) mileage, service dates, and
warranties for all their vehicles,
from a single car to a family load
or fleet, eliminating the stress of a
surprise fine or overdue services.
“Over 10,000 downloads in just
a few weeks have smashed all our
expectations. Already, some users
have found that they are mistakenly
overdue on their diesel mileage,
and fleet owners are thrilled to
have a centralised point to manage
their vehicles,” says app founder
Steph Kennard.
270 service centres across New
Zealand are now on the Bonnet app
to create a more seamless booking
and record system for their customers.
The app uses a simple booking
system that works within service
centres’ existing websites, making
it easier than ever for customers to
book in services the moment they
are due.
“We found that many local service
centres were still using manual
booking systems and with Bonnet
we’ve made it easy and cost
effective to create an online booking
system that customers have
come to expect these days without
the need for an expensive system
upgrade,” Steph continues.
Six years in the making, Steph
says she saw a clear gap in the
market after working in the vehicle
industry for many years.
“Vehicle admin can be a nightmare
for families and fleet owners,
it’s easy to lose track of when your
registration or service is due leading
to unnecessary fines or repairs.
Especially when you’re trying to
manage multiple vehicles,” says
Steph.
The Kiwi app is free and easy
to use, requiring users to simply
enter their number plate to access
all relevant information. Bonnet
ensures that all data pulled into the
app is accurate, giving users peace
of mind knowing that they have
reliable information about their
vehicles.
“I work in the tech industry
and have worked with a lot of car
brands throughout my career. I saw
an opportunity to solve a problem
that effects a huge number of New
Zealanders through a seamless app
solution,” explains Steph.
TECH TALK
> BY YVONNE BLANCH
Yvonne Blanch is an Account Manager
at Stratus Blue. She can be contacted at
yvonne@stratusblue.co.nz
Teams has been a game changer.
Hopefully we’re all into creating
channels for projects and departmental
groups, setting meetings,
collaborating on files, talking, videoing
and chatting.
But wait there’s more!
Check out the apps that can be
integrated into your Teams’ channels
by clicking on the apps icon
on the left hand side toolbar – there
are a few hundred of them!
There are integrations with
applications you may already use
such as Adobe Acrobat and Salesforce.
Some of the extra Microsoft
apps are also available as standalone
apps independent of Teams.
Sign in to office.com with your
Microsoft sign in details and have a
look at these four apps – available
at no extra cost!
• Bookings – a very customisable
bookings app that integrates
with Outlook. Beat the
backwards and forwards battle
of looking for a suitable time,
and send a Bookings link so
your client can book their own
appointment that fits your
Bonnet also recognises when
a vehicle is a diesel car and automatically
shows the driver’s paid
RUC balance with the NZTA. This
feature makes it easy for drivers to
stay out of the fines’ way and avoid
any unnecessary costs. Users will
soon be able to load their service
history into the app, eliminating the
need for a physical glove box book
and making it easier to sell their car
with a transferable profile.
Bonnet has ambitious plans,
including adding COF (heavy
schedule. If you’ve discounted
Bookings in the past (as I did),
please check it out again – it has
improved hugely.
• Whiteboard – ditch the markers
and mess and work online
with useful templates for brainstorming,
problem solving,
project planning and more. Very
good on Teams.
• Forms – online survey creator,
there are so many creative ways
Steph Kennard, Bonnet app founder
vehicles), toll payments, fines, and
even insurance to the app. The app
also aims to load all service centres
in New Zealand, making it even
easier for users to book appointments
and keep track of their vehicle’s
maintenance. “The goal is to
become a one-stop-shop tool for
all Kiwis’ vehicle administration
needs,” says Steph.
Download Bonnet for free now
via the Apple App Store or Google
Play Store and experience hasslefree
vehicle administration.
to use this app.
• Planner – a project management
tool providing collaborative
task management and task
scheduling for teams. Create
Kanban boards with great visual
status charts and more.
To become your business’ resident
expert, acquaint yourself with
the fantastic training resources that
Microsoft publish at learn.microsoft.com.