Archive for March, 2008

BNZ rolls out VoIP, finds added value…

Published by Ben Kepes on March 26, 2008 in IT, Strategy and Web x.0. 1 Comment

IP services are the way of the future, large organisations however have been fairly conservative to embrace what they can bring to a business.

Refreshing to read this morning that the Bank of New Zealand has rolled out VoIP to 5,000 staff, across 186 BNZ branches and six corporate sites across the country. Even better is the comment by the BNZ CIO who says;

….bank staff are increasing their knowledge of the technology, so BNZ is in turn developing enhanced and new capabilities. These include improved internal conferencing, collaboration tools, video-conferencing, and smarter call handling and distribution. This enables faster customer call presentation to staff without multiple diversions

This is the stuff I like - cost savings (I assume) with added value. Telephony 2.0

Share the love...
[Bloglines] [BlogMarks] [del.icio.us] [Digg] [Facebook] [Google] [Reddit] [Slashdot] [Sphere] [StumbleUpon] [Technorati] [Yahoo!] [Email] More »

20 years to see property capital gains…

Published by Ben Kepes on March 26, 2008 in New Zealand and Society. 5 Comments

Very sobering reading from Bernard Hickey, saying that;

New Zealand’s housing market is so overvalued and wages are growing so slowly that we at interest.co.nz expect median house prices will not rise back above their November 2007 peaks until 2018 at the earliest.

The size of the bubble is so large it may take until 2028 before prices recover and people who invested in 2006 and early 2007 start seeing capital gains again.

I’m not sure if the 2018 or the 2028 figure are the correct ones but either way I’m glad I don’t have significant exposure to residential property!

Share the love...
[Bloglines] [BlogMarks] [del.icio.us] [Digg] [Facebook] [Google] [Reddit] [Slashdot] [Sphere] [StumbleUpon] [Technorati] [Yahoo!] [Email] More »

New Digital Strategy Advisory Group

Published by Ben Kepes on March 26, 2008 in IT and New Zealand. 8 Comments

Announced today that the Government will set up a new advisory group to represent the various interested parties in ICT in this country. IT Minister David Cunliffe said

Creating a digital future for New Zealanders requires collaboration from a wide range of stakeholders… The new forum will create partnerships between industry, community and voluntary groups and users and provide a coordinated voice to government on digital issues. It is important that the interests of the wider digital community and those working with government on the development and implementation of the Digital Strategy and other initiatives are heard.

It seems that until now, previous groups focused mainly on skills shortages, or building business capability (both valid areas mind you), hopefully this new group will look at all the issues and pick up the great work done by the New Zealand Institute, the previous groups and other stakeholders. Hopefully the new group can come up with an achievable and holistic way to move the country forwards.

Share the love...
[Bloglines] [BlogMarks] [del.icio.us] [Digg] [Facebook] [Google] [Reddit] [Slashdot] [Sphere] [StumbleUpon] [Technorati] [Yahoo!] [Email] More »

Incredulous….

Published by Ben Kepes on March 26, 2008 in IT and New Zealand. 6 Comments

I’m up in Auckland for the next two days at a conference. It’s being held at an up-market, seemingly business-savvy and central city hotel. It’s an IT conference and so obviously the hotel realises a bunch of tech connected peoples will be here.

I wanted to connect to a WiFi network to liveblog some of the stuff I’m hearing (as well as keep up with my day to day stuff - multitasking they call it).

I’m told by the concierge that there is no free wireless here and that they can sell me a card ($5 for an hour!). I’m lucky in that, while I often work remotely, I generally do it in places with good connectivity and so am somewhat insulated from the vagaries of disfunction.

But really - 2008, at a flash inner city hotel in the middle of an international city and I’m struggling to check my email!

Might be time for a mobile BB connection!

Share the love...