Category Archives: Society

January 8, 2009 Posted in Business, Business and the Environment, New Zealand, Society 7 Comments

Tourism: At What Price. A Treatise on Authenticity

By Ben Kepes

Image via Wikipedia We’re nearing the end of three amazing weeks on the road in the North Island – from the Wairarapa to the East Cape, on to the Coromandel and back through Rotorua and Taupo it’s been a great trip. However an event in Rotorua yesterday motivated me to

December 18, 2008 Posted in Efficiency, Governance, New Zealand, Society Leave a comment

Running a School – Who Does It Best…

By Ben Kepes

I’ve got two school-age sons and I’ve spent a fair amount of time observing the way New Zealand schools are run. By way of background, the Labour government of 1984 put in place the “Tomorrow’s Schools” ethos. Part of this new way of thinking was a move to Boards of

December 17, 2008 Posted in SocialMedia, Society 5 Comments

Facebook Goes Mainstream!

By Ben Kepes

For those who believe that Facebook has no utility, here’s a story that’ll warm your heart (or chill the blood of those “ice in the veins” lawyers out there). It seems the Australian Supreme Court has decided that Facebook is a suitable medium on which to serve court papers. Yes

December 16, 2008 Posted in Business, Business and the Environment, Economic Development, Efficiency, Manufacturing, My businesses, Society 2 Comments

What Part of Rampant Consumerism do People Not Get?

By Ben Kepes

Doing the rounds at the moment is a UK Sunday Star Times story about an undercover operation at an Amazon warehouse. Basically the reporter discovered terrible working conditions, very high demands on staff and not allowance for sick days off. The thing that caused the shock for people (we all

December 10, 2008 Posted in Business, Economic Development, Efficiency, New Zealand, Society, Strategy 3 Comments

We’re Not All Rogues!

By Ben Kepes

With the recent press around the proposed 90 day trial period for new employees in New Zealand (and well done to Rod for picking up on this as well), it seemed an opportune time to republish a piece I wrote for Unlimited magazine a few months ago – when the

December 2, 2008 Posted in Coffee, Society 17 Comments

My Thoughts on Coffee

By Ben Kepes

A post over on bwagy‘s blog got me thinking about coffee. Ben asked why people think that Starbucks is struggling in New Zealand. he put it down to; Star Bucks ignorance to adapt to the local market A commenter chipped in with his vision (if seven words constitutes vision )

November 26, 2008 Posted in New Zealand, Society Leave a comment

Stink – Blame Winston and his Cronies for this one

By Ben Kepes

Christine posted about an unfortunate experience her young daughter had on a public bus in suburban Christchurch. It seems that xenophobia is alive and kicking – at least here in the Garden City. My parents were immigrants to New Zealand. 50 years ago they were refugees from the Hungarian revolution

November 25, 2008 Posted in Society 3 Comments

Come and see the violence inherent in the system….

By Ben Kepes

Many commented on my birthday last week (I tend to forget these things but the joys of technology ensured others didn’t let me). An old school friend pointed out that we’re now in a position to empathise more fully with Dennis. As Evan said; I like Dennis. I like his

November 21, 2008 Posted in Business, Economic Development, Efficiency, IT, New business, New Zealand, Society, Strategy 1 Comment

What NZ SMEs really need….

By Ben Kepes

Rod posted about their report into productivity gains for the New Zealand SME community. As Rod pointed out – this is an extremely important issues given that; Small Business contributes $50b to New Zealand’s GDP! We believe online technology is the key to improving productivity in the sector. The numbers

November 20, 2008 Posted in Business, Design, SocialMedia, Society, Strategy 4 Comments

The Perils of an Echo Chamber

By Ben Kepes

I love social media – it allows me to have interesting relationships with interesting people whom I otherwise might not know. But sometime the send/post/update key is just too easy to tap. Case in point the recent storm around an advertisement. Motrin is a US brand of painkiller and their

Ben Kepes is a technology evangelist, an investor, a commentator and a business adviser. Ben covers the convergence of technology, mobile, ubiquity and agility, all enabled by the Cloud. His areas of interest extend to enterprise software, software integration, financial/accounting software, platforms and infrastructure as well as articulating technology simply for everyday users.