The Western Sydney IT Cluster 18 November Breakfast Forum, at the Western Sydney Business Centre, North Parramatta, explored the issues of resilience and growth and strategies to deal with challenging market conditions. The panel of expert presenters and WSITC member firms also considered underlying trends and ways resourceful businesses can tap into new market opportunities.

Guest Speakers:

Professor Ron Beckett, Centre for Industry and Innovation Studies, University of Western Sydney, addressed the questions of innovation, discontinuity, and positioning for emerging markets. One of Ron’s key points was that while companies focused on obtaining benefit from growth in a bull market, the aim in a bear market, was to be sole survivor and to benefit from preservation of assets. He spoke of ’working in the imagination’ to achieve innovative breakthroughs that differentiate the resilient firm from its competition,?as a way to position the firm effectively for survival and growth.

Peter Milla, CEO of ’business growth accelerator’ Business Tree spoke on re-evaluating opportunity in a rapidly changing market. Among his many valuable insights he observed that many ICT firms think they have the solution, when, with proper consideration of the challenge at hand they have part of the solution and need to consider appropriate partnering to be able to offer a comprehensive package.                       

The WSITC member firms who showcased their own business experiences spoke on how they were achieving resilient growth and positioning themselves for success in challenging markets.                    

Vlado Solina, CEO of Thinking Administration Systems P.L., spoke of how his company, since its founding in 1984, had shifted focus from hardware design to software in response to shifts in its market. His advice for resilient growth was to keep up and plan for changes in the market, be prepared to invest to keep ahead of these changes, prepare for failure of a project and know when to quit and have multiple plans and projects with the capacity to diversify, so the company could maintain responsiveness and flexibility.                                              

Karl Bentamy, CEO of Webtech Pro P.L,. saw the key to resilient growth for an ICT firm as being in the ability to align technology and marketing activities with business objectives so as to reduce adverse consequences of change and to take advantage of any opportunities that may arise. He pointed out that on-line marketing is likely to prove more likely to withstand an economic downturn, because consumers are increasingly reliant on the internet as an informational and transactional medium.                                                                    

Richard Hutchinson, Director of health ICT solutions provider, Emerging Systems P.L, spoke of the strong networks of clients and alliances emerging Systems had built in the course of its growth since its founding in 1999, and how it was starting to also expand its client base into other sectors that needed comparable levels of confidentiality and operability that the health sector requires.                                                                 

The WSITC 18 November breakfast forum was a special opportunity for the ICT sector to gain new market insights and engage in thoughtful discussion, while making new contacts at one of Western Sydney’s premier ICT networking events.

To see the ’Resilience and Growth in a Global Bear Market’ forum presentations click here.

How building brand is at the core of successful marketing for innovative technology firms. Speakers included:

• Dr Nigel Hardiman, University of Western Sydney, on the ’brand’ concept and its role and value in marketing success.
• Beata Kade, CEO, Art of Multimedia, on tools for building brand and succeeding in customer relationships.
• Paul Rushton, CEO of Marketing Minds on practical tips for brand-building and how SMEs can get value for money in their marketing investment.

WSITC members who shared their experiences in building brand and gaining market success included:

•  “Jace” Lai: Mobbiexpress
•  Geoff Lee: UWS and business start-ups facilitator
•  Mark Warin, founder, Icecash

 To view the presentations click here.

How do Australia’s public research organisations successfully transfer knowledge to the commercial sector? How do facilitative agencies successfully help ICT firms get breakthrough technologies into markets? What does a successful product commercialisation model look like?

Guest speakers from CSIRO, NICTA, IP Australia, AusIndustry, Techfast and WSITC Members VALOREM SYSTEMS and CALACODE presented diverse and stimulating insights and opportunities.

For Program & Speakers' Presentations click here

A preview of technologies and trends for 2007 and beyond. New developments are allowing people to interact, create value, organise and contribute in many new ways. Speakers included:

• Dr Mark Bradley, CEO, ATP Innovations on the rapid rise of  ‘new social media’;
• Nick Fondas, iTech, and Tony Strasser, Sinclair Knight Merz, on embedded systems and a new project to promote an embedded systems industry in Australia;
• Jackie Taranto, Hannover Fairs Australia, on the Open Source Movement as one of the 10 forces ‘flattening’ the world; 
• Milton Baar, Cybercrime Research Laboratory, Macquarie University, on cybercrime.;
• Angus M Robinson, CEO, AEEMA, on the recent Consumer Electronics Show, Las Vegas.

For program and speakers' presentations click here.

A vital opportunity to hear the business case for companies to enhance their environmental performance and how the need to achieve sustinability is driving innovation in ICT and other technologies, creating a new global market worth billions of dollars. 

Speakers included :

• David Trewin, Manager of Business Partnerships in the NSW Department of Environment and Conservation
• Angus M Robinson, CEO of AEEMA
• David Mol, Government and Public Affairs Manager, Hewlwtt-Packard Australia
• Ross Ackland, REsearch manage, CSIRO ICT Centre

WSITC members who have developed environment enhancing ICT.

To see the forum presentations please click here. 

The May 2006 WSITC Quarterly forum provided a large audience plenty of insights into what drives some of Australia's most successful entrepreneurs [read more ...].

Additional Resources

Canon’s White Paper Documents, Risk and the Fate of your organisation

Gartner presents on Emerging Technologies and Trends

Gartner's technology radar screen examines the evolution of IT over the next decade, focusing on the transformations disruptive and high-impact technologies and trends will bring to business and society [read more ...]

Robert Bugge, Managing Director of Australian GSA Schedules spoke on the topic, Competing in the US Government Market – the Australia US Free Trade Agreement, at Western Sydney IT Cluster’s November breakfast forum [read more ...]

last updated 16-Jan-2009