Author Archives: Angus Jones

About Angus Jones

Angus started his first small business in 1989 and has since gone on to have a successful career in marketing. He realised although there were many websites for small business none was addressing the question of how to. Angus has a passion to articulate benefits that add value to customers/readers.

Social Media to engage customers

Posted on by
Reply

Most people are on social media. Indeed for many Australians, it has become an obsession to the point that downtime should almost be renamed social media time. For this reason, social is a big opportunity for small businesses, and this guide will look at it objectively and advise you on how to make the most of it.

Social media refers to websites and applications that allow people to share content quickly, efficiently, and in real-time. Many people define social media as apps on their smartphones. The most common sites today in Australia include Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn and Snapchat.

When the likes of Facebook started their business, they allowed posting with few restrictions and allowed all followers to see those posts. Social sites need to generate income themselves, so if you are a commercial operation, they want you to spend money to talk to your audience. For example, If 100 people follow your business and you write a post saying you have a big sale this weekend, probably only three people will see that message in their social feed. If you pay $100 to boost your post, 3,000 people would have the post in their feed. So, unfortunately, social media is not a free form of advertising.

An organic post is a post that gets its distribution simply by being on the social platform.
Boosted post refers to when money is paid to reach a larger audience for your post.

WHY should I use Social Media?

The key advantage of social media advertising is targeting a customer. If you use traditional advertising like an advertisement in a local newspaper, you are advertising to everyone who reads that newspaper. With social, you can specifically target an audience. For example, you could target females, 18-30, who drive a car and live in your town.

Social media will help build your brand and provide a link to your website, driving additional traffic.

Social media is more cost-effective in reaching a customer than traditional advertising, but it has a very short attention span. If not engaging, your posts can easily be missed.

WHAT you should know about Social media

When businesses first used social media to reach their customers, there was not much competition. This is very different now, and as it is a bidding-based system, if you have multiple parties bidding for the same audience at the same time, this drives prices up.

Social media is not just about advertising. You can use it to find candidates for your business through sites like LinkedIn and provide video tutorials on using your products like Youtube.

The ideal situation you find yourself in is that after you post some content, your audience is so engaged they repost to their connected audience. If this process goes exceptionally well, it is referred to as a viral post.

Social media is a 2-way platform. Just as you can talk to customers, they can easily talk back. As this is a public medium, everyone will see the comments. Unless the comments are deemed by general society as inappropriate, you cannot delete them. The positive here for your business is you get instant feedback and suggestions. The counter to this is people will speak their mind, especially if they are unhappy with you. You do have the opportunity of turning this around by engaging the customer publically or privately to resolve their issues. The net effect here is if you use social media, you must also monitor it and realise it is not a set and forget medium.

HOW can I promote my business using social media?

Before you start, you need a plan or a social media strategy. This plan will outline how you will use social media, your ideal outcome, and what types of content you will produce. Also very important is to have a schedule of how often and who will do the posting. Remember, it is not the most posts that win. Rather, the posts that are most interesting to the customer and shared by the customer. Other considerations for your strategy should include considering seasonal events like Christmas and whether your efforts will generate sales.

To post on social media, we suggest the following steps.
  1. Decide on which platform you will use
    • Facebook – social sharing
    • YouTube – videos
    • Instagram – pictures
    • LinkedIn – business and recruitment
    • Snapchat – users send and receive self-destructing photos and videos
  2. Visit the platform site and learn about their offering and the free tools they provide to assist you.
  3. Establish a business profile on the platform
  4. Write your first post
  5. Decide if you will amplify the distribution by paying money to boost the post to more people. If you do, you will have the option to target by factors like demographics, location, and interests.
  6. Be ready to respond to comments from your post (if you do not, customers quickly form the opinion you do not care)
  7. Post more content and repeat.

HINT

Always include an image.

You must be active every day with interesting content if you want to keep customers engaged. Interesting content is content the customer would find interesting, not what you might find interesting, and it should also be relevant—no point in posting about International Happy Day if it has no relevance to your product.

Social media is bound by advertising rules, and any false or misleading advertising will be subject to consumer law. See our essential guide on consumer law.

SUMMARY – engaging social content

Social media is great for economically building a brand and promoting your business to a targeted audience. You must commit to the media ongoing and create content that engages the end-user. Boosting content will help you reach a greater audience. You should be aware and available to reply to comments.

Tips to sidestep digital transformation perils

Posted on by
Reply

There’s no denying that ‘digital transformation’ has become somewhat of a buzzword over recent years, with COVID-19 accelerating the digitisation of business processes across the world to enable remote operations.

As we settle into the ‘new normal’, SMEs aren’t simply picking up the pieces and going back to “business as usual” – they’re going back to a different workplace.

However, many organisations are finding that the quick-fix digital transformation approach taken by some in recent years has left them with processes and systems that are not efficient and effective enough to deliver results in the long term.

Now is the time for SME leaders to consider how new technology solutions can be better integrated across their business and take proactive steps to get digitisation right.

Curse of the quick fix

In recent years SMEs needed to make rapid-fire decisions to keep their businesses afloat. Almost overnight, remote operations became critical to business survival, with new digital solutions rolled out in timescales previously thought impossible.

Although these technologies have undoubtedly delivered a range of business benefits, many SMEs opted for ‘off-the-shelf, quick-fix’ solutions that lack longevity and integration with the fundamental needs of individual businesses.

In fact, Iron Mountain research found that 57% of IT professionals believe their businesses will revert back to less-efficient, analogue means of accessing data post-pandemic.

In order to fast-track more-efficient best-practice digital workplace transformation, leaders must recognise that reverting to outdated methodologies, systems and processes is not an option. Instead, technology should be leveraged to remove roadblocks. By assessing what worked well and creating space for new processes, organisations will be better able to adapt, modernise, build resilience and thrive.

Doesn’t mean digitalise everything

With 73% of employees expecting some form of flexibility in the future of work, it’s neither desirable nor practical to consider a return to paper-based files, analogue processes and physical data access.

Ensuring data accessibility is a key component of digitisation efforts, helping to create ease for people working from home and streamline business processes.

Not only do paper documents in filing cabinets take up valuable space, but they are also difficult to share with team members working remotely. Often little is understood about the information stored and finding out can be both time-consuming and expensive.

However, adopting a ‘digitise everything’ paperless strategy is not always the right approach. Many business-critical documents still arrive in paper form that requires physical signatures, particularly for highly regulated industries such as healthcare, finance or legal. Beyond that, it can often be the case that employees prefer to work with hard-copy documents that are more effective for group presentations, notetaking and overall readability.

SMEs must lead with a tailored approach that best suits their business needs – the question is, where to start?

Getting transformation on track

Digitisation can be complex, and every organisation will have a different transformation journey. As SMEs look from response to long-term resilience recovery, six key steps can be taken into consideration to get digitisation right:

  1. Set goals – Identify the reasoning behind why you want to digitise, and get all relevant stakeholders, partners and vendors on board before proceeding.
  2. Don’t save everything – Conduct an in-depth audit to understand what data your organisation has on hand, and decide what needs saving and what doesn’t. There’s no use in wasting time and money digitising documents you’ll never need again.
  3. Outline procedures – Clearly set out digitisation processes from the onset. For example, what happens to paperwork after it is digitised? How long can items be stored digitally? What is a safe process for disposing of physical and digital assets?
  4. Plan for security needs – A cybersecurity blueprint must be developed concurrently with your business’s digital plan, to protect online data from hackers. For safeguarding extremely sensitive physical data, an off-site storage option can be valuable in ensuring an air gap security measure.
  5. Know the law – With increasing regulation being introduced to protect consumer privacy, the days of being lax with data are over. Keeping information unsecured isn’t just a poor security choice, you’re also exposing your business to hefty penalties.
  6. Implement training – Ensure employees are trained, tasks are delegated, and allow time for staff to get comfortable with new systems. This includes promoting an understanding of how digital solutions can help them do their jobs, not hinder them.

Although digitisation may have accelerated due to an unprecedented global event, it has forced us all to see the digital workplace in a new light, providing a roadmap for data to travel. As barriers to transformation come down, it is vital that SMEs lock in a robust digitisation plan that safeguards long-term recovery. With the right approach to the digitisation journey, leaders will find a post-COVID world that isn’t just normal, but better.

by Garry Valenzisi, Vice President and General Manager ANZ at Iron Mountain

Keep your business safe when using QR codes

Posted on by
Reply

If it seems like there are QR codes on everything these days, you’re right. In the contactless era, these little black and white grids emerged from relative obscurity to replace everything from restaurant menus to train station ads. The Australian government embraced them wholeheartedly to facilitate contact tracing and vaccination status verification.

More than two years of pandemic-fuelled cyber-crime has made many small businesses more cautious about their digital activity. Emails, calls and even texts are scrutinised closely, forcing many attackers to step up their phishing games. And yet, QR codes haven’t really registered as potentially dangerous, and most people still scan them without a second thought.

What is a QR Code?

Short for quick response codes, QR codes are a type of two-dimensional barcode that contains data, often for a locator, identifier or tracker. They can be easily read by a smartphone or other camera-equipped device and converted into useful information for the end-user, such as a URL for a website or an application. QR codes are accessible, easy to produce and, seemingly, here to stay. They’re also a perfect way for cyber criminals to snag your personal information.

Last year, the private key used to sign the European Union’s Green Pass vaccine passports were reportedly leaked or forged. Within days, fake QR code-laden passes signed with the stolen key were up for sale on the Dark Web. In China, scammers have been caught placing fake parking tickets — complete with QR codes for easy mobile fine payment — on parked cars. And in Texas, criminals hit the streets, pasting stickers of malicious QR codes onto city parking meters and tricking residents into entering credit card details into a fake phishing site.

QR code attacks are happening everywhere with alarming frequency. Here are seven ways to protect yourself and your business:

1. Don’t scan it! If anything feels off, don’t scan the QR code. Just go to the actual website directly. Any legitimate QR code should have an associated URL under it, giving users the option to navigate there directly. If it’s missing, beware.

2. Slow down. Before you scan any QR code, ask yourself: Do I know who put the QR code there? Do I trust that it hasn’t been tampered with? Does it even make sense to use a QR code in this situation?

3. Inspect QR code URLs closely. After scanning the QR code, check out the URL it directs you to before proceeding. Does it match the organisation associated with the QR code? Does it seem suspicious, or include strange misspellings or typos? For instance, in the Texas parking meter scams, part of the URL used was “passportlab.xyz” — clearly not an official city government website. You can also do a quick web search of the URL to confirm that the QR code is legitimate.

4. Look for signs of physical tampering. This is especially important in places where QR codes are commonly used, such as restaurants. If you spot a QR code sticker adhered to a page over another code, be very sceptical.

5. Never download apps from QR codes. Bad actors can clone and spoof websites easily. Always go to the official app market for your device’s OS and download your apps from there.

6. Don’t make electronic payments via QR codes. Use the native app or direct a browser to the official domain and log in there.

7. Turn on multi-factor authentication (MFA). This will help protect your sensitive accounts, such as banking, email and social media apps. With another authentication layer in place, a cyber-criminal cannot access your data with just your login and password.

When it comes to QR codes, the best piece of advice is to always use common sense. If it was an email, would you click on it? QR codes are becoming one of the attackers’ favourite phishing methods — and the same rules apply. Proceed with caution and apply the same security scrutiny as you would with anything in the digital realm.

Scan safe out there — or better yet, don’t scan at all!

By Len Noe, technical evangelist and white hat hacker at CyberArk

Brother’s Professional A3 Multi-Function Inkjet printers

Posted on by
Reply

Brother International Australia has announced the launch of five new A3 multi-function inkjet printers designed for modern businesses.

As Australian workers’ preference for hybrid working continues1 and with the cost of doing business set to increase2, investing in the right tools and technology has never been more important, especially as we enter a new financial year.

Built for the hybrid workplace, the new range allows users to print and scan from wherever they work via the Brother Mobile Connect app. Users both at home, and in the office, can collaborate effectively and work confidently thanks to a rich feature set including scan to email3, cloud storage3, and Optical Character Recognition (OCR).

To help boost productivity and keep your business moving, each printer in the range boasts a fastest-in-class first page out time of 4.4 seconds4, print speeds of up to 28 pages per minute (ppm)5 and single-pass, 2-sided (duplex) scanning on selected models. With both single and dual paper trays supporting versatile print handling up to A3, all five printers deliver a fast, smooth, consistent user experience and professional-quality colour documents.

Providing great value for businesses and helping to reduce the cost of overheads, the new range utilises high-yield print cartridges, providing up to 3,000 pages of black ink and 1,500 pages of colour6. What’s more, a one-year return-to-base warranty*and free Australian-based customer support for the lifetime of the product means business owners can be confident that their printer will always deliver when needed.

On the new range, Stefanie Matthews, Marketing Manager (Printing, Labelling & Mobile Solutions) at Brother International Australia said:

“In our research into the practices of Australian hybrid workers, we found that nearly a third (29%) of respondents said their employers could have been more supportive in the transition to working from home. Additionally, one in five workers said that not having all of the necessary equipment was one of the biggest challenges when working from home.7

“These new Multi-Function Inkjet printers help to alleviate these concerns and more, providing the perfect printing and digitisation solution for the modern workplace.” 

Key features of the new Professional A3 Multi-Function Inkjet printers include:

  • Designed for mobile: Experience the cleverly designed Brother Mobile Connect app, designed to connect to your Brother device so printing, scanning and managing documents on your smartphone is at your fingertips
  • Made for business: New ‘MaxiDrive’ Inkjet technology provides a premium long-life print head, fastest-in-class first page out time of 4.4 seconds4 and print speeds of up to 28 ppm5. Combined with versatile paper handling up to A3, it provides a fast, smooth and consistent user experience that every business needs
  • Large page yields and low-cost printing: When it’s time to replace your ink supply, keep running costs low with high-yield replacement ink cartridges that provide up to 3,000 pages black and up to 1,500 pages colour6
  • Intuitive one-touch cloud connect: Print-from and scan-to popular cloud apps3 directly, including Dropbox™, Google Drive™, OneDrive and more. Help save time by creating custom shortcuts directly on the LCD touchscreen for your 
    most-used features
  • Print with confidence: Help take the guesswork out of when to replace ink with Page Gauge technology – see the amount of ink you’ve used and the amount of ink you have remaining
  • Simple to connect your way: Versatile connectivity options with dual-band (2.4 GHz/5 GHz) Wireless Network support, Ethernet, Wi-Fi Direct or connect locally to a single computer via USB interface
  • Brother at your side support: Free Australia-based support for the lifetime of your Brother device

Product overview Brothers A3 Multi-Function Inkjet printers :

MFC-J6940DW

Available: July 2022

RRP: $549

Retailers: Available via B2B channels, Harvey Norman, Amazon and Officeworks (October launch for Officeworks)

Product features:

  • Up to 28 ppm print speed5
  • Automatic 2-sided (duplex) A3 print, scan, copy and fax
  • 8.8cm colour touchscreen
  • Wired and wireless connectivity
  • 2 x 250 sheet paper trays8
  • 100 sheet multi-purpose tray8
  • 50 sheet 2-sided (duplex) A3 Automatic Document Feeder (ADF)8
  • NFC (Near-Field Communication) mobile print
  • High-yield replacement ink cartridges that provide up to 3,000 pages black and up to 1,500 pages colour6

Website: visit here

MFC-J6740DW

Available: July 2022

RRP: $419

Retailers: Exclusively available from Officeworks

Product features:

  • Up to 28 ppm print speed5
  • Automatic 2-sided (duplex) A3 print
  • A3 scan, copy and fax
  • 6.8cm colour touchscreen
  • Wired and wireless connectivity
  • 2 x 250 sheet paper trays up to A38
  • 1 sheet manual feed slot up to A38
  • 50 sheet A4 Automatic Document Feeder (ADF)8
  • High-yield replacement ink cartridges that provide up to 3,000 pages black and up to 1,500 pages colour6

Website: visit here

MFC-J6540DW

Available: July 2022

RRP: $399

Retailers: Available via Officeworks, The Good Guys, B2B channels and Amazon (October launch for B2B channels)

Product features:

  • Up to 28 ppm print speed5
  • Automatic 2-sided (duplex) A3 print
  • 1-sided (simplex) A3 scan, copy and fax
  • 6.8cm colour touchscreen
  • Wired and wireless connectivity
  • 1 x 250 paper tray up to A38
  • 1 sheet manual feed slot up to A38
  • 50 sheet A3 Automatic Document Feeder (ADF)8
  • High-yield replacement ink cartridges that provide up to 3,000 pages of black and up to 1,500 pages colour6

Website: visit here

MFC-J5740DW

Available: July 2022

RRP: $419

Retailers: Available via B2B channels, Amazon and Officeworks (October launch for Officeworks)

Product features:

  • Up to 28 ppm print speed5
  • Automatic 2-sided (duplex) A4 print, scan, copy and fax
  • 8.8cm colour touchscreen
  • Wired and wireless connectivity
  • 2 x 250 paper trays up to A38
  • 100 sheet multi-purpose tray up to A38
  • 50 sheet 2-sided (duplex) A4 Automatic Document Feeder (ADF)8
  • High-yield replacement ink cartridges that provide up to 3,000 pages black and up to 1,500 pages colour6

Website: visit here

MFC-J5340DW 

RRP: $299

Retailers: Exclusively available from Officeworks

Product features:

  • Up to 28 ppm print speed5
  • Automatic 2-sided (duplex) A4 print
  • A4 scan, copy and fax
  • 6.8cm colour touchscreen
  • Wired and wireless connectivity
  • 1 x 250 paper tray up to A38
  • 1 sheet manual feed slot up to A38
  • 50 sheet A4 Automatic Document Feeder (ADF)8
  • High-yield replacement ink cartridges that provide up to 3,000 pages black and up to 1,500 pages colour6

Website: visit here

Zoom real estate tours – Home Live

Posted on by
Reply

Global real estate communications platform, Home Live, has announced it has teamed up with leading technology company Zoom Video Communications, Inc, leveraging Zoom’s underlying infrastructure to power its live-streamed property inspections, auctions and market updates.

Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder, Luke Watson, said: “Zoom’s Developer Platform provides the immense scale and stability we need to continue delivering the next evolution in global real estate.

“Real estate is a fundamentally human-powered industry. It is critical we are able to offer a remote communication solution that spans marketing, inspections and transactions without sidelining the agent or sacrificing human connection. While Home Live has had a robust live streaming solution in place for a number of years, this is a game-changer.

“The alliance will really accelerate Home Live’s growth, allowing us to focus on meeting the unique needs of the world’s real estate professionals and providing an unforgettable experience to the real estate buying public,” he said.

Zoom Head of Australia & New Zealand (ANZ), Michael Chetner, said: “This collaboration with Home Live presents a real opportunity for Zoom to continue to bring rich and seamless video-based experiences for Home Live’s customers, who use the interactive platform to connect with agents and properties anywhere in the world.”

“Home Live is a leading real estate-specific live-streaming platform, with an exciting view for the future of the space and a real understanding of the added value remote communications can deliver for both agents and prospective buyers. We’re delighted to work with Home Live and look forward to seeing this collaboration grow further in the coming months.”

Home Live is the world’s leading video-first property discovery experience, offering a purpose-built live-streaming solution to attend cinematic live and interactive open inspections, auctions, market updates and more. Streams are viewable across Home Live’s global network of websites, agencies, portal listings and social media, with integrations into leading CRMs to provide seamless data capture and reporting for agents. Home Live currently lists 583,000 residential and 17,160 commercial properties globally.

APS adds new client portal with myprosperity

Posted on by
Reply

Leading accounting software provider, APS (a division of Reckon [ASX:RKN]), has added the myprosperity client portal to its arsenal of integrations. With these new capabilities, accounting practices using APS now have access to a portal to help collaborate seamlessly with their clients.

Accounting firms across Australia and New Zealand not only use APS software for core practice management, but also as the single source of truth for storing client contact records. Many of these firms already use myprosperity to share documents and information; and to collaborate across all aspects of their clients’ financials.

Both Peter McCarthy CEO of myprosperity and Dave Francis General Manager of APS, recognised the alignment between their respective client bases and the mutual benefits for users in pairing the solutions.

“We are delighted to launch the integration of our market-leading client portal with APS,” said Mr McCarthy. “The integration will provide an opportunity for leading accounting firms to drive efficiencies, increase revenue, and redefine the client experience.”

“myprosperity is a fantastic addition for APS users to work even more efficiently with their clients,” agreed Mr Francis. “As this partnership brings client details into the myprosperity platform, it eliminates unnecessary data entry—without the integration, a practice would need to enter their client’s email address and mobile number manually to access myprosperity features.”

The partnership between APS and myprosperity also provides multidisciplinary firms a single portal to collaborate across a variety of services such as wealth management; business advisory; self-managed super funds; tax; and compliance.

“Over the past two years we have seen an explosion in app usage, highlighting the need for accountants to deliver a client portal experience with a strong focus on mobile,” noted Mr McCarthy. “With approximately 70 percent of current clients opting to collaborate with accountants via the myprosperity mobile app there has never been a better time for leading accounting firms to grow their digital brand.”

Adding myprosperity into APS’s ecosystem marks an important step towards a fully connected application stack to meet the needs of APS clients. The myprosperity application not only pairs seamlessly with APS, but also with its signature partners FuseWorks and Annature, along with two future integrations being planned with BGL and FYI. 

“Once activated, client details that are stored in APS will be shared to our integrated application stack, so any updates only need to be made once, then all the connected systems are updated automatically,” concluded Mr Francis.

Compulsory superannuation turns 30

Posted on by
Reply

The Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees (AIST) has paid tribute to Australia’s retirement savings system as compulsory universal superannuation turns 30 tomorrow.

AIST CEO Eva Scheerlinck said the introduction of the Superannuation Guarantee (SG) in 1992 had resulted in a world-class system entrusted with $3.4 trillion in savings on behalf of millions of Australians.

“We should be very proud of what we have achieved as a progressive nation, building a superannuation system with almost universal worker coverage. The industry too can be proud of what it has delivered for super fund members over the last three decades, ensuring many Australians no longer have to rely solely on the age pension when they leave the workforce,” Ms Scheerlinck said.

“It’s appropriate at this time to pause and reflect on the prime role played by unions in fighting for a retirement savings system that covered all workers rather than the corporate executives and senior public servants – mainly men – that super had been restricted to until then.

“Initially the proposal for a universal system was resisted by some, but a mark of how far we have come is the bipartisan support it now enjoys across the industrial divide with the employer and employee representatives sitting side by side in boardrooms as trustee directors of profit-to-member funds.

“I want to recognise the contribution of pioneers such as Mavis Robertson, who played a major role in promoting equality for women in retirement savings, Tom McDonald who spearheaded union campaigns for industry-based super, and Gary Weaven, Chair of IFM Investors, founding Chair of Industry Fund Services and founding Chair of a number of funds.

“It’s appropriate to also recognise the role of the Hawke and Keating Governments in the development of universal super and the passing of the legislation which created the SG.

“That we have the fifth largest pool of retirement savings in the world in the 14th largest economy, and stand as an example that other countries seek to emulate, is testimony to the success of our retirement savings model and the growth of the industry.

“Notwithstanding this, as the peak body for the $1.8 billion profit-to-member sector, AIST will continue to advocate to improve the fairness, equity, adequacy, and transparency of the retirement savings system so that it provides Australians with the long-term financial stability and dignified retirement they deserve, regardless of gender, culture, education or socio-economic background.

“This includes closing the gender gap that sees women retire, on average,  with significantly lower super balances than men, and improving retirement outcomes for other lower-paid workers and vulnerable people. We’re also pleased the removal of the $450 monthly salary payments threshold tomorrow delivers super to about 300,000 lower-paid Australians for the first time.”

Learn more about superannuation in the Small business Answers guide.

Small Business index shows job growth

Posted on by
Reply

The Xero Small Business Index fell just one point in May 2022 to 124 points, as wage growth and
payment times slow

Xero, the global small business platform, today released its latest data on the health of Australia’s small business economy during May from the Xero Small Business Index. Based on aggregated and anonymised transactions from hundreds of thousands of small businesses, the Index, developed in collaboration with Accenture, is part of the Xero Small Business insights program.

Xero’s Small Business Index fell only one point in May 2022 to 124 points. While small business jobs increased 0.3 percent year-on-year (y/y) and sales growth rose to double digits (10.8% y/y) these results were offset by slower wage growth and longer payment times. However, even after a challenging start to the year, small businesses have recorded four months of above-average performance.

Joseph Lyons, Managing Director Australia and Asia, Xero, said: “It’s promising to see an increase in jobs. While the data indicate only small growth, we know that any and all support for small businesses is important. It’s been an ongoing challenge for many to find talent, hampering their ability to fully recover – we all know a restaurant or cafe that’s struggled to open its doors due to a lack of staff. We hope to see this growing jobs trend continue as Australia gradually welcomes new talent from overseas and expands the labour pool.”

Small business records moderate jobs growth

Small business jobs grew 0.3 percent y/y, a small but positive result after two months of declines. The largest job growth was recorded in the administrative and support service industry (4.5% y/y), while education and training continued declining for the ninth consecutive month at 5.0 percent y/y. “While jobs remain soft, this is a welcome break following a trend of slower and falling job growth over the past seven months. Ongoing high levels of job advertisements indicate supply remains the issue, with demand for more workers clearly there as small businesses continue to compete for staff,” says Louise Southall, Economist, Xero.

Cost of living impacting discretionary spending industries

Sales rebounded in May increasing to 10.8 percent y/y, up from 8.3 percent y/y in April, due to a combination of rising prices and higher sales. Along with the largest jobs growth, the administrative and support service industry also recorded the highest sales result at 20.4 percent y/y.

However, with the cost of living pressures rising, discretionary spending-based industries including hospitality (2.8% y/y) and information media and telecommunications (6.4% y/y) saw softer results.

“With inflation continuing to rise, this result was expected as Australians reduce discretionary spending and focus on necessary purchases. Consumers are becoming more pragmatic due to the combination of increasing prices and only modest wage growth. This can be seen in the weaker sales results for the hospitality, information media and telecommunication industries,” said Southall.


Wage growth slows, impacting all industries

Wages slowed in May to 3.7 percent y/y from 4.3 percent y/y in April, impacting all industries and regions. Transport recorded the slowest growth at just 2.9 percent y/y, followed by arts and recreation at 3.0 percent y/y. This result comes as a surprise, given that the tight labour market should be pushing wages higher.

“The surprise decline in wages in May, coupled with the soft jobs results in recent months, suggests small businesses might be struggling to compete with larger businesses to find the staff they need to keep growing,” said Southall.

To download the full May results, including industry and regional breakdowns, go to the website here.

New digital wallet with Mastercard Click to Pay

Posted on by
Reply

In a world where speed of checkout is king, IPSI has partnered with Mastercard to provide customers with a smart and secure way to make online payments with the adoption of the payment company’s Click to Pay solution available to merchants from the end of Q3.

With consumer payment behaviour continuing to evolve with the growing e-commerce market, securing and streamlining online transactions has never been more important for businesses operating online. Mastercard Click to Pay simplifies online transactions, using multiple layers of intelligent security to remove the need for passwords at checkout while replacing sensitive payment data with encrypted tokens. These tokens can even be updated with new payment details by the customer’s bank when a card is reissued after being reported lost, stolen or expired.

Easily integrated into existing eCommerce platforms, Click to Pay offers organisations higher approval rates with online transactions, reducing fraud and cart abandonment, and increased sales. This enhanced checkout experience can help drive customer retention and repeat purchases with a single integration.

The new option will be enabled through IPSI who plays the role of Secure Remote Commerce Initiator (SRCi). This capability sets the path for how the checkout is evolving from a guest checkout to a constant authenticated experience. It also helps the retailers, marketplaces and merchants own and have control of their checkout.

“As enthusiasm for new payment technologies continues to grow, we are delighted to be partnering with Mastercard to launch this revolutionary, new integrated payment solution that will simplify the checkout process for customers and deliver an exceptional checkout experience for merchants and their customers,” said Eric Maya, Co-founder of IPSI.

“It’s more important than ever that the online checkout experience is simple, smart and secure. With Click to Pay, IPSI and its customers will leverage the very latest version of this technology, eliminating the need to manually enter card details and offering instant access to preferred cards across devices, while still applying the highest levels of security to merchants’ checkout,” said Surin Fernando, Vice President and Head of Customer Solution Centre, Australasia

Take the risk out of tax time

Posted on by
Reply

A recent survey conducted by the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB) in the lead up to tax time, indicated that consumers place an exceptionally high level of confidence in their registered tax practitioner. The results showed 89% of consumers have trust in the tax practitioner and 66% of consumers rate the experience they receive from their tax practitioner as excellent.

While this is great news for both the tax profession and taxpayers, the TPB is warning the public to be extra vigilant of scams aiming to lure unsuspecting honest consumers into using the tax services of unregistered preparers.

Unregistered preparers operate outside of the law, often making money by skimming a portion of their clients’ refunds and charging inflated fees for return preparation services. They attract new clients by promising large refunds. Some will encourage filing fraudulent claims for refunds on items that their clients aren’t entitled to, while others will obtain myGov sign-in details from clients, putting their personal information at risk.

TPB Chair, Ian Klug AM, warned, ‘Since the clear majority of tax practitioners act in the best interests of their clients and earn their trust, unregistered preparers can take advantage of uninformed consumers. We’ve put together a list of tips for taxpayers to follow this tax time to make sure they don’t become victims of bad advice. If you see a tax practitioner making unexpected promises or an unregistered preparer offering tax services, it pays to be alert and a bit sceptical.’

In a recent case investigated by the TPB an unregistered preparer, Jessa Van Stroe (also called Jessa Layola) was banned by the Federal Court from charging clients a fee or receiving a reward to lodge their income tax returns. During the 2020-21 tax season, Ms Stroe illegally prepared thousands of tax returns leaving her clients exposed to penalties and unpaid taxes which they would be liable to repay.

Tips for taxpayers: Tax Time 2022:

  • Check out the TPB’s handy online guide.
  • Check your tax practitioner is registered on the public register at tpb.gov.au/onlineregister. Only registered tax practitioners can charge a fee for tax agent services.
  • Be sceptical if an agent offers to secure you unexpected or unexplained payments.
  • Never share your myGov password with anyone, even your registered tax agent – doing so puts your personal information at risk.
  • You should not allow anyone else to lodge or prepare your tax return through your myGov account.