Taking a Stand against Drugs, Crime & Violence

From Jade Lewis's Blog - On Tuesday night 19th October Jade Lewis & Friends was named the WINNER of the Belmont Small Business of the Year - Community Spirit Award 2010.

Tristan, myself and our team are incredibly encouraged by another award and the great credibility, exposure and fantastic indicator that we are  on the right track.

And we will not stop now. We know there is so much more to do and become before we see our dream realised. We will continue to climb the mountains, overcome our fears, influence more people and be part of changing lives for the rest of our lives.  I love this quote, "Success comes in only one place before work - that is the dictionary!"

To all our fantastic family, supporters, friends, confidants and partners who help us with our hectic work, we THANK YOU!   We couldn't do what we do without your support.  We think the world of you.  Pictured with Tristan and I above, is one of our future board members - Paul Faix (www.fortix.com.au) who won his category of Customer Service.  We are thankful that we have gathered an excellent team who specialise in their field. 

We thank God everyday for the privilege of building drug free people and communities.  This is just the beginning! Together, we ARE making a difference.  www.jadelewis.com

Love Tristan, Jade, Annaleigh and Elyssa xo

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Business, Community, Entertainment

Maylands Community Street Festival

On Sunday the 7th November 2010,  from 10am to 3pm, join the Free Street Festival on Eighth Street, Maylands, proudly brought to you by Maylands Business Association.

Visit the Maylands Business Associations new website and find out more about The Maylands Business Association an incorporated, not-for-profit group of small business owners and traders, working together to lift the profile of Maylands and giving back to the community.

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Breastfeeding Blanket goes International

Congratulations to Bree Tinecheff of Bebitza on an inspirational article in WA Business News.  Fortix is proud to be working with Bree creating and managing The Breastfeeding Blanket & Bebitza websites. Bree has built Bebitza from an idea 5 years ago, to now exporting to the Middle East with plans to break into the UK and US markets.  www.bebitza.com.au  Download the full WA Business News article (pdf) here

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ASP or SaaS - What's the Difference ??

On the face of it there's not a lot of difference between Application Service Providers (ASP) and Software as a Service (Saas) models of computing.  Both offer applications over a network (usually the internet).  Both provide third party location for hardware, software and data.  In broad terms both models provide a client with a business application, available over a network, licensed usually on a time based fee basis.  Other charging factors may be employed depending on the application or service. 

That sounds pretty much alike and if you check Wiki for answers there is still confusion as to the different models.  

So is there a difference?  The main difference is the ASP model is based on a single environment for the client where the configuration will be specific for the clients needs.  On the other hand SaaS works on a multi-tenancy arrnagement where clients share the resources from where the application is delivered.   

Both ASP and SaaS deliver financial advantages for the client as there is no need in either model for the client to host their own servers, hardware, software or specialist IT support.  ASP would tend to cost more as the unique environment for each client must be maintained whereas SaaS has a share arrangement that works out cheaper.  

Will ASP lose out to SaaS - certainly in some areas but where there is a need for a dedicated environmnet with specific configuration requirements ASP is the choice.  As with all decisions it is important to get the requirements nailed before you open the chequebook.

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Curtin Growth - Innovation Bus is Back!

Curtin Growth Program Innovation Bus had recorded huge success. Many business owners that attended the first round gained valuable insides to how successful business owners grew their businesses.

Fortix was the main speaker in the afternoon session where business systems were discussed and analysed impact on business growth. We're pleased to report that feedback has been very positive and we've been invited to present in the next two sessions happening in October.

Curtin Growth and Enterprise Connect are delivering a unique program of experiential learning for business owners and managers. The Innovation Bus will collect 30 people (from our offices in Bentley) and take them to exemplary businesses to learn how they implemented cutting edge innovation in areas of :

• systemisation of the business
• manufacturing control and capacity planning
• staff retention strategies
• market development
• exemplary service
• improved leadership


Case Studies
The afternoon will begin with lunch at our offices and then several speakers talking about efficiencies achieved through software including ‘cloud’ computing software, systems to measure and monitor performance and a demonstration of a comprehensive, integrated systems software package designed by local company, Fortix.

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Online Business Savings Calculator

Our web based Business Savings Calculator has now been posted on to our website.  It calculates the savings you can make by improving the efficiency of your business.  Many business owners are unaware of the significant savings that can be generated by simply improving the efficiency of your current processes and operations.  We have built this calcualtor to give you an idea of how much you can claw back from money you are already spending.  Our default  efficiency gain in the calculator is a conservative 20% by implementing the Fortix Freedom Managed Business System (MBS).  We have reports from clients of 100% efficiency gains across their operations resulting in savings of millions of dollars.

There are two sections to the calculator - one for the CEO to put the raw figures of Annual Wages Bill and Annual IT Costs and a more Detailed section that allows for the input of specific details of staff numbers, rates of pay, charge out rates etc.  This calcuator should be a wake up call to all business owners of the negative impact of inefficient operations on your bottom line results.  Enjoy!!!

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100% Efficiency gains in the Cloud

Congratulations to Smoke Alarms Australia 

Their proactive approach to business and the use of a cloud based Managed Business Systems has allowed Smoke Alarms Australia to expand their operations  and improve their efficiency by 100%.

Smoke Alarms Australia is Australia's leading and longest running smoke alarm specialist. Since 2005, their qualified team of technicians lead the smoke alarms industry in expertise, quality and professionalism. 

Smoke Alarms Australia are now proud to introduce Property Support Australia
Supporting Property managers with a one stop for change of tenancy services including cleaning, gardening, for lease sign installation and much more. One phone call, one invoice!

www.smokealarmsaustralia.com.au 

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Fortix sponsoring Integrity Racing Team

Integrity Racing Team was founded in 2000 by Kevin Ledger who is the driver and 2009 state champion in the IPRAWA series.

Kevin’s vast experience and knowledge has been built over the 20 years he has been involved in motorsports. This along with the passion to make the IPRA series successful has contributed to him being the State Champion on four occasions.

Integrity Racing Team’s vision is to build and sustain the most successful team in the IPRAWA category and to help the series reach its maximum potential in Western Australia.

2010 is an exciting year as the IPRA Nationals will be held in Perth at Barbagallo Raceway on the 16th and 17th of October. The competition will be fierce and we will be competing to take the Australian title for the first time. For more information visit www.integrityracing.com.

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International Honour for Fortix client Sign A Rama Joondalup

Fortix are proud to be working with the Internationally recognised and award winning company Sign A Rama Joondalup.  Fortix and Sign A Rama have created a managed business system for the Signage Industry that will be available world wide to improve the efficiency and profitability of sign industry businesses.
The multi-award winning Sign A Rama Joondalup has won the ultimate accolade from the 900-strong Sign A Rama group, with its induction into the Hall of Fame at the recent Sign A Rama World Expo in Orlando, USA.  

Part of the United Franchise Group, Sign A Rama is the world’s largest signage franchise, with almost 90 stores in Australia and over 900 internationally.  Only one or two stores are inducted into the Hall of Fame every 18 months in recognition of their performance levels and their contribution to the group as a whole.

The Joondalup Sign A Rama store is no stranger to industry awards. In the ten years since it opened, it has won 10 awards, including Franchise Business of the Year at the 2010 ECU North West Metro Small Business Awards in Perth.

“The hurdles are very high for induction into the Sign A Rama Hall of Fame,” said Evan Foster, Director of United Franchise Group in Australia.  “This a great recognition of the Joondalup store and the hard work of all involved.”

“For us this is the culmination of 10 years of focusing on continued improvement,” says co-owner of Sign A Rama Joondalup, Craig Mason. “It’s given us real motivation to be even more focused on excellence and growth.”

For Mason and co-owners, Shane Craig and Richard Angerson, the award caps off a big year which also saw them become the first sign writing business in Australia to gain Green Stamp certification.   www.perthsigns.com

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Lost in the Cloud ?

It would seem to be the case from a recent survey conducted by Melbourne IT (Melbourne IT eBiz Review 2010) that Cloud computing is still quite mysterious to a large number of SMBs throughout Australia. Even companies with an online presence that used the internet for conducting business (eSMBs) were not clear about what Cloud Computing was with approximately half stating they did not know what the term meant. 

Around 15% of eSMBs planned on investing in Cloud Computing services in the 2010-2011 financial year with the majority of existing Cloud users planning on further investment this year.  The main areas of uptake of Cloud Services are Storage, Email, CRM and Desktop Services.  Companies not planning on investing in Cloud Computing stated they did not see a business need or benefit (62%).  Other areas of concern amongst respondents were a lack of understanding the concept (27%), Cloud Computing still needed to prove itself (15%), security concerns (12%) and  reliability (10%).

From the viewpoint of a business that currently operates almost exclusively in the Cloud it is obvious that more education is needed in the SMB sector to explain the concept and benefits.  According to Gartner Research, the Cloud Computing spend in 2009 was over $50 billion - this was 21% up on the 2008 spend despite the GFC and credit constraints.  The projected spend for 2013 is $150 billion.  All the big players are in the Cloud and investing significantly - this is not vapourware (to use an old IT term). 

Cloud Computing is not going away and nor is it a new concept - it has been around for at least a decade. With cheap storage and improvements in internet speeds the Cloud is just getting bigger and bigger. The Cloud is the  vehicle for true mobile computing - as big an evolutionary step forward as Personal Computing was from Mainframe devices.  SMBs and eSMBs need to familiarise themselves more with Cloud Computing and explore how it may assist their operations. 

Get the Melbourne IT survey report (PDF) here

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