Focus on Business 2015 - How It All Went Down

This year’s Forum was held on Thursday 19 March from 12pm at the Ascot Park Hotel in Invercargill and, boy, was it a success!

Our dedicated team began their set up of the venue at 7am and had the venue looking fantastic by the time our guests arrived at 12pm for the keynote speaker, Shamubeel Eaqub. Presenting a very important topic for those of us living and working in Southland, Shamubeel’s speech was thought-provoking, informational and interesting.

The Keynote

He discussed the almighty “Burning Platform”, in which he highlighted the need for change within ours and other regional centres. With living in such a unique area, we are both very lucky and in very much danger of heading towards a decline in our population, skills, and employment. He discussed the unstoppable forces such as technology, globalisation, urbanisation, and ageing, as well as the catalysts of this situation.

The Trade Area

With the keynote speech over and done with, and with many people discussing this matter throughout the day, the attendees were able to enjoy a browse through our trade area which hosted all of our vendors. They were there answering any questions our attendees had, technical or not, and they all have stated that they really enjoyed visiting us down here in the Deep South. Our vendors included:

• Lenovo
• ShoreTel
• Comworth
• Allied Telesis
• Dove Electronics
• MYOB
• Westcon Group
• Veeam
• Rukus Wireless
• Exeed
• Fortinet
• Ingram Micro

The Workshops

Throughout the afternoon, our attendees were able to visit any workshops that they had chosen from the six topics that we had arranged. Our workshop topics included:

Is your company protected?
Presenter: David Hills (Fortinet)
Is your company protected against cyber-attacks, viruses or even phishing? David Hills from Fortinet will give you run down on application security vs www filtering, what can be done to protect your business from viruses such as the Crypto Locker Virus as well as others, and of course the almighty BYOD. Come along to this workshop and you will be leaving with a new outlook on the security of your company.

Data Recovery & Online Backup
Presenter: Ross Cranston & Ron Pher (Veeam)
Ever thought about what would happen to your data if there was a disaster? This workshop will demonstrate the importance of having systems in place in case of any kind of emergency – natural or otherwise. From online backup and data recovery to storage as a service, our friends at Veaam will discuss the advantages of being prepared. They will also be talking about the latest trends in the industry and what’s coming up around the corner.

IP Telephony
Presenter: Phil Morgan (ShoreTel)
IP Telephony, VoIP, SIP – just some of the names for having your phone lines over the Internet. With such great technology available today, there are many advantages to this type of telephony however there are many things to be aware of before changing your system over. This workshop will go over specifically what IP Telephony is, how it works, as well as the pitfalls and advantages of having this system in your workplace environment.

Think Bigger with MYOB
Presenter: Nick Savage-Mady (MYOB)
Have you heard of MYOB Advanced yet? This is MYOB’s new cloud-based business management system that will change the way you do business. Join us for a demonstration of how this product works, what it is, and if it would be appropriate for your company – all told by Mr Nicky Savage-Mady.

SharePoint: A Demonstration
Presenter: Dave Bennie (Focus Technology Group)
Join us for a demonstration of the Microsoft platform, SharePoint. This product allows you to work anywhere at any time, all while being able to share and connect with your employees, organise your team or project, discover insights, and manage costs, risks and your time.

The Future of Technology with Lenovo
Presenter: Nathan Knight (Lenovo) & Heath Wallace (Synnex)
Join Lenovo for a demonstration of the latest products available in the market. Nathan & Heath will show you the benefits of having a range of devices in the workplace and how they can be used. They will also discuss Lenovo’s recent acquisition of IBM and what this means for you as a customer. And of course Lenovo will be answering the big question “what do they see happening next?”.

The Networking

With a turnout of 42 people from the public, we are looking forward to bringing back this event again in two years’ time, bringing new workshop topics, new technologies, and a new guest speaker to you all – who knows what technology may be available to us in the near future. The afternoon ended with networking, drinks and nibbles, and another chance for our attendees to discuss anything with our vendors or Focus staff.

The Thank You!

We just wanted to thank those who came along and showed their support, we had an absolute blast and hope you did too. If you have any suggestions about how we can make this event better for you next time or any specific topics you would like to learn about, please let us know.