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]]>It additionally found that advanced level businesses are seven times more likely to be exporting than basic level businesses and 14 times more likely to be innovating.
Businesses with advanced levels of engagement are also earning 1.4 times more revenue per employee, while having a more diversified customer base, according to the report.
“There are significant benefits to be gained for SMBs with each step up the digital engagement ladder, and across all industries, sizes and geographies, with revenue growth almost 20 per cent higher for each upward step,” Deloitte states.
Based on a national survey of over 600 Australian SMBs, the report found that 23 per cent of SMBs are at a basic level of digital engagement, 34 per cent are at an intermediate level, 34 per cent are at a high level and 9 per cent are at an advanced level.
“SMBs are major contributors to the Australian economy,” Deloitte Access Economics partner John O’Mahony commented. “In 2014-15, they contributed $608 billion in GDP, representing over half of private sector economic activity, and employed more than 7.2 million people.
“Engaging with, investing in, and then keeping up with digital in an increasingly digital economy, opens up significant new opportunities for SMBs in terms of agility, competitive advantage, innovation and growth.
“But the digital landscape is also continually evolving as new technologies change existing markets, drive increased competition and shift consumer expectations. The goalposts when it comes to being highly digitally engaged continue to shift.”
O’Mahony noted that while, in areas such as social media, e-commerce, websites, online marketing tools and data analytics, SMBs are becoming more digitally capable, despite the benefits identified, “almost half of all SMBs at lower levels of engagement don’t regard digital tools as relevant for their business”.
“This suggests that there is still work to be done in helping some understand the value associated with increased digital engagement,” he commented.
“Our research shows that there can be a clear digital dividend for those businesses that get this right, and that there is significant risk for those that don’t.”
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]]>The post Survey Reveals Only 30% Of Organisations Prepared For IoT Security Risks appeared first on Smart Office.
]]>Additionally, just 34 per cent of the respondents stated that they believe their organisations accurately track the number of IoT devices on their networks.
“The Internet of Things presents a clear weak spot for an increasing number of information security organisations,” Tim Erlin, Tripwire director of IT security and risk strategy, commented.
“As an industry, we need to address the security basics with the growing number of IoT devices in corporate networks. By ensuring these devices are securely configured, patched for vulnerabilities and being monitored consistently, we will go a long way in limiting the risks introduced.”
The survey also found that 78 per cent of respondents are concerned about the weaponisation of IoT devices in the use of DDoS attacks, while 47 per cent expect the number of IoT devices on their networks to increase by at least 30 per cent in 2017.
Meanwhile, only 11 per cent of the respondents consider DDoS attacks one of the top two security threats their organisations face.
“It wasn’t so long ago that home computer ‘zombie armies’ were the weapon of choice for a lot of cyber-attacks and denial of service attacks,” Dwayne Melancon, Tripwire chief technology officer and vice president of research and development, commented.
“It seems that security professionals see IoT devices as a sort of ‘zombie appliance army’ that’s worthy of great concern. That makes sense, since many of the current crop of IoT devices were created with low cost as a priority over security, making them easy targets.
“The large number of easily compromised devices will require a new approach if we are to secure our critical networks. Organisations must respond with low-cost, automated and highly resilient methods to successfully manage the security risk of these devices at scale.”
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]]>The post ACMA Outlines Mobile Broadband Strategy appeared first on Smart Office.
]]>ACMA chairman Chris Chapman, whose 10-year tenure at the head of ACMA concludes at the end this week, noted that the need for accommodation of “growth in mobile broadband traffic has been one of the greatest challenges for the ACMA, and indeed all spectrum regulators worldwide”.
“The strategy signals a shift towards greater reliance on a contingency planning model, where the regulator plans for a range of potential outcomes in terms of mobile broadband capacity growth, but still seeks to enable the right spectrum to be made available – at the right time – depending on the scenarios that are unfolding,” Chapman commented.
“The key to such a contingency planning approach is the ability of the regulator to work with industry and the international community on a range of potential candidate bands at the same time, often over the very extended periods that are required for the development of new, harmonised spectrum uses and subsequent changes in the highest value use of those bands domestically.”
ACMA states the change in approach is intended for it “to be more flexible and responsive to the rapidly changing spectrum environment”, while in place of rigid quantitative targets, a more dynamic approach has been adopted in identifying and planning of spectrum for mobile broadband.
“The work plan provides an important indication of our forward action plans,” Chapman commented.
“This will include immediate work on the 1.5 GHz band identified for mobile broadband at last year’s World Radiocommunication Conference, as well as pressing on with the reconfiguration of the 900 MHz band.”
ACMA stated that the strategy outline and work plan were finalised following a comprehensive industry consultation process, including a discussion paper, Beyond 2020 – A spectrum management strategy to address the growth in mobile broadband capacity, released in September last year.
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]]>The post Vodafone Enhances Greater Sydney, ACT 4G Coverage appeared first on Smart Office.
]]>Vodafone states that low-band spectrum, such as L850, provides high-quality indoor mobile coverage, with the lower frequency signal penetrating buildings more effectively than higher frequency signals.
“This complements the 4G coverage of Vodafone’s 1800 MHz spectrum,” Vodafone stated. “Capable devices will now aggregate the 850 MHz and 1800 MHz band for an optimal mobile experience on the Vodafone network.”
Vodafone’s network enhancement program has seen the upgrade of over 1,000 sites, providing for more Greater Sydney mobile traffic.
“This activity will ensure a faster, more stable and stronger network experience for our customers in and around Sydney,” Vodafone chief technology officer Benoit Hanssen commented.
“Most of our customers in the Greater Sydney area are already using L850 compatible devices, so they will be able to take advantage of this upgrade in speeds straight away without having to take any action.”
Hanssen noted that mobile data consumption has increased by over 70 per cent in the last 12 months, with Vodafone expecting to see this trend continue as more customers gain access to 4G speeds.
Vodafone has also completed the re-farming of its 850 MHz spectrum in the ACT, stating that it has activated 91 sites.
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]]>The post Should Foxtel Fear Free-To-Air HD? appeared first on Smart Office.
]]>Roy Morgan Research data released earlier this month revealed that since its arrival Netflix has been successful in luring customers to the Australian subscription and pay TV market, with almost one in three Australian households now having some form of pay or subscription TV, up almost 30 per cent since the start of the year.
While Roy Morgan found that Foxtel has remained relatively stable in terms of customer base numbers, Foxtel has seen its market share drop from a 95 per cent share of homes with pay or subscription TV to 76 per cent since the arrival of Netflix, with Netflix effectively growing the market.
Now, following the introduction of legislation by Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull yesterday to allow free-to-air broadcasters to deliver programming in HD on their primary television services, Foxtel may well be fighting a battle on a new front.
With the bill introduced to allow broadcasters the flexibility to broadcast upcoming events such as this year’s AFL and NRL grand finals in HD the challenge is imminent.
Free-to-air networks will be able to expand within the HD market, delivering enhanced services to viewers, and potentially providing competition to Foxtel, particularly within sports broadcasting.
Foxtel currently offers up to 37 channels in HD, including a selection of sports channels, and it remains to be seen if some viewers will jump ship following a free-to-air adoption of HD for primary television services.
Foxtel could well be facing increased competition on two fronts – from Netflix in entertainment and free-to-air in sports broadcasting.
As noted by Turnbull yesterday, HD is now “virtually ubiquitous in Australian homes”, with a Newspoll survey conducted in February 2014 finding that 96 per cent of all households had a main TV set or set-top box capable of receiving HD content.
“It is expected that this figure has grown, with high-definition capability standard in televisions and set-top boxes currently on the market,” Turnbull commented.
“With the completion of digital switch-over and the availability of a range of new television services, many Australians now expect premium free-to-air programming to be provided in high definition – especially events such as live sports.”
Meanwhile, Free TV Australia has welcomed the introduction of the legislation.
“This is a win for viewers, as it will give broadcasters the flexibility to screen more premium content in HD,” Free TV CEO Julie Flynn commented.
“In a digital environment, it doesn’t make sense to limit the primary service to standard definition. We welcome this as a first step to allowing free-to-air broadcasters to deliver more enhanced services to all Australians, for free.”
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]]>The post Vodafone Tempts Customers Following Telstra Troubles appeared first on Smart Office.
]]>Vodafone has announced the offer on a day that Telstra has again suffered service issues.
Telstra customers took to social media today to vent their grievances, with the service issues following last week’s outage. Telstra is offering its customers a day of free data on April 3 following the outage last week, which follows its free data day in February after a previous outage.
“We know how important it is to stay connected, so if you’re having trouble with your network, we invite you to come on over to Vodafone,” Vodafone director of sales Ben McIntosh commented. “We’re the only Australian carrier to offer a network happiness guarantee, making the switch to Vodafone worry-free.
“We’re willing to back our multi-billion investment in our network, which is strong, reliable and resilient. Australia’s only network happiness guarantee means that if you join us and you’re not happy in the first 30 days, you can cancel your contract and only pay for what you’ve used.”
McIntosh stated that Vodafone’s Data Workout provides two months of unlimited data for customers on 24-month voice postpaid plans.
“We know ‘free data’ days are all the rage right now, which is why Vodafone offers two months of unlimited data to postpaid voice customers when they join or upgrade,” he commented.
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]]>The post Fibre All The Way: Clare Has FTTN In The Firing Line appeared first on Smart Office.
]]>Upon its launch, NBN stated it expected a simpler installation process compared to other technologies such as fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) will see it able to activate end users “much faster than on other broadband technologies”.
However, Clare has questioned why there is even a debate between the use of copper and fibre, stating “fibre is the end game”.
“Decades from now, I am sure we will look back and wonder what this debate about fibre and copper was all about,” he told CommsDay attendees.
“And that’s because the network we will be using will be essentially a fibre network. Fibre-to-the-node will be gone. It’s not a question of if this will happen. It’s when it will happen and how it will be done.”
While Labor had envisaged 93 per cent of Australian premises being connected via FTTP under the NBN rollout, the current version has 20 per cent of premises connected via FTTP, with 38 per cent connected via FTTN or fibre-to-the-basement, and 34 per cent via hybrid-fibre coaxial.
There has been speculation since Malcolm Turnbull took over as prime minister that the Coalition would consider a greater FTTP rollout.
Following the change of leadership, Ovum government technology principal analyst Al Blake noted that with Turnbull as prime minister it “may allow for an NBN recalibration”.
“Given the political realities it would be impossible to go back to the original Labor plan – but we may see the proportion technologies slide further towards FTTP, which would mean world-call broadband performance for a greater percentage of Australians,” Blake commented.
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]]>The post ACCC Looks To Superfast Broadband Access Service appeared first on Smart Office.
]]>“Declaring an SBAS will go some way to simplifying and clarifying the regulations that apply in this area, and give access seekers certainty about gaining wholesale access to services on these networks,” ACCC chairman Rod Sims stated.
The ACCC has proposed that telecommunications providers be allowed access to services with a downstream data rate normally more than 25 Mbps on all fixed line networks.
However, under the proposed declaration, where the network operator is already facing competition from alternative fixed network providers, access will not be required.
“The ACCC considers declaration of an SBAS will promote the long-term interests of end-users because it is likely to promote competition between telecommunications providers supplying services to end-users,” Sims added.
The declaration will not apply to services supplied by NBN Co or on HFC networks that will be transferred to NBN Co, and services regulated under the ACCC’s Local Bitstream Access Service declaration.
It would apply to services including Telstra’s FTTP (fibre-to-the-premises) networks in South Brisbane and Velocity estates, iiNet’s VDSL network in the ACT and HFC networks in regional Victoria, TPG’s FTTB (fibre-to-the-basement) networks and Spirit Telecom’s FTTB networks.
The ACCC is inviting submissions on the decision, with further information available here. The closing date for submissions is December 4.
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]]>The post NBN Sky Muster Satellite Service Now Available appeared first on Smart Office.
]]>The Sky Muster satellite launched into space last October, with NBN stating that the satellite along with 10 NBN ground stations “have undergone extensive testing and monitoring, including end-user trials”.
Around 200 homes in regional and remote areas have trialled the service, with the trials on average delivering speeds of up to 25/5 Mbps for end-users.
“The NBN Sky Muster satellite service will make a truly transformational difference to rural and remote Australians as we offer some of the world’s fastest and largest consumer satellite broadband plans to remote and isolated areas of Australia,” NBN chief customer officer John Simon commented.
Simon stated that NBN has “teamed up with our delivery partners and now have a field force of over 600 trained technicians ready to connect homes around the country”.
“It will take some time to get all eligible premises connected due to the sheer size of our 7.69 million km2 country, so we ask for patience as our teams travel around to install the service,” he commented.
NBN has also cited a new report from global analyst firm Ovum, commissioned by NBN, examining 18 retail service providers internationally offering satellite broadband services.
NBN stated the report “has found that when measured in terms of data allowance, download speed, upload speed and affordability, that selected plans on the NBN Sky Muster service are world-leading for satellite broadband services”.
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]]>The post PayPal Working Capital Loans Hit US$1B appeared first on Smart Office.
]]>PayPal Working Capital is currently providing US$3 million per day, directly into the PayPal accounts of small business owners, more than triple the pace from a year ago, Esch advised, working out to more than US$100 million per month.
“Based on the customer feedback we receive, it’s clear that PayPal Working Capital is filling a crucial void in the traditional banking system,” he wrote.
“In fact, when PayPal Working Capital customers were asked to rate how likely they would be to recommend the program to others (on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest), between 85-90 per cent responded with a nine or 10, which really speaks to business owners’ enthusiasm for this program.”
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