Xmas Cometh.......

The past few days have been a bit of a whirlwind. They always are in the run up to Christmas.

Given that a lot of Pingar's NZ-based advisers are now away until Monday 12th January, it has been a case of closing down as many files as possible. A week of manic activity will then follow. And then the departure to the UK for 3 weeks of winter.

Here in Tauranga, we will wind down from tomorrow and that includes this blog.

So I wish you a very Happy Christmas and New Year season. It has been a long year. A battery recharge is over due. Time to log off for one last time......

The Xmas Ham

Tauranga Game Fishing Club

[Update: Santa arrived early. It's ham on Christmas Eve!]

Tonight is 'Ham Night'.

That's the night when the Tauranga Game Fishing Club hosts its Annual 'Xmas Ham Draw'. Jacqui and I will be there.

We have already decided it will be perfect for Christmas Eve. We have the BBQ, we have the recipe, we have the guests. All we need now is the winning ticket.

Library House Woes

Library House, the data gatherer whose online products offer intelligence on VC deals and innovative venture-backed European companies, has apparently gone in to administration.

Library House hit hard times with bitter irony, as the very venture capitalists whose deals it thrives on for new data, sit on their money through the downturn. It's still aiming to sell all or part of the business.

For me, there is a sense of sorrow as well as a sense of loss. Library House were the organisers of both the UK Technology, Innovation & Growth Forum which Pingar presented to in March this year. They also organised the more recent Essential MediaTech 2008 Conference. It says something about the current VC investment climate in the UK & Europe.

If they can't raise funds, who can?

MYOB Premier

{Update: According to Stuart Bale at Xero, multi-currency functionality is slated for release before the end of the first Quarter 2009. Thanks for this update Stuart. Still love the interface.]

One of the challenges Pingar is facing, in common with all exporters - I hate that word - (so let's change it to 'those who engage with the global market') is the need for a foreign exchange strategy.

New Zealand is a small country in a big world. Our currency fluctuates perhaps more noticeably than many others. Fortunately for us, the British pound has shared some of our own weakness and therefore the two currencies have declined largely in parallel against the USD, the Euro and the Yen.

And so it is that I spent this morning installing MYOB Premier V12 onto our accounting system. It will allow us to manage multiple currency accounts and reconcile the impact of forex changes on the business. I had hoped that Xero would have added this functionality to their base platform by now. Unfortunately not, so we have had to settle with our Aussie cousin.

Of course having the system in place to manage the numbers is one thing. Determining the strategy to produce them is another. That's a challenge we will share with our accountant, Mr Meads. In the meantime it is one more training session for the upcoming Xmas season. It will not be the only one.

TGIF - Again

Where do the week's go?

It's about 7.50 right now and I am contemplating the next few hours. Apart from a meeting at 10.30am of the WBOP ICT Cluster Steering Committee in town, it's a wrap up on documentation and preparation for the Accountants on Monday. And a meeting with WaikatoLink in Hamilton same day. Plus the bank. Oops and getting a handle on the multi-currency bit in MYOB Premier edition.

TGIF - just one full week to go....

UK 2009

Having recently entertained John Beer in NZ, Jacqui and I will be packing our bags mid January to head off to Blighty. It will be an interesting trip.

There is currently significant partner opportunity there and the name Wales is cropping up with ever more frequency.

I am particularly interested in understanding the economic pulse on the ground. At the UK T&I Xmas reception in Auckland earlier this week, I experienced a slightly more downbeat assessment of the UK economy than I had expected. I know the economic situation there is challenging. The online Telegraph and Times, which I read daily, confirm that. It was interesting though to hear it directly from Her Majesty's local representatives.

In my previous post, I talked briefly about recruitment intentions for NZ. Those talks will be mapped in the UK next month. From here it looks as though there will be no shortage of potential candidates on the ground. That I suspect is the result of the downbeat assessment delivered on Wednesday.

Recruitment 2009

For the past two years, Jacqui and I have been the key drivers behind Pingar's development in New Zealand.

The end of 2008 sees Pingar in its strongest position to-date. Our morphing into a limited partnership and our successful recent funding round means we are now equipped to expand the team on the ground. Three areas have been specifically identified.

1. Partnership Secretary: Not of the typist variety. We will be looking to recruit a legal beagle who will ensure that compliance issues are addressed, our IP strategy is locked in and the very many commercial contracts we expect to complete are drafted and bullet proofed.

2. Head of Research / Technical Management: I have already blogged about our research intentions for 2009. This role will enable us to manage all the detailed relationships we have with both internal and external technical consultants. Serious project management skills will be require as multiple simultaneous projects will require concurrent management.

3. Digital Agency Specialist: As we roll out the platform, we want to get on the inside of the digital agency sector. This will be a senior appointment. Experience and significant external networks will be required. In such a new sector, this will be an interesting recruitment challenge.

I have asked Santa to consider, but sadly I guess a slightly more formal recruitment strategy will need to be followed. With just these three appointments, a number of our key medium term requirements are covered. And long term, they will provide the platform for our future growth.

What of my own role...and Jacqui's? Handing over these diverse and increasingly complex roles to committed professionals will enable us to focus on business growth and strategy. In particular, it will enable us to work on the partnerships and relationships we have already identified as being key to our growth.

2009 is going to be a very busy year.

Research 2009

Looking ahead, 2009 looks like it is going to have a very heavy focus on three or four very specific research projects.

Clearly because of the nature of the work, I have to remain reasonably zipped on the specifics. It does look however as though there will be new direct engagements with WaikatoLink, AUT and the University of Swansea in Wales. These projects will drill down on detailed aspects of the Pingar platform and prepare it for the competitive landscape we have clearly identified.

This research will almost certainly involve our ongoing relationship with the Foundation for Research, Science & Technology. It is hard to overestimate the importance of their work. In times such as these, it is vitally important that NZ businesses continue to invest in innovation and new IP. For Pingar, research is a significant line on the P & L. We view creating new IP as a cornerstone of our corporate development strategy.

So despite the economic times we are in, 2009 will see us pressing ahead with our research activities. For us, research is investment, not cost. It lays the foundation for Pingar's long term strategic growth.

Normal Service Resumes

I have been offline for the past few days. It says a lot about my diary and even more about the run up to Christmas.

I have just returned from the last trip to Auckland before Santa arrives. On Monday, it will be last trip to Hamilton. And then the Tauranga break gathers pace.

Normal service resumes......

TGIF

Back to normal means having a Friday post-work drink on the Strand and then a quiet night in. Oh yes, and a Skype call to HBI Software in Bangalore and an email exchange with the UK........

And then the weekend begins. Sometimes.

There is no doubt that this weekend is overdue. With John in town for the past two weeks, the normal routine has been somewhat challenged. The forecast for tomorrow is good, so fishing is on the agenda. And so is an evening BBQ with neighbours. It's a little scary looking ahead two weeks. There is a lot to do.

So, Thank God it's Friday. But first there are those Skype calls and emails to attend to. And that cold beer on the Strand.

The Xmas Season begins

Santa arrived early this year in the shape of Allan Bollard, Chairman of the NZ Reserve Bank, as he reduced the OCR by 1.5% a few minutes ago. His timing is bang on.

Later today, the BOP ICT Cluster Steering Group is hosting its annual Xmas drinks party. I will be there.

The rate cut though says a lot about the state of the world economy. And the weather. Confused? If you are reading this in the UK or the US, let me explain. The NIWA summer forecast for NZ is for below average rainfall and above average temperatures. This means a drought could be on the way. Not great when your major exporters are agricultural based.

So for those Northern hemisphere readers, I strongly recommend NZ spring lamb for your New Year festivities. Santa this year will come in many forms.

UK Democracy under threat

The Met Police clamp down on democracy

[Update: First a 'thank you' email from Damian Green overnight and then an admission by the Speaker of the House of Commons that the Met did not have a warrant to search Damian Green's Westminster office. Point in original post below proved.]

This is the moment when officers from the Metropolitan Police raided the Westminster office of MP Damian Green amid a growing political storm in the UK. Tory immigration spokesman Green, 52, was quizzed for nine hours by counter-terrorism officers after being arrested as part of an inquiry into Home Office leaks, provoking fury among Conservatives and other backbench MPs.

Green was arrested last Thursday on suspicion of "conspiring to commit misconduct in a public office and aiding and abetting, counselling or procuring misconduct in a public office." Police said they acted after receiving a complaint from The Cabinet Office, the department in charge of the rules governing the conduct of government employees and ministers.

This action - me speaking - is the latest and most blatant example of a system which is rapidly turning democracy and the legal system on its head. The willingness of UK bureaucrats to use 'anti-terrorism' and 'anti money-laundering' legislation for purposes for which they were never intended are now legion. I am experiencing this myself. Pingar LP requires some advice from Baker Tilly, our UK accountants. The 'anti money laundering' process we are having to go through to prove Pingar LP (a New Zealand registered entity) is not a front for Al Quaeda is quite frankly a disgrace. Every offshore entity wishing to deal with the UK is considered as such. What makes this even more absurd is that I have been a client of Baker Tilly for years.

The same logic applied when we opened the Pingar bank account at NatWest in the UK. I had to provide detailed passport evidence duly signed to confirm my identity. I had banked with the same commercial branch for almost ten years signing hundreds of cheques on the way.

I try not to comment too often on things 'political'. It is not the basis of this blog. I can say however that these actions do impact on perceptions of doing business in the UK. Right now, the politicians do not lead. The UK is going back to Cromwellian times when everything was proscriptive. It is not a place to be.

It will be interesting to see these changes when I return next month. There is not a single person I speak to in the UK that does not comment on the passing of traditional British values and the emergence of a new frightening unelected regime.

For regular readers of this blog, you might sense some tension in the words. I retain a strong affection for the UK and the unfolding events both sadden and do incense me. They are plain wrong.

It's back to normal.....

Whatever normal is.....

John Beer left NZ last night and as I write, is en route back to London. The past 10 days have been a bit of a whirl as we attempted to cover off a whole host of issues relating to Pingar.

I guess the key achievement was to prepare a road map for the next twelve months in our post-restructured, post-funded state. With client engagements underway in both the UK and NZ, it was critical that we both understood exactly where we stood. The meetings in NZ have confirmed that. Our position is now plain.

So Jacqui and I are now finalising our own plans to visit the UK at the end of next month. We will be on the ground for three weeks. It will enable us to roll reverse the activities of the past 10 days - namely, to meet our UK-based partners, advisers and clients to get a better 360 view of the global operation. Having ramped up our own Communication Strategy in NZ over the past few months, it is important we do the same in Blighty.

So for now, it's back to normal. Tauranga, Hamilton and Auckland. In that order. For the time being, London can wait.