OI featured nationally for advancing telework

Organise Internet has been featured on a new national Telework website ( www.telework.gov.au) as part of a campaign put together by governments and companies from around Australia. The campaign will climax during the National Telework Week, November 12-16 .

Our Principal Consultant and co-founder Dave Abrahams was asked why supporting a flexible work culture is part of supporting staff and how, in a broader sense, telework will help get people off the roads and rail and back into their local communities.

OI's Technical Manager Craig speaks about his regular telework and why it works for him, his family and the company.

We don't think it's such a big change to our innovative culture where supporting the team is the heart of all we do.

While many companies around the country are outsourcing their skills to offshore third parties, effectively diluting their innovative energy, we've decided to build our team by adding flexibility. The team may not be always (or ever) in the office but we want them always to be part of the team.

With the NBN investment, we're building our work culture toward a future that will be increasingly locally based with a global reach. Ask us about some of the cloud technologies and innovations we're working on that will work for you.

Follow us at: @OrganiseInt & @digitdave
  

Open Letter To Our Clients

The internet is changing fast and we’re moving fast to help you. As a result we are upgrading our servers to make our internet services, including our web systems faster, more secure and more efficient.

We will be migrating your web sites and/or complex systems in the coming weeks. This is important for you to understand what is happening, depending on your circumstance:

1. For most of our customers where we look after your domain names, you will not notice much of a difference. Though we trust you’ll feel a little faster and more secure.
2. For customers that for one reason or another control their own domain(s), expect to receive an email with important instructions on how to redirect your domain to maintain your online systems.

As you've come to expect, our new servers are hosted in Australia in geographically separate locations (Sydney & Canberra) in one of country’s most secure server networks.

This will enable us to maintain our excellent up time record and to maintain short turn arounds on your system issues.

Why are we upgrading our services

Did you know that the time we all spend online has risen by over 300% in the last 5 years. We’re seeing a major move to online shopping and transactions, these need fast servers with robust backup routines.

Did you also know that Australia’s online traffic grew by 241% in the 12 months 2010 - 2011 according to the ABS. This puts brand new speed demands on the performance of servers.

You may also know that many companies are looking to move their business systems to the Cloud to reduce costs and speed up efficiencies. This is a sound and tried solution on the whole. We’re happy to show you how to create a strategy to make this happen.

Experience counts in the online world

Organise Internet has internet veterans that know the internet inside out. Indeed some of our team helped bring some of the first organisations onto the internet in the 1990s. Sure we also have high class graduates and programming gurus. Together our ‘team equation’ works to deliver exceptional innovation at sensible business rates.

So if you have an great idea talk to us. Organise Internet has been moving clients to online based services for years, we’ll show you the rewards and the potential risks.

Partnerships that count

Organise Internet is one of the country’s first Google Engage Partners. We also employ a specialist search expert that brings extreme search success to our search clients in a professional and consistent manner.

Why you need a smart phone website

Incredible growth in smart phone search

Did you know that smart phone use is growing at the rate of 400% per year. Much of this is leading to a quiet revolution in the use of the web for search. That's why we've have a mobile specific platform to our clients called YouCardQR.

Think about your own use. What do you or your family do when they are searching for a local business they just heard about in a conversation? Sure there are some that go through the old Yellow Pages hunt, though most pick up their phone and type in a search query, like 'gluten free pizza', 'tea house', 'insurance agent', 'chiropractor' or 'fruit store'.

Being local does give you an edge

All of those searches above and more will return local results first, if you've set your site up correctly. Assuming of course that you have a website for your business.

Remember most smart phones know approximately your location through their GPS or WiFi systems so they will look for reputable local business sites.

BUT if your website is made for a  large computer screen, what does it look like on a mobile cell phone?For most people the answer is "pretty small and difficult to read".

Don't rely on your old website

This short video will explain the difficulties of relying on your old website. It's not just about the size of the website.

Smart phones have touch screens

Remember that a mobile site will be used with a touch screen where people expect to be able to touch and call you phone number, touch and link to your map location, touch and link to you FB or Twitter page.

Simple Smart phone ready

Our YouCardQR platform has all these links in them natively with big buttons and quick links. See an example below of one of our customers.

Contact us at

Email: admin@organise.net.au
Twitter: @OrganiseInt
Call on: +61 2 4325 1298

International enquiries welcome

Digital Economy on a Bicycle

After a recent visit to South Australia to assist in the launch of a so called Digital Enterprise Centre I came away with a tasty new view of economic development.

The village of Willunga in the vales south of Adelaide is renowned throughout the cycling world for its infamous hill that is an annual fixture in the ever-expanding Tour Down Under. The three-kilometre hill is broadcast to tens of millions of viewers each and every January, as the world's best cyclists fight each other for the title of 'King of the mountain'.

Yet Willunga and the surrounding district is also a centre of both local fresh food markets and the super-high-speed internet through the National Broadband Network (NBN) pilot program. The village is therefore an eclectic mix of events and possibilities that on the surface don't naturally fit together. Yet, I soon discovered 'oil and vinegar' make for great salad dressing.

The farmer's market in Willunga is held every Saturday morning in the town square and features both real farmers and real local food. As a result it has won local, state and national awards for its food and atmosphere. Locals walk or ride their bikes to stock up on fresh food, wines and bakery items. Others also come from as far away as northern Adelaide to get the best and freshest food that can be found. In many ways the area has echoes of provincial France or Italy, and its older colonial homes and small churches complete the milieu.

The farmer's market organisation, though, has also been infected with innovative ways. The marketing and development managers have spawned the idea of replicating the real market place as a Virtual Farmer' Market, which has set heads a-spinning.

The idea that has been prototyped allows people to walk through a virtual market in 3D and visit the tents and stalls as they are in reality. The young team that's working on the project has been inspired by the possibilities their local NBN roll out has afforded them: the opportunity to create new and innovative services to augment the market is driving optimism and change.

Billy Doecke and Dave Abrahams at the Willunga Markets.
Photo courtesy of Dave Abrahams.

Billy Doecke, part of the innovation team, speaks enthusiastically of the possibilities of the emerging new 3D service. She says they’re hoping to create video introductions of the stall holders so people can get to know them before they arrive and purchase produce. They’re also keen on getting the sellers to list what they are selling each week so people can view online what will be sold at the markets on Saturdays.

Now, having left Willunga, I feel a little sentimental - not so much for their provincial setting and fresh food, but for the positive and innovative atmosphere that they are building on the back of their NBN roll out. I hope to be able to inspire a similar change in my regional economy when the NBN rolls out on the Central Coast of NSW later this year.

Perhaps fresh local food, wine, optimism and superfast networks can deliver a new economic renaissance to many regions across Australia. Oh, and with such high speed 3D virtual reality don't forget your bicycle helmet.

Article originally published on myregion.com.au.