Executive Summary of 2007 Canberra.NET “BUSINESS PLAN”

Inception:
Recognizing that local ICT SMEs need additional resources to grow as well as sell globally, Canberra ICT business people in partnership with the Canberra Business Council obtained funding from Microsoft and BusinessACT, established a committee (Schedule 2, Activity 1) then hired Ellen Meinhart as the Business Development Manager in order to start Canberra.NET. Canberra.NET is an ICT cluster dedicated to “Innovation through Collaboration”. After an intensive primarily E-mail member recruitment, Canberra.NET has 52 member companies comprising small, medium and multinational organizations which have joined to achieve collective competitiveness and develop new .NET commercial software opportunities.

Launch:
ACT Chief Minister, Mr. Jon Stanhope MLA officially launched Canberra.NET on 14 September 2006 during the ICT Showcase at Focus on Business (FOB). As the showcase sponsor, Canberra.NET’s branding appeared on all FOB publicity including the Canberra Times insert, Event Guide, invitations, FOB website and the booths of Canberra.NET’s 5 exhibiting members. Focus on Business combined with the membership drive and member participation in the Canberra.NET sponsored booth at Microsoft’s Tech Ed trade show combined to establish a legitimate Canberra.NET brand and create the excitement necessary to begin a professional organization.

Breakfast Meetings:
On Tuesday, 17 October 2006, Canberra.NET had its first Power Breakfast at Microsoft with 55 participants. Member representatives from Intelledox, Ross Logic and Compuware presented their companies during the “5 Minutes of Fame” portion of the meeting. Attendees then participated in “Canberra.NET.Working”. Similar to speed networking, participants find a partner, give a one minute summary of their company, rotate and after 10 minutes have met 5 people. With everyone’s adrenalin pumping, Dr.Gedeon, ANU and Chris Scullin, AMBIT Recruiting advised members on how to “Attract and Keep IT Talent”. Lastly, Nils van Boxsel, Microsoft wrapped the meeting up with an explanation of Microsoft Live. Member’s ranked the overall meeting a strong 4.23 out of 5 with individual feedback expressing their genuine enthusiasm about the entire meeting. Due to this success, a similar format (“5 Minutes of Fame, Canberra.NET.Working, Business & Technical Presentation) was used at the next meeting on 22 November 06. Feedback forms are and will be used at every meeting to gauge member’s satisfaction and adjust the meetings accordingly. (Attachments: 17.10.06 Feedback form & 22.11.06 Feedbackform-Complete)

Website:
Canberra.NET had a basic website when it began. Members are able to register their company giving details on how many .NET solutions and specialists they have as well as provide relevant information on .NET projects and revenue which allows tracking of specific metrics for the ACT. Significant time and effort has been given to make the website the prime communication tool for the group. Among other things, the website offers members a 50% discount on their AIIA membership, free software, a schedule of exporting classes plus a detailed summary of all Canberra.NET breakfasts including speaker contact information. Making the website more customer-friendly is a top priority for 2007. Specifically, a capability register will be created to not only help customers identify the companies that can solve their ICT problem but also to help members identify partnering opportunities.

Member Benefit Identification:
With the intent of eventually self funding which necessitates retaining members, a member questionnaire was designed and 23 representatives from the 52 member companies interviewed. (Attachment: Member Questionnaire Responses) The remaining 29 companies will also be interviewed. Members were asked pointed questions about Canberra.NET such as their vision, 12 month expectations, benefits expected, seminar ideas and motivation for becoming a member. Additionally, local cluster experts John Dean, AIIA and Dr. Brian Roberts, University of Canberra were interviewed to understand how to keep and retain members. Member feedback, expert advice, targeted reading and committee input have all combined to identify key member benefits and develop a strategic plan that will address them.

2007 Plan:
The three main member benefits identified: Networking & Partnering, Industry Relations and Capability and Capacity Building combined with ongoing Market Awareness are Canberra.NET’s four strategies in its 2007 Business Plan. Fostering networking and partnering will continue to be our focus in order to provide SMEs with a pool of skilled business and technical people to access for support, ideas and joint ventures. Strategic relationships will be cultivated in order to promote member’s capabilities, alert members early in the sales cycle to potential leads and leverage key resources in the ACT. Capability and capacity building activities both technical and business will fill in critical knowledge gaps to move members forward to achieve even greater business success. Canberra.NET’s success in these areas will help it achieve its goals of maximizing revenue in the ACT software industry, promoting IP creation and establishing Canberra as a centre of excellence for .NET. Ultimately, Canberra.NET’s objective is to be a sustainable and dynamic ICT cluster in the ACT.