In August Lincoln University published a commemorative book celebrating its 100 year relationship with the Ashley Dene Pastoral Systems Research Farm. Communicate IT helped with editing Ashley Dene Lincoln University Farm – the first 100 years.  

The book reflects on the farm’s characters and includes reminiscences from staff and students.  Collecting, editing and publishing 150 pages on its rich history has been a challenging labour of love for Dick Lucas, Neil Gow and Alistair Nicol. “It’s a celebration of Ashley Dene’s colourful past, as well as a terrific reference on the history of farming in Canterbury,” said Lucas.

Joanna Grigg of Country Wide magazine said it “has a smorgasboard of well-researched and independent advice,” and illustrates how “Ashley Dene has led the way in farm innovation and shaped dryland farming as we know it.”

This white paper published in November 2012 was written by Shelley Grell for Tait Communications. 

Are you and your organization prepared for the impact and aftermath of a significant event?

Being adequately prepared and resourced when a disaster strikes can make the difference between success and failure, between survival and loss of life.

This white paper identifies and makes recommendations regarding the  top priorities to prepare for and manage a significant event.

Based on the experiences and observations from Public Safety professionals who experienced first-hand the challenges of the Christchurch earthquake, this paper brings to life the realities of handling a significant event.

This paper includes interviews with the first responders from Christchurch as well as examples from a range of global case studies including the Victoria Bush Fires in Australia, Hurricane Katrina in the US, and the Labour Youth Camp shootings in Norway.  All are documented  in this must-read white paper for anyone interested in and responsible for disaster management.

Recommendations for disater preparedness include:

• Know your priorities and who is in charge
• Know what it is you are dealing with
• Ensure you can manage the demand for information
• Update your strategy often, calculate the risks and be ready for the unexpected.

For a new perspective on being prepared, download the white paper here: Tait_WP_Race Against Time_A4_v1_WEB

or from the Tait website here: http://go.taitradio.com/raceagainsttime.html

McKesson Announces Intent to Acquire Emendo Ltd., a Leader in Patient Demand Forecasting Tools

Optimizing performance across health system is integral to McKesson’s Better Health 2020 strategy

Nick Burns & Dave Tinkler, Emendo Ltd, Christchurch, New Zealand

ATLANTA, Nov. 6, 2012 – Today McKesson announced it has entered a definitive agreement to acquire Emendo Ltd., whose CapPlan Predictive Capacity Planning solution equips healthcare providers to optimize operational performance by intelligently forecasting patient demand. CapPlan also supports clinicians in their delivery of quality patient care by using a patient-centered, enterprise-wide view of activity to make real-time adjustments for patient flow and staffed capacity allocations.

Read the coverage in The Christchurch Press, National Business Review, Geekzone, Radio New Zealand, and more!

Locals welcome the arrival of Wireless Nation

Press release, 25 October 2012, Wireless Nation, Auckland, New Zealand: Internet service provider Wireless Nation has announced the launch of their wireless broadband service in the Chatham Islands. The network currently covers 25% of dwellings and businesses on the remote islands, which lie 680 kilometres east of Christchurch and have a population of 650.

For a $199+GST setup fee and monthly subscriptions starting from $45+GST, customers can access reliable broadband service. Previously, residents’ only options for internet access were an extremely slow dial-up connection or a private satellite service that comes with installation and setup costs in the thousands of dollars – putting it out of reach for the majority of islanders.

Read the coverage in Idealog, Computerworld and TelcoReview.

Read the press release.

Press release, 8 October 2012, YOOBEE School of Design, Christchurch, New Zealand:

Natcoll Design Technology has changed its name to YOOBEE School of Design to align with its sister business units under the YOOBEE brand owned by Renaissance Corporation Ltd (RNS NZSX). To celebrate its new name, YOOBEE School of Design is running a nationwide ‘Create a Toy Character’ competition until 21 October.

Since 1997 Natcoll has built an enviable international reputation as a leading provider of specialist creative digital design training courses. Every year, with campuses in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, the college enables hundreds of students from around the world to achieve NZQA-approved and vocationally-based diploma courses in multimedia, computer graphic design, web development, animation and filmmaking.

Read the coverage in Idealog and StopPress.
Read the press release.

We’re proud to announce that Communicate IT has won the Most Inspired use of Technology category in the 2012 David Awards. The company was also recognised as finalist in the Most Outstanding Triumph over Adversity category. Congratulations to all the finalists and winners.

Press release, 1 October 2012, Canterbury Scientific, Christchurch, New Zealand: Canterbury Scientific has won the Global Operator Award and the Supreme Award in the small enterprise class at the 2012 Champion Canterbury Awards.  An audience of over 1100 regional business leaders attended the awards ceremony at Christchurch’s CBS Arena on Thursday 27 September.

Champion Canterbury is the pre-eminent business awards programme in the region, celebrating enterprise, resiliency and success in the region.  The Global Operator category recognises innovative importers and exporters who contribute to Canterbury’s international reputation and the Supreme Award winner is selected from among the eight category winners.

Read the coverage in The Press: Science finally becoming sexy

Read the press release.

Press release, 24 September 2012, Canterbury Scientific, Christchurch, New Zealand: Canterbury Scientific, in partnership with the University of Canterbury’s Biomolecular Interaction Centre, is set to receive nearly $1 million in funding from the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment. The investment is one of 31 projects selected under the 2012 High-Value Manufacturing and Services Research Fund announced recently by Minister Steven Joyce and will enable research into tests for the secondary complications of diabetes.

The Diagnostic Markers for Diabetic Complications research project is expected to lead to the development of new commercial tests to identify patients at high risk of diabetic complications such as heart disease, visual impairment, diabetic neuropathy and kidney disease. The researchers estimate revenue potential from such products at $5-10 million per year in export sales by 2020. In his announcement Mr Joyce highlighted export potential as a key priority in the funding selection process.

Review the coverage in the NZ Herald and TVNZ Breakfast.

Read the press release.

Exciting news! Communicate IT has appeared in this month’s issue of NZ Business. Click here to read the article. Enjoy!

We’re pleased to announce that Communicate IT now has ‘feet in the street’ in Auckland since Shannon Thomas relocated with her family there in March 2012. “It’s business as usual and more”, says Director Shelley Grell. “And it has already proved advantageous for Communicate IT and our clients.”

After the Feburary 2011 earthquake Communicate IT started a virtual operation with Shelley and Shannon working from their home offices and making use of online tools such as Dropbox and Skype. The Avonside office was badly damaged and out of action for many months while it was undergoing emergency repair. Now on TC3 land, it is anyone’s guess when the 100 year old converted villa-office (owned by Shelley and her husband) will be fully repaired back to pre-earthquake state.

“For now we’re making every advantage of this inadvertent opportunity that the earthquakes opened up to us, with Shannon now looking after our Auckland clients, attending local ICT events, and meeting with key ICT industry representatives. She has already met with our clients’ Auckland based customers for case studies.”

Meanwhile Shelley is operating from her North Canterbury home and regularly commutes to Christchurch to visit our customers or to work from the Westpac Business & Community Hub in Addington. She is still on the committee of the Canterbury Software cluster and attends most of the ICT events in Christchurch.

“If anything it has been a change for the better,” says Shelley. “As both Shannon and I like the flexibility and convenience that working virtually allows. We chat or message on Skype many times a day and share work as easily as if we were in the same office. And meetings with clients are just as before, except Shannon is present on my laptop instead of in person. If we need extra resource we still have our established database of contractors and suppliers that we can call on. ”

Our contact details remain the same, and if you are not using Skype yet, try it and let’s get connected!

Christchurch office – 03 381 6656

Shelley Grell – 021 747 355, Email: shelley(at)communicateit.co.nz, Skype: shelley001

Shannon Thomas – 0278 224 760, Email: shannon(at)communicateit.co.nz, Skype: shan_canuck

Address: PO Box 27-238, Shirley, Christchurch, 8640