> > > > -------------------------------
> WOLF SCHUMACHER
> Director
> RewardSuper Pty Ltd
> Lvl 2, 333 George St, Sydney 2000, AU
> Lvl 12, 383 Kent St, Sydney 2000, AU
> Mob +61 (0)400 837 458
> Ph +61 (0)2 9290 2575
> Fax +61 (0)2 8211 5278
> Wolf@rewardsuper.com.au
> http://www.rewardsuper.com.au
> http://blog.rewardsuper.com.au
> Skype wolf_maria

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(Author: Don Nixon)

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While the dark clouds of doom gather over the desktop accounting world, Xero has positioned itself as the solution of choice for the savvy accountant looking to provide real time assistance to the small business owner. Certainly, this is proving to be a perfect storm for Xero as MYOB reels on the ropes and the great names of the accounting world like Rob Nixon blog & tweet the benefits of cloud accounting.

Over four weeks, the Xero road show has rolled around the country like a Juggernaut with a cast of stars such as ‘Shiny Shoes’, Wayne Schmidt and ‘Cool Dude’, Chris Ridd, wooing the crowds with a mix of charismatic performances, fine food and insights into how a single online ledger shared by the client and their accountant makes perfect sense.

From city to city, accountants and bookkeepers showed up in their droves, not as cold prospects but as ‘born again’ cloud converts ready to spread the new doctrine amongst their compatriots and clients.

Xero is now at the tipping point where it could potentially own the small business online accounting space and they have time on their side with a growing stable of partners (including RewardSuper) offering complimentary services via the Xero API. Certainly the ecosystem is the name of the game and the legacy players in the Australian small business and intermediary accounting space will have a mighty task catching Xero now.

See the pictures, 400+ accountants & bookkeepers at the Melbourne Xero road show -

Authored by Andrew Noble, Founder of LodgeIT & Xero Tax Lodgement Partner

Want to lodge tax forms prefilled with your Xero data ? – Sign up & try our Beta system - http://www.lodgeit.net.au

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Google is a huge online data repository. Everything Google users do (search and browsing) is being recorded, kept for eternity and used for advertisement and research.

Recently Google upgraded their privacy policy and among other things now allow users to delete their complete web history. In order to utilise this facility, just sign in to your Google account and select "Clear your Google Web History".

TIP: If you don't want your browsing monitored and recorded, deploy the Google Chrome browser and operate it in incognito mode. A similar feature exists with the Diigo browser on the iPad. 

Posted by Wolf Schumacher

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Recently we came across a blog by Riitta Raesmaa, an exceptional Finish startup entrepreneur. One of her excellent blog entries was all about good listening and its important role for business life. We all know from our daily experiences, how important it is not to talk all the time, but to listen to what others have to say. We may learn a thing or two :-) 

Riita introduced Julian Treasure to us. Julian's surname perfectly describes what he represents for the world of sound  -  Julian is an expert for sound and listening. Watch and listen to what he has to say about ways to better listening. 

Enjoy!

TED_Julian_Treasure_-_Listening.flv Watch on Posterous

Posted by Wolf Schumacher

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Kathryn Schulz is a prolific author, journalist and a very entertaining public speaker. Her current favorite themes are Wrongness and Regret. As a "Wrongologist" Kathy reminds us that we should not try to be faultless all the time, but embrace being wrong as a way to gain insight into better ways how to lead our working and private lives. She's even written a book about "Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error"

Just right at the beginning of the silly season, watch this insightful TED video with Kathryn Schulz, in which a "Chinese character" plays a funny role. 

Many thanks Kathryn for allowing us to share your great TED speech with the readers of our Blog!

Enjoy! 

Posted by Wolf Schumacher 

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Recently, Computerworld Australia, the face of Australian IT, published a range of videos regarding the "Australian Cloud", presented by prominent Australian IT identities.

In this blog  post we present two selected videos, which we believe are worthwhile to be watched by business people interested in "Software as a Service" (SaaS) and the future of Cloud computing in Australia. Enjoy!

First video: Provides an overview of  SaaS, the application side of Cloud computing, and its importance for Australian businesses. 

SAAS_Evolution_Endpoint_-_Inside_ICT_THE_AUSTRALIAN_CLOUD_-_Computerworld.flv Watch on Posterous

Second video: Challenges and outlook Cloud computing is facing in Australia.

The_Australian_Cloud_Challenges_and_Forecasts_-_Inside_ICT_THE_AUSTRALIAN_CLOUD_-_Computerworld.flv Watch on Posterous

Disclaimer: RSDataWeb is a SaaS application for Australian accounting and advice businesses, developed and hosted in Australia.

Posted by Wolf Schumacher

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We have been InterSystems partners for a number of years and tremendously enjoy the reliability, powerful features and excellent support of its software products for developers, most notably the Caché object data base and developing environment, as well as Ensemble, its powerful integration platform. 

With this post we make the readers of our blog aware of the unique capabilities Ensemble holds for integrating disparate systems. While Ensemble is known for being heavily deployed in the medical space, we use it successfully for building composite applications in the Cloud for other industries, such as Financial Services and Accounting.

Enjoy both videos:

First video: Paul Grabscheidt from InterSystems Corp explains why Ensemble is the better Integration platform for composite applications: 

Second video: Joe de Santis from InterSystems Corp demonstrates key features of Ensemble for building composite applications: 

InterSystems_Ensemble_Demonstration.flv Watch on Posterous

Posted by Wolf Schumacher

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The Australian Financial Review published a very interesting article in their print edition today. Among other industry pundits, this leading Australian business daily interviewed Wolf Schumacher, the Director of RewardSuper. 

Read what Wolf and other experts had to say about Cloud Computing as used by the Australian Financial Planning profession:

• Cloud computing leads to a whole pile of servers in offices becoming redundant.
• The industry wants an online service that will allow planners to outsource administration tasks such as data entry,
• Security issues are of concern to some firms.
• Planners want better integration of professional software with investment platforms.

FinReview_article_Planners_look_to_lower_costs_-_lift_efficiency_8_Nov_2011a.pdf Download this file

Posted by Wolf Schumacher

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Posted by Wolf Schumacher

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The Business Information Systems  (BIS) Division of the renowned Business School at the University of Sydney looked at the increasingly important role technology plays for innovation of our organisations and society.

Its research revealed that technology indeed fundamentally changes our world!

Consequently the BIS department produced this insightful video with prominent and influential contributors from Australian industry, government and academia. 

Enjoy!

BIS_Videos_-_The_University_of_Sydney_Business_School.mp4 Watch on Posterous

Posted by Wolf Schumacher

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Today was the first day of share trading at Chi-X Australia, the new competitor to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), competing from inside Australia.

In this video, the interviewer asks Peter Fowler, Chief Executive of Chi-X Australia, which is owned by the Japanese Nomura Corp., some very interesting questions, eg about data feed availabilities and the relevance of the new exchange for the Australian economy. His answers leave room for speculation, but the idea of some competition in this traditionally monopolistic market appears refreshing.

RSDataWeb will make Chi-X trading data available for our clients at the same speed as the stockbrokers flock to the new stock exchange; currently there appear to be 22 stock brokers actively trading on Chi-X Australia.

Enjoy the video!

FSiTV_-_Soft_launch_for_ASX_competitor.flv Watch on Posterous

Posted by Wolf Schumacher

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Creative Innovation 2011 will be hosting numerous celebrities from the International Innovation and Creativity space, including thinkers such as Raymond Kurzweil, Dr Edward de Bono and Aussie innovation leaders such as Deloitte Digital's Peter Williams.

The author of this short post, Wolf Schumacher, remembers fondly a 'Lateral Thinking' training course with Dr de Bono, which he attended in the early nineties on a beautiful private island, owned by Dr de Bono, near Venice, Italy. Edward is a very humble man and an excellent Innovation & Creativity thinker, who has influenced generations of creative innovators.

The video below from CI 2010 is the closest to experiencing Edward de Bono yourself. 

Meet Edward de Bono and the fantastic line-up of world-renowned thinkers and practitioners at the CI 2011 in Melbourne from 16 to 18 November:

Dr Edward de Bono, global authority on creative and conceptual thinking presentation at CI2010 from CreativeUniverse on Vimeo.

Posted by Wolf Schumacher

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Steve Jobs' recent passing shocked many if not most people in the technology and business world.

The power of the Internet makes it possible for Steve to live on through his unique and memorable presentation style and for the rest of us to learn from Steve and improve on our own presentation styles.

Enjoy the video!

Posted by Wolf Schumacher

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Mary Meeker is a world renowned Senior Analyst of the development of the Internet. Having been with Morgan Stanley Investment Bank in former years, she is now a Partner with high profile venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in the Silicon Valley. 

Famous for her firehose style presentations, Mary again didn't disappoint this year and presented the 2011 Internet Trends at the recent 2011 Web 2.0 Summit conference in a similar fashion. 

Fnd the video with Mary's presentation as well as all her Powerpoint slides below. Don't miss the subsequent interview with "The Queen of the Internet" on the video!

Enjoy!

KPCB_-_Mary_Meeker_-_2011_Internet_trends.pdf Download this file

Posted by Wolf Schumacher

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Herbert Hainer is the CEO and President of renowned worldwide operating Adidas Corporation, which is headquartered in rural Bavaria, Germany.

Herbert recently granted the 'Meet The Boss' TV program an insightful interview about his (and his company's) successful leadership style and strong focus on innovation. 

Enjoy!

Adidas_CEO_President_-_Herbert_Hainer_-_MeetTheBoss.flv Watch on Posterous

Note how the interviewer pronounces 'Herzogenaurach', the name of the Bavarian town Adidas Group is located in; almost incomprehensible. Also note the excellent command of the English language by Herbert Hainer and his strong German accent. 

Posted by Wolf Schumacher

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Recently Om Malik, noted technology writer and entrepreneur, published a remarkble video by Matt Spangler.

Matt, a digital entrepreneur and strategist, had assembled four New York City based web experts to let them talk about what they expect from the web site of the future.

Some of their key points to expect and to work toward are:

• Ubiquitious casual computing
• Data integration and data "addiction"
• More automation
• Real time information

Apparently in the future it is not so much about how pretty a web site is, but rather when, what and where it delivers. Looks like at RewardSuper we are on track with RSDataWeb. Lots to learn and implement on the way forward to the K.A. realtime application.

Enjoy the video!

Posted by Wolf Schumacher

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Today the leading Financial Standard publishing house released an article written by Wolf Schumacher, Director of RewardSuper, for the Journal of Financial Planning.

Wolf's article introduces its readers into cloud computing as applied to SMSF administration. It concludes with three case studies of RewardSuper client firms, that actively use RSDataWeb, its web based data automation & integration platform for the administration of Self managed superfunds and other transaction rich client structures.

Enjoy reading the article and please let us know what you think!

Australian_Accounting_Firms_move_into_the_cloud_to_administer_SMSF-_Oct_2011.pdf Download this file

Posted by Wolf Schumacher

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The World Economic Forum is the  well established independent watchdog for major developments in global economies, businesses, technology and humanity. Every year global leaders convene to review global developments and agree on action plans to make the world a better place.

Watch this video by the World Economic Forum on the impact Cloud computing has on our economies and the barriers, which may hinder its global success. 

Enjoy!

Posted by Wolf Schumacher

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