RISKS and potential losses from cyber attacks are woefully underestimated by Australian organisations of all sizes, according to Whitbread Insurance Brokers CEO Stephen Jones.

“I am continually baffled by figures published in cyber security reports, that scarcely 2 percent of large organisations hold specialised cyber insurance,” Mr Jones said. 

“More alarming, is that this figure diminishes close to zero for small businesses,” he said, basing his views on the latest research by the British Government in 2015.

Just as alarming, closer to home, has been the recent analysis from the Australian Cyber Security Centre into the growth of cyber threats.

“The Australian Cyber Security Centre released its first public report this year exposing just how rampant and dangerous cyber crime is for Australian businesses,” Mr Jones said. “It revealed a 20 percent increase in cyber crime over the last 12 months, ranking Australia as ‘one of the most hacked countries worldwide’.”

When costs of these attacks are analysed, the need for urgent action becomes apparent, he said.

Mr Jones said with the global average cost of a cyber attack reaching $6 million, outstripping the annual revenues of most SMEs – according to Juniper Research – it put the real risks into perspective.

“If your business is connected online, cyber insurance must form a central part of your crisis management plan,” Mr Jones said.

“Regardless of how ‘impenetrable’ your company IT systems appear, I am yet to meet a business that can 100 percent guarantee their data is protected.  A data breach will not only affect your business, it can have a serious impact on your clients and customers.

“Misplaced iPads or iPhones, stolen credit card numbers, financial reports, medical records, and the loss of sensitive personal data can leave you unable to operate and held liable – at both a company and individual level – potentially exposing your bottom line to significant damage and a tarnished reputation.”

Mr Jones said there were benefits to businesses taking on cyber insurance that were often overlooked.

He said apart from the obvious financial compensation to recoup costs incurred from a security breach – including regulatory fines of up to $1.7 million – there was also cover for legal representation and costs that incorporate forensic and legal counsel.

Furthermore, cyber insurance provided for “compensation for clients or customers who suffer financially or emotionally as a result of stolen data”.

Mr Jones said there was also cover for “professional consultants to assist in repairing damage to your brand reputation”.

“Unfortunately, cyber threats will continue to escalate as cyber criminals develop increasingly sophisticated techniques, and businesses become progressively dependent on linked services and devices,” Mr Jones said.

“It is expected that the average cost of a data breach will exceed $150 million by 2020 as businesses increase connectivity, exposing themselves to data breaches and hacks (Juniper Research, 2015).

“You may not be able to control the actions of cyber criminals, but you can take control by insuring your organisation against the risk,” Mr Jones said.

Whitbread is a Victorian Leaders Industry Expert partner.

www.whitbread.com.au

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FROM DRIVING through the soft sands of Australia’s beautiful beaches, climbing the many rugged mountain ranges, to dominating the nation’s muddy farmyards, Magic Mobility has enabled its clients to experience the freedom and adventure that comes with a go-anywhere wheelchair since 1994.

In the process, the company is re-defining wheelchair mobility for new generations and improving lives. 

Magic Mobility’s story started in 1987 when Ashley Daff, fresh from studying prosthetics at university, secured an assembly role at Sibbing Mobility in suburban Melbourne.

Within six months of his arrival, Mr Daff was the go-to man for all of Sibbing’s highly-customised wheelchair solutions.

Over the years, Mr Daff developed strong relationships within the disabled community and was known for his deep understanding of the human body and his exceptional level of mechanical nous. When the future of Sibbing was looking doubtful, Mr Daff took the leap of faith and founded Magic Mobility.

From its inception, Magic Mobility soon made a name for itself developing customised wheelchairs empowering end-users and enabling them to go places where standard wheelchairs could not take them.

The customisation is an essential offering that enables people to live the way they choose. Magic was determined to push the boundaries of what power chairs could achieve by being resolutely driven by the unmet needs of their users

From its origins of designing and building manual wheelchairs, Magic soon moved in to powered chairs. Noticing the unfulfilled need for outdoor experiences, Mr Daff starting developing highly mobile wheelchair bases that were capable of climbing gutters and taking on rough and unpredictable terrain.

A series of successful wheelchair designs culminated in the development of the Extreme 4x4.

The Extreme 4x4 was a pioneering world leader in outdoor mobility, shattering any preconceptions that people with disabilities couldn’t enjoy the most rugged of terrain.

With a powerful motor driving each of the four wheels, the Extreme could take users to places that had never seemed possible before. The world took notice and wheelchair users from around the globe started demanding a Magic Mobility powered wheelchair.

Magic began exporting their boundary-pushing wheelchairs to all corners of the globe including the US, UK, Europe, the Middle East and South East Asia.

Complementing their Extreme wheelchair, Magic Mobility had developed a world-class range of wheelchair solutions designed to provide highest level of independence for their diverse customer base.

These wheelchairs have become class leaders in providing solutions ranging from driving in the tightest of spaces, being collapsible to fit in the back of a station wagon, or to providing users who can only move their head the ability to drive a wheelchair and achieve a level of independence unheard of previously.

As Magic Mobility reached its second decade of operations, and steady growth, it became clear that the opportunities to innovate and grow were greater than ever.

“After 20 successful years of somewhat organic growth, Magic engaged external design thinking consultants to help us identify what makes our business unique and successful,” Mr Daff said. “We developed a plan for growth into the future.”

Magic Mobility’s management and staff embarked on a journey of discovery and a realisation about where the company could go.

“After a lot of well-targeted questions from the consultants, we brought to life what Magic Mobility does with our cause: Enabling wheelchair users and their families to experience a world that is not flat,” Mr Daff said.

“We endeavoured to distil our principles down to a distinct set of values: Empathic, Maverick, and Driven to go further.

“Magic Mobility’s cause and values have become an invaluable tool in decision-making throughout the business,” he said of how planning is conducted today.

“Previously, decisions were made based on the experience and intuition of the individual. We now have a strong set of principles for all departments to refer to for regular day-to-day decisions and long-term strategic outcomes.”

The potential of Magic Mobility was reinforced after a recent study mission to Denmark to visit world leading design businesses.

“The standout lesson was that each business had a clear, motivating purpose and vision along with a distinct set of values which help define their journey,” Mr Daff said.

“Ensuring all employees act with this philosophy in mind is a challenge; but having an inspirational purpose and set of values has given us a clear framework for future business growth.”

To drive this potential even further, Magic, Mobility has joined Victorian Leaders this year as an Executive Member.

www.magicmobility.com.au

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SOME interesting perspectives on how business leaders currently view their environments have come out of an ongoing Victorian Leaders survey.

In response to the question, ‘where do you most often associate the presence of a coach’ most responded “sport”, but almost 25 percent equated coaching with business. None mentioned the term in relation to personal, relationship, health or spiritual coaching. 

On the question of people at their companies being engaged, most business leaders felt there was a mix of motivated people and some less so, but there was also a sense of some staff  “driving the energy down”.

However not far behind that mark, at about 35 percent less, was the response “I sense they are mostly highly engaged and motivated”. About 15 percent of business leaders felt some staff were motivated but most were just doing enough to get through the day. 

There was an interesting mix of responses on what elements affecting business had the biggest impact on commercial return on investment. Strongest factor was said to be a clearly-defined culture, values and behaviours, while no-one voted for ‘a world-class CRM and marketing plan’.

Next most popular was a clearly defined purpose for the organisation and also polling strongly was ‘clearly defined roles and responsibilities’. 

The theme of engaging and motivating people came up strongest again in response to the question ‘business would be easy if only …’.

Top of mind was getting people “on board and doing what needs to get done”. Next was again a focus on making people clear on the reason the business exists and what it is striving for. A final small vote went to making people “clear on the strategies and plans for the next 12-18 months”.

www.vicleaders.com.au

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AUSTRALIA’s business innovators have been “very interested” in the suggestions and comments from Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and government ministers, according to research by RSM Bird Cameron.

RSM Bird Cameron director Stephen Carroll said the latest discussion regarding an innovation strategy for Australia and the development of crowd funding are more indicators that the government understands the needs of the innovation community and the gaps that should be filled.

“The only concern is that the government ensures its innovation support is broad-based and does not try and pick winning industries,” Mr Carroll said. “Many of the comments are based on the technology industry but all industries and technologies should be embraced and supported with a comprehensive innovation strategy.”  

Mr Carroll said developing a suite of government programs and support mechanisms around the very successful research and development (R&D) tax incentive is what the innovation community has been seeking for many years.

For Australia to get maximum economic benefits from innovation opportunities, support is required from start-up all the way through to commercialisation.

“At the start-up end, the comments regarding crowd funding and angel investor capital gains relief are very good,” Mr Carroll said. “By providing the market with some small benefits and the mechanics to allow them to invest capital, the government is facilitating business to make commercial decisions to help support projects that they believe are most viable.

“This should assist with the collaboration needed between business and universities to help with spin offs and better commercialisation returns.  What would also assist this would be a slight increase in the R&D tax incentive when companies engage with universities for R&D.”

During the innovation developments stages of a project R&D tax and grant programs have worked well and are in the most part applied successfully. However, there has been no significant analysis, particularly of the R&D tax program, for many years.

Stephen Carroll said, “There is often an argument about the cost to Australia of R&D tax, with little or no economic analysis. For instance, R&D tax in a private business is fundamentally not a cost to Treasury as the tax benefit results in a reduction to its franking account. It is therefore a cost to the shareholders.

“RSM Bird Cameron strongly encourages the government to truly assess and share the results of the cost and benefit of the R&D tax incentive and ensure that future Australian federal budgets appropriately account for it.”

EDUCATE INNOVATION

Education and skills development is recognised as critical for successful innovation, Mr Carroll said.

He said a broad range of government and private based programs were available across Australia and these were helping build knowledge and networks required for long term innovation success.

“An Australian innovation strategy that pulls these together in some way to help sharing and collaboration, and potentially funding the more successful versions, would be very beneficial,” Mr Carroll said.

“At the commercialisation end of the process, the Australian taxation system must be fully assessed with an international consideration to determine what commercial tax levers the government needs to change or develop.

“The patent box program is one of these that other countries are now adopting and Australia should ensure that it is being assessed during a tax review process.”

RSM Bird Cameron Melbourne is an Industry Expert member of Victorian Leaders, the organisation helping to foster the next generation of leading Victorian companies.

www.rsmi.com.au

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