Stories by Brad Howarth

As Australians endured the on-again/off-again lockdowns presented by the Covid-19 pandemic, many put their extra spare time into wealth creation by trading shares, currencies and other financial instruments. In doing so, they provided an unexpected boost for online trading platforms around the world, including the local operations of UK-based financial services company, CMC Markets.

Some retail tech companies hope you’ll take it at face value when they tell you how good their solutions are. Others rely on their clients to do it for them. But Australian-born customer data and experience platform, Lexer, has gone one step further to show how strong its tools are, by building its own retail brand.

The middle of a global pandemic might seem like an odd time to take on managing a tourist-oriented retail and entertainment precinct. But for Karen Hugg, her appointment to the role of general manager of The Wharf, Mooloolaba, has given her an opportunity to see firsthand just how important a local community can be in supporting a local tourist asset.

It is many a marketer’s dream to free up their people from boring, repetitive and low skill tasks. Because despite vendors’ promises of seamless integrations and data flows, manual data handling is an inescapable outcome when implementing new digital tools and processes. It was the pain felt by professionals in other functions however that first led to the emergence of a set of tools referred to as robotic process automation, or RPA.

For someone who claims no natural affinity with scheduling, it’s surprising Brett Chester finds himself in the role of CMO for a fast-growth technology company focused on making rostering easier. But it is through his own career experience Chester says he has developed an understanding of the client base of his company, Australian-born Deputy, and the pain scheduling can bring.

Lengthy lockdowns have left many of us feeling our social communication skills may have atrophied. But social communication has always been a difficult task for some, especially those coming from non-English speaking backgrounds. Now one entrepreneur has found a way to use the digitalisation of human interaction to create an AI-powered tool that’s helping people improve their verbal and non-verbal communication skills.

US-based artificial intelligence startup, Sanas, has been working to unpick the nuances of accents to make communication easier for people from different backgrounds. That could have huge implications for any marketer who wants to improve customer experience through voice channels by helping both customers and staff be better understood.

When Julie Mathers founded ecommerce business, Flora & Fauna, in 2014 after a lengthy career in retail, she did so with the intention of creating a business that was both better and kinder.

For some advertisers, even Facebook and Google have their limits. Such was the case for Australian-born personal hearing device maker, Nuheara, whose narrow target audience was challenging its ability to grow direct-to-consumer business using standard digital channels.

Marketers inherently understand the importance of customer loyalty and engagement and are usually more than willing to invest in technology that will enhance customer interactions. But marketers rarely have full control over big-ticket purchasing. And that means needing to build business cases that stack up in the eyes of their c-level peers.

One of the great benefits of digital media is the speed at which an idea can be brought to market. So when Sportsbet general manager of marketing, Tim Hernadi, heard that a video of Indian cricketer star, Virat Kohli, smacking balls around in the Adelaide nets had gone viral, he knew this was something his team could jump on.

Any business that has been around for more than 100 years must know a thing or two about being sustainable, at least in the traditional sense of the world.

Among the many sectors affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, fundraising has been hit especially hard. But one charitable organisation found a way to keep funds flowing through the depths of the pandemic and beyond, by working with a community that is generally considered hard to reach by marketers – online gamers and streamers.

One of the lasting legacies of 2020 will be the boost it gave to digitalisation projects in Australia, as consumer flocked to the Internet to buy groceries, order food and entertain themselves.

In a world that seems to be inevitably drawn towards digital service delivery, few sectors have shown the same level of resistance as building supplies. Even the market behemoth of the retail side of the hardware industry, Bunnings, only got its ecommerce act together in 2018.