What are the specific changes in Aged Care that we’ll see this year?

2015 was a big year for aged care with the reforms continuing, the introduction of consumer direct care and the overhaul of ‘My Aged Care’.

We’ve seen funding changes, a new Minister, a move back to health, and new programs such as severe response behaviour teams, what’s on the cards for 2016?

Patrick Reid, National CEO of LASA says this year we can expect more challenges, “For us looking outwards for the year will be the Federal election. The real challenge will be around making sure that funding is recommitted in the industry. We’re going to see the baby boomers turn 70 for the first time and of course they will impact the calculations on who is eligible for aged care so it’s a really big change,” Mr Reid said.

“Quality is a big pillar for aged care. And I think the boat will continue on what quality will looks like today? The 2015 budget we’ve had full cost recovery of $30.7 million from the providers but with that which people don’t realise is that we actually have an opportunity there for privatisation or accreditation."

“I think we have the opportunity in aged care to really build a framework around what quality looks like but also too what the safeguards are, the standards for innovation and of course try to reduce unnecessary red tape and ensure the compliance continues,” he said.

Department of Social Services shares a vision where by 2022, Australia’s aged care system will be sustainable and affordable, provide rewarding career options and great choice and flexibility for consumers.

“We’re going to see the first legislation for consumer fund holding. The other change we’ll see is the rollout of the severe behavioural response team. The concern around that is the ability of these teams to build capacity and capability in aged services. I think the real challenge there will be just how people deal with dementia. How do we respond to severe behaviour but also to dementia entirely and I think that’s a real challenge for the industry throughout 2016 and onwards.”

Aged care community has done the roadmap. With the election on the horizon, the real challenge is to show that there is a pathway to meet demand and expectations of what aged services can provide.

For more information about the government’s vision and plans for Aged Care, please read.

The best part of my job as a Conference Production Manager is to create and manage my own conferences from concept to delivery, identify future conference topics as well as giving me a chance to expand my business card collection. Having a bit of a sweet tooth, you will always find me having lollies on my desk or you will catch me browsing on fashion sites during lunch breaks.

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Strategies for the Future: Planning and engaging with limited resources

We asked some of our speakers to tell us what their strategies are to advance their social media efforts with limited resources. Drawing from their experience and vision for the future, here’s what they told us:

What is one piece of advice you would give for using social media effectively limited resources

The organic post isn’t dead…but it may need a bit of a push. If you have a big campaign, see who you can partner with to help you spread the message.

Louise Tapsell, Engagement Manager, Australian Communications and Media Authority

We have VERY limited SM resources - a dedicated team of 3! I'd say start small and slowly and be very clear about your objectives for social media. There's no point trying to open every social door if you're not going to be able to engage with people in a timeframe that meets their expectations.

Patricia Duffy, General Manager Marketing, Defence Force Recruiting

Use positive reinforcement, education and incentives to cultivate a network of content providers within the organisation. Social media should be the responsibility of every staff member, not just the social media manager.

Michael Shanahan, Digital Communications Advisor, Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources SA

After finishing University with a degree in Business Marketing, I decided to make a big jump across seas for the first time and move from the east coast of America to Sydney, Australia. I landed my first job in a sales position in the event industry and soon thereafter moved into a marketing assistant role – following I had the pleasure of interviewing with Akolade which got me to where I am today.

Akolade is a fun, innovative company that brings together people from different walks of life to implement change. As the Marketing Manager, I have the pleasure of wearing many hats which motivates me to succeed, reach people in an array of avenues, grow our events to their full potential, and raise our story. As for me, I am a kind dedicated woman who loves to work hard, exercise, cook, be social and have some fun.

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One in Five Australian businesses affected by fraud, daily.

Fraud is becoming increasingly common in Australia and seems to be rising each year. According to new research, nearly one in every five Australian businesses are victims of fraud each day and large businesses are now taking prevention methods more seriously.

Let’s have a quick snapshot of some statistics surrounding fraud in Australia.

In the Australian Securities and Investment Commission’s six-monthly enforcement report, in the six months to June 2014, ASIC took enforcement action against 48 cases of white collar crime related to financial services, however the amount of white collar crime committed in financial services almost doubled in the second half of 2014, where ASIC took an action against 89 cases of white collar fraud.

In EY’s first Asia-Pacific Fraud Survey, 48% of executives polled stated that their anti-bribery & anti-corruption policies were good in principle, but when put to practice, results were not as successful as they would have liked.

While progress is being made, shown by approximately 40% of respondents saying they have an anti-bribery policy or code of conduct, however this still lags behind global averages which sat at 81% of corporations with policies in place, along with Europe, Middle East, India and Africa counterparts at 57% as surveyed by EY.

In recent years, 81% of the respondents said they would be prepared to utilise a whistle blowing scheme and 60% of Australian respondents stated they’d be willing to expose misconduct. This is a big upward swing from the current total of only 32% of companies that have one in place.

Discover strategies on fighting cyber and internal fraud in a technology dependent era at Akolade’s 5^th Annual Australian Fraud Summit 2016 on 24^th and 25^th of May in Sydney. 

Being brought up in a typical Chinese family in Australia, Vivian takes pride as an ABC (Australia-born Chinese) where she happily embraces both the Chinese and Australian cultures.

In high school, Vivian wanted to become a fashion designer, however she has developed a passion for running events after working backstage for multiple live shows. Prior to starting at Akolade, Vivian worked 4 years in the wine industry and she misses the wine tasting sessions and openly drinking on the job. As the Marketing Coordinator, Vivian enjoys using her creativity to design unique and fun campaigns for each event. In her spare time, Vivian loves to spend time with her two adorable cat and dog. 

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Digital disruption and the future of the Australian workplace

Digital disruption seems to be the buzzword of the year. Regardless of how else it is described, the move towards a digital economy and a digital workplace is changing the way teams are formed, operate and function.

It’s rare for a company in today’s economy not to have teams all over the world. Having a team in the Philippines, another in Singapore and various other staff members in other countries reporting to someone in Sydney is not a proposition that is considered strange today. The days of all staff operating in the same office are gone, as businesses attempt to get the most bang for their corporate buck.

Developing a digital workplace is the way of the future. A digital workplace is more than just a funky looking portal, or a collection of state of the art apps. It takes as much commitment as the clunky old open planned office of yesteryear.

Having a team of mobile workers, offshore workers, and locally based staff provide a variety of issues for HR Managers.

American telecommunications company Verizon focused on mobile services for its staff. They created an environment dedicated to content and processes providing their staff with in-depth knowledge on what to expect and what tools to use while they were out of the office. This created a transparency for the staff, giving them access to data and knowledge regardless of whether they were in the office or on the road.

Giving mobile workers higher levels of knowledge transforms the traditional way mobile workers do business. Regardless of whether the employee is one of 300,000 or a delivery driver for a courier company, having direct access to important information empowers the employee. A digital workplace effectively puts the business directly into the hands of the staff, leaving less need for a centralised hierarchy of management.

While digital disruption changes not only the way we use businesses as a consumer, it also how we do business as an organisation, it remains important to remember not to turn your back on all the traditional tools used.

Governance, strategy and measurements may seem to be almost redundant in a digital workplace but they are essential if your organisation is to continue to thrive. IKEA, one of the world’s leading brands, and a leader in digital workplace adoption contribute their success in part to their focus on culture, and insight as well as how the company’s focus on strategy, governance and measurement. A digital workplace depends on the success of the apps and productivity tools a company develops but without effective management and leadership there’s no longevity.

Developing a digital workplace is no longer a “one day, maybe,” proposition. As organisations such as Accenture (whose CEO now considers it to be a virtual organisation), IKEA, Addidas, Adobe, EY, Verizon and Coca-Cola blazes the trail in digital workplace adoption, the impacts of digital disruption on traditional workplace models continues without pause.

The question we need to ask now isn’t “will we invest in a digital workplace,” but “how long before our own digital workplace is ready?”

As the Australian Government talks up innovation as a main priority, corporate Australia needs to realise they stand on the cusp of a disruption to the way they do business larger than they’ve dealt with before. 

Mike Cullen has recently returned to Akolade after a period as the conference producer for one of Australia's leading economic think tanks. Mike began working in the conference industry in 2007 after looking for a career change from the high pressured world of inbound customer service.

Mike has worked for some of the most well-known conference and media companies in the B2B space and in his spare time is working on his first novel in a planned Epic Fantasy trilogy. Mike’s first published work will be the short story Seeds of Eden, in the Sproutlings Anthology scheduled for release in March 2016.

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Moving to the Cloud: The benefits to local government in adopting cloud solutions

"Cloud Computing, the practice of using a network of remote servers hosted on the Internet to store, manage, and process data, rather than a server or a personal computer,"

Local council amalgamations are clearly on the agenda and those who are prepared will be better positioned for the changes that occur. Councils must pool your resources together and integrate business processes while continuing to provide uninterrupted services to the local community.

Premier Mike Baird says local government must reform in order to improve service delivery.

“We need to make them sustainable, we need to make them stronger and we need to give them greater capacity to act strategically and engage a whole level of local government,” Premier Baird said.

Meanwhile Minister for Local Government Paul Toole says the reform will prepare New South Wales to be fit for the future, ““We want to ensure that we have a smarter, modern system of local government here in New South Wales,” he said on ABC News.

As a result, you need to prepare and plan for a strategic approach to cloud integration and take into consideration some of these questions such as; how would an integrated IT system work within amalgamated councils? How will the issues of information management and data security be managed? How would councils consolidate the data and systems?

While the benefits of the cloud are well established, local government have traditionally been slow adopters of the next phase of data storage. An article in The Australian from March 2012 stated the main obstacle to local government moving to the cloud was perceived challenges of making the shift from existing subterranean infrastructure, to having one central point of access for all the council's data.

"We want to ensure that we have a smarter, modern system of local government here in New South Wales"

For local councils, funding availability for large-scale infrastructure changes can be difficult with the expectation council's IT teams need to do more with either the same or less funding. The move to cloud computing is a cost which needs to be viewed with the long-term benefits outweighing the upfront costs.

After a sell out debut in 2015, and much demand, Akolade brings together some of Australia's best Cloud adopters from local government for a 2 day conference in Sydney, this July. Akolade's 2nd Annual Cloud for Local Government event is on sale now. To book your place, or to examine the leading-edge sessions available, please click here.

The best part of my job as a Conference Production Manager is to create and manage my own conferences from concept to delivery, identify future conference topics as well as giving me a chance to expand my business card collection. Having a bit of a sweet tooth, you will always find me having lollies on my desk or you will catch me browsing on fashion sites during lunch breaks.

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How technology is changing the way we learn

Children are exposed to the technological world the day they are born. The iPhones or tablets that take their first photos, the laptops used to upload these photos to the world of social media and all the mobile devices that share these photos around the world, children in today’s society grow up embracing digital technology.

It’s no wonder that the Australian curriculum has introduced the digital technology curriculum in September 2015, which is mandatory from Foundation (previously kindergarten) to year 8 throughout Australia.

The Digital Curriculum has 2 compulsory subjects:

• Design and Technologies: Students critically analyse and respond to design challenges. This program enables students to become creative and responsive designers.
• Digital Technologies: This program provides knowledge and understanding of digital systems. Students will gain practical opportunities to be creative innovators for digital solutions and use design thinking to be innovative developers.

The digital technology curriculum aims to develop students to connect and communicate with their peers from a young age in the technological world. 

Although the digital world is upon us, there are still a large number of Australian students who have limited access to technology. This includes those living in rural or remote Australia, disadvantaged and indigenous students.

As a strategy to close this “digital divide”, the Turnbull government has allocated $6.9 million to improve digital technologies training for teachers.

The Minister for Education and Training, Senator Simon Birmingham, announced that this funding will also provide access to an online course by the University of Adelaide for teachers and some of the most disadvantaged Australians to equip them with skills and confidence to use the new technologies available. This funding will allow the University of Adelaide to help teachers implement digital technologies in their teaching.

“The Turnbull Government is tackling the ‘digital divide’ to ensure that all Australians are exposed to the technologies of tomorrow, no matter where they live, no matter their background or the school they go to,” Minister Simon Birmingham

The government has also been promoting massive open online courses to train and encourage teachers to use the latest technologies and develop fundamental skills and knowledge with regards to the new technology curriculum.

Whilst social media such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram is like a second language for today’s younger generation, however it doesn't indicate that they are competent in using the information and communication technologies.

The government’s funding will prepare and help students embrace these new technologies to prepare them for the future careers. 

Being brought up in a typical Chinese family in Australia, Vivian takes pride as an ABC (Australia-born Chinese) where she happily embraces both the Chinese and Australian cultures. 

In high school, Vivian wanted to become a fashion designer, however she has developed a passion for running events after working backstage for multiple live shows. Prior to starting at Akolade, Vivian worked 4 years in the wine industry and she misses the wine tasting sessions and openly drinking on the job. As the Marketing Coordinator, Vivian enjoys using her creativity to design unique and fun campaigns for each event. In her spare time, Vivian loves to spend time with her two adorable cat and dog. 

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Fostering and creating an ecosystem for innovation

The Not for Profit sector has been the fastest growing industry group in Australia with a rise of 40% in sector turnover in the last six years to over $107 billion.

“Despite these figures the sector has never felt poorer,” says a report by the Community Council for Australia.

With the sector growth wave now receding, government and Not for Profit organisation’s needs and funders expectations have risen. Funding bodies are now either cutting back or changing expectations on their impact and outcomes.

Not for Profits need to recognise that resources are becoming limited so it is essential to harness existing resources and use them as efficiently and effectively as possible.

We could continue to just talk about the social challenges facing communities across Australia and emerging trends disrupting the space, but let’s discuss how to take the necessary steps to revolutionise your organisations to stay sustainable.

Reviewing business models can make all the difference during these uncertain times. As funding strains, specifically revising your funding models to ensure they are continuously being innovative and produce positive returns.

George Liacos, Managing Director of Spark Strategy, says in a ProBono article,

"The key to picking the right funding model is not about the funding model at all. To get it right, leaders need to think beyond the funding model, and unearth the sustainable business model.”

“It’s no big secret that the key to nailing the business model is to nail the value proposition. The tricky bit is that value is not static. What stakeholders value today will most likely change tomorrow.”

George Liacos suggests Not for Profit Leaders do two things:

1. Anticipate the long term future value demanded by their communities; and
2. Generate ideas for adaptive business models to deliver this future value better than anyone else.

Fostering and creating an ecosystem for innovation can help to allow your employees the space to generate and drive new ideas. Driven by leadership, innovative business models will serve as a tool for maximising and measuring social impact.

Integrating a strong business structure and operational strategy, whilst using business innovation strategies, will assist to drive a sustainable social mission.

In the Community Council for Australia report, CCA states clear and useful messages and recommendations what Not for Profit organisations should do:

• Achieving the purpose should be the primary focus of the organisation
• All organisations need to develop appropriate measures and reports about their success
• Put the future of your organisation in your in-tray
• Regularly review the tangible and intangible assets of your organisation
• All NFPs should seek to understand risk and opportunity as it relates to their organisation
• All investment should be informed by a sound business case
• Communicate value and diversify income streams to address funding vulnerability
• Mergers and collaboration may help leverage assets and better achieve purpose, but they are not a quick fix solution. Governance models should be challenged to ensure the best fit for purpose
• Impact investment and social entrepreneurship require time, effort and expertise to make a positive return
• Investing in other NFPs can be an asset leveraging strategy that contributes to mission
• All Boards should have an investment policy and strategy informed by the need to better fulfill the organisational purpose
• All CEOs should recognise their responsibility to leverage whatever assets the organisations has to better fulfill the organisational purpose
• There is a role for intermediaries to assist NFPs in better using their assets
• The sector needs to invest in itself to create the future that it wants

How can innovation drive continuing growth and sustainability?

How can they be adapted to the Australian landscape to enhance funding and investment to enhance impact and value?

Answer these questions and gain further insights from Not for Profit leaders at Akolade’s Innovative Business Models for Not for Profits Conference.

After finishing University with a degree in Business Marketing, I decided to make a big jump across seas for the first time and move from the east coast of America to Sydney, Australia. I landed my first job in a sales position in the event industry and soon thereafter moved into a marketing assistant role – following I had the pleasure of interviewing with Akolade which got me to where I am today.

Akolade is a fun, innovative company that brings together people from different walks of life to implement change. As the Marketing Manager, I have the pleasure of wearing many hats which motivates me to succeed, reach people in an array of avenues, grow our events to their full potential, and raise our story. As for me, I am a kind dedicated woman who loves to work hard, exercise, cook, be social and have some fun.

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Victorian State Liberal Party Director admits to Fraud.

Victorian State Liberal Party Director, Damian Mantach pled guilty to a total of 44 charges relating to false printing of invoices and other fraudulent expenses billed to the Liberal Party of Victoria, as well as other fraudulent charges billed to MP’s offices and paid by State or Federal authorities.

“Initially.. I was under substantial financial stress and I got myself into too much debt,” Mantach is quoted as saying in a police interview. “When I took the money, it was basically to relieve pressure in my personal life.”

The fraudulent practices took the form of inflated invoices, allowing Mantach to collect a “levy.” When initially questioned about the levy by Liberal Party Staffer, Andrew Camenzeli, Mantach told him not to be concerned about, and that he’d take care of it.

Auditors were later to track Mantach’s spending and find he had used the money to buy half a million dollars’ worth of shares, a café for $611,000 as well as an $81,000 car and $45,000 in home loan repayments. To date, only $466,713 has been recovered from Mantach.

Mantach, who was Victorian State Director for the Liberal Party from 2011 until his resignation in March 2015, is due to return to court in May.

Fraudulent behaviour from senior managers is on the rise in corporate Australia, and as the economy continues to weaken and business confidence continues to be weak, business leaders need to watch out not only for criminals on the internet, but for Senior Managers feeling the pinch.

Dr Russell G Smith, Principal Criminologist at the Australian Institute of Criminology delivers an insightful Keynote address at Akolade’s 5^th Annual Australian Fraud Summit 2016 being held at The Menzies Hotel Sydney, May 24^th – 26^th 2016.

Dr Smith will be discussing Fraudsters an the Top: The incidences of fraud among senior management examining the latest strategies to overcome and prevent fraud from your senior management team.

Tickets for Akolade’s 5^th Australian Fraud Summit 2016 are on sale now. To view the programme or for further information, please click here.

Mike Cullen has recently returned to Akolade after a period as the conference producer for one of Australia's leading economic think tanks. Mike began working in the conference industry in 2007 after looking for a career change from the high pressured world of inbound customer service.

Mike has worked for some of the most well-known conference and media companies in the B2B space and in his spare time is working on his first novel in a planned Epic Fantasy trilogy. Mike’s first published work will be the short story Seeds of Eden, in the Sproutlings Anthology scheduled for release in March 2016.

Read more