A good start for a new business year at the Two Oceans
Our Beginning of the Year event held in the I & J Predator Arena in the Two Oceans Aquarium on Friday was a fantastic success. Dr Pat Garret, MD of the Two Oceans Aquarium said it was the first time ever that business had come up with the initiative of hosting an event for clients in the Arena ánd giving something back to the Aquarium, ánd that he was going to use our event as benchmark to market the Aquarium to other businesses. We donated to the Frog Exhibit that the Aquarium will host from June this year in recognition of the Year of the Frog: instead of giving gifts to our clients at the end of the year, we invited them to the Aquarium, and donated an amount on behalf of each attendee. This was combined with a speaker of the caliber of Quinton Coetzee, who is world renowned for his delivery of what we can learn from the nature and the San nation and how we can apply those in our personal and business lives.
Offices
On the 1st of February 2008 we moved into our offices in M5 Park. Come in when you’re around! This is where you will find us:
M5 Park, Unit 13, 2nd Floor, Block B, Upper Camp Rd, Cape Town
Re-designed BizPiazza.com™
BizPiazza.com™ is the how to & self-do corner of our company. We mentioned the site in our previous En Route, but we are so proud of the redesign of the site that we simply have to mention it again. Before offering you the link to show you the result, we’d like to give a bit of background on BizPiazza.com™.
We called it piazza as we visualise BizPiazza.com™ as a meeting place where people come and go, maybe in a rush, or take the time to look around, meet and share information. BizPiazza.com™ is about the exchange of information. If you feel (like we do) that there’s an incredible amount of information available through the internet and traditional sources, but that in spite of this it is hard to find out exactly HOW, then you will agree with the BizPiazza.com™ system which provides HowTool™ series that tell you how-to. The tools are built in the VizPro® methodology, providing step by step and easy to follow instructions. So what you’ll find is a map, a process book with clear and to the point instructions, templates and examples. For each topic, the HowTool™ is the easiest way to “do it”
We are keen to facilitate commercial knowledge share on BizPiazza.com™. That’s why we invite those with specific knowledge to contact us to develop a HowTool™ with us to make this knowledge available for exchange at BizPiazza.com™. Please contact Elisabeth at elisabeth@petanque-c.com if you are interested to find out more.
Now let’s take look: click and go to BizPiazza.com.
Project Management – set your goals
I will never forget the interview with a senior manager when I started my career in the IT industry as a programmer in the Assembler language. He was explaining to me what the career path looked like for someone starting off as a programmer and it more or less went like this: programmer, then programmer/analyst, systems analyst, systems designer, project manager. And he took care to explain to me what each role means. I listened with intent and wide-eyed and when he got to explaining a project manager’s job (I honestly cannot remember what he said about it), my ears peaked and I asked him how long it will take for me to get there. I mean, when you are just at the start of your career and have many levels of bosses above you, who doesn’t dream of being the one in charge? His answer was that it clearly will differ from person to person but that it will take at least 10 years. And it took me almost exactly that long before I could write the title Project Manager behind my name! I moved from there into other positions, but eventually returned to being a PM – I love it, not for the initial reason (managing people, being in charge) but for the diversity it brings to my life. I learn every day – about project management, about IT, about business, about people. But the number one reason is that it is simply great to deliver a product or system to a client that you know will make a difference! It is all about the end result and by that I don’t mean the finished product or system, but the product or system that is USED and delivers on the BENEFITS the project promised to deliver on. Make sure you know what the end goal should look like – what should live on when the project is closed out. Make sure that you leave a good legacy behind you!
MJ Fick started her IT career as a Programmer when she joined Sanlam in 1982. She joined BP Southern Africa in 1988 where she filled various positions as Analyst, Systems Designer, Project Manager, Management Information manager and Information Architect. In 1998 she became an independent consultant and Project Manager, working in the Oil and Insurance industries. She has extensive experience of systems development, data warehousing, data migration and ERP system implementation projects. MJ is a director of Pétanque.
Reinhardt Buys ICT law pioneer of South Africa
Reinhardt Buys is the first knowledge owner to share his information and experience at BizPiazza.com™ in the HowTool™ ICT Compliance. ICT Compliance enables companies to manage risks, govern ICT, and comply with ICT law. It sounds like a complex process that requires a specialist to come in and do the job for you. Who can use this HowTool™ and why is it important to manage ICT in your company? Reinhardt says: “In today’s climate of ever increasing reliability on Technology to facilitate business, identifying and addressing the risks created by Technology is of vital importance. Whether it is a security risk created by the use of new Technologies or a compliance risk created by legislation aimed at said Technologies, leaving them unaddressed can pose a serious threat to you and your business. By making use of a resource like the ICT Compliance HowTool™ one can take a step back and indentify the key risk areas in your business and take active steps to address them.”
Find out more about ICT Compliance at BizPiazza.com™ and download the free ICT Compliance process map here.
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Pétanque’s new board member
We welcome Allan Bransby (MBA) as Non- Executive Director of our company.
Registered Trademark VizPro®
Our process methodology, VizPro® has been
trademarked after submitting the brand 20 months ago!
Marketing & Sales Specialist?
Work with us! We are looking for a Marketing & Sales Executive. Please visit our careers page to find out more about this exciting opportunity.
Building trust into your business relationships
In January we launched the Service Level Agreement HowTool™ at BizPiazza.com™
This HowTool™ will assist in clarifying who should be doing what
when as part of the relationships with service providers. A
complete, professional, and time saving tool for Small Business
Owners, Independent Professionals, Service Providers, and
Consultants.
Check it out at BizPiazza.com™.
Excusez-moi?
An acquaintance shared this story about his return trip from France: “My wife and I had a relaxing holiday in Provence where we spent some time with relatives. On our goodbye we received a boules (pétanque) set and 6 lovely lead crystal glasses as a souvenir of the good time spent together. Re-energized and excited about our return to South Africa we left our suitcases at the check-in. Only a little while later the French gendarmes arrested me and my wife - we did not have a clue what was going on! Only to be explained a little later: our little pétanque souvenir appeared on the x-ray screen as ... grenades!”
The story doesn't say whether they played a game or opened a good bottle of Bordeaux after the suitcase was opened...
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