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12 The Cairns Post, Friday, February 15, 2013 www.cairns.com.au
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Firms left behind onlineNICK
MOST Far Northern businesses in arecent statewide survey haverevealed they are not ready for thedigital economy.
The Chamber of Commerce andIndustry Queensland surveyed 700businesses, including at Weipa, PortDouglas, Palm Cove, Cairns andGordonvale, and learnt nearly 70 percent generated less than 10 per centof their revenue online and 75 percent did not have smartphone or tab-let versions of their website.
A CCIQ spokesman said there was‘‘an encouraging response’’ from the
region. ‘‘We are confident, given thestrength of the responses across thestate, that the issues identified in thereport will be relevant to businessesin the Far North,’’ he said.
CCIQ CEO Stephen Tait said tech-nology and access to the digital econ-
omy were no longer confined to thetechnology industry, but involvedevery Queensland business.
‘‘With the smart use of appropriatetechnology, businesses can see sig-nificant improvements to pro-ductivity, revenue and resources,’’he said.
‘‘Unfortunately our research hasshown a divide is emerging betweenthe technology industry and thewider business community, and as aresult businesses are missing out onopportunities to grow their business,outmanoeuvre their competitors and
be successful in new and emergingmarkets.’’
Mr Tait said there were three keyfindings:1. Almost 70 per cent of businessesgenerated less than 10 per cent oftheir revenue online, and yet onlineconsumer expenditure continued toincrease.2. 75 per cent of businesses didn’thave a mobile version of their web-site, yet 11 million Australian con-sumers connected to their digitalworld using a mobile device.3. 67 per cent of businesses do
not have a digital marketing plan.‘‘When you combine those three
elements there is clearly a signifi-cant failure to fully realise sales rev-e n u e g e n e r a t e d f r o m o n l i n eactivity,’’ he said.
Mr Tait said the Queensland Digi-tal Readiness Study painted an opti-mistic future for Queensland busi-nesses who grasped and took betteradvantage of digital opportunities inthe short and medium term.
He said the chamber had formedCCIQ Technology, to help businessestap in to the digital economy.
Young leaders: Jessica Mathie, Cavin Wilson, Kate Smith, Alexander Barbaro and Sarah Bourke at the John Monash Scholarship presentation.
Hip-pocket help for a wealth of talentDenise [email protected]
CAIRNS woman Kate Smith waspresented with a scholarship worth$150,000 at Admiralty House Sydneythis week.
She joins an elite band of 83 Aust-ralian men and women who havereceived the John Monash Scholar-ships since their inception in 2003.
The 10 recipients this yearreceived their rewards fromGovernor-General Quentin Bryce.
‘‘The scholarships awarded todayare a celebration of emergingleaders of this land,’’ Ms Bryce saidat the ceremony.
‘‘We see in front of us individualswho represent a wealth of talent.’’
Ms Smith, 26, who flew out ofAustralia to Taiwan yesterday, will
use the three-year scholarship tostudy recycling and the reuse ofwater at Tsinghua, a world-rankeduniversity at Beijing, and willgraduate with a masters inenvironmental engineering.
The former Trinity AnglicanSchool student has a string ofachievements to date, from heryoung leader medal won in 2009 int h e N e w s L i m i t e d P r i d e o f
Australia awards to her studies ofscience and arts at the University ofMelbourne. She has mastered fivelanguages and has done volunteerwork in Australia, China and Chile.For the past year she has beenteaching in China.
Monash Foundation chief DrPeter Binks described Ms Smith asoutstanding and said she wouldbring great credit to Australia.
Touriston Reeftrip diesPOLICE will prepare areport for the coronerafter the death of aChinese tourist who hadbeen snorkeling at theGreat Barrier Reef onTuesday.
The 46-year-old hadbeen on a day trip withQuicksilver to MooreReef, just east of Yar-rabah, when he got intodifficulty and was pulledfrom the water at about4pm.
Association of MarinePark Tourism Operatorsexecutive officer ColMcKenzie said the manwas conscious when hewas rescued.
He said a rescue heli-copter was called, but theman died on route to hos-pital.
The man was travel-ling with his wife whenthe incident happenedand the Chinese embassywas notified.
A second tourist had tobe retrieved from the reefon Tuesday after also get-ting into trouble whilesnorkeling.
The man had been on aday trip with Reef Magicand Mr McKenzie said hewas pulled from thewater by divers who hadbeen nearby studyingcrown of thorn starfish.
He did not need to betaken to hospital.
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