The New Zealand Tech Alliance is a group of independent technology associations from across New Zealand that work together to ensure a strong voice for technology.
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NZTech Inform – Stay Home, Stay Safe!
Kia ora,
With the current pace of change we are now preparing for the worst. NZTech’s team are working from home and converting to digital member events.
The Tech Alliance runs over 100 member events a year and we are determined to keep providing these opportunities for our members to connect, learn from each other’s experiences and engage with Government support agencies. We are working through our planned content as we reformat the member event calendar to ensure that as we pivot our events to digital we are bringing new and relevant content in these tough times.
Tomorrow, we will be announcing how Techweek2020 will evolve in response to COVID-19. Ideally, we will be able to find a way for Techweek to help keep New Zealand connected and small businesses across New Zealand use technology to get through this challenging time.
Last week, I asked for feedback on the impact of COVID-19 for tech firms. So far I’ve been hearing three different sorts of impact:
- Tech firms providing cloud services and remote working solutions are telling us their workload has skyrocketed. However they can see their customers are under increasing financial pressure, so they are expecting work to taper off over time.
- Tech firms that provide traditional IT services or where they have staff going to customer’s sites have seen a sudden decline of up to 80 percent of business.
- Software firms continue to benefit from license fees but have seen their pipelines disappear overnight. Many were in a growth phase and now have to start letting staff go.
On behalf of the many tech firms that have the Government as a customer, we are trying to raise awareness within Government and with Ministers that they have the ability to support much of the country’s fastest growing sector, without any handouts. Most New Zealand tech firms can continue to resource these projects from home so our lockdown doesn’t have to mean stopping IT projects.
Please take a minute to keep NZTech informed of the impacts on your business as we work closely with the Government to help keep the country safe and the economy ticking over. Tech has a huge role to play, so please stay connected.
Stay at home, stay safe and together we can get through this.
Graeme Muller
CEO
NZTech
Connect
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