June 2022 #1
September 2022 content – noted: newsletters are now being built in MailChimp; yay : )
- A message from Craig – done
- Profile piece – Streamline Solutions / Paul Wright
- News in Brief – extra content
- Last ’tile’> full width repeat of the Our Shared what, how and why – Craig’s request
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A message from Craig
Strengthened by our shared what, how and why, the Streamline Business Group is making no secret of our ambitions for ongoing growth in the year ahead.
When ZOG News first appeared in June, I wrote about the pride I hold in our evolution as a truly Global team, the milestone of our 4th year operating under the Streamline banner and pushing forward to achieve new miletones.
Having been an entrepreneur my entire working life, I believe ambition is universal – and as that relates to our clients, I also believe there is simply no end to the appetite for better ways of doing business.
What all of Streamline’s brands have in common is the injection we provide of the skills, ability and technology solutions that our clients need to get on top of the many financial and compliance processes that stop many businesses from ever getting out of first gear.
Each of the Streamline businesses is built around solving that problem. Streamline Solutions gets granular with custom business processing solutions (read more below), Acume offers simple, powerful financial tools for businesses of all sizes, Admin Army provides bookkeeping and virtual admin support services and Ripple draws on the group’s deep experience in the charities sector to offer a compelling suite of donor management and communication tools.
Working together we are a powerful combination. The success of our strategic direction was reflected in the report I prepared in August for our shareholders, with pointers to positive trends in our overall revenue streams and the laser focus on sales targets across all teams.
I’m excited to let you know that staff who may be interested in becoming shareholders will have this opportunity as early as November. Having adjusted our shareholder agreement and constitution, the plan is to open a share trading window for 5 business days via the Orchestra platform. You can expect to receive more communication on this within the next two months.
Celebrating the achievements of the exceptional people who work within the Streamline Business Group is a continual highlight for me.
The success of Admin Army team member Hasheel Ram, who works out of Suva, in winning the Bookkeeping Employee of the Year Award at the 2022 Institute of Certified New Zealand Bookkeepers (ICNZB) conference in Christchurch in July is a great example. Hasheel was joined as a finalist by other members of the Fiji team – a real credit to the quality of work being performed and individual zones of genius!
Thank you, ka pai, shukriyaa and naka to every member of our Global team for the exceptional work you do.
All the best,
Craig Pellett
Shining a light on Streamline solutions
PHOTO TO COME/ or just use head and shoulders from file
Paul Wright calls himself the guy who started out in the stores area and worked his way up to running what was, at one point, New Zealand’s largest boutique mailhouse.
Before adding CEO of Streamline Solutions to his career CV in September last year, Paul had roles in directly building and leading businesses that included Marketing Data Services Ltd, Mailshop Ltd, KMS Data, Knowledge Management Services Limited and Secret Source Ltd – all in Auckland and recently from his home base on the North Shore.
To play with an old saying, you can’t take Paul out of the North Shore, and you can’t take the North Shore out of Paul – specifically Beach Haven, where he lives a few streets away from where he grew up. As well as operating Streamline Solutions out of offices in downtown Auckland and Penrose, Paul’s home and family life in Beach Haven are also entwined with the successful operation of Streamline Solutions.
Paul: “It may sound unusual but our family home really is a hub of the business – both from the raft of equipment we have there, through to key members of the workforce!”
The home-based workforce includes Paul’s partner in business and life, Deanne. Their three children – Jack (17), Amelia (15) and Ben (12) – are also putting their shoulders to the wheel, as negotiable of course with dad or mum. Paul’s sister Vicky works for Streamline Solutions too, along with PJ who has been a family friend for 15 years and neighbour of Tracey, De and Janelle neighbour when they were growing up.
It’s no surprise that Craig Pellett and Paul have shared intersecting careers in and around Auckland, gravitating to businesses that support companies to improve their financial and business processes through the use of data, technology and outsourcing.
“We first met and worked together 30 years ago. Having known Craig for that long it is very easy to believe in and share the vision he has invested into the Streamline Business Group,” says Paul.
For Paul that vision is about connecting the right people and the right technologies together, sometimes in an altruistic way, to get the desired outcome and, put simply, “to make problems go away”.
For Streamline Solutions he describes it this way: “My objective is to unlock the potential of our customers’ organisations through the application of powerful finance, donor and lottery management, fulfilment, transaction processing and related platforms and the services of skilled remote staff. We do this for businesses ranging from car dealerships to steel manufacturers, and for schools and some of New Zealand’s best-known charities. Our clients reap efficiencies and cost savings that just can’t be achieved with inhouse resources, and as a result they stay with us for the long term”.
“The old ways of doing direct marketing eventually represent a sunset industry. Stuffing things into envelopes isn’t dead, but the challenge for organisations that have any reliance in that area is to extend their thinking and try new approaches. Unlike the bad and the ugly of off-the-shelf third-party applications, we add real substance because we’re about reaching out to real people”.
Paul says business as usual (BAU) is encouragingly busy and says the challenges that Covid has brought around staffing and resourcing for clients has created opportunity for Strealline Solutions.
“In addition we have seen the likes of Coastguard and Heart Foundation increase spend with us. For example Heart Foundation with their Big Heart Cash Lottery, and with Coastguard we are taking on their printing and mailing of lotteries. Kris (last name?) has increased the Fiji team for E-Road, who are very happy with the work being performed, and we are hoping that this may become a permanent arrangement.
“For me becoming part of the Sublime Business Group is about the stars aligning. The elegance of the group is that we can feed into and provide leads across each other’s business and revenue streams. We have the breadth of experience to engage at every level from the consultancy aspect of subject matter expertise through to hands-on support”.
FUN FACT ABOUT PAUL: “I do know how to juggle (other than family and work!). I learnt watching an old kids’ program called What Now, and taught myself using stones on the side of the road one day waiting for a lift”.
Marching ahead with Admin Army
As featured in ZOG News #1 [link?], Irene Bennetts and Admin Army are marching ahead! Last month Irene’s standing in the bookkeeping profession took another step up when she became president of the Institute of Certified New Zealand Bookkeepers (ICNZB) She has also become a Chartered Member of the Institute of Directors, further adding to her credentials.
In recent months Irene has visited the Admin Army team in India in June and spent a couple of weeks in the UK on a top secret reconnaissance mission – more on this in coming months! July saw members of the Admin Army team attend Bookkeepcon22 in Christchurch, both in person and with the Fiji bookkeeping team attending virtually.
Admin Army’s Accounting Practice Support offering made a publicity splash at the start of August, taking over the back page of the Chartered Accountants Australian & New Zealand’s (CAANZ) Acuity magazine. The Meet the Team video series is continuing, and most recently featured Admin Army’s Payroll Manager, Bonnie Reece.
News in brief
- Acume started September with an exciting new client, having signed on CTI Logistics who are based in Perth, Australia. Acume will be providing AP automation services for CTI Logistics’ 24 companies as well as processing PDF and eInvoices received from their suppliers on the Acume solution. This is a big win for Acume, and only the first as there are many more in the pipeline.
- The Ripple website is nearing ‘go live’ – check it out here: https://ripple4charities.com/
- Admin Army are in the running for another win for leadership when the NZ Virtual Assistant Awards are presented in Hamilton on 24 September. Please send your best wishes for that event to Admin Army CEO Irene Bennetts at irene@adminarmy.com
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