As business owners we are constantly thinking about how to increase productivity, reduce costs and increase profit margins.

This can be done by encouraging ongoing professional development for staff, and including staff in business innovations.

Staff who feel included, feel ownership of the directions a business is taking and are far more likely to contribute quality innovation ideas and carry them through.

The Far North Coast is bursting with incredibly innovative businesses, even if the large percentage of our businesses are small businesses.

We have active chambers of commerce and many support mechanisms.
We also have access to many forms of training options for professional development both for business owners and staff on all levels.
With the advances in technology we are often able to compete with city business in ways that were impossible only a handful of years ago.

Keeping up with technology and the potential business increases it may offer is a challenge that we all face.
Smart financial planning and monitoring is more effective with the aid of technology as is marketing and strategic planning.
All these activities however require the use of different technology tools and different skill sets, and you can’t expect one person to possess them all.
I love seeing a business invest time in round table staff planning and finding the strengths each staff member brings to the business and maximising on those strengths with professional development targeted to each strength or potential strength.
Many of us don’t like to recognise where our weaknesses are, particularly if we are the business owner.

Smart business however means exploring how a team can cover all the strengths the business needs and working together.

Versatility is a business strength, and continuing staff education and development is one of the smartest business strategies you can put in place, for example how versatile is the use of mobile technology in your business?

Assessment by observation can be an important aspect for many areas of study. The ability to demonstrate to someone that you can perform tasks competently combines well with other typical kinds of assessment.

However, in a classroom it may mean having to set up equipment or scenarios, and in the workplace can mean disruption or difficulty lining up for an assessor to be there at the time of a particular task and may cause disruptions to the workplace.

This is where the POV (Point of View) technology comes in with a marvellous opportunity to collect observable evidence.
Having a pair of glasses with an inbuilt video camera, allows you to record everything from exactly your ‘point of view’.

This technology is taking off in the Vocational Education sector and being used in areas such as hairdressing, mechanics, IT, warehousing, Veterinary nursing and many more.

The technology is easy to use; the footage can be viewed immediately on any computer or mini DVD player and sent to an assessor anywhere.
As it records sound, a narration can be recorded along with the tasks being performed to give further explanation to the assessor.
Learners can even record several instances of a task being performed, and all without disrupting the workplace, and without the assessor having to be there in person.
In the mechanical area tiny video cameras can be mounted under the hood of the car to record the actions of the learner as they carry out a repair or diagnosis.
The implications of use of this technology for assessment are exciting, as demonstrating competence in a real work situation provides valid evidence that can be signed off by a workplace supervisor.