Periscope in Sydney for a business luncheon at the Sydney Opera House

Friday 7th May saw Periscope in Sydney for a business luncheon at the Opera House at the invitation of Enterprise Ireland (EI). EI is the overseas trade arm of the Irish government. Periscope has in the past been tasked by EI and Irish companies with producing analyses of various market opportunities in Australia. Much of this work has been strongly underpinned by data produced by Periscope’s Principal Consultant Mr Rick Nieuwendijk.

L-R Mr Paul Burfield, Director Enterprise Ireland with Paul R Ronis, Director Periscope Management Consultants.

Mr Batt O’Keefe Ireland’s Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Innovation was the guest of honour and along with their Director for Australia and New Zealand, Mr Paul Burfield, gave the audience a sombre assessment of recent developments in the European Union.
Countering that they once again reminded those gathered of Ireland’s continuing
reputation as an international powerhouse of innovative software solutions.

The occasion provided the opportunity to highlight those Irish companies on the hunt
for opportunities in the region whether solely or in partnerships. Further reinforcing this
message was the wide variety of Irish companies in the crowd that were already
well established regional players.

Birmingham UK

Not quite 24 hours later, the Periscope crew were on a plane bound for the UK.

Part and parcel of Periscope’s calendar is a trip to the UK to visit one of its corporate clients, United Business Media (UBM). In 2009, UBM’s turnover was £847 million with a sizeable slice coming from event management.

One such event is the Protection and Management Portfolio now in its 38th year
and run annually in May at the Birmingham National Exhibition Centre (NEC). The following
world class exhibitions and conferences were on show;

• IFSEC UK (International Fire & Security Exhibition & Conference)
• Safety & Health Expo
• The Facilities Show

The atmosphere for all three shows was markedly different from last year with exhibitors
and visitors alike now more firmly focussed on strategies other than simple cost cutting.
Australia and New Zealand were ably represented by the following companies;

iOmniscient – where the CEO Dr Rustom Kanga guided the company into the last cut of
yet another Awards Final.

AnalyticsReady - Exhibited in association with iOmniscient and fronted by Kayo Sidhva.

EC Key – Award finalists in 2009 and proudly fronted by Dr Nick Willis and Eddie Johnson.

iOmniscient & AnalyticsReady IFSEC UK

EC Key’s Stand IFSEC UK 2010

Some of the Periscope crew being treated to a massage.

The success of the UBM exhibitions was underscored by the strong rebooking by
exhibitors for next year’s events – 72%. Congratulations are in order for the respective
UBM event management teams as they have quite clearly successfully navigated their way through some very testing times – and no less important – still retaining their client’s goodwill.

Europe

The second part of this May trip involved a trip to Latvia where continuing discussions were held between Periscope and Egils Parups, Design Director of SIA Dizaina Strategija. Egils has just celebrated 30 years in the Industrial/ Graphic Design Industry.

Building off a base of degree qualifications, Egils has worked for major international
agencies in Australia, Asia and Europe.

Egils has produced outstanding work in the areas of logos, product packaging,
corporate communications strategies and sales support material whether for use by the
humble sales representative or as an aid in acquiring multi million dollar bids at the
corporate end of town.

Periscope clients based in Australia & New Zealand and looking to make strategic moves
into international markets (especially those in the northern hemisphere) will find Egils’
expertise invaluable.

Periscope’s Principal Sales & Marketing Consultant, Mr John Hebrard was quoted as
saying that he was looking forward to bringing Parups into the mix, when formulating
customized strategies for individual clients.