Australian Business Culture

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Dairyxox

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Topic # 192018 24-Feb-2016 12:01

Hi All,

My anecdotal experience with a few different Australian based (IT Related) businesses has left much to be desired.

These are experience I've had at work, but any one of us could be/are customers to Australian firms. I wont name any names at this stage, but I'm sure several others in these forums would have had dealings with one or two of these firms in the past.

-One firm is a domain registrar.

-Two others are 'information integration' businesses.

The experience with all of them seems to be similar:

They charge a lot, do very little. Don't respond to inquiries in a timely manner, or don't respond whatsoever. Seem to be almost inept at their core business aspects (make upgrades to their systems, but don't follow through to check that things are still operating properly the next day - was a recent issue). Are apathetic with any issues. Quick to pass the buck. Promise to respond then....don't. Are inflexible in their processes. Don't care that their poor performance may have an impact on our business.

This thread is similar and reminded me to post this wee rant - Why I don't sell to Australia.

It is so frustrating, when at my work we are held to very high standards, where performance is expected to be excellent and continually improving.

Other New Zealand businesses we deal with seem to have a different culture/ethic to their Australian counterparts where they strive to do their best, and when issues arise are understanding, sympathetic, and quick to get things sorted. They are usually able to accommodate requests that don't fit cleanly into their usual work flow with minimal fuss.

What are your experiences like with Australian businesses?

gzt

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Reply # 1498439 24-Feb-2016 12:44

Why are you using these particular suppliers you are having issues with?

These are generic complaints about outsourced and off-shored services.

I doubt these complaints apply to Australia particularly.

Dairyxox

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Reply # 1498452 24-Feb-2016 12:56

gzt: Why are you using these particular suppliers you are having issues with?

These are generic complaints about outsourced and off-shored services.

I doubt these complaints apply to Australia particularly.

Some of these suppliers were 'inherited' from previous business decisions in another age, others are used at the direction of large multi-national customers, who are indeed outsourcing, but require these services to secure the contract. Certainly some will be changed to local suppliers ASAP after these experiences. Some would require significant effort/investment to migrate from, that may not get approval from 'above'.

I'm sure they cant all be like this, but this is my experience.

I'm not sure its entirely an outsourcing/offshore issue, as these firms service their local customers as well. A business cant be expected to do everything in house, and not use suppliers.

One of these firms even implies (from their name) that they are a local NZ business (to be fair they do have staff and offices in the country), but are owned by an Australian business.

freitasm

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Reply # 1498468 24-Feb-2016 13:35

"One firm is a domain registrar"

I'd put a bet that this "M... IT"?

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Dairyxox

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Reply # 1498475 24-Feb-2016 13:41

Correct. I've said too much....

rmt38

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Reply # 1498653 24-Feb-2016 16:50

freitasm:

"One firm is a domain registrar"

I'd put a bet that this "M... IT"?

I tried to get a domain name out of them 10 years ago. It was a tedious process that I had to be guided through by the registrar I was moving to.

xpd

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Reply # 1498713 24-Feb-2016 18:48

God help you when its the other way round though, the Aussies are so fricking impatient and pushy when it comes to them wanting help :) (going by my experiences at IHUG, EDS and my last employer)

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Fred99

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Reply # 1498809 24-Feb-2016 21:23

Australian <insert anything here> "culture" ????

The most cultured Australians I know probably don't have the credentials to meet the current and alarmingly xenophobic definition of "Australian" held by the unwashed masses over there who couldn't tell a barramundi from a catfish.

Geektastic

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Reply # 1498830 24-Feb-2016 21:40

I've not had much dealing with Strailian firms other than a few international firms whose HQ's are there for things like service and warranty work. They were all fine. Ish.

I have to say many NZ businesses fail to respond to communications well either though and I would say 60% of them require a second chasing email to elicit a response on most occasions so I don't think you can pin that one on the Aussies alone.

dickytim

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Reply # 1498922 25-Feb-2016 06:54

I found this as well, in fact before I left my last job I was about to go over and do some logistics/ purchasing consulting for one of our suppliers.

What I am not sure of is this: Are the Australian business' really bad or are NZ business' just so good, or a bit of both?

I find that in NZ when you get to speak to a human usually a friendly attitude towards them gets you everything you need, however in Australia it seems that everything you need has to have a procedure, if there isn't a procedure then it can't be done.

jmh

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Reply # 1498936 25-Feb-2016 07:54

dickytim:

I found this as well, in fact before I left my last job I was about to go over and do some logistics/ purchasing consulting for one of our suppliers.

What I am not sure of is this: Are the Australian business' really bad or are NZ business' just so good, or a bit of both?

I find that in NZ when you get to speak to a human usually a friendly attitude towards them gets you everything you need, however in Australia it seems that everything you need has to have a procedure, if there isn't a procedure then it can't be done.

I often have clients working at NZ co's that have recently been taken over by Australian firms. Goes like this: Oz gets NZ staff over to train their staff on how things are done and then sacks them, at which point they become a client of mine. The big difference seems to be that in NZ staff lower down the pecking order have more responsibility, e.g. customer service staff allowed to give credits. In Australian businesses you tend to have to go up the ladder to get sign off on things like that. Perhaps NZ co's are a flatter structure.

Having said that, for personal things like getting a builder, or even wanting a heat pump fitted it's surprising how many people don't bother responding to emails here. I worked in the UK and they did tend to call back even if it was to tell you they couldn't do it.

doublek69

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Reply # 1498941 25-Feb-2016 08:15

Well, given this about anecdotal observations....

Australia generally has a more regulated and compliance driven culture than NZ. More regulation means more hoops to jump through, but can also be used as a Get Out of Jail Free card or something to hide behind and explain off poor turnaround times. NZ's less regulated environment allows us to be more nimble and responsive. Perhaps we get seen as "Cowboys"? :-)

Australia through it's size will also like to swing it's weight as big brother in any trans-tasman type relationships as well. I remember a conversation with a counterpart in Aus. We both used a type of technology but one particular KPI was measured slightly differently, due to native settings inherent to the two different systems we were using. He rang me up and started the conversation with "So, I need to get an ETA from you on when you will get your measurement over to what we are using". I countered with "Oh, well before I answer that, do you want to tell me when you will get your measurement aligned to what I am doing?". There was silence for around 20 seconds. I was nice to him and told him I was joking.

As one small measure of understanding, the Australians are probably having the same experiences with the USA...

alasta

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Reply # 1500104 26-Feb-2016 19:19

I used to work for the domain name registrar alluded to above between 2004 and 2010. I'm happy to take any questions via PM if it's not too commercially sensitive.