Michael Mowle - Business Voice

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BUSINESS VOICE

tMICHAEL MOWLE

PRESIDENT PORT MACQUARIE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

Businesses across NSW are now eagerly anticipating the easing of restrictions in early October when the 70% vaccination threshold is achieved. This will be the beginning of the NSW roadmap to a recovery and hopefully a signal that debilitating lockdowns are a thing of the past.

Tourism and hospitality has been affected very badly and the easing of restrictions is now sorely needed to allow this industry to begin its recovery. It is very important that Port Macquarie tourism and hospitality businesses are able to welcome back visitors from metropolitan areas initially followed by interstate guests and ultimately international travellers.

At this point there remains a great deal of uncertainty around the vaccine passport system and how that might be implemented and enforced by hospitality traders still in recovery mode. Many will be reluctant to refuse entry to unvaccinated patrons unless there are clear guidelines in place. It will become diffi cult to manage entry when there may be a variety of individual circumstances to consider.

The NSW Government has led all states in providing a roadmap to recovery but vaccine passports are clearly uncharted territory that delves into individuals rights set against those of the business operator to refuse entry on their terms. It has already been hinted that pilot schemes or trials may well be run to assess and iron out some of the problems. Deputy Premier, John Barilaro has sensibly suggested that these could be conducted in regional areas where the risks are lower and it is likely to be easier to manage numbers.

The extended lockdown in Sydney due to the Delta strain of Covid has clearly demonstrated that this virus is here for some time in one form or another and we need to learn to live with it without constantly closing down our business community. The logical and almost unanimous conclusion by governments now is that vaccination of the majority of the population is the only realistic long term solution.

The original reasons given for the lockdowns in early 2020 were to suppress the virus spread and give health services time to prepare for higher caseloads. Some 18 months on it is now expected that health services have indeed increased their capacity and gained signifi cant experience in dealing with the virus. With a likely vaccination rate of above 80% being achieved well before Christmas this year a complete opening up of the economy should be achieved seamlessly and safely without the need for further lockdowns. Governments also have an ongoing responsibility to continue providing support for businesses who are recovering from being forceably and repeatedly shutdown since March 2020. Many small businesses have suffered immeasurable damage and their recovery is going to be long and arduous. In some circumstances tailored support for small business and affected industry groups may well be needed for some time to come.

Tourism and hospitality has been affected very badly and the easing of restrictions is now sorely needed to allow this industry to begin its recovery.

TECH

KNOW

PORT’S BEST KEPT SECRET

We catch up with Dave O’Hara - Techknow's Expert / Director

Can you tell us a bit about yourself

and the team at Techknow?

I have lived on the Mid North Coast my whole life and wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. Before opening Techknow in 2014 I worked in many different roles around the area. I believe all these roles have better equipped me to service my clients. I specialise in project management but like to consider myself a jack of all trades when it comes to IT & Technology. John Roger – Director, John is more behind the scenes he has a wealth of knowledge working in IT in one of Australia’s largest companies. He ensures we are keeping our processes and procedures up to date in order to maintain quality assurance.

John also concentrates on the strategic direction of Techknow to scale our fast growth. Luke Creighton – Techknow Expert, Luke is an award winning technician and recently competed in a national competition based on IT skills. When it comes to knowledge about IT & Technology Luke is your man. Luke is very honest, friendly and reliable.

What is Techknow?

The business is all about providing honest, fast and highly professional assistance when it comes to your IT & Technology, with an emphasis on customer service.

The Techknow team offer an unmatched level of support, we pride ourselves on explaining things in an easy-to-understand language. We love to build solid relationships with our clients which are built on trust from both sides, this enables us to deliver customised solutions for each client’s individual requirements.

I always say it’s like we become your Technology doctor.

With technology such a huge part of our everyday lives why is it so important to get the right advice and support?

I believe sourcing the right advice and support is very important on many levels.

At Techknow we can provide you with advice on the road best travelled, this can eliminate time consuming mistakes, not to mention the money it will cost making these mistakes.

One major aspect of advice and support is security. We specialise in making your technology journey as secure as possible.

Business support is a major part of your business, can you elaborate on this for us?

At Techknow we understand that for most Businesses their IT & Technology infrastructure is paramount for day-to-day business continuity, to put it simply downtime equals money loss. We understand that IT & Technology in this modern era is very wide and fast-growing platform, therefore Techknow caters to applications, networking devices, desktops, laptops and much more.