Sunday, July 27, 2008

0807271400 Mission to the Trade Commission.

0807271400 Mission to the Trade Commission.

My friend Alvan Ormsby is an interesting chap. He works as a computer programmer for a company called Meridian Systems that writes software for emergency services. Seeing as he is in Hong Kong on holiday, he decided to arrange a meeting with the good people at the Hong Kong office of Trade Queensland to see what was needed to expand into China. I tagged along to show him where the office is located and seeing that I had nothing planned I thought that I might be able to help by taking some notes during the meeting. That seemed to be the extent of my role – show Alvan where to go and then keep quiet. This is his project and his job – just don’t stuff anything up. I have been to meetings with Ericsson and Alcatel where contracts, livelihoods and dollar values using the sort of numbers common to astronomers were at stake, but this was different, these people are my friends, I actually care about them.

The meeting was with Angela To, the Deputy Commissioner for Trade Queensland and Mandy Shing, the Business Development Manager. The office overlooked the Hong Kong harbour and was adorned with pictures of the trade commissioner with famous people from Queensland industries and past, present and I dare say future Premiers of Queensland.

We were not kept waiting long before introductions were over and the Deputy Commissioner went straight to the point. Why were we there, what did we want and how can we show her exactly what it is that we are doing. She mentioned that she had just arrived from Queensland that morning, so she must have left Brisbane at midnight and been on a late night flight. She was in no mood to be stuffed around by a bunch of amateurs. Her time was clearly precious. I was notably quiet during the exchange of business cards and this was explained that mine were not ready yet.

“What is the scope of the product, who are your current clients, what customer references do you have?” asked the Deputy Commissioner, obviously calling on years of business management experience and expecting an answer in a similar caliber.

It was soon apparent to the Deputy Commissioner and the Business Development Manager that Alvan had done some impressive research into the Hong Kong fire service in preparation for the meeting and he was there for advice on what to do next as part of a wider plan to expand into Asia. He explained how the Hong Kong Fire Service compared to the Queensland Fire Service and that Meridain Systems have been working with the Queensland Fire Service for the last ten years or so. The Deputy Commissioner seemed visibly relaxed when she recognized that Alvan was representing a company that has a real and viable possibility to be as big as Mincom. It was not long before Meridian Systems being mentioned favorably in the same sentences as Mincom, Octopus card and IBM.

Alvan clearly demonstrated his knowledge and passion for the product. He was excited and animated when he explained how this version of the emergency services software was a step up from the automated paper of the first generation. This version uses maps instead of addresses and displays the incident information with animated location cards similar to Monopoly title deeds.

It takes more than a fair bit of effort to pique a woman’s interest in computer programming, but that is exactly what Alvan achieved with his lively and enthusiastic explanation.
“Do you have a working demonstration?” asked the Deputy Commissioner showing more than a little interest. Alvan looked at me and I looked at him – no we didn’t. I noted it down that he needs to make a working demonstration and have it ready by the time China and Hong Kong are no longer distracted by the Olympics.
“Do you have a representative in Hong Kong?”, came the next question – well, once again Alvan looked at me and I looked at him as if to say “Sure I’ll help out where I can” we will discuss the details later.

“What is David’s role?” asked the Deputy Commissioner for Trade Queensland.
“I’m a technician” was my modest reply.
“He has been working for Telstra for 15 years” added Alvan.
“Oh that’s good - It is very important that there is local support.” – came more welcome advice from the Business Development Manager while taking note.

They made a few assumptions about my role because they kept adding to my “job description” as the meeting progressed. I had automatically been included in meetings with the Hong Kong Fire Services and IBM in China. The next part was unexpected – they started to offer money. It seems that a Queensland company can apply for a grant to expand into other parts of the world that are not Queensland. This was the part of the meeting when I started to say “we” when I mentioned Meridian Systems.

The meeting ended with Angela To, the Deputy Commissioner for Trade Queensland and Mandy Shing, the Business Development Manager happily offering, volunteering, actually telling us that they are now be the marketing department in Hong Kong for Meridian Systems.

Alvan left the meeting very happy and excited saying that it was more than he had expected. It was more than I had expected. We went to a nearby restaurant for a strawberry milkshake to collect our thoughts and discuss the future.

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