KEY POINTS:
How has the credit crunch changed your world?
At the moment is has had no direct effect on our business [web and software] as far as we can tell as we are very busy and have a good pipeline of international orders. That being said it dominates
our thinking and business planning as we expect the general economy to get the shock waves in 2009.
For our type of business that offers a technology solution that can directly increase global sales for our customers, we feel we might be the one class of business that is the least affected by the crunch (but we wouldn't count on it).
We also see it thinning our competition, some of who are on unsustainable business models and reducing the ability of some of the bigger players to move into our space as they drop R&D [research and development] spend and concentrate on core activities. It should help free up the labour market and lead to staff staying longer, so I think there are some positives to take out of it.
How serious is the current downturn in a historical context?
Very. My family moved to the UK from New Zealand in the late seventies and I left school in 1981 as the UK headed into the pretty bad recession.
My recollection is that it was very hard to get a job or into trade or college training and a very harsh environment for young school leavers and ultimately I ended up joining the army.
A lot of the people I served in the army with ended up being highly skilled and successful business people, which I always thought was good indicator that talented and motivated people couldn't get other jobs at that time.
I think this downturn may be similar in feel at least and we'll know how bad once we start to see if talented young people are not able to find jobs.
What helps you put it in perspective and stay positive?
Fishing. I gave my sons fishing rods for Christmas, so once I'm out on my boat reeling in a few 8lb snapper with the boys I'm sure I'll forget the world's worries for a bit!