Davanti Consulting appoints John Bessey to role of CEO

John Bessey has been appointed to the role of Chief Executive Officer, effective 1 July 2020. John joined Davanti in June 2019 in the role of Chief Client Officer.

Davanti Founder, Justin Hamilton, says, “We are delighted to appoint John to the role of CEO.

“This is a transition that founders Matt Farrar, Robert Carter and I planned more than three years ago, and we are immensely excited to welcome John to the position.

“John brings a real energy, strategic insight and a mature professionalism to Davanti. His leadership style and passion for our business, alongside his strategic vision for the future and his strong customer focus in all things is very much in keeping with Davanti’s DNA.

“This is a very exciting time for the business. 12 months ago we brought John into the role of Chief Client Officer, with the specific intent to appoint him CEO, and he has patiently learned what makes Davanti special, how the Salesforce world works and has sought to understand why we are successful without jumping to any conclusions.”

Rob Harvey, CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network New Zealand, says, “I’m thrilled to have John stepping up into the CEO position. It’s great to have such strong talent in the business and a clearly mapped succession plan.

“Davanti has been a fantastic addition to our group and I’m really excited about the future of the business under John’s leadership. It’s also a good time to acknowledge the outstanding job that Justin has done as CEO since founding the business with Rob and Matt, and I’m looking forward to continuing to work with him on key strategic and commercial projects.”

John Bessey says, “I’m delighted to be taking on the CEO role at Davanti. We have a great team who all really enjoy doing great work with our clients. At our heart, we’re really obsessed with how we can deliver both the leadership and ways of working required for transformation as well as the real depth in digital capability which enables Australian and New Zealand enterprises to get closer to their customers.”

As CEO, John will be accountable for Davanti’s leadership and performance, working alongside the Davanti executive to enable Davanti’s people to do their best work for their clients.

An accomplished business leader, John has previously held executive roles at Microsoft, Intergen, Empired Group and Gen-i, working in New Zealand, Australia, Singapore and the Philippines. He brings a wealth of experience in supporting customers to build world-class digital capability across a range of technical platforms and has delivered multiple key transformation programmes.

Justin Hamilton’s role within the business will change to play a supporting role to John Bessey as a commercial sounding board, with responsibility for managing the broader Dentsu relationship and continuing to support a number of Davanti’s key customers.

Davanti company co-founders, Matt Farrar and Robert Carter will also continue to play key roles within the business, with Matt focusing on business development and account leadership in Wellington and Robert continue to focus on Davanti’s strategic relationship with Salesforce and its growth in Australia.

[ENDS]

 

About Davanti Consulting

Davanti is a business and technology consultancy with deep expertise in customer engagement, cloud architecture, Salesforce.com and mobility, working with leading New Zealand and Australian commercial enterprises and government organisations.

With a focus on delivering business-led, personalised experiences across every customer touchpoint, Davanti exists for the sole purpose of helping its customers get closer to their customers. To achieve this, Davanti has brought together a group of curious and driven people as a team to bring the breadth of capability that true transformation requires.

Davanti is part of the Dentsu Aegis Network (https://www.dentsuaegisnetwork.com/nz/en), the first global marketing services group built for the digital economy. Davanti’s 130-strong team spans locations in Auckland, Wellington and the East Coast, Australia.

Five V purchases Totara ownership interest, setting the stage for Totara’s expansion into global HR technology market

For Immediate Release

Wellington, New Zealand, June 16, 2020 – Totara today announced that its owners have entered into a purchase agreement with Sydney private equity firm Five V Capital, under which Five V will acquire a majority ownership interest in Totara. The operations and management of Totara will remain unchanged with Richard Wyles continuing as Chief Executive Officer.

Since 2011, Totara has remained focused on helping organizations experience the freedom to innovate and adapt to changing circumstances through its open and flexible HR and Learning & Development software.

Today’s rapidly evolving workplace and the strategic imperative of having engaged and well-trained employees, further accelerated by COVID-19, has prompted corporations and organizations to adapt new working practices. Totara’s products – used by over 1,800 organizations like USDA, Indeed, Pepsi, Red Hat, JetBlue, Yamaha, and more – is well-positioned to meet this growing market.

“I am excited to welcome Five V Capital in Totara’s mission to drive a new era of innovation, workplace performance and productivity,” said Wyles. “Five V’s collaborative and growth-oriented approach will accelerate our efforts to build Totara’s presence in new and existing markets – at a time when the demand for remote workforce technologies is growing exponentially.”

Wyles said: “Totara’s enterprise-ready learning management system (LMS), user-centric learning experience platform (LXP), and comprehensive performance management system – which will be released in October 2020 as the Totara Talent Experience Platform – is a formidable challenger and strategic alternative to often over-priced and inflexible HCM systems. We’re here to shake things up for the better and it’s great to have experienced and aligned partners in Five V.”

“We are excited to be part of Totara’s future and to be partnering with Richard and his team,” said Srdjan Dangubic, Partner at Five V Capital. “Totara is a globally ambitious business with enormous potential. We look forward to supporting Totara’s international expansion plans to disrupt the global HR and talent experience markets,” Wyles said.

Vista Point Advisors, a San Francisco-based boutique investment bank, acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Totara.

About Totara
Totara builds employee engagement, learning, and performance management technologies that enable large multinational corporations, government entities, and mid-market companies to deliver enterprise-level talent and workforce experiences. Totara’s Talent Experience Platform (TXP) unifies an industry-leading learning management system (LMS), a user-centric learning experience platform (LXP), and a comprehensive performance management system under a single and highly adaptable architecture. Totara’s TXP and flexible architecture gives organizations the freedom to innovate, the freedom to choose, and unlocks critical resources for reinvestment into where it really counts. https://www.totaralearning.com/

About Five V
Five V Capital is a growth-focused private equity fund based in Sydney, Australia. Five V has in excess of A$450 million of capital available to partner with leading founders and businesses in Australia and New Zealand. With a focus on B2B and technology-enabled services, Five V’s current portfolio includes Education Perfect, Probe Group, Universal Store, Zenith Investment Partners, RateSetter Australia, Canva and SiteMinder. More information is available at www.fivevcapital.com/

Five V purchases Totara ownership interest, setting the stage for Totara’s expansion into global HR technology market

Wellington, New Zealand, June 16, 2020 – Totara today announced that its owners have entered into a purchase agreement with Sydney private equity firm Five V Capital, under which Five V will acquire a majority ownership interest in Totara. The operations and management of Totara will remain unchanged with Richard Wyles continuing as Chief Executive Officer.

Since 2011, Totara has remained focused on helping organizations experience the freedom to innovate and adapt to changing circumstances through its open and flexible HR and Learning & Development software.

Today’s rapidly evolving workplace and the strategic imperative of having engaged and well-trained employees, further accelerated by COVID-19, has prompted corporations and organizations to adapt new working practices. Totara’s products – used by over 1,800 organizations like USDA, Indeed, Pepsi, Red Hat, JetBlue, Yamaha, and more – is well-positioned to meet this growing market.

“I am excited to welcome Five V Capital in Totara’s mission to drive a new era of innovation, workplace performance and productivity,” said Wyles. “Five V’s collaborative and growth-oriented approach will accelerate our efforts to build Totara’s presence in new and existing markets – at a time when the demand for remote workforce technologies is growing exponentially.”

Wyles said: “Totara’s enterprise-ready learning management system (LMS), user-centric learning experience platform (LXP), and comprehensive performance management system – which will be released in October 2020 as the Totara Talent Experience Platform – is a formidable challenger and strategic alternative to often over-priced and inflexible HCM systems. We’re here to shake things up for the better and it’s great to have experienced and aligned partners in Five V.”

“We are excited to be part of Totara’s future and to be partnering with Richard and his team,” said Srdjan Dangubic, Partner at Five V Capital. “Totara is a globally ambitious business with enormous potential. We look forward to supporting Totara’s international expansion plans to disrupt the global HR and talent experience markets,” Wyles said.

Vista Point Advisors, a San Francisco-based boutique investment bank, acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Totara.

About Totara
Totara builds employee engagement, learning, and performance management technologies that enable large multinational corporations, government entities, and mid-market companies to deliver enterprise-level talent and workforce experiences. Totara’s Talent Experience Platform (TXP) unifies an industry-leading learning management system (LMS), a user-centric learning experience platform (LXP), and a comprehensive performance management system under a single and highly adaptable architecture. Totara’s TXP and flexible architecture gives organizations the freedom to innovate, the freedom to choose, and unlocks critical resources for reinvestment into where it really counts. https://www.totaralearning.com/

About Five V
Five V Capital is a growth-focused private equity fund based in Sydney, Australia. Five V has in excess of A$450 million of capital available to partner with leading founders and businesses in Australia and New Zealand. With a focus on B2B and technology-enabled services, Five V’s current portfolio includes Education Perfect, Probe Group, Universal Store, Zenith Investment Partners, RateSetter Australia, Canva and SiteMinder. More information is available at www.fivevcapital.com/

NewzEngine extends service to cover media in Australia and the Pacific

NewzEngine.com, an online service that enables companies, organisations and individuals to write and distribute press releases, is extending its reach to include media in Australia and the Pacific Region, as well as New Zealand.

NewzEngine CEO Sarah Putt says the ability to distribute releases to media outlets outside New Zealand is an exciting milestone for the company.

“As with the New Zealand service, the media outlets are segmented, to ensure that press releases are distributed to the most appropriate outlet. We actively encourage our clients to think carefully about what region/sector to select to ensure their information goes to the most relevant media.”

In Australia, locations are divided into the five states and two mainland territories, with clients also able to choose media in the business, education, politics and technology sectors. Two areas of the Pacific Region are also covered – Melanesia (Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and West Papua), and Polynesia (Cook Islands, Niue, Samoa, Tokelau, Tonga and Tuvalu).

NewzEngine is also a great way for Australian and Pacific-based newsmakers to reach New Zealand media.

The purpose of NewzEngine is to provide companies, organisations, and individuals with the ability to send professional communications about their activities, products and services in a way that is easy, effective and cost-efficient.

Cin7, a technology company that is a pioneer in cloud-based inventory management software (IMS) and point of sale (POS) solutions, is a regular user of the NewzEngine service.

“We have found NewzEngine to be extremely helpful in getting our message out to relevant media and, by extension, the wider market. From major investment announcements to new senior appointments in our business, it’s proving to be a very useful service,” says Cin7 CEO David Leach.

Press releases are created through NewzEngine’s platform, then quality-checked by an experienced editor before being distributed to a network of journalists and editors. In addition, press releases are sent to global newswires via the MIL-OSI network (a New Zealand-based open source intelligence company), which include Dow Jones Factiva, LexisNexis, Contify, Thomson Reuters, Newscycle, NewsBank USA, Comtex News Network, Emes, and Gale.

Organisations can subscribe to NewzEngine.com as a monthly or annual service or send a one-off press release. For more details, visit NewzEngine.com.

Newsletter: Press release vs blog post

NewzEngine.com – Anyone can write, but not everyone can write compelling, interesting content on a regular basis. So, when the commitment is made to the blank page, you want to get the most value out of your time (or the time of the person you may be paying to write your content). What is the best bang for your buck – a press release or a blog post?

The answer is simple. It can be both. You can start with the same idea, the same information, you just need to alter the style.

A blog post is conversational – it’s like chatting to a friend about your topic. A press release is a formal statement – it’s like a cover letter for a job application, you are out to capture and retain the attention of an audience who are unlikely to know you, who have many people competing for their attention, and for whom you want something very significant (in this case a professional writer or broadcaster to think your content is worthy of their time and effort).

This is a blog post, so the headline is informal. If it was a press release, the headline might be “Press releases and blog posts differ in style, not content”.

The first sentence would change too, for example: “Effective content writing takes into account stylistic differences.”

Of course, this isn’t a press release because it isn’t newsworthy. And that is another critical difference between these two content types. A blog post seeks to be informative, while a press release seeks to be newsworthy. The latter announces a new product, new survey, new appointment, new investment, new event, and so on.

If you are creating content for your business or organisation on a regular basis, then you will write many blogs, and only some of them will turn into press releases. And, when they do, you can send them out using NewzEngine.

Find out more about writing press releases check out ‘8 Steps to Writing an Effective Media Release’ here.

Techweek is on a mission to find out how connected New Zealand is

Techweek, New Zealand’s festival of technology and innovation, wants to start a national conversation about how tech is impacting the daily lives of New Zealanders. It is today launching a survey asking people to let them know how many smart devices they have in their homes.

“The number of devices that can connect to the internet is constantly increasing. It used to just be your home computer – now it is a whole range of devices, including tablets, smart watches, speakers and TVs,” says Techweek Chief Strategy Officer Julie Gill.

“We think it’s important to consider how this technology is changing New Zealand households and one of the first ways to do that is to find out how many connected devices Kiwis have,” she says.

The number of connected devices is growing exponentially with the advent of smart homes. That’s when internet-connected devices control, monitor or regulate functions in the house such as room temperature and security alarms.

Gill recognises that while many New Zealanders have the opportunity to embrace new technology, there are households that are missing out, in what is known as the digital divide.

“In the latest Census, 1.3 million households stated they had access to the internet. This was out of 1.65 million total households. While it’s fascinating to look at how connectivity is impacting our daily life now, and in the future, we also have to be mindful that not everyone is able to participate,” Gill says.

“The Techweek2020 tagline is “Connecting our Future” and that includes everyone in Aotearoa – every New Zealander deserves to share in the advantages that connectivity brings. By finding out more about our everyday use of technology we can use that information to contribute to the discussion on how to tackle the digital divide.”

The results of the survey will be released during Techweek2020, 18 – 24 May. Last year Techweek attracted over 46,000 attendees around the country to hundreds of events that showcase technology and innovation. Events this year include Auckland University of Technology’s Creative Technologies Mid-Year Show, Canterbury Tech hosting a ‘Pathways to Tech’ event in Christchurch, and ‘Whānau Adventures in Tech’, a free event for the whole family in Tauranga. You can learn about these events and more at techweek.co.nz.

The survey is on the Techweek website here or check out Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and  LinkedIN.

About Techweek2020 

Techweek2020 is a national celebration of tech innovation presented by NZTech. During 18-22 May hundreds of events that showcase the use of technology in Aotearoa New Zealand take place across the country. Techweek2020 is supported by the Auckland University of Technology, Callaghan Innovation and EMA, ANZ Bank and Chorus. Learn more at techweek.co.nz.

NZTech is a not-for-profit membership organisation which is the voice of the New Zealand technology ecosystem.

Cin7 Appoints Bergita Rudman as VP, Engineering

Bergita Rudman, an experienced technology leader brings her collaborative style to head the development of Cin7’s innovative cloud-based inventory management software.

AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND – March 9, 2020 – Cin7, a pioneer in cloud-based inventory management software (IMS) and point of sale (POS) solutions, is pleased to announce the appointment of Bergita Rudman as VP, Engineering. With two decades of experience under her belt, Bergita has established herself as a respected engineering leader in an industry traditionally dominated by men.

Cin7 is additionally pleased to make the announcement as part of its celebration of International Women’s Day on March 8 as the company continues its efforts to increase diversity among Cin7 staff and leadership.

Bergita will be a key member of Cin7’s senior leadership team, leading the company’s Engineering Team in delivering Cin7’s vision for connected and automated inventory.

“Having worked with Bergita previously, I’m really excited to have her join us,” says David Leach, Chief Executive Officer. “Her skills and experience are extremely relevant to what we do and where we are going. She is a great collaborator and will really help our team take the product to the next level.”

Bergita joins Cin7 from Lyniate, a global healthcare data interoperability solution provider, where she served as VP, Development. Prior to that, she was Product Development Director at Orion Health, a global cloud-based healthcare software company.

“I’m impressed with both the product that Cin7 has developed and the team that they have put together to make it happen,” Bergita said. “The energy and momentum they’ve created are exciting and I look forward to being part of the team.”

Bergita officially starts with Cin7 on March 23, 2020.

 

Media Contact:

David Leach

p: +64 21 586 715

About Cin7

Cin7 is connected inventory management, simplified. With built-in POS and warehouse management, Cin7 keeps inventory in line with orders across every sales channel and stock location, the smartest way for growing brands to sell more to more customers in more places. Use Cin7 to gain real-time insight, contain costs and maximize margins and cash flow for your B2B, B2C, online and brick-and-mortar business. Cin7’s extensive integration includes 3PL warehouses, retailers (with built-in EDI), online marketplaces, eCommerce platforms, accounting solutions and other business-critical software, making Cin7 adaptable to your specific requirements. For more information, please visit cin7.com.