The Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA), in partnership with Maat Solutions Pty Ltd, today announced the launch of AIIA.biz – a revolutionary approach to delivering membership value and business support to the ICT industry.
AIIA.biz is an online web portal (www.aiia.biz) that offers AIIA members direct access to professional business advice and commercial services from experts who specialise in the Australian ICT industry – all at heavily discounted prices.
By combining innovative technology with the power of industry partnerships, AIIA.biz delivers where it really counts: through savings that in most cases will easily exceed the cost of membership.
“AIIA.biz is a particularly significant initiative given the difficult economic climate that all businesses are currently operating in,” said AIIA CEO Ian Birks. “Many smaller ICT businesses, for example, may be facing the prospect of lowering overheads by cutting back on contract and legal advice, insurance premiums and other fundamental overheads.”
“AIIA believes the risk of this approach far outweighs the benefits; AIIA.biz offers our members a way to reduce both financial outlay and business risk by drawing on the networking strength that association membership provides,” continued Mr Birks.
“Through this initiative we are able to deliver tools to help our members to weather the financial storm, alongside the traditional Association strengths of industry representation, policy development and business relationships.”
ICT experts providing specialised content include Chubb Insurance, Insurance Advisernet, Taylor Coulter Recruitment, Stevens & Associates Lawyers, Maxwells Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys & Intellectual Property Lawyers and Pym’s Technology Lawyers.
AIIA.biz has been developed and will be operated by Australian company Maat Solutions on behalf of AIIA.
“AIIA.biz is a revolution in the way that industry associations are able to deliver value to member organizations,” said Ben Shepherd, Managing Director of Maat. “We believe that this is the first time that such a broad range of in-depth industry-specific information, products and services has been made available online.”
“We have a number of founding ICT specialist expert partners on board and are very excited about the range of services we will be adding to AIIA.biz in the near future. Whether you are looking for insurance, legal services, IP protection, specialised recruitment or discount travel, AIIA.biz will hold huge value for your business. All you need to do is take advantage of your membership by sourcing your services through AIIA.biz,” said Mr Shepherd.
Maat expects discounted travel services to be added to AIIA.biz shortly. ICT Experts from many other areas will also be joining AIIA.biz in 2009, including human resource management, financial services, sales and marketing and green-business services.
A core component of AIIA.biz is an innovative document assembly technology platform. The technology allows online contract templates prepared by the legal experts, for example, to be delivered via the website in a format that exactly meets the requirements of the user, eliminating the need to negotiate and customise these solutions using clients’ time and money.
According to Mr Shepherd, “Maat looked at technologies from around the world and was delighted that Australian company and AIIA member Intelledox (www.intelledox.com) was able to provide a best-fit solution at a highly competitive price. This means along with our web development partner GeekIT Group (www.geekitgroup.com.au) — also an AIIA member — and graphic design partner Beyond The Pixels (www.btpdesign.com) we have an entirely Australian solution that delivers a world-class result.”
AIIA.biz will be online from 2 February 2009. AIIA and Maat will be launching AIIA.biz at a series of events around Australia in early February – full details are provided below.
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For more information contact:
Rhett Somers
Communication Manager
Australian Information Industry Association
(02) 6244 6400 or 0411 670 007
r.somers@aiia.com.au
or
Ben Shepherd
Managing Director
Maat Solutions
(02) 8218 2149 or 0410 511 999
BenShepherd@maatsolutions.com.au
AIIA.biz launch dates
Each launch will be held at a Clifton’s training and education centres – registration is available through the AIIA website:
• Perth, 2 February 2009: 11.00am, Mezzanine Floor, Australia Place, cnr St Georges Tce & William St.
• Adelaide, 3 February 2009: 4.30pm, Level 1, 80, King William Street
• Melbourne, 4 February 2009: 4.30pm, 440, Collins St. Melbourne
• Sydney, 9 February 2009: 4.30pm, 200, George Street, Sydney
• Canberra, 10 February 2009: 4.30pm, Level 2, 10 Moore Street, Canberra
• Brisbane, 11 February 2009: 4.30pm, Level 3, 288 Edward Street, Brisbane
About AIIA
The Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) is the nation’s peak industry body for the technology sector. AIIA sets the strategic direction of the industry, influences public policy and provides members with productivity tools, advisory services and market intelligence to accelerate their business growth.
AIIA member companies employ 100,000 Australians, generate combined annual revenues of more than $40 billion and export more than $2 billion in goods and services each year.
About Maat Solutions
AIIA.biz is an online service owned, operated and managed on behalf of the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) by Maat Solutions Pty Ltd. Maat Solutions delivers better outcomes for buyers and sellers. For industry associations like AIIA, Maat builds member value by connecting members with highly qualified organisations targeting that membership profile. Maat is the facilitator, bringing technology, cost-reducing processes, transaction/discount structures, contract frameworks and partner relationships. In addition to our Industry Association solution, Maat Solutions has a suite of software products designed to deliver better outcomes for buyers and sellers by making complex buying and contracting processes faster, cheaper, easier and better able to meet compliance demands.
About Intelledox
Intelledox is a leading provider of automated document creation and output management solutions to a growing list of blue chip corporate and government clients. By automating document-centric business processes with Intelledox, organisations can reduce the time to create, personalise and distribute documents by more than 50%, boosting productivity and lowering costs. Intelledox integrates seamlessly with line of business systems, requires no scripting and leverages investments in Microsoft Office and Word. With flexibility in deployment options – including on-premises software, a dedicated hosted solution or a Software-as-a-Service – organisations deploying Intelledox can achieve a return on investment within 12 months.