Networking the Nation

Malcom and Jan Knight - Quambatook

The Knights have been connected to the internet since 1994 and spend on average around 2 hours per week using the internet.
Jan has booked accommodation, entertainment and flights on the internet and being a teacher uses it for education purposes. “With internet you are not so isolated, we have booked plane tickets and we obtained a birth certificate that one of the kids needed on-line. It is quicker and easier then using the phone. You don’t feel like you are so far away” says Jan.

Malcolm was proficient with computers prior to connecting to the internet having book keeping software and farm records kept on computer.

Three or four times a year Malcolm emails the cashbook file to his accountant in Swan Hill. “Because the accountant has got the whole file, if he has any queries he can just check out what he needs to without needing to hassle me and it saves mucking around with disks.” says Malcolm.

E-mail bulletins are recieved on grain prices, wool futures and other market information. Malcolm checks emails first thing in the morning along with the weather forecast.

On-line Banking

NAB On-line Banking is used which is a direct phone call to the Bank’s system. “It is very good, except for the $15 per month service fee”. The NAB have explained that internet banking is a cheaper alternative because you are only charged 10 cents per item, however you are limited to transferring $5,000 per day, and each time you transfer funds you need to re-key account number information and the internet banking is slower.

Malcolm believes that the On-line Banking has provided time efficiencies because of the ability to link the Phoenix book keeping software with the banking. “ If I need to pay someone, I just type the details into the Phoenix and create a file and that file is downloaded to the Bank. You can also group a number of transactions together. The only problem is that people don’t know they have been paid because they do not receive a cheque or notification”.

Market News

Stock market reports are accessed through the www.elders.com.au site. Silo cash prices are monitored through www.graincorp.com.au site during harvest. Again, I check that first thing in the morning when I check weather and emails.

Machinery

Malcolm is interested in the John Deere Parts On-line site. “It is supposed to provide the ability to check up a manual on-line, check availability of the parts at local dealerships and order them all on-line”.

Harvest Management

Malcolm has used the www.Graincorp.com.au web warrant service to transfer grain to the Barley Board. “We could select loads to transfer. I found it quite easy and straight forward. There is less paper work and you are in control more, you can pick up good prices”.

Weather

The 5 and 10 day precipitation forecast site at http://grads.iges.org/pix/prec7.html is monitored along with www.ezigrain.com.au which gives the wind speed and direction and the 3SH Mallee and district towns forecasts. Malcolm also uses the Weather Bureau Mildura Radar image and the satellite maps to track weather at www.bom.gov.au .

Shares and Investments

The Knights are registered on NAB On-line Trading and have an active watch list which is automatically updated. They use the site to do background research on stocks and companies.

For 3 or 4 months now I have been registered at www.investorweb.com.au and they email a free newsletter once a week. If you want more information from this site you have to subscribe which I havn’t done yet.

Internet Speed

The Knights are happy with the internet speed that they have, they are only 2 kilometres from the local exchange. They don’t feel they could justify the cost of going to broadband at this stage.

Farm500

Malcolm and Jan feel that the e-business awareness raising by Farm500 has been worthwhile for them.

“We have attended three Farm500 e-business workshops and became aware of a number of very useful websites. We also took the opportunity to have the on farm training service and that was also very practical and useful. “The Farm500/ Networking the Nation project has been good for us” says Malcolm, “It has increased our business use of the internet and has convinced me to take it more seriously as a business tool”.

Farm Management 500 is supported by: