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How do I know if my business is eligible for a Business Review?
To be eligible for an Enterprise Connect Business Review, businesses must:
- Possess an Australian Company Number (ACN) or in the case of Remote Enterprise SMEs, an Australian Business Number (ABN)
- Meet the relevant turnover or expenditure thresholds. Thresholds are provided below. [link to below Turnover Thresholds subtitle]
- Be solvent
- Have filed Business Activity Statements for at least three consecutive years
- Operate in one of the following sectors or regions:
- Manufacturing or manufacturing related services
- Resources Technology
- Defence
- Clean Energy
- Creative Industries
- Remote Australia
- Not have received an equivalent Business Review service, that provides a holistic analysis of the SME's business, from other government (Australian, state or territory or local) programs within the last three calendar years.
More detailed information is available in the Client Guidelines (.pdf, 990KB).
Turnover Thresholds
Businesses in the Manufacturing, Manufacturing related services, Defence and Resources Technology sectors must have:
- if located in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Perth or Brisbane-have turned over more than $2 million and under $100 million in the current financial year or one of the two preceding financial years.
- Australian Bureau of Statistics maps (.pdf, 770KB) [link to: Documents/ABS%20Maps.pdf] defining the metropolitan boundaries of the above cities are available online.
- if located in a regional area, that is outside the above cities-have turned over more than $1.5 million and under $100 million in the current financial year or one of the two preceding financial years.
Businesses in the Clean Energy and Creative Industries sectors must have expenditure or turnover of more than $1.5 million and under $100 million the current financial year or one of the two preceding financial years.
Businesses that operate in Remote Australia must have turned over more than $750 thousand and under $100 million in the current financial year or one of the two preceding financial years.
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How do I know if my group of Businesses are eligible?
Enterprise Connect services are also available to groups of businesses. For group applications, businesses with a turnover of at least $1 million may be included, but the minimum turnover for the group as a whole must be at least $4 million. For more information see the client guidelines.
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How will selection of the eligible businesses occur?
All applicants that meet the eligibility requirements will be accepted for a Business Review, except where there is insufficient capacity to undertake the Business Review within the following three months. In this case the business will be contacted by the applicable Manufacturing or Innovation Centre to discuss options.
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What can I expect from a Business Review?
Enterprise Connect will allocate eligible applicants a Business Adviser who will contact you to agree on a commencement date. You may request a specific business adviser and requests will be met where practicable.
Our Business Review is a comprehensive analysis of the business, carried out on-site, by your Business Adviser. A Business Review will generally take three to four working days to complete, which may be spread over several months. Your adviser will work with you with regard to a suitable timeline.
Business Advisers work with people throughout various operational levels of the business to develop a thorough view of, for example:
- the strengths and weaknesses of your business
- strategic business issues
- potential areas for business improvement
- potential areas for growth.
The Business Review is a collaborative process, with the Business Adviser and key people in the business working together to identify changes that could be made to increase the businesses productivity and competitiveness.
Each business receives a Business Review Report outlining these findings and recommended actions.
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What are my obligations under a Business Review?
Businesses undertaking a Business Review are expected to provide management commitment to the process. This may include;
- providing data (including financial records when the business and Business Adviser agree that it is relevant)
- providing reasonable access to key personnel
- a willingness to consider implementing agreed Business Review recommendations, potentially through the Tailored Advisory Service [link to: Our services/tailored advisory service grant page]
Following your involvement in the program, your business will be asked for feedback on your satisfaction with the service and people involved. You may also be asked to participate in surveys to assess the medium term impact of the initiative on your business and its operations.
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What is the role of the Partner Organisations?
Partner Organisations have been selected due to their ability to help achieve the aims of Enterprise Connect. The Partner Organisations each have extensive networks, and an internal capacity to support the delivery of Enterprise Connect services.
Partner Organisations work with Enterprise Connect in a number of ways including:
- Employing specialist Business Advisers [link to: Our services/business advisers page] to deliver the Business Reviews across Australia
- Organising promotional activities to explain the benefits of Enterprise Connect services to their members and non-members.
For more information, see the Partner Organisations page.
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Which Business Adviser will I work with?
Business Advisers will be allocated by Enterprise Connect according to your location, and the Business Adviser's area of expertise. Applicants may request a specific Business Adviser and requests will be met where practicable.
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Does this program have regional coverage?
Yes, Business Advisers are located across metropolitan and regional Australia, to ensure that services can be delivered to eligible businesses nation-wide.
The locations of our Business Advisers are available online. [link to: Our centres/search for a business adviser page]
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What is the background of the Business Advisers?
The team of Business Advisers has management experience in a manufacturing or services environment, qualifications in management or a professional technical area such as engineering, and the ability to facilitate change in SMEs through sound business analysis and systems analysis skills.
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Do I have to be a member of a Partner Organisation to participate?
No, the only condition on participation is that your business meets the eligibility criteria outlined in the client guidelines.
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Will I be obliged to undertake any change following the Business Review?
No, the Business Review is a collaborative process, with the Business Adviser and key people in the business working together to identify changes that could be made to increase your productivity and competitiveness. Each business receives a Business Review Report outlining these findings.
As a follow up to this, Enterprise Connect Centres are able to offer access to the Tailored Advisory Service which provides financial and other assistance to help businesses choosing to implement the changes identified through the Business Review. [link to Our services/business review page] However businesses are not under any obligation to undertake these activities.
For more information see the Tailored Advisory Services page.
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How will a consultant for the Tailored Advisory Service be selected?
Businesses will be able to choose which consultant carries out a Tailored Advisory Service project. An Enterprise Connect Business Adviser or Centre may be able to provide assistance in identifying consultants with the desired skills your business needs.
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Is there a contribution from Enterprise Connect to the Tailored Advisory Service?
Yes, Enterprise Connect will reimburse half of the cost of an approved Tailored Advisory Service project, to a maximum of $20,000.
For example:
- For a $50,000 project, Enterprise Connect will reimburse $20,000, reducing the total cost for the business to $30,000
- For a $15,000 project, Enterprise Connect will reimburse $7,500 (half of the cost of the project).
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Will my participation and business information be confidential?
Information provided to Enterprise Connect will be treated as 'commercial-in-confidence'. This means access to applications will be on a limited, need to know basis unless the Department is required by law to provide such access. Business Advisers will provide a confidentiality statement to each business they work with.
There will be regular public announcements of successful applicants. The public announcement will include details, on an individual basis, of the recipient, the value of the assistance and/or grant and the purpose of the assistance and/or grant.
For more information please see Enterprise Connect Confidentiality Statement (.pdf, 82KB). [link could not be found]
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How does Enterprise Connect define sectors?
A list of sector definitions is available for download (.pdf, 34KB).
For further information, call the Enterprise Connect Hotline between the hours of 9.00am and 5.00pm (AEST) on 131 791 (Australian callers only) or email enterpriseconnect@innovation.gov.au
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