Organising IPA services around investor needs

1. Organising IPA services around investor needs Peter Collens December 2010

2. Overview • What does “best practice” look like? • Austrade systems for handling investor inquiries • Guidelines for handling investor enquiries • Providing the information needed • CRM system

3. What does “Best Practice” look like? The World Bank identified three key capabilities that were shared by the top performing IPAs: • A professional business service culture was fostered with a customer focused approach taken to target, influence and generate productive FDI deals that would provide economic benefit to the IPA’s domestic market. • Knowledge management and knowledge sharing initiatives were undertaken to develop deep organisational knowledge in sectors, markets and companies. • Systems were developed to ensure professionalism and consistency in the quality of facilitation and customer service. They evaluated best practice in Structure, Process, People, Systems and Technology.

4. Today’s Focus is on the “Process” • Process • Make facilitation a priority* • Develop account managers into reservoirs of knowledge in particular sectors • Coordinate facilitation with networks and partners sub nationally and overseas • *Facilitation is defined as the provision of information and services.

5. What is involved in facilitation? • Facilitation • Providing accurate and timely information • Providing specific services (FILs, Site Visits, referrals to professional service firms etc.) • Managing the quality and efficiency of services delivered • Client management • Project management • Maintaining position of neutrality

6. Target Engagement Implement Campaign Market Segmentation Develop Promotional Campaign Investment Promotion and Attraction Benchmarking Research Set Policy Leads Outcome Feedback loop between policy, strategy and implementation

7. Aftercare Success Prospect Lead Invest Stage 3. Lead 4. Success Description of Activities Originating either offshore or onshore, directed to appropriate staff Investment Qualifying Questionnaire or Investor Service Handbook to be used Pre-qualification done on the investor to ascertain if investor is capable and committed Provided with appropriate information or referrals. Continued assistance provided to the investor, project seen to progress in seriousness. Main interaction is between investor and offshore investment staff. If information needs are quite detailed ICRs may be given or a site visit discussed. As information needs become detailed and go beyond what is available ‘off-the-shelf’, offshore investment staff will make requests to industry teams for further information. Project has progressed significantly, supply of tailored information to investor (eg. FIL), meetings, event involvement etc. Lead projects are considered likely to proceed to investment success. Investor may be planning a site visit to Australia to meet with interested or related parties and advance their planning. The visit team, industry team and offshore investment staff will to some extent be involved in site visits. Project has progressed significantly, such that investor is prepared to sign off on the details of their proposed Australian investment. Investment may have already taken place and they may be signing off on the details thus far. Target high yield reinvestment companies, or assist investors seeking help expansion pans. Work with States & Territories on delivery. Stages of the Investment Facilitation Process Enquiry

8. Handling incoming enquiries • Front-desk staff are trained to respond to incoming calls by: • Understanding Austrade services across Trade and Investment • Knowing where is the most appropriate area to refer enquiries to • Business Development staff are trained to: • Proactively target prospective investors • Qualify an investor’s capability and commitment to investing, by asking: • About the investor; • About their Australian business plans; and • About their information requirements. • Project support staff are trained to: • Provide timely information that meets investor’s requirements • Develop supporting capability material • Create unique value propositions that differentiate Australia • Co-ordinate site visits and other State Government involvement

9. Offshore qualification and referral to Investment Specialist Lead sent onshore for further support by Industry Team Industry Team engages with State Government State Governments advise their offshore network of projects Information provided to Investment Specialist by Industry Team Response to investor & ongoing project management Protocols for Management of FDI with State Governments Minimum notice period for Site Visit support Investment Projects Site Visits Visit details sent onshore for support by Visits and Industry Team The Visits Team coordinates site visit programme The Visits Team contacts State Government investment contacts Site Visit Debrief and follow up

10. Coordination Mechanisms Protocols Commonwealth/State guidelines, lead and site visit protocols, MOUs DFAT, NSW, China, Korea, Japan Committees Commonwealth/State: MCIT, NIAB Commonwealth/State/industry: CMAB, CoMICTA Training courses and workshops Winning Investment for Australia, industry sectoral workshops Reporting and databases Monthly reports, successes, RMS

11. Website: austrade.gov.au • Website as broader promotional tool… • Industry capability • RSS feeds of investment stories • Case studies • Data and charts • Multimedia content (podcasts, videos, presentations) • But also as a lead generation tool • Provides basic investment information (visas, taxation, licenses etc.) • Funnels more detailed investment enquiries to the right people • Provides access point to our offshore network • Advertises events and manages registrations

12. Industry Capability Reports Aimed at providing more flexible, more responsive system Provide standard info up front, through Industry Capability Reports Use FIL system for follow-up questions, more detail or non-standard info Maintain principle of open info sharing and coordinated responses to clients States/Territories have input into preparation of ICRs, and can use them for own purposes

13. Foreign Investment Lead (FIL) system Sent to all Austrade States Industry team Inquiry FIL Austrade Overseas post Investor States decide whether to respond Austrade Consolidated Industry team response Final response State responses Austrade Over seas post

14. Relationship Management System (RMS) • RMS is a relationship management tool that enables Austraders to build effective relationships with: • Clients; • Customers; • Investors; • Service providers; and • Allies • RMS tools include: • Organisation Document Libraries to upload and store client, customer and investor documents • Outlook Integration to capture email communications • Advanced Find for customising and generating reports • Lists to assist in the organisation of information

15. Thank you Peter Collens National Investment Manager T: +61 3 9648 3288 Peter.Collens@austrade.gov.au