It gives me great pleasure to welcome you all to the first meeting of ECAT, the E-commerce Action Team Core Group. Since the first meeting in early December we've refined the format and now we're ready to go. Welcome aboard.

Let me thank you again for the commitment you're making to achieving our vision that
New Zealand will be world class in embracing e-commerce for competitive advantage.

I value the contribution you're making in sharing your skills, knowledge and networks given how busy you are in your other roles. But this vision can only come about through shared leadership so we need the strong combination of business, broader community and government we've got on ECAT.

Why an ECAT?
Today, economic and social strength comes from collaborating, from taking responsibility to share leadership, from active partnerships. We have around the table today representative sectors and businesses, e-savvy individuals, and officials charged with advancing key e-directions for Government.

Through our leadership, and collaboration in working within and across sectors, regions and agencies, I believe we can make a difference in growing the critical mass of understanding we need to speed the adoption of e-commerce across our economy and society.

Why adopting e-commerce is critical for NZ?
Why is moving quickly to adopt e-commerce so important for New Zealand? Because E-commerce is critical to transforming our economic direction, increasing our ability to produce value-added products and services, strengthening our skill base, and creating better jobs for New Zealanders.
Because, as Alan Greenspan puts it, in respect of the economy, "All economic policy must adjust itself for a changing timeframe in which the economy itself is moving. And we for example have observed phenomena which used to take 30 months to work out probably now takes 24 months or 15 months".
Ambitious - expectations for ECAT
With ECAT, I very much place the emphasis on the words action and team, for I want you to be focused on achievement and networking. That way we can avoid the committee syndrome of, as Mark Twain put it, a group of the unwilling, picked from the unfit, to do the unnecessary. With the exception of Select Committees, of course! Not to speak of Black Cap Selection Committees
So what do I want ECAT to achieve? I'm going to be very ambitious on your behalf. I will be looking for you to provide me with leading edge advice, be active advocates for e-commerce, be excellent at promoting the adoption of e-commerce across sectors of the economy. My vision for ECAT is that you become a world-renowned group of leaders in driving the uptake of e-commerce.
I am looking for ECAT to be a catalyst for industry and business sector groups to take on a shared leadership role with Government to advance the uptake of e-commerce.

I want you to involve and leverage existing structures in the business community, in your sectors and regions, to create a better understanding of what e-commerce means, why it's so important and how individual businesses and business sectors can use it to best effect.
Composition - Multiplier Effect
We've deliberately structured ECAT to leverage a multiplier effect, by focusing on those professions, services, industry and business associations who, in growing their understanding and use of e-commerce, will have a profound effect across the whole economy.
So the challenge for those of you in ECAT who represent groups is to make sure that you work actively across your membership, making use of all channels and opportunities to promote the adoption of e-commerce.

The challenge for those of you who represent key Government agencies is to work effectively with fellow members. To take what you learn here about assisting businesses to use e-commerce and use it to improve those strategies you're charged with advancing, such as e-Government and e-Exporting.

The challenge for me is to make sure that those of you who have accepted my invitation to join ECAT as individuals feel that the time you're giving is time well spent. Because you bring a special expertise with e-commerce which is extremely valuable to group and government representatives. And because literally you are "giving" it.

And, dare I say it, the challenge for Sir Gil Simpson, as your Chair, is to make sure you come together and leverage your strengths into action and achievement. Needless to say, given Gil's energy, expertise and focus you've got excellent leadership.

The overall challenge for the Government and myself is to make sure that we continue to advance the direction we set in the strategy and the Summit. And I invite you to keep the pressure on us to continue implementing and developing our strategy. Because, of course, our strategy is a living document, as yours will be.

Six quarter plans
Strategies are great but what's most important is making them happen. John Sifonis is a director of Cisco's Internet Development Group, whom some of you will be familiar with as keynote speaker at last year's e-Commerce Summit, and co-author of Net Ready - Strategies for Success in the e-Economy. In NetReady John outlines a concept called the 7-quarter action plan. We've changed that to a six quarter action plan and are using the thinking behind it to underpin our focus for ECAT.

While in format the six-quarter action plan is similar to a usual project plan designed to achieve specific measurable objectives, it is distinguished from usual project planning by its emphasis on speed and flexibility. Why? Because both are critical to ensuring business and organisations keep pace with the extremely fast-changing global environment we now operate in.

Outcome focus
So the challenge I am setting you is to develop a six-quarter action plan for ECAT which will support your work in helping you develop sectoral 6 quarter action plans to speed your organisations and sectors moves to adopt e-commerce.

I want you to have a sharp eye on those achievements that will have impact in a short time. That's why I've asked Sir Gil to have you meet initially at quite close intervals. I want you to build up a head of steam, to develop and then drive your action plan. To show we mean e-business!

As you move to quarterly meetings, the focus will be more on what you do in between meetings to co-ordinate action across your sectors, and assist sectoral and regional ECATs to progress their 6 quarter action plans.

ECAT Network
From the pre-Christmas meeting I took home a key message - that for ECAT to be successful it had to be linked to a wider network.

Our thinking was informed by John Sifonis who writes in NetReady, "When you're part of a network, you can relax your grasp. Your power comes not from being strongly connected to any one resource but being loosely connected to many resources".

Accordingly we came up with a three-part model for ECAT, a core group, which is yourselves, a self-selecting ECAT network and a web site. In this diagram we've highlighted, as an example, a Waikato Regional ECAT but we want to see regional ECATs from all over the country.
So I want you to be active members not only in the core but also in the Network. Given Metcalf's law of networks I'm confident that you'll receive value for the effort you put in. My officials report that a number of groups and people are interested in being involved already so we have the start of our ECAT Network.

Conclusion
So what are the key outcomes we're seeking for the next 6 quarters? In 18 months time we want to have evidence of our success in having markedly improved business and the wider community's understanding of e-commerce. We need to have identified our strengths and weaknesses, and taken specific actions to exploit our strengths and reduce our weaknesses. We want evidence of improvements, of progress against our action plan.
So we need to start by committing ourselves to this group, to creating an ECAT core 6 quarter action plan, and developing strategies, plans and communication vehicles for our sectors, and creating effective networks to drive the uptake of e-commerce.

When we come back together in five weeks time, on 10 April, what are we coming back to? I hope it will be to create an ECAT Core Group 6-quarter action plan. A sharing of the key actions you'll be taking to advance e-commerce in your sectors and organisations and creative, dynamic ideas on how to leverage the networks, skills and knowledge around this table.

Being here with you today at the start of ECAT is very significant for me as Minister for Information Technology, and Minister of Commerce. Because I see ECAT as a crucial success factor in enabling us as a nation to achieve our e-commerce vision of New Zealand will be world class in embracing e-commerce for competitive advantage.

Thank you once again for your willingness to share in this important leadership initiative. I know that with your combined strengths, and Sir Gil at the helm, ECAT will create and achieve a truly dynamic 6-quarter action plan for advancing e-commerce in New Zealand. In 18 months time commentators look back amazed by what you've been able to achieve in a relatively short time. People will ask, "How did they do it? The answer is through collaboration, shared leadership and active partnership. By truly being an action team of the ready, willing and able.