Merseyside Digital Development

Free yourself from ICT slavery June 26, 2007

For any business to be successful, it has to keep employees productive and systems operational. Many small businesses are now reliant upon their ICT (Information & Communication Technology) – if their broadband, email or PC fails, it hurts their productivity. Whole industries have arisen to ensure they’re supported.

But many small businesses still haven’t discovered how to use ICT proactively within their business to automate time-consuming processes. But others have. So there is a real danger they are losing their competitiveness if they remain complacent and don’t act.

All too often computer users experience ICT frustrations that result in wasting valuable time. Smarter small businesses are now dusting off the manual, getting their staff properly trained or engaging an ICT expert to improve productivity using the computer sat on their desk.

Eddie Reed of city centre-based kitchen manufacturers Capricorn is somebody who did just that. “Investing in hardware and software is not a box-ticking exercise, and your business is magically transformed. You need to sit down and analyse where your time goes and make sure your investment has directly tackled a business challenge.”

Capricorn have seen their productivity and business processes rocket after engaging some outside help. “IT is like a journey. Your PC is your car, and you know where you want to go. But if you don’t know how to drive, you may get there eventually, but you may crash!”

So if you know how to use the gear stick, the clutch, and accelerator, you can get there quicker. Too many small businesses struggle to get beyond basic word processing, accounts packages, basic email and spreadsheet use. Liverpool company Solveo are aiming to change all that.

Eddie continued: “Since we have worked with Solveo our productivity has dramatically improved. The impact they’ve had has been worth its weight in gold. It has centralised our company information, leaving us with a more streamlined, efficient way of working.”

“Our business has grown significantly over the past 2 years. We already had the IT infrastructure in place but needed to look at our systems and how we use them. We now have the same staff producing the same work in less time and with improved accuracy”

There are hundreds if not thousands of ways of getting typical small business tasks done in a fraction of the time.

Do the following sound familiar?

• “My document looks great on the screen, but when I print it all goes wrong”
• “My calculations aren’t calculating”
• “I need a report for a meeting, and quickly, but I’m stuck”
• “I’m in the middle of a mail merge but forgotten what to do next – help!”

If your IT department is busy, or you don’t have one, you spend time trying to resolve the problem yourself. It can be long winded but what’s the alternative?

In an ideal world you’d have an ICT expert on hand to help with all of those niggling queries that seem to eat up your day. That’s where experts like Solveo can help make it happen. Jenny Gallagher believes small businesses get an instant return on their investment. “Small businesses realise that their time is better spent delivering their product or service. And what better way to make that happen than have one of our experts working through day to day queries with them?” she says.

How useful would it be if you could have an experienced IT problem solver at your Desk, in under a minute, looking at your query and working through it with you? What if you could have monthly remote training session designed to develop your business processes by helping you use your computer smarter? And what if you could have unlimited answers to your queries? What if this was available for all staff, for all queries? If this sounds appealing get in touch with Jenny Gallagher on 0151 2271817 or email jennygallagher@solveo.co.uk