Upside Downturn

I’ve just got back from a 2-day Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) E-business consultants’ briefing.  I’m now happily up-to-date on the consulting products that we are going to use to help businesses, from an ICT perspective (Information & Communication Technology) throughout the glorious country of Wales.

Apart from meeting some really hot (technically) consultants, some clued-up (and friendly) WAG staff, and having a few beers (at our expense, rather than the tax payer), I’m stoked and ready to move from my role as a consultant and delivering agency, to an objective E-business consultant.

My first impressions are that the E-business WAG team headed by Michael Groves, have really got their onions together. It’s out with all the multiple confusing funding brands inside the Welsh Assembly and they’ve bought in 3 shapes of ICT product that will help business in Wales, in a Flexible Support for Business (FS4B) package:

1) A resource website, which will be going live soon on http://www.business-support-wales.gov.uk/, it will have all kinds of IT and business communication guides. This is designed as an entry level “what is a CRM?”, “how can a network help my business?” or  “what is pay per click marketing?”  This is great for all businesses wanting some knowledge, perhaps before they engage technology companies in helping their business or undertaking an IT change themselves.

2) ICT diagnostic.  This is a flexible review of a company’s IT and communication system. This is where a consultant will come in and examine, discuss with you and your team and present back some unbiased, prioritized options for ways to make efficiency savings, enhance internal communication systems or other IT systems. This is both for small and medium sized companies, that is 1-3 man companies, and 20-100 companies. There are consultants that have experience and real world expertise at looking at businesses of different sizes and sectors and it’s all about return on investment, increased profitability and efficiency savings: Essential, business bottom line indicators in a recession.

3) E-business support. This is where a consultant will be able to help a company research, plan, choose a supplier, hand hold through integration, and guide through company wide roll-out. In reality this could be something small like guiding a small company through installing a network/VPN/email system or something larger and more specialised like installing a new multi-site contact centre or custom built intranet solution. Either way, with support from WAG businesses will have the benefit of having an on-side consultant to ease the pain in any new system integration/

Back to recession proofing your business, it is essential for all companies to examine their underlying ICT if they want to weather the storm of this financial downturn. Having an impartial external consultant come in and help you assess your ICT can only help, and if you need more support having some one on-side, impartial and co-paid for by the WAG, is a step in the right direction for ensuring your business comes out the other side of this gloomy downturn, stronger and happier.

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Paolo downturn, planning, strategy