Photo: Carl Heyerdahl, Unsplash
Good news for small business owners, operators and entrepreneurs: PoweringON is here to help you thrive with digital solutions and local expertise.
The PoweringON programme, designed to equip you with the digital tools and skills you need to grow and future-proof your business is being relaunched this month*.
So what is PoweringON offering to improve Small to Medium Enterprise (SME) digital capability this time around?
First it provides assistance and advice in helping you, the business owner, operating in Tauranga and the Western Bay, identify any technology gaps or areas of improvement you need.
It gives you the opportunity to improve your digital capability and skills, and those of your team through increased technology adoption.
If you aspire for your business to:
- Become more efficient through adoption of more streamlined digital processes
- Become more relevant and engaged with your customers through the use of digital tools
- Acquire more, or better customers through the use of digital technologies
- Become more able to take business opportunities in an increasingly digitised world.
Then PoweringON is for you.
Here is how you can start now, at no cost to you thanks to the support of Priority One and Tauranga City Council:
- Take 10 min with a coffee to complete the free Digital Assessment
- Meet with an independent Digital Navigator at one of the free 45 minute clinics. The Digital Navigator role is new and the answer to our previous PoweringON users request: independent, one on one advice. Their role it is to support the business owners readiness to change or invest in digital capability, by sharing in knowledge and open, informed conversation. You can book your spot here.
The PoweringOn focus is on education and support, rather than implementation of technologies or funding investment for companies. You can expect to:
- Get informed recommendations on actions or workshops (some free, many low cost) to improve your digital capability, tailored to your organisation or to your industry sector.
- Connect with trusted local Digital Service Providers who are invited to participate by listing their expertise in the Digital Experts directory and by sharing useful resources or workshop content made easy with the seamless event delivery service provided as part of the programme.
Another request was to make PoweringON available via industry member organisations to help target specific Industry Group with industry specific needs. It is now possible to partner with Venture Centre, who delivers PoweringON, and at no cost to your membership organisation to ensure:
- your members access all the PoweringON benefits with the added value of tailored, industry specific content
- your organisation makes informed decision as a result of the data collected through your members’ participation. Contact Venture Centre for your information pack.
Is your business ready to Grow - Attract - Connect - Recruit - Future proof - Lead? Start PoweringON!
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*PoweringON ran successfully as a pilot programme for 12 months between June 2017 and May 2018, with over 150 business owners taking the Digital Assessment and 300 attending 30+ events (workshops, seminars and clinics) over the 12 months of the programme.
This is some of PoweringON pilot participants had to say:
“The collaboration with the local community is incredible.”
“[The events/services] have put me on the right track; you don’t often see your blind spots and they have helped me with mine.”
“I have gotten a few clients on board through interactions with the Venture Centre PoweringON programme and made business contacts.”
“[The events/services] connect people in the tech industry and help them build relationships through networking.”
This pilot also demonstrated support is needed ongoing due to the ever changing nature of technology and that despite change towards adoption being incremental, the connections and peer-to-peer relationships created as a result of engagement contribute massively to the empowerment of those who participated.
