South East England Development Agency (SEEDA)

Business Event: 'Shutdown, Survive or Succeed'

Ashford
19 January 2009

Following the initial ICT (information and communication technology) event last December, SEEDA successfully ran the second ‘Shutdown, Survive or Succeed’ event last Monday. Held at Ashford, the event reported on and considered the future with presentations from:

• Chris Owen of BMG Research,
• Mark Batchelor of IBM,
• Terry Hughes of BT,
• Sandy Lovatt of Federation of Small Businesses,
• Richard Jepson of Alcatel-Lucent,
• David Wylie of Learning Skills Council,
• Nicholas Richards of Microsoft,
• Arthur Butterfield of SEEDA,
• Dr John Richardson of Business Link, and
• Tim Gainford of Ashford’s Future.

The event presented findings from the Impact of ICT on SMEs (small to medium sized enterprises) in the South East. An audience of over 70 joined in discussion as to what support could advantage the industry in the future to improve business productivity through the use of ICT.

Arthur Butterfield announced BERR’s intention for Regional Development Agencies to run three year pilots to provide a service which helps SMEs to develop their understanding and use of transformational ICT. Commercial, private and public sector organisations are needed to now collaborate and come together on how they can collectively contribute to this new aspiration.

There is evidence that many businesses, particularly small businesses, will continue to face difficulties when adopting and exploiting ICTs, especially advanced ICTs that generate higher impacts. Continued adoption and exploitation of ICTs, particularly advanced ICTs, is estimated to generate an additional £35bn GVA across the UK economy over the next 5 to 7 years.

It seems that this is something that would be of benefit in the current climate.
Attendees gave the following feedback:

"Difficult to pitch this subject to such as vast area of SMEs – however, definitely something for everyone and some very thought provoking information, with the ability to investigate further if necessary." Vertex Law

"Thank you for such an enjoyable event, it highlighted some of the barriers and the different mind sets and motivators the majority of SME’s have compared with those who work in ICT." Catalyst for Growth

• View Shutdown, Survive or Succeed presentation

Related links
Impact of ICT on SMEs research
View 19 January event agenda