Western Mail

Free digital business advice available for south Wales firms

FREE BUSINESS WORKSHOPS

-

BUSINESSES across south Wales have been quick to take advantage of free support available from Superfast Business Wales, the Welsh Government’s digital technology support service. To date, more than 2,900 businesses have registered onto the programme, with over 750 firms booking onto free events run this year.

The flagship programme provides free one-to-one digital business advice, a free website review, digital technology workshops and an online informatio­n hub. The scheme is backed by the Welsh Government and European Regional Developmen­t Fund.

One business to benefit is Cardiff civil and structural engineerin­g firm Intrado Consulting Engineers, run by directors Darren Sparkes and Claire Cooke. The company has grown by 300% and employed six new members of staff since it started using cloud technology to integrate its systems and streamline its processes.

Having seeing such a

Grow your tourism business with social media

November 29, 1pm–5pm, Barry

December 5, 9am–1pm, Hensol December 11, 9am–1pm Merthyr Tydfil

December 13, 9am–1pm, Pontypool

December 18, 9am–1pm, Bridgend

Sell more with social media Win more customers with a CRM Sell more with social media

transforma­tion with digital in an industry often more associated with traditiona­l methods, the company sought the expertise of Superfast Business Wales.

The pair attended a social media workshop to learn how to make the best of platforms and kick-start a digital marketing strategy. They also received a web diagnostic and one-to-one advice around a range of other digital enhancemen­ts that could help growth and support streamline­d processes.

Darren Sparkes said: “We want to increase our presence on social media and use the right channels well to market ourselves to wider geographie­s, and using Twitter and LinkedIn means we can do that.

“The website review and recommenda­tions from Superfast Business Wales is the final step in making sure web visitors turn into customers. We’re really confident we can expand our customer base using digital because we’ve seen first-hand how it changes everything for the better.

“Communicat­ion – both internally and externally – has improved, as has our engineerin­g capability. It makes for a much smoother way of working and technology will certainly play a substantia­l role in helping us grow the business going forward.”

■ Places are limited on the remaining free workshops running in 2018. Search online for Superfast Business Wales events.

 ??  ??
 ??  ?? > Darren Sparkes and Clare Cooke of Intrado Consulting Engineers
> Darren Sparkes and Clare Cooke of Intrado Consulting Engineers

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Kingdom