Have a Small Business and need IT help?
Posted on March 19, 2008, by Conor O'Neill, under Business, Technology.
I know there are tons of small businesses out there struggling with IT, even basics like anti-virus and e-mail. Unfortunately, lack of knowledge can often mean you aren’t even aware that there are better and cheaper ways of doing what you are doing.
Last Autumn, the County Enterprise Boards launched Tech-Check to address this widespread problem. It’s a simple but highly effective initiative to help businesses sort out their most pressing technology problems.
For €150, you get up to two 3-hour sessions with an IT expert who will go through every aspect of your IT usage and needs. They then come back with a report highlighting your highs and lows and a small set of specific recommendations to improve things.
Disclaimer: I am one of the people used by the Cork CEBs to provide this service.
Unfortunately, the uptake on Tech-Check has not met expectations. I think there are a few reasons for this and I hope I can clarify things a bit.
- It’s not for IT companies, it’s for any small business (from 1-50 people) who needs guidance on any aspect of technology whether it’s mobile phone usage, internet access, security or even getting a small web-site up for less than €250
- You are getting far more than €150 worth of consultancy, it is very heavily subsidised and I think the value for money is amazing
- The CEBs are very sensitive to conflicts of interest and the consultants cannot offer their services to actually implement the suggestions they make
- The feedback I have received from clients so far has been phenomenal. I’ve advised everything from one man training businesses and solicitors to multi person sports centres and they have all ended up with better setups and in some cases, saving lots of money.
- You do not need to know the first thing about IT or technology to apply for a Tech-Check. The less you know, the more help we can provide.
Ignoring the fact that I help provide Tech-Checks, I genuinely think this is the smartest thing to come out of the public service in years. There are thousands of businesses who can benefit and your entire investment can be just €150. I think you’d be nuts not to sign up, even if you think you don’t need it!
Contact:
- West Cork Enterprise Board
- South Cork Enterprise Board
- Cork City Enterprise Board
- North Cork Enterprise Board
6 Replies to "Have a Small Business and need IT help?"
conor on March 19, 2008
Thanks for getting the message out. It really is a great scheme and helps people avoid being gouged by unscrupulous vendors too.
In every Tech-Check I’ve done except one, I’ve recommended GMail. Google Apps for Your Domain gives you GMail but with your own domain and it’s free. I use the mobile client on my phone. It’s not “Push” like Blackberry but is more than enough for most people.
Blackberry is one area I need to bone up on. I’ve only encountered one Tech-Check client using one so far but those who love them, really love them!
JD on March 22, 2008
I can wax lyrical about the Blackberry ad nauseum as I find it the singlemost useful piece of technology I have other than the tv remote control. However I will say that I use my Blackberry only for email and keep a separate mobile for tel calls as the separation is important for me. And also battery life is longer and that is of primary importance. The nice people in O2 suggest that I use one device but it’s not for me. Those that I need to contact by tel usually are more contactable by Blackberry and that suits me and the work I do.
JD on June 18, 2008
We had our Tech-Check in the past 10 days. 2 visits. I was out of the office for the 1st visit and there for the 2nd. I expected us to be slated but lo and behold.. he was satisfied with what we had, as an SME!
Very impressed and Cork Enterprise really need to ’sell’ this out there as I think the practice is important.
Thanks again for the heads-up, Conor.
Conor O'Neill on June 19, 2008
So glad it went well for you. I hope they do another big marketing push on it but targeted differently. e.g. “Have a small business?” “Struggling with basic IT like email, security, your web-site?” “Tech-Check can help for only €150″
West Cork Enterprise Board Support | Argolon on July 24, 2008
[...] big area of mutual frustration was the lack of take-up on the Tech-Check scheme. I’ve written about it before on my personal blog and in summary, if you are a local biz in Ireland with even one laptop and [...]
JD on March 19, 2008
Great idea. I have forwarded details to my office. We have the world’s greatest higgeldy piggeldy set-up in the IT arena.
Example: I push-mail my work emails to a Blackberry 7290. Traditionally the mails enter the office NetPilot, swabbed and placed on the Goldmine CRM whilst a copy is sent to my Blackberry email address. My reply-to mail address from the Blackberry is my work address. Fun, eh??
Well about 3 months ago the NetPilot set up kept ‘erasing’ my remote or Blackberry email address thereby I’m not receiving emails on the move. Back to square one. What I’ve had to do is set up a work Gmail account and bypass Goldmine altogether (which is defeating the purpose of keeping one) and have the NetPilot send the mail directly to my Gmail account, and by changing the settings in the Gmail a/c I can have a copy sent to my Blackberry address. The reply-to email address from the Gmail account is my work email address.
It’s a long way around but Gmail has saved my life. The current IT company we use can’t ‘figure’ out why the NetPilot keeps erasing my remote/Blackberry email!!
Rant over.