Business comes together to make the most of online trade
Feb 4 2010 by Peter McCusker, The Journal
A group has been established to help North East business reap rewards from business online. Peter McCusker reports.
Stephen Slater, commercial services and IT partner at RMT accountants and business advisers in Newcastle, which is the main driver of the NEO initiative said: “There is almost certainly a digital divide between North and South, and there are reasons for this. There appears to be a mentality of fixing things rather than buying into technology for tomorrow.
“There is a lack of awareness of what is available, what kind of technological solutions are available for business in the region, this we hope is where NEO can help.
“Some people get a website and expect business to double overnight, the website is just part of the mix, and one must use other tools to fulfil it’s potential.
“Many businesses in the region don’t realise there are whole other market segments they can sell to, though adoption of technology.
“Though intelligent use of technology businesses can attract a steady stream of potential customers to them, with very little waste of marketing spend.”
Now that it is up and running NEO says it will work towards developing a “significant increase” of e-business in the region, which will help increasing trade and allow businesses to expand their market.
Mr Slater added: “One interesting point we found from the agency side, is they are not being approached by businesses with requests for exciting or innovative projects, and the agencies are tending to suggest to the client what they might need.
“One of the problem areas appears to be the levels of trust between the experts, the suppliers, the customers etc, this is really hindering the region. There are some leading service businesses in the region, who compete quite actively with some of the bigger London-based firms.
“We want the create an arena where the North East market is being led by businesses who are confident in their ability to engage the services of IT experts, this has to be the ultimate goal in order to achieve a significant change in the North East.”
RMT says it wants to find a way of ensuring the North East business community is the best at delivering online services and that those business that trade online trust the suppliers and understand the best approach to making their online business a success.
