There is no doubt that the world today is digital – we can look up opening hours, buy a product or check out photos of menu items in our favorite restaurant from the comfort of our couch. We can even read our local paper on our phone. These days most businesses need at least some kind of digital presence to promote themselves and connect with customers.
This can be daunting to some of us – there is so much opportunity, and it can be tricky to understand what is going to give us best bang for buck and add value to our business. You can hire experts but if your business is not quite able to afford that, or you want to understand what your advisors are talking about there is a free self-directed online learning platform, packed with short videos, live events and expert advice to help you grow your business and thrive in today’s fast-paced digital world.
The Government-backed “Digital Boost” Skills Training and Support programme is designed to provide small businesses with training in the benefits of becoming a digital business. It has been designed by small business – for small business. It’s free and you don’t need a NZBN to register and access the training modules and other great content.
When you sign up you provide a bit of information about your business through a series of questions to define your needs and then you can get access to tailored information. You work at your own pace, in your own time as it suits you.
Once you get into the system there are a few ‘beginner’ basics you can use to set you up from the very beginning. These range from creating an email address to software to protect your computer and resetting your router.
If you are comfortable with the basics there are a range of topics that you can dive into – offering information. Some courses include:
Website work: Search Engine Optimisation, Ecommerce
Small Business Accounting
Digital tools on offer for your business
How to access your business insights
Future technologies
Export
Sustainable Business Practice
There is access to expert advice along the way, where you can ask specific questions. Whatever stage you are at, there are ways we can all use digital to do business smarter, and this is a great tool to get us started.
Go to https://digitalboost.business.govt.nz/s/ to sign up today!
