The Brief
Businesses with advanced digital engagement are 50% more likely to grow revenues and generate 60% more revenue per employee, according to a small business report from Deloitte. With the understanding that this increase in productivity is not only good for the businesses, but for also for the economy, local business support has increasingly focused on digital adoption as a key driver of the local and national economies.
Cheshire East Borough Council created Digital Cheshire to support established and ambitious SMEs to maximise technology to improve performance and productivity. With funding from ERDF, the Council commissioned Winning Moves to deliver a bespoke programme of one-to-one digital consultancy with high growth potential businesses across all sectors to help them explore and adopt digital products that would expand their capacity and capabilities.
The Council recruited, selected and processed the participants for the programme.
The Solution
Each company was provided with up to 20 hours of one-to-one consultancy advice from our highly qualified technology experts to help them grow their business through digital solutions.
Our consultants begin the process with an analysis of each businesses’ current state of digital use, as well as their digital understanding and ambitions. Using the Benchmark Index Digital Maturity Tool (BI Digital), and front of mind information from the business, the consultants helped businesses understand the impact digital technology will have on their performance and the return from investment that they can realistically expect. BI Digital also helps to identify current levels of performance, practice, competence and skill levels to identify areas of strength and gaps that may need to be filled.
With the diagnosis report in hand and opportunities and challenges outlined, the consultants worked with business leaders to identify the areas where digital technology will have the greatest impact on the business, currently and in the future.
Once a digital project was decided, together the advisers and businesses created a digital road map to pinpoint how technology can improve performance and accelerate growth. Structured on a simple four-stage process, the road map ensures that the company’s vision and goals remain the central focus.
The Outcome
Digital Chester delivered extensive consultancy support to 20 businesses over the course of 14 months, which resulted in all of the businesses adopting a new digital technology to move their company forward.
The content of the support varied to suit each business’s needs: from identifying CRMs and HR management software to bar code scanners and website development.
In a post-project satisfaction survey, participants who responded rated the programme and the advisors very highly, on average, above 9 out of 10. Echoing much of the feedback on the programme, Victoria Hill, founder of PROMIND, said, “My associate was superb,”