takeITon.

The East of England Development Agency is celebrating the success of the takeITon campaign, an initiative launched in November 2007, to help boost the productivity of businesses in the region through improved use of IT.

The takeITon campaign has given businesses in the region a package of practical and financial support measures. Driven by a recognition that a strong IT infrastructure for the region is critical to improving the productivity and efficiency both of individual businesses and the prosperity of the East of England as a whole.

The campaign has encouraged businesses to think again about the way they use IT enabling them to become more competitive, visible and profitable as a result. In the past year, the takeITon campaign has helped small businesses through a series of events and initiatives which have resulted in:

• Over 1,100 businesses have received IT support from Business Link
• 262 businesses received available Grant Funding totalling over £754,000
• 141 attendees to the ‘Fight the credit crunch with IT’ seminars held across the region last year
• Launch of e-skills Business IT Guide, now subscribed to by 294 businesses
• takeITon TV a practical self-help tool designed to guide businesses through every stage of setting up a website

Jan Pinkerton head of business ICT and intelligence at EEDA said:

“I am delighted with the success of the campaign so far, it has been a huge investment in IT in the region. The uptake has been fantastic and businesses in the region are reaping rewards in productivity and efficiency, which, in turn, will benefit the economic prosperity of the region as a whole.”

Since setting up four years ago Essex based ABA Training has seen a huge growth, which subsequently meant the organisation’s IT infrastructure failed to match the company’s rapid expansion, causing extra work loads and a lack of efficiency.

With support from takeITon, ABA Training was able to invest in three new PCs, one server, a printer and networking equipment to connect the two offices. ABA had also invested in a Sage accountancy package so this added to the need for networking the system. Crucially, the company has also invested in back-up services for each of the offices, so that if the IT infrastructure should ever fail, it won’t lose any vital documents or electronic records.

“The takeITon programme has definitely had a positive impact on our business,” says Bill Shirley a director at ABA Training. “We were convinced that we needed it as if we’d carried on growing at the rate we were, our business would have fallen over at some point.”