As a business becomes busier either through natural organic growth, or planned growth, investment in new technology is vital. Buying the right technology can be challenging enough, but the capital expenditure of doing so can also be a barrier to investing for growth.
Luckily for Worcestershire based SMEs there are a number of grants that you can tap into. These grants are normally capped at a maximum value, and may be matched too, usually 50/50. For example, a business booster grant of £2,000 is available from all of the District Councils in the county. Speak to your local Economic Development Officers, who we have found to be really engaging and keen to meet up. This is a matched funding scheme, limited to £2,000, so you have to spend more than £4,000 to be able to qualify. Just complete a very simple short form explaining how the project will boost or support your business growth.
Ideas for IT projects could include new hardware, such as a laptop or tablet, allowing you to ‘go mobile’, allowing you to give presentations and pitches outside of Worcestershire, perhaps abroad too, all great for the Worcestershire economy. How about staff training? There are numerous IT training courses available. Often some specialist IT training will really pay off within a few days of the course. Security is a new area to consider, and as such there are grants available to support IT health checks, ‘ethically hacking’ into your business, to see what real hackers might be able to access, and analysis of your business processes, looking at everything from employment contracts, backups, patching of systems, to policies and procedures for protecting data assets.
Take a look at Worcestershire business central, and do speak with your local Economic Development Officer, you will be surprised at what support and how using grants could help you get more from your IT and software systems. Maybe start using grants for your IT purchases!