Member Article

Cheshire businesses reap rewards from Superfast Broadband Programme.

The Connecting Cheshire Superfast Business Programme has helped over 600 companies, across Cheshire and Warrington, since its launch in 2013. Two hundred and eighty five of these companies are predicting a staggering GVA (Gross Value Added - a key measure of economic wealth generation within a local area) uplift exceeding £10,000 each.

Offering a range of free workshops, masterclasses and 1to1 business consultations delivered by industry experts, the goal is to help businesses get the most out of digital technology. The £1.5M programme is in addition to the Connecting Cheshire £28.5M Phase 1 roll-out of Superfast Fibre Optic Broadband to over 80,000 premises. “This is fantastic progress for the region,” said David Marnell, Programme and Partnerships Manager of Connecting Cheshire Superfast Business (CCSFB), “they have a combined potential increase of over £30M in GVA and hope to support the creation of 454 jobs.”

One of the businesses benefiting from the support is Colony Networking. Owner, Kirsty James, said: “The Connecting Cheshire free workshops have been invaluable to my networking business. The Business Advisory team even gave a free digital workshop at my business networking event and ran extra workshops for my members to assist them with their own digital plans.”

The unique programme is free to attend – subject to eligibility – and offers insights into all aspects of digital marketing, from social media for business, to measuring your online success.

Another business owner, Graeme Corlett, Director of This One Counts (TOC), said: “We’ve always used very traditional routes to market previously – flyers, knocking on doors, leaflet drops. The Connecting Cheshire free workshops empowered us to push our message out through social media with fantastic results already!” TOC was set up with a goal of introducing a sense of adventure into peoples’ lives through adventure sports and activities such as trail running and adventure racing. Set up by Graeme Corlett and Jamie Evans, TOC is based on a lifelong love of sports and passion for adventure. Self proclaimed digital phobics – they were recommended to the programme by a contact in the digital arena. “The programme has enabled us to develop our digital marketing plan to include site updates with a view to upgrading the site in the future. The contact we have with our customers has increased significantly. This, coupled with our new awareness of social media as a marketing tool, has had an immediate impact with registrations for this year’s NITro North 10k trail run, which takes place on the 7th March in the dark, already significantly up on last years” said Graeme.

To find out more about the European Regional Development Funded support available via Connecting Cheshire Superfast Business email info@ccbusiness.co.uk or call 0300 123 1696.

About Connecting Cheshire Superfast Business

Connecting Cheshire Superfast Business offers a fully-funded support service to help businesses in Cheshire and Warrington identify, maximize and profit from the opportunities that superfast broadband and new technologies present. The service includes a team of expert advisers, a programme of workshop events offering inspirational insights and practical solutions to ICT specialists and knowledge.

Businesses who apply for the service must be eligible through ERDF criteria.

Connecting Cheshire Superfast Business in a European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) Competitiveness part-funded programme worth £1.5m and runs from September 2013 to March 2015. The programme is led by Peninsula Enterprise and Groundwork Cheshire and delivered on behalf of the Local Authorities.

About ERDF

The project is part financed by the North West Competitiveness Programme, European Regional Development Fund Programme 2007 to 2013. The Department for Communities and Local Government is the managing authority for the European Regional Development Fund Programme, which is one of the funds established by the European Commission to help local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in projects which will support local businesses and create jobs.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Vicky Pulman .