BCS joins national effort to boost small business digital adoption

The professional body for technology, BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT has joined the tech coalition behind Tech Hub, a major new national initiative designed to scale tech adoption and boost digital investment and skills amongst the UK's small and mid-sized business (SMB) community.

The diverse community of IT and digital professionals has backed the new one-stop-shop solution, which aims to be a universal hub for the UK's 5.6m SMBs to upskill, up-tool and embed technology into their business.

BCS has also become part of the Tech Consortium, joining policy leads from major technology brands to discuss how digital performance amongst SMBs can be boosted across the UK.

The hub is supported by British telecommunications leader Vodafone UK, global tech innovation firm Cisco, market leading SMB technology companies Sage and Google and built by business support specialist Enterprise Nation.

Emma Jones CBE, founder and CEO of Enterprise Nation, said:

"We're delighted to welcome BCS and its IT professional members to provide expert insight and accredited support to the millions of businesses that need tech advice.

"Tech Hub is the merging of technology pioneers who agree we must use every possible resource to unlock new tech ambition, boost productivity and maximise possibilities for the UK's economy."

According to the World Economic Forum, the UK ranks 31st in the world for tech and ICT adoption.

Research from Sage's Digital Britain: How small businesses are turning the tide on tech report found enhanced tech adoption could unlock £232bn for the UK economy.

Emma added:

"The Help to Grow: Digital initiative was a brilliant idea in principle, but it closed earlier this year. We need to build on what it achieved, and Tech Hub is perfectly placed to help with this."

Holly Porter, managing director - Institute at BCS, said:

"We welcome the opportunity to open up the Enterprise Nation advisory route to our professional members. Small and medium-sized companies are the backbone of the UK economy. However, unlike their larger counterparts, they don't always have direct access to IT experts to help navigate and benefit from tech innovations like, for instance, AI.

"If small businesses are to grow, they need support in this area. Over the years, we have all seen the headlines of the cost of the wrong decisions on partners for digital transformation projects. With over 70,000 members across different specialisms of technology and industry backgrounds, BCS has a wealth of experience to offer."

The Tech Hub's first full Parliamentary roundtable is on December 12, and will discuss how the public and private sector can work together to encourage small businesses to adopt technology.

Tech Hub is free to use and works by automatically analysing individual technology requirements and confidence levels and generating practical digital recommendations based on expert knowledge and guided by real experience.

ENDS

About Tech Hub

Tech Hub is a collaboration between Cisco, Google, Sage and Vodafone Business and built by Enterprise Nation. It is an accessible 'one stop shop' solution developed to support small businesses to adopt the technology they need to run and grow their ventures while helping to boost the nation's productivity.

About Enterprise Nation

Enterprise Nation is a business support platform and provider delivering support to more than 800,000 small businesses every year. It is a membership organisation on track to have 120k members by the end of 2023. Its aim is to help people turn their good ideas into great businesses -- through expert advice, events, acceleration support and networking.

Enterprise Nation was founded in 2005 by British entrepreneur Emma Jones CBE, also co-founder of national enterprise campaign StartUp Britain.