Minister for Small Business, Kelly Tolhurst MP, recently attended a workshop for small businesses to discuss their experiences of using technology to increase productivity in the workplace.
The event, which took place in the Chatham Historic Dockyard, was part of a series run by BeTheBusiness and the Federation of Small Businesses, who have been travelling around the country running similar talks.
The focus was on technology in small businesses and trying to work out the biggest challenges local businesses have faced while implementing new technology, there was also a focus on how the digital adoption had affected productivity.
There was a broad range of businesses in the room, including accountancy firms, creative companies and representatives from the design industry. Among the most common problems raised by the local small business owners, were convincing the staff of the need for change, knowing how best to deal with the rapid pace of change in technology and worries about the disruption that can be caused by new technology in a small business.
Kelly Tolhurst MP said: “It was interesting to attend this workshop to see how businesses are currently using new technology, but also to understand the barriers that small businesses face when taking the decision to use technology to help productivity.”
Kelly’s key priority since becoming a minister has been to tackle the scourge of late payments, which can severely damage small businesses. Recent findings have highlighted the scale of this issue and show that small businesses are, on average, owed £23,360 in overdue invoices on any one day and have to wait on average 14 days after the due date to be paid. The discussion assessed how technology could be used to improve the current situation and relayed the fears small business owners have implementing new technology due to the financial risks of getting it wrong.
BeTheBusiness and the Federation of Small Businesses will continue to take their workshop around the country.
Here is a link to the statistics on late payments:
