The Chamber of Commerce Ireland today launched an e-Business training programme to deliver training to more than 4,000 small and medium sized enterprises by 2002.
The training is for owner/managers of SME’s and will operate from the 8 local chambers throughout Ireland. £2m will be invested in the programme by the Department of Trade Enterprise and Employment, the Chambers and their partners.
The objective is to provide owner/managers with a means to develop an Internet/ITC (Information Communication Technology) strategy for their businesses.
The 15-hour training programme consists of 5 modules, three hours each and there is also an advanced module to upgrade companies with existing strategies. So far over 600 companies have taken part.
The programme comes as a response to the CCI’s second National Survey which examines SME attitudes to e-Business, the results of which were also published today.
MORI/MRC interviewed 826 companies for the survey and results highlight the digital divide between multi-national companies, large corporates and SMEs.
Despite the dot.com slowdown SME’s have reported a 76% increase in online sales and a 130% increase in online enquiries, yet 1 in 5 spend less than £1000 on technology. While 70% believe the cost of acquiring specialist e-business skills is the biggest obstacle facing them.
Speaking at the launch, Mr John Dunne, Chief Executive of the Chambers of Commerce Ireland, said: "Smaller companies due to the lack of time and resources can often ignore and overlook e-Business."
"Today we are launching a dedicated e-Business Initiative to ensure that they [SME’s] can remain competitive in an increasingly widening marketplace," he added.
Speaking at the launch the Minister for Trade Labour and Consumer Affairs, Mr Tom Kitt, reminded those present that the European eCommerce Directive must be implemented by 17th January 2002.
He said that his department published a discussion document on their website, www.entemp.ie/ecd/ebusiness.htm, and he encouraged people to offer their views on the transposition of the Directive before Oct 15th.
