Date: Tue 28th April, 2009
Venue:
Embracing technology and the possibilities it can bring is something North West business needs to do more. That’s the message from Nick Bradshaw, managing partner of communications group Amaze, one of the speakers at Insider’s technology breakfast, held at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall.
The event, sponsored by Genesis Communications and Microsoft, was designed to give North West businesses a flavour of the technology that’s out there that could be harnessed to help their business.
Bradshaw said: "We need to have an appetite for technology. There’s sometimes nervousness about embracing new ideas but we need to lose the fear."
His thoughts were added to by the event’s second speaker, Colin McCaffery, product director at mobile marketing group 2ergo. McCaffery said: "We hope that the opening of MediaCity will boost the skill set here. There’s a lot of demand from businesses that prefer to use North West companies where possible."
The third speaker, Mark Gambarota, a hosting specialist with Microsoft, said: "What we’re talking about isn’t revolutionary and business shouldn’t see this as a threat."
So what can businesses do to keep up to speed in these cost-conscious but still rapidly-changing times? Social networking is one area businesses have to be, in Bradshaw’s opinion. He said: "Sixty-seven per cent of internet users use social media and it accounts for 10 per cent of their internet time. If you don’t have anyone in your organisation looking into social media you’re missing a trick."
For McCaffery, the biggest change taking place in technology is the growth of internet use on mobile phones. He said: "We’re at a massive tipping point. In a year it’s gone from 25 per cent of mobile users to 40 per cent - 97 per cent of it using iPhones." 2ergo’s successes include the work behind Orange Wednesday, a promotion by the mobile network with national cinema groups that has seen Wednesday go from the quietest night of the week to the second busiest.
Gambarota said: "The fact is that it’s never been easier for a business to get its message out there. The ability to promote it is the thing. That’s why we’re committed to our Bizspark programme, to put start-ups in touch with technology resources."
