Recently I was working with Newry BID delivering webinars for members on ‘Google My Business’. Digital media is not my area of expertise, but it is a force that no one in business should choose to ignore. More and more communication is being carried out online, and you either adapt and be agile or become irrelevant. I’ve chosen to adapt and I am enjoying adding new digital skills to my CV even if it is not my field of preference.
Google My Business is a fantastic free resource provided by Google which is under exploited by many businesses. It has been really beneficial to me to have increased my knowledge of how it can be best utilised and subsequently to be able to pass that knowledge onto others.
I would thoroughly recommend every business large and small, online or offline to check out their own Google My Business profile. Even if you don’t think you have one, it is very likely that Google has created one for you and you should be taking control of it.
These sessions got me thinking about a few things, the first being, the access to the wealth of knowledge that has been presented to us during this pandemic.
I know we talk about having ‘Zoom fatigue’, but I haven probably learned more during the last couple of months than I had over the last couple of years.
Training is vitally important to keep us all fresh, but it is something that can be seen as a hindrance or an inconvenience in ‘normal’ times. Training for me often meant driving to Belfast, eating up most of a valuable day for maybe a one- or two-hour session.
There is also the cost factor, the sheer volume of knowledge that has been presented for free or as part of subscription to a business organisation is phenomenal. I think businesses need to tap into this and encourage their people to use this period of what I hope is economic recovery to continue to learn and; continue to engage in the learning and training being provided by many different organisations. In the period ahead agility is going to be key for all of us.
The second thing it got me thinking about was the need for there to be more information sharing. I have been spending a lot of time with a variety of businesses recently and many of our issues are the same. There are very few businesses that have completely unique problems.
I joined a great networking group on Facebook called Northern Ireland Business. There are quite a few other Newry businesses on there. Marketing stalwart Tim McKane from Belfast set it up and in a matter of weeks it had more than 9,000 followers. It is basically a free resource to ask other businesses for advice, services and support. I have no doubt that had it not been for this pandemic it would not have been established.
It would be great to see even more of this- the moderators keep it tight. It’s not for moaning, complaining or controversy just old fashioned helping each other out and it is great to see. During the pandemic I had set up a group on Facebook for working parents and one on Linked In. The Linked In group is still very relevant as we are posting local job opportunities and sign posting people training and support. It is called ‘Newry Area Economic Recovery Group’ if anyone wants to join.
One of the items we have posted about in this group is the need to support our local apprenticeship schemes. I read a quote recently which said that ‘Historic experience has shown that young adults tend to suffer most during periods of economic stress, finding it harder to enter work and, therefore, suffering long-lasting economic “scarring”.’
I would appeal to any businesses who can possible support taking on a Higher-Level Apprentice or an Apprentice to please contact Southern Regional College. These young people need help to acquire the skills we are going to need going forward. The financial incentive announced during the week is very welcome and will cover part of the apprentice salary. To see even more of our young people receiving on the job training from local businesses while learning their trade would be a welcome outcome of these challenging economic times.
The word from the world of politics and negotiations very clearly shows that we are far from out of the woods in terms of economic challenges.
At the time of writing it appears the UK Government is planning to ride roughshod over the Northern Ireland Protocol- as a ‘fallback’- that infamous word again.
This will serve in no one’s favour not least in our own local economy. It will also massively undermine the UK’s position in negotiating future trade deals with other countries if it reneges on the first one it made. It is incredulous to believe that we are still at this level of uncertainty with three months to go. If you are interested in finding out more about Brexit and its impact on the services sector, Newry Chamber is hosting the second of its Brexit Support Webinars in partnership with InterTradeIreland, on Thursday 10th September from 12.30pm-1.30pm. Graeme Belshaw from the Department of the Economy will be joined by Feargal McCormick, MD, PKF-FPM. (now available from Newry Chamber Social media)
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