Wandsworth DigiTech meeting; Photo Julian Jackson
On Tuesday Wandsworth DigiTech held one of its regular networking meetings. Supported by Wandsworth Council and Wandsworth Chamber of Commerce, this is a new programme, only started three months ago, to help technology companies in the Borough reach their objectives.
Around 30 people were present, to listen to Dave Clarke of Benemen give an interesting talk about the benefits of various communication methods for business. Afterwards there was a Q & A where the usefulness of different solutions like Slack and G Suite were discussed in a lively manner.
There were lots of opportunities to network in a friendly environment. Most of the participants were from technology companies of various sorts, but there were some traditional-type businesses such as a property development and management company which was there to gain insights into how technology could improve their business performance.
Benemen run a cloud-based technology communications platform. Dave Clarke said, “One of the ways business has changed is the way the internet has allowed very small organisations to compete with very large ones.” He noted how different communications channels were flexible and relevant to different people and projects. “Communications is the difference between failure and success, and you really need to communicate with your customers on the channels they want to to communicate with you on.”
Networking at Wandsworth DigiTech; Photo by Soraya Lavery
Steve Pinto, CEO of Wandsworth Chamber praised a technology: “PISF2F brings out the synergy in business. It stands for ‘Professional Information Sharing Face-to-Face.’” That got a laugh – but Steve was making the point that even in a digital world, you still need personal meetings and engagement.
Soraya Lavery, COO of CPG Executive Consulting Ltd, which runs the Wandsworth DigiTech programme explained that their mission was to assist technology companies of all sizes to get where they wanted to go. There are around 3000 technology companies in the borough, and so there are many opportunities for synergies. “We want to build a big network that is self-sustaining.” They will be holding a Tech Summit in September to exchange ideas between participants in various organisations and companies.
Author: This article was written by Julian Jackson, Wandsworth Chamber of Commerce’s resident blogger and copywriter – www.julianjackson.co.uk https://julianj.journoportfolio.com