£864,000 government drive to get Highland businesses online

A PROGRAMME aimed at encouraging the quarter of Scottish businesses that are not online to make use of the internet is to be rolled out across Scotland.

Infrastructure Secretary Alex Neil has announced an £864,000 investment in the Highland and Islands to help small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) exploit digital opportunities.

More than 350 companies are being supported to get online and make better use of broadband through the ICT business engagement programme. It will then roll out across the rest of Scotland in the coming months.

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Support will include workshops, seminars and events to help companies develop ICT action plans, and an online Business IT Guide with an “ask the expert” resource.

Announcing the programme at the Think Digital Conference in Glasgow, Mr Neil said: “We are keen to improve business skills and digital participation rates across Scotland. To do this, we need to support our SMEs to build an online presence and drive business through the internet.

“The ICT engagement programme in the Highlands and Islands will complement the next generation roll-out activities already under way, led by Highland and Islands Enterprise.

“The programme will provide additional resources to engage with businesses not online and support and develop their knowledge and capability to exploit the benefits of having an online presence.”

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