Caithness.org News Bulletins -  October 2002

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Companies in the Highland and Islands have embraced the e-business revolution and now lead Scotland in their use of website technology, according to a recent survey.

Over 12,000 Scottish companies took part in the joint Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Scottish Enterprise E-Business Survey 2002.  It was designed to gather information on the extent to which businesses are taking advantage of web-based technology and was sponsored by the Royal Bank of Scotland and BT Scotland.

Researchers contacted eight per cent of all Scottish businesses by telephone and discovered that while the national trend for using new technology is rising, businesses in the Highlands and Islands have made the biggest strides.

The survey reveals that 45 per cent of Highlands and Islands businesses now have their own website compared to 39 per cent for Scotland as a whole. It also shows the proportion of Scotland's businesses allowing customers to order goods or services from a website is 20 per cent, whereas in the Highlands and Islands area, the corresponding figure is 27 per cent.  This feedback is particularly encouraging for the Local Enterprise Companies (LECs) whose e-business advisors are the front line contacts delivering advice and financial support to their local companies. They have helped to redress the results of last year's survey, which revealed that Highlands and Islands businesses were lagging behind the rest of Scotland in their adoption of e-business.

The recent upsurge in the popularity of web-based technology has been welcomed by Calum Davidson, head of knowledge economy at Highlands & Islands Enterprise (HIE).  "In the 18 months since the last survey, HIE has worked with over 1600 firms, from Shetland to Argyll, helping them with e-advice, e-information, and e-finance. This effort now means that small businesses in the HIE area are leading the rest of Scotland in all the key indicators of e-business activity.

"In this short time, the LECs have established themselves as a  one-stop-shop for e-business advice by offering advice and grants as well as organising events where businesses can get together with suppliers and share ideas.  We are now beginning to see the impact they are having on the business community, with more people heeding the key message - 'e-business boosts your bottom line'.

"As a rural and dispersed economy, we have more to gain than other regions by embracing new technology because e-business breaks down the barriers of distance, allowing even the most remote business to compete on an even playing field."  One such is example is Blurring Lines, a Shetland-based company, set up by Stuart Hill, to sell digital photographs to a world-wide market.  With an e-business grant from Shetland Enterprise, Mr Hill has designed and built a  website which displays his work in digital imagery - original photographs and images which have been cut and creatively reassembled to produce some extraordinary effects.

The website is integrated with Photobox.com who provide the secure credit card ordering facility and manufacture the photographic prints and other products using Blurring Lines images. This allows Mr Hill to concentrate on capturing the original content and applying his unique artistic flair to generate the finished image.  Of course, e-business depends on advanced communications technology being in place as growing businesses director at HIE, Douglas MacDiarmid, explains:
"Success in e-business and access to good broadband connections go hand in hand, and HIE are working closely with companies such as BT and SSE Telecom to pilot innovative methods of delivering broadband services to all parts of the Highlands and Islands.

"We are currently running a series of broadband awards seminars, which are proving very popular. For more information, contact your Local Enterprise Company office or go to www.hie.co.uk/broadband ."