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Conversations and curve-balls

Peer Networks bring business owners and leaders together to learn with and from peers experiencing similar challenges. The North East LEP has helped 241 companies join 21 cohort across different sectors. The LEP’s Digital Sector Lead Craig Harrison was keen to see how this programme could benefit the digital community in the region.

The government developed this scheme as part of its Covid-19 recovery plan. It aims to support business growth by helping peers learn from each other. Business leaders attended 18 hours of Action Learning Sets (ALS), cohort sessions. with the specific intention of solving current workplace challenges. The main aims of an ALS are to provide a confidential space to develop skills and strategies and come away with a set of realistic actions for the workplace. Some of the key topics that arose for digital companies were business growth, recruitment and training, and hybrid working.

Initially, Craig was unsure whether key operators working in this demanding and competitive sector would be prepared to commit to so much time away from the day-to-day running of their business. “It was a big ask,” says Craig, but in the end there was an amazing level of engagement from the ten enrolled leaders, with “excellent turnout, participation and involvement.”

Ian Proctor from Digital Edge was enthusiastic. “Where else do you get the opportunity to pick the brains of company leaders who have been there and done it?” Digital Edge is a website design company, recently created from the merger of Durham-based Pixel Media and Infuze Group in Gloucestershire. Ian’s team has grown from two to nine people in the last year, providing online solutions for international clients using the Wix platform. With their sights on further expansion, Ian says “we had nothing to lose” from joining the digital cohort.

With 45 members on their team, ITC Service was the largest business involved in the cohort. They provide client-centred IT support to over 450 businesses across the region, nationally and internationally. Kate Anderson manages human resources and joined the digital cohort looking for “an honest conversation about how the business landscape has changed in the last two years.”

Lockdowns and remote working have created immense demand for Kate’s business. In reality, this meant working “flat out on survival mode” for two years. However, social media only showed business successes and achievements. Where was the struggle? “It was reassuring,” says Kate on joining the digital cohort. “Straight away, you could see everyone was in the same boat.” 

It was essential, says Craig, that the atmosphere in the room was supportive and non-judgemental. “You rarely have success without experiencing some level of failure or setback, and this is quite often the way we learn and adapt, so it was interesting to get people talking about tough times and offering their unique perspectives on common issues.” Members of the cohort felt able to let off steam and voice frustrations in the confidential space of the session.

A shared challenge identified by the cohort was recruitment. The growing demand for digital services creates challenges for small businesses in securing talent. The cohort shared experiences of remote working, apprenticeships and graduate programmes. It can be easy, says Kate, to think “we haven’t done it before and it is not what we do.” But the group discussion inspired them to think differently.

“It changed my mind and shined a light on doing things in a different way,” says Ian. “When you have been living and breathing the business for the last 15 years, you get attached to ideas. You need someone to come at it from zero with an outside perspective.”

Each week, two leaders presented a specific and current challenge they were facing and the group asked questions, shared experience and offered solutions. “There were really practical and extensive ideas coming from the group,” says Ian, with five or six solutions to every problem, “and often a curve-ball you’d never even thought of.”

At the end of the day, says Kate, “If you can implement one thing or make one decision coming out of it, then it has been worth it.” Immersed in the company’s day-to-day running, it was an invaluable opportunity to take a step back and look at the bigger picture.

It was an intense six weeks that the group were sad to finish. “There needs to be more collaboration in IT and digital,” says Kate. “With more forums like this.” But the journey doesn’t end here, assures Craig. Each participant is taking advantage of one-to-one sessions with Craig to help them navigate the support available in the North East LEP area. Where appropriate this can include connecting with an experienced and successful mentor to take their business to the next level. The group plan to keep in touch online and offline and members are already discussing ways they can collaborate in the future to grow their business.

Pictured: Craig Harrison.


Home / North East digital

Steering the way to growth in the North East digital sector

Stuart Lynn, Chair of the North East Digital for Growth steering group, explains how the region’s new digital strategy is being carried forward. A former Chief Technical Officer at Sage UK, Stuart went on to found Tech North East and is also Visiting Professor of Technology at the University of Sunderland.

As a huge advocate of the region and the digital sector, it is a privilege to be the Chair of the steering group which will support the development and delivery of the North East’s Digital for Growth strategy.

The Digital for Growth steering group brings together a number of highly experienced representatives from the digital and tech business community and academia to oversee the strategy, and to work with the LEP and partners in Local Authorities. Its purpose is to provide advice, advocacy and support to businesses and to the rich support ecosystem across the North East, and to work together to meet our objectives and contribute to the ongoing success of the region.

A tremendous amount of thought went into creating the Digital for Growth strategy. It has been built around the needs of the region, whilst leveraging the UK’s Industrial Strategy, the region’s Strategic Economic Plan and the Local Industry Strategy, and the four core ‘enabling pillars’ of the strategy have been carefully chosen for maximum impact.

So, how do we know what success will look like for our digital sector?

My personal ambition is for the North East to have a burgeoning digital tech sector that is recognised and acclaimed nationally and internationally as an exemplar of digital innovation, business creation and regional prosperity.

As delivery of the strategy gains momentum, I would expect to see more investment across the sector, from within and outside of the region. This will help accelerate growth and deliver more success.

I would also expect to see the current skills gap closing and that we create significantly more opportunities for people looking to start their career in sector, and that we retain key skills in the North East rather than people having to leave the region in pursuit of career progression. This is an important agenda for most if not all regional sectors and one which our academic partners in collaboration with industry will play a key role in addressing.

And, I would expect to see an upsurge in positive news stories covering regional success and more North East companies receiving accolades, locally, nationally and internationally.

Collaborative partnership is the ‘secret sauce’ to future success and we already have many notable organisations working for the benefit of the sector. The emergence of the Digital for Growth strategy provides a great opportunity to further support and amplify the initiatives that are already in flight, as well as introduce some new ones.

As a region, we have a history of innovation and creativity which defines us. We have a strength of character and we’re not scared of hard work. These values are as strong across the digital sector today as they were when the North East led the world in engineering, mining and shipbuilding.

I’m certain that by getting behind this strategy, as I know the region can, we will see many more digital tech start-up businesses being formed, more start-ups will become scale-ups, and more large corporations will choose to invest in the North East. This will ultimately create an abundance of new opportunities and put the North East on the national and international map as a major digital powerhouse.

Stuart Lynn, Chair, North East Digital for Growth steering group.

Home / North East digital

North East digital strategy is revealed

Today a new digital strategy for the North East was revealed. Digital for Growth has been created with the aim of bringing together partners across the North East to maximise opportunities for growth and investment in the region.

The strategy is being led by the North East Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and builds on opportunities identified in the region’s Strategic Economic Plan – the road map for creating more and better jobs in the North East.

Laura Partridge, Digital Programme Lead at the North East LEP, said: “We have ambitious and innovative businesses operating in the digital sphere in every part of the North East, ranging from start-ups to established global names.

“Add to that our universities, our digital hubs and networks, and the vast range of businesses in all sectors which are embracing digitalisation, and you have a digital ecosystem which is key to our future success as a region.” 

The full strategy was launched today at an event attended by representatives from the North East digital community including digital businesses, academia, digital networks and enterprises.

Digital for Growth identifies priority areas where the North East LEP will work with partners to build on the region’s assets. These areas are data; infrastructure and connectivity; digital collaboration and enterprise; and workforce.

The strategy is led by the North East LEP and will be delivered in partnership with businesses and organisations across the North East, and overseen by a Digital for Growth steering group.

Stuart Lynn, Founder of Tech North East, said: “We know that digital technology and digitalisation present huge opportunities for the North East, and the best way for us to capitalise on these is by working together as a region. Digital for Growth brings together our digital businesses, networks and communities, providing a clear direction for us to continue to grow and develop our digital sector.”

Laura Partridge added: “There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ answer when it comes to digital and this is an area of the economy that’s continually evolving and changing. This strategy will therefore be flexible and dynamic and be a thematic pipeline of activity which will be reviewed in response to new opportunities and challenges.

“Ultimately, our aim is to demonstrate that we’re home to a collaborative, cohesive and ambitious digital economy, and to reap the benefits of this for our businesses and communities. We have such a vibrant and ambitious digital sector that I have no doubt we can work together to achieve our aims.”

The Digital for Growth strategy can be read here.