Website: www.living-media.com
Contact: enquiries@living-media.com

Website: www.mgbarkers.com
Contact: info@mgbarkers.com

Website: www.hrsltd.com
Contact: info@hrsltd.com

Valatech Ltd is an Information Technology sales company based in Merseyside. With the assistance of the Harnessing Digital Technologies project (part funded by ESF) Valatech was able to purchase IT equipment, software and training to assist in the production of a new E-commerce web site at www.pconestopshop.com

Purchasing this equipment and training enables Valatech to streamline the operations of the new web site. Given that the e-commerce site contains approximately 120,000 IT related products and services, the workforce are able to swiftly process multiple orders placed on line.

Valatech’s online pc products are available to businesses and members of the general public at extremely competitive prices.

Website: www.valatech.co.uk
Contact: support@valatech.co.uk

Charities Trust is a national payroll giving and corporate donation management agency approved by the Inland Revenue. It is also a non-profit making organisation and a charity in its own right, based in the Brunswick Business Park area of Liverpool.

With the assistance of the Harnessing Digital Technologies project (part funded by ESF) Charities Trust was able to secure the deployment and development of a new software application, which linked various company intranets to the Charities Trust database so that the process whereby employees or businesses can donate to charities can be simplified resulting in an increase of usage.

In addition to this, a training need was necessary at Charities Trust to ensure all staff would use and follow the new systems effectively and also so that they can manage the clients/donations efficiently as well as the bespoke software developed.

This new software has changed the business process and has made it a lot easier for companies and invividuals to donate to Charitable causes, and there is also a lot more flexibility for payroll giving, which allows anyone who pays UK income tax to give regularly and on a tax free basis to the charities and good causes of their choice.

Website: www.charitiestrust.org
Contact: info@charitiestrust.org

Email marketing is one of the most misunderstood and misused forms of marketing available to any business. Used right it can be a great benefit, linking you to your consumer in a personal, interesting and involving way. Used wrong it can be a complete pain in the neck, alienating your target audience, and causing annoyance and frustration.

Most emails never arrive in the inbox, look wrong if they do arrive and are deleted quickly by the majority of people. Over 80% of all emails received in your inbox are probably spam, some are irritating, some are offensive, some are dangerous, and some are trying to steal your money.

So how can you avoid, or at least minimise this for your emails? How can you make your work stand out and support your objectives?

This talk covers how to create emails which will generate results, what pitfalls to avoid and how to make sure you get the most from your efforts. It is not a masterclass in email technology, there will be no email systems presented or suppliers recommended. It is a review of how to ensure that you maximise the opportunity through, getting the right data, designing the right email, to putting in the right copy, directing customers to the right place and what to do with them when they get there.

The intention is to allow you to take a critical look at your email marketing and make changes straight away which will improve your results.

Martin Corlett-Moss is the MD of Mobious, a digital and direct agency based in Cheshire and Newcastle-upon-Tyne. The agency runs email campaigns for businesses varying from Lloyds TSB Autolease, Sage and Carling, to Newcastle Race Course and Cholmondeley Estates. The agency was voted in the Top 100 outside of London this year and as the best agency in the North East for the 2nd year running.

To book your place at this FREE MERIT event, click here.

Click here for directions

The MERIT team look foward to seeing you again.

Clarity Creation, the coming together of Paver Downes Creative Division and Gap Infomedia has transformed its business operations with the assistance from the Harnessing Digital Technologies project (part funded by ESF).

Clarity secured specific hardware, software and received training to enable them to manage business operations much more effectively. The core element of the project undertaken was the purchase of a work management system called AdNet. This means that Clarity Creation can now link all client work with staff time plus any bought in costs (purchases) which then feeds through to the in-house Sage accounts system. This ensures that Clarity are billing correctly for every piece of work that they carry out.

The software has fundamentally changed the business enabling the management team to monitor staff productivity, income per client, profit per job, costs per job and so on. The software also links in with staff training and support for project management so as well as improving the figures they are constantly improving the quality of the work they do.

Website: www.claritycreation.com
Contact: information@claritycreation.com

Train Large Numbers of Users Quickly, Consistently, and Cost-Effectively

Interactive Meeting Room Technologies - 30/1/2008

ICDC Liverpool Digital, 2nd Floor, Babbage House entrance, Edge Lane, Liverpool, L7 9NW

Time: 11.00 a.m to 13.00 p.m.

Guest Speaker: Colin Birchall, Director of Digital Interactive Technologies at Rapid Technologies

Member cost: FREE
Non member cost: FREE

Competing in fast moving environments amidst strategies of globalization and an increasing emphasis on your organizations corporate social responsibility, can you afford to fall behind in the race to the meeting room? Introducing the revolutionary “green room” which utilizes the latest video conferencing technologies to enable you to differentiate your business from the competition as a flexible, forward-thinking and innovative organization and continue to stay one step ahead of the competition as they follow in your digital footsteps.

Operating within the traditional business environment it was perfectly acceptable to book out the meeting room for an internal meeting which all staff could attend and be back to work in the time it takes to walk down the staircase or across a corridor. However, as businesses grow and have operations across their domestic markets as well as international operations, there are new barriers to communication for the traditional meeting.

The Rapid green room embraces video conferencing and meeting room technologies to enable organizations to conduct meetings with clients and customers in the next office, town or country in real time without the time or financial costs of office disruption. In addition, with the emphasis on corporate social responsibility, the use of videoconferencing technologies reduces your carbon footprint and assists in the implementation of your organizations environmental strategy, a fast developing hygiene factor for the twenty-first business.

This FREE session will provide you with the knowledge and tools necessary to run and participate in interactive meeting rooms.

This session is for those organisations who are new to interactive meeting room technologies and those who already have an awareness to keep you up-to-date with the latest industry developments.

You will come away with:-

• The knowledge of what interactive meeting room technologies entail
• The comprehension to implement and run an interactive meeting room and compete effectively with your competition utilsing the latest interactive technologies
• Understand practical and efficient ways in which you can reduce your carbon footprint and save your business thousands of pounds
• Benefit from an extra working week of productivity added to your annual calendar
• Protect yourself against corporate liability issues and achieving work life balance

Guest Speaker: Colin Birchall, Director of Digital Interactive Technologies at Rapid Technologies

Website: www.rapid.co.uk
Directions: (Merit) Liverpool Digital Map(8).pdf

From 9.00 am Registration to 14.00 p.m.

Member cost: FREE
Non member cost: FREE

Flexible working is on the increase as employers recognise the benefits it delivers to the business, customers and employees.

Research shows that employees who work flexibly are happy, healthy and productive. And they are friends of the environment too, as they are not travelling at peak congestion times. Organisations adopting flexible working are recording significant savings in property costs as well as improved recruitment and retention rates. Flexible working offers a good deal for all!

If you are considering introducing flexible working, attend this event that will offer practical advice on how to get started plus the experiences of employers who have successfully incorporated flexible working into their business.

This event is free and is being hosted by the Northwest Flexible Working Group.

Timetable:

9.30 – 9.45am

Welcome by Peter Connor, Regional Manager, BT and Chair, Northwest Flexible Working Group

9.45am – 10.30am

Getting started; a panel that will examine the steps to starting out

• Legal aspects – Justin Beevor, Director, Employment Channel, Addleshaw Goddard
• Technology aspects – Gary Coombes, Regional manager, Orange
• Data protection – Gary Dodson, Green Light Computers
• IT infrastructure - Andrew Halliwell, Acting head of ICT Policy, Northwest Development Agency

10.30am – 11.00am

A Personal Perspective;

Anne Bingham – Holmes, Chief Executive, Vale Royal Borough Council and winner of The Times Best Council to Work For, 2007

11.00 – 11.20am

Coffee break

11.20 – 11.50am

Impacting the work/life balance with Susannah Robertson, Robertson Cooper Ltd

11.50am – 12.20pm

Flexible Friendly Employers;

Hear from employers from the public and private sectors, who have benefited from introducing flexible working. Chaired by Andy Lake, Editor of Flexibility.co.uk and speakers to include:

• David Parr, Chief Executive, Halton Borough Council & Chair, Merseyside DDA
• Sarah Williams, HR Business Manager, KPMG
• Catherine Nevin, HR Manager, Liverpool John Moores University

12.20pm – 12.30pm

Reference to research generated by flexible working group pilot project.

12.30pm – 1.00pm

Twenty Years on …the story of flexible working in BT with Dave Wilson, Manager Employment Policy, BT plc.

1.00pm

Buffet lunch
Directions: (Merit) Liverpool Digital Map(6).pdf

Book Here