Our Sponsors and Partners  
   
 
     
 
     
  DTI  
     
 

DTI and Achieving best practice in your business

 
     
  The DTI supports Technology Means Business as it fits with DTI’s mission of helping companies achieve best practice in their business.  
     
  An array of DTI schemes, each with their own brand identities, has been replaced with a smaller number of business support products each designed to have greater impact. These products are grouped into four themes, reflecting the areas in which businesses are most likely to need help: innovation, best practice, raising finance and regional financial support. Best practice products are incorporated under Achieving best practice in your business.

 
     
 

Access to best business practice

 
     
  This product targets businesses that want to know how better ways of working can improve their performance and profitability.  
     
  Our website, www.dti.gov.uk, details proven techniques, including e-business techniques, that have benefited businesses of all sizes. There’s also a range of free, printed brochures that business can order.  
     
  Both the website and brochures contain reports, guides and case studies, as well as a range of self-assessment tools to help businesses measure their progress and plan for the future. A wide range of (free) booklets and factsheets can be downloaded from the site or hard copies ordered via www.dti.gov.uk/publications.  
     
     
  British Telecom  
 
Top
 
  Through its day-to-day liaison with customers across the country, BT is acutely aware that many small businesses do not have the internal resource to equip themselves with knowledge about the fast-moving world of information and communications technology. There is also a shortage of people qualified to provide this information in a business context. As a result, many small businesses are missing a competitive trick.  
 
 
 
Excellent progress has been made since the initiative began in establishing the knowledge base, developing the electronic delivery of services and appointing accreditation centres. The priority now must be to engage a large number of advisers so that accreditation targets can be met and, at the same time, stimulate demand and expectation from the SME community. BT are delighted that we are continuing to play a leading role in Technology Means Business - both as a founder sponsor and as an accreditation centre.
 
 
 
  To date BT have 79 small business advisers who have gained the TMB accreditation. The accreditation is seen as an important element of their staff development programme.  
     
  INTEL  
 
Top
 
 
Building the E-Corporation is as relevant to small and medium sized businesses as it is to large corporates. To compete effectively small businesses require trusted advice aimed at maximising the business potential and investment in ICT. Technology Means Business will give a voice to small and medium sized businesses to express their technology needs and to receive world-class training and consultancy.
 
 
 
  Microsoft  
 
Top
 
  Microsoft is extremely proud to be a founding sponsor of Technology Means Business and to have contributed to an initiative that we believe will make a real difference to UK small businesses.  
     
  Technology Means Business will provide small businesses with a trusted route for real business advice which incorporates both technology and business. This will benefit all types of advisors from consultants, accountants, bank advisors and technology resellers. Small businesses need all the assistance they can get to embrace the internet and e-commerce to gain business advantage and getting the right advice is the first step  
     
 
Microsoft is also helping this drive to support, advise and help small businesses do more with technology. We've recently launched Microsoft bCentral - a portal dedicated to our small business customers in the UK. It's about highlighting how and where business and technology meet, providing hints and tips about how to get more from your existing and future technology investments.
 
     
  Microsoft is working hard to make sure the UK's small and growing businesses gain the best advice and assistance available. The Technology Means Business initiative is a great programme and we're pleased to be a part of something with such tangible benefits for the smaller business.
 
 
 
  Hewlett Packard  
 
Top
 
  The TMB partnership between leading ICT companies, UK Online for Business and the Chartered Management Institute allows all parties to bring their best practices into a training programme that delivers real world solutions for UK SMEs, in an easy to understand manner. Technology Means Business provides the standard at which the knowledge and advice around those solutions can be trusted. Hewlett-Packard is delighted to be part of this programme and is committed to ensuring its network of Centres of Excellence pass the new TMB Approved Centre Accreditation.  
     
  At HP we understand that a small to medium sized business may not have a dedicated IT resource or expertise because they are focused on building their own business. They may have little, if any time to keep up with the constant march of technological development. There is a huge difference between knowing what technology can do and understanding how it can help improve business performance. By creating a nationwide network of resellers who have already qualified for HP’s exclusive accreditation as an HP Centre of Excellence we have made sure there is someone local to SME’s who can guide them through the maze of technologies and help them define those which will benefit their business most effectively.  
     
  HP is a leading global provider of products, technologies, solutions and services to consumers and business. The company's offerings span IT infrastructure, personal computing and access devices, global services, and imaging and printing. But we know you don’t just want products, you want answers to business needs. So HP has put together a range of pre-packaged solutions. They are based on specific research into SMEs needs that combine not only HP’s products, but also innovative hardware and software from third parties and include installation and training from the HP Centres of Excellence too. In fact everything you need to start gaining benefit from your investment, fast.

 
 

In addition to supporting the TMB Programme during 2003 HP is continuing to sponsor the:

* National Innovation Award category in the e-Commerce Awards 2003

* The national TMB Seminars for - Business Growth, Innovation and E-business

* The British Chamber of Commerce e-Business Clubs 2003

 
     
  Our $4 billion annual R&D investment fuels the invention of products, solutions and new technologies so we can better serve customers and enter new markets. We invent, engineer and deliver technology solutions that drive business value, create social value and improve the lives of our customers.  
     
  The May 2002 merger of Hewlett-Packard and Compaq Computer Corporation forged a dynamic, powerful team of 140,000 employees with capabilities in 160 countries and doing business in 43 currencies and 15 languages. Revenues for the combined companies were $72 billion for the fiscal year that ended October 31, 2002. Chairman and CEO Carly Fiorina leads HP, which has corporate headquarters in Palo Alto, California  
     
  Network Associates  
     

With headquarters in Santa Clara, Calif., Network Associates, Inc (NYSE: NET) creates best-of-breed computer security solutions that prevent intrusions on networks and protect computer systems from the next generation of blended attacks and threats. Under the McAfee(r) Protection-in-Depth(tm) Strategy, we offer two families of products, McAfee(r) System Protection Solutions, securing desktops and servers, and McAfee Network Protection Solutions, ensuring the security and performance of the corporate network, Network Associates offers computer security to large enterprises, governments, small and medium sized businesses, and consumers. These two product portfolios incorporate the three Network Associates product lines: McAfee(r) System Security Technologies, McAfee(r) Network Security Technologies and Sniffer(r) Technologies.

     
 

"Network Associates (NAI) is privileged to be working alongside TMB towards certifying that our SMB Channel Partners attain the TMB Approved Centre Accreditation. It is our responsibility as a vendor to guarantee that new and existing NAI customers receive the highest levels of service from our Channel - we believe that together with TMB we can achieve this."  

Wayne Carter, Regional Channel Director for Northern Europe, Network Associates

Visit our website.