Laois and Offaly Education and Training Board are a large body whose range of services is incredibly far-reaching.
And businesses in the region can avail of their services by enlisting them for training purposes.
It’s a theme that underpins a five-week webinar series that their Enterprise Support team have organised for local businesses.
Over five weeks in September and October they have organised five free webinars themed ‘Future Proof your Business’ with the aim of supporting SMEs and “increasing sales and productivity through digitalisation”.
Each week they have an expert key note speaker along with a case study from a local business. It’s the perfect mix of expertise and local, relatable business issues.
On the first week they had Jeff Gothelf, a consultant who helps “organisations build better products and executives build the cultures that build better products”. He addresses the issue of User Experience, using a selection of examples where companies have perfected the art.
Aisling Kirwan, from Portlaoise-based Integrilead, a lead-generation company specialising in the IT sector, is the case study. You can watch the full webinar here.
On the second week, Dr Ciaran McMahon, Director at the Institute of Cyber Security and author of the book The Psychology of Social Media addresses a range of issues that are particularly relevant in the Covid world.
Among them he addresses how to encourage people to choose good passwords and not click on dodgy links to protect their company.
Lee Feighery from Grant’s Engineering in Birr is the case study and goes through some of the security issues that can arise for businesses. You can watch the full webinar here.
This week’s webinar focussed on the issue of resistance to change with Fin Goulding as the guest speaker and Allwood Products from Portlaoise as the case study. That webinar will be available to view in the coming days.
Yvonne Foy, from the LOETB Enterprise Support team, explained in one of the webinars what they can provide for businesses in the area.
“We look after apprentices, traineeships (and) specific skills training,” she said. “Basically for your training needs in any area.
“We are here as a support. We are state funded and the statutory organisation for training in Laois and Offaly. All our programmes are hugely employment focused – whether that’s getting people into employment or upskilling people currently in employment.
“Two of our main focuses going forward digitilisation and the green economy and that’s where these webinars kick.
“Digitalisation is not just as a reaction to Covid but to keep up with emerging trends and future jobs and how current jobs are going to operate in the future.
“Any area where you have needs … get in touch with us.”
In the coming weeks, resistance to change, business process improvement and lean and how to measure business success.
Thursday, October 15 – Business Process Improvement
- Keynote Speaker: Andy Brophy
- Case Study: Polar Ice
Wednesday, October 21 – How to Measure Business Success
- Keynote Speaker: Muriel Foley
- Case Study: Holly Breen, Honest Roots
SEE ALSO – Check out more videos from LOETB here
