UK – 14th January, 2008 – A free service to help start-ups and small businesses increase their productivity and competitiveness through technology is now available to companies based in Yorkshire & Humber, the South East and the South West regions of England.

The Business IT Guide was developed by e-skills UK in collaboration with market leaders such as Oracle, EDS, IBM, Accenture, Cisco, Microsoft, HP, Smart421 and BT, and has been tested extensively with small businesses.

The Guide is a user friendly online tool that helps businesses access a wide range of high quality, independent advice to help them fully exploit technology.  Advice includes:

• everything a new business needs to know – from complying with legislation to security;
• where to go for trusted information;
• how to properly introduce and manage technology;
• how to deal with the resource implications: cost, training, time; and
• how to plan for growth and changing needs.

There are five separate routes to advice and information via the Guide:

1. a self help tool – designed to help those unsure of their ICT needs;
2. facts – designed to encourage people to take action;
3. hot tips – designed to have an immediate impact;
4. The Guide library – with all 72 Business IT Guides listed; and
5. search facilities.

Keri-Ann Davies, Business Adviser for the Welsh Assembly Government, said:

“In the past I have made use of the Business Link website and found the best practice IT advice very useful.  The Business IT Guide seems to provide more advanced information than was previously available through Business Link, and also includes the built in search facilities and links.  I found it extremely informative.”

“e-Learning can also greatly enhance a small businesses acquisition of skills and delivery of training”, said Sean Griffin, Co-Founder of Learn Skills, the web-based skills and compliance training company, “and it is for that reason that we are developing training programs tailored to the needs of both SMEs and new start-ups.”

Source: e-skills Passport Winter newsletter

Soft skills refer to a very diverse range of abilities such as:

• Self-awareness
• Analytical thinking
• Leadership skills
• Team-building skills
• Flexibility
• Ability to communicate effectively
• Creativity
• Problem-solving skills
• Listening skills
• Diplomacy
• Change-readiness

Many people often refer to ‘soft skills’ as ‘people skills’ or ‘emotional intelligence’. Hard skills are the technical abilities required to do a job or perform a task: essentially they are acquired through training and education programs, like those offered by Learn Skills.

Importance of Soft Skills

According to psychologist Daniel Coleman, a combination of competencies that contribute to a person’s ability to manage his or herself and relate to other people-matters twice as much as IQ or technical skills in job success.

Results of a recent studies on the importance of soft skills indicated that the single most important soft skill for a job candidate to possess was interpersonal skills, followed by written or verbal communication skills and the ability to work under pressure.

A constantly changing work environment – due to technology, customer-driven markets, an knowledge-based economy and globalisation that are currently impacting on the structure of the workplace and leading to an increased reliance on, and demand for, soft skills.

Soft skills are not a replacement for hard- or technical-skills. They are, in many instances, complementary, and serve to unlock the potential for highly effective performance in people qualified with the requisite hard skills.

Learn Skills provides a comprehensive range of soft-skill courses for employees who want to enhance their work performance and improve their employability.

Reference: sitagita.com