Image: Sunshine Coast Council
Queensland’s Sunshine Coast Council is working to ensure local businesses are kept up to date with the latest trends and innovations from companies like Microsoft and Google.
As any tech-head would realise by now, multinational tech juggernauts like Microsoft and Google are constantly updating their software, applications and functionality, but some people in business may not always be up to scratch with these developments.
That’s why the council has created a free one-hour webinar to take place on 9th May, 2017 as part of its ‘Level Up’ program, where ‘two self-confessed geek girls’ will outline the virtues of Google’s Gmail, Calendar, Google Docs and Google Drive as well as Microsoft’s Outlook, Office Online and OneDrive for Business.
The girls, Sonia Cuff and Yvette Adams, will be entrusted with the task in making business owners tech wizzes themselves, as the council wants to help boost the local economy by increasing the understanding of systems that can help them thrive.
Ms Cuff said G Suite and Office 365 can both be used on any operating system (Mac or PC), whereas Microsoft products have traditionally been the domain of corporate and Government clients, with many start-ups and small businesses often preferring Google products.
“But both systems keep innovating, so it’s important for businesses to periodically take a look at what is on offer in both camps and ensure they’re on the system which best suits their businesses needs and that they are using it to its full capacity,” Ms Cuff said.
Ms Adams said the webinar would also cover off how to use G Suite and Office 365 offline when you can’t connect to the internet and sync automatically when you reconnect.
She said the session will also include cool tools which go well with the G Suite & Microsoft products and how to gain efficiencies on email.
Economic Development Councillor Steve Robinson said the program is an important toolkit for local business.
“The Level Up program is brought to you by Sunshine Coast Council and is designed to help local businesses understand the systems and tools out there which can help them to work more productively and more profitably with the advent of high speed broadband,” Mr Robinson said.
“We called it Level Up because we believe succeeding in business requires you to move up a range of levels,” he said.
He said once you start, you have to keep picking up new skills along the way if you want to go to the next level of business and success.
“The Level Up program includes a range of free and heavily discounted webinars, workshops and access to mentors and a Facebook support group to help Sunshine Coast businesses move to the next level in a very competitive business world – whether they are local and global! We hope more businesses will jump online and sign up.”
