seoBusiness leads digital debate

Tech sector champion Digital Lancashire hosted a series of debates to discuss the digital future of the county, inviting seoBusiness to share its insight and experiences.

Director Kam Kothia took part in the Reboot Blackburn event, giving his thoughts on how the town could capitalise on the strength of its talent.

Kam drew on his vast experience, including 22 years as a director of web development agency seoBusiness as well as more than a decade of running online technology shop Time2, in addition to his work with a number of business and community groups in the town.

The panel also featured representatives from Blackburn College, Blackburn Rovers FC, The Making Rooms and other tech businesses and businesses working in the technology sector.

Digital Lancashire is an organisation designed to encourage collaboration in the community and to promote the county’s successes. The organisations hosted Reboot 2020 to help define what the digital sector currently looks like in Blackburn and Lancashire in order to shape its manifesto for the future.

The debate began by collecting experiences of working through the global pandemic – and every contributor had a story to tell, some positive, some more difficult.

As Kam described: “Some businesses have done really well, but others did go down. Family businesses built up over more than 20 years – they’ve become our friends and overnight their business has gone. It’s really quite sad.”

Jenna Gardner of Blackburn College also discussed how the lockdown had revealed how many young people don’t have ready access to computer, smartphones or high speed internet.

But Kam and the panel were also able to share stories of companies who have grasped new opportunities that have come their way, including both seoBusiness and Time2, which increased sales throughout the lockdown.

The panel then discussed how Blackburn companies could work together more effectively, and there was a general agreement that while the town is full of talented individuals and high-achieving businesses, there is little sense of community to bring them together.

One idea put forward is to take the lead from Manchester, which has become a powerhouse by working together under one umbrella, not as individual towns.

The sector could also do more to engage with professionals outside of the sector, as statistics show that around two-thirds of the 20,000 employees with digital jobs work within companies outside of the sector.

The panel ultimately agreed that Blackburn, and Lancashire as a whole, is filled with talented individuals and brilliant businesses, and by working together more closely the sector could retain more of its talented individuals and become a thriving community which works together to become stronger as a whole.

Tom Stables, Digital Lancashire chair and organiser of the programme of events, said: “Nobody anticipated that 2020 would indubitably and profoundly change the world in which we operate on so many levels, so we felt a Reboot was essential to give the digital community an opportunity to come together, talk and tell us how we can best support the sector. “Reboot 2020 reminded us of what we already knew: Lancashire’s digital sector is world-class.”