Technology makes enterprises more productive, competitive and export ready.

That is one of the key messages that emerge from Victoria’s Small Business Festival.

Small business operators need to understand how to use the latest technology to make their businesses grow more efficiently.

Technology is a great leveller for small business because the availability of free or low cost services allows businesses to set up an on-line presence almost immediately.

At this year’s Tech Trends half day conferences, leading technology expert, Brad Howarth will outline the accelerating pace of the digital revolution.

Mr Howarth will emphasise many of the online tools that can help small business are designed to be easy to use and are free or have minimal cost.

He will make presentations in Ballarat, Bendigo, Geelong, Knox, Sale and Warrnambool to make sure small businesses across regional Victoria have access to the latest technological advice and developments.

Focusing on understanding rapid change Mr Howarth will discuss emerging opportunities and challenges for small business. He says digitisation is smashing traditional barriers of geography and creating new markets and new competitive environments.

Small Business operators and would be entrepreneurs will learn that the first requirement for adapting to change is understanding what is possible. The second is to deal with it by putting a strategic plan in place.

The Victorian Coalition Government is committed to building growth through the use of technology and innovation.

This vision is articulated in Victoria’s Technology Plan for the Future – a suite of integrated strategies for Small Technologies, Biotechnology and ICT.

The Plan’s flagship program is the Technology Voucher Program which is designed to help business in creating more competitive products, processes and services.

It is complemented by the Innovation Voucher Program that provides funding of up $25,000 to support R&D and to develop innovative skills for small and medium sized companies.

The Tech Trends seminar will consider: current and emerging technology; mobile marketing; cloud hosting; search engine optimisation and internet security, PayPal and mobile payment systems.

Netregistry is a proud sponsor of the Small Business Victoria Festival and the Tech Trend Series. Below are dates for the next series of events:

When:

• Ballarat: Wednesday 14 August
• Knox (Scoresby): Friday 23 August
• Warrnambool: Tuesday 27 August
• Geelong: Wednesday 28 August

Visit business.vic.gov.au to register for any of the events above.