Summerside, PE – Businesses navigating through COVID-19 are facing new constraints and challenges, including adapting their operations to meet public health guidelines. Additional procedures are now necessary in order to safely provide goods and services to customers and respond to changes in market conditions.
Today, the Greater Summerside Chamber of Commerce is thrilled to announce a business digitization project to support local businesses. The goal of the Digitization Strategy is to provide members with best practices, strategies and business tools they need to thrive in the new environment.
“The Greater Summerside Chamber plans to implement this project to support local businesses through the recovery stage of COVID-19. This program will provide businesses with an array of easy-to-use digital tools they can use for operations, logistics, and automated marketing,” says Tara Maddix, Executive Director of the Greater Summerside Chamber of Commerce. “The Chamber has been a resource for its members during the pandemic and will continue to support its members through outreach and ongoing advocacy efforts during COVID-19.”
The Government of Canada, through the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency’s Regional Relief and Recovery Fund (RRRF), together with the Province of Prince Edward Island, through Innovation PEI’s Information Technology Implementation program, are supporting this project with a combined non-repayable contribution of $46,750.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has created an immediate need for businesses to become more knowledgeable and savvy in digital business practices,” said Bobby Morrissey, Member of Parliament for Egmont, on behalf of the Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Economic Development and Minister responsible for ACOA. “I am pleased to announce a $36,750 Government of Canada contribution through RRRF to the Greater Summerside Chamber of Commerce for this new program.”
“COVID-19 has created significant financial challenges for Island businesses,” said Minister of Economic Growth, Tourism and Culture Matthew MacKay. “Our department is committed to finding ways to immediately help entrepreneurs as we face the uncertainties of this pandemic together. Our hope with this new program is that it will help businesses adapt to our new normal.”
The Digitization Strategy will provide the following components to Island businesses:
- Best practices for safe reopening and operating business
- Strategies for adapting to new environment/opportunities
- Digital business tools and workflow automation software
- Recovery-specific automation use cases
- Member Training on practices, strategies and tools
To help with the development and implementation of the project, the Greater Summerside Chamber has contracted software engagement specialists, SimplyCast.
“We’re very excited to partner with the Greater Summerside Chamber to provide innovative solutions to members,” said Saeed El-Darahali, President and CEO of SimplyCast. “SimplyCast’s software was designed to be flexible and adaptable to new use cases and it’s great to see how businesses are able to leverage the technology to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Interested businesses are encouraged to reach out to the Greater Summerside Chamber to apply and begin the process to determine which digital tools will best support their goals.
- Representing 350 businesses and over 4,000 members, the Greater Summerside Chamber of Commerce is committed to advocating for conditions in the economy that enhance our members’ prosperity.
- SimplyCast is a leading provider of engagement software for organizations in over 175 countries. The company provides a suite of emergency and non-emergency communication tools to help organizations maximize efficiency and customer reach.
For more information contact:
Tara Maddix
Executive Director
Greater Summerside Chamber of Commerce
(902) 436-9651
tara@summersidechamber.com
www.summersidechamber.com
Jana Parker Smith
Communications Manager
ACOA PEI & Tourism
Jana.parker@canada.ca
Alissa MacDougall
Alissa.macdougall@simplycast.com
866-323-6572
www.simplycast.com