SUMMERSIDE, P.E.I. — During the pandemic, many businesses have had to change and adapt the way they operate to generate revenue and keep their doors open while adhering to public health guidelines.
And to help businesses in the Summerside area achieve those goals, the Greater Summerside Chamber of Commerce launched a pilot project last week that will give them the digital tools they need to continue to change and adapt, or to do so for the first time, as they recover from the pandemic's financial impact.
"The holiday season is over, and (businesses) are planning for 2021," said Tara Maddix, executive director of the Greater Summerside Chamber of Commerce.
The Business Digitization Strategy is a one-year pilot project that received $46,750 jointly from the province and ACOA.
Some of the areas that businesses can receive help is best practices for safe re-opening, new strategies for adapting, and e-marketing.
In particular, Maddix said a digital tool that could be popular is a texting appointment reminder service. One Summerside business has already expressed interest, she said. But it would be helpful for anyone with a business that has customers who make appointments, such as barbers and hairdressers.
Another product is a digital contact list. Maddix said this would be helpful for restaurants that are currently using pen and paper to take contact information for customers.
The pilot project covers the fees for 200 chamber members and 150 other businesses for one year.
Maddix explained that businesses interested in participating first reach out to the chamber, fill out a form, and then they will receive a "discovery call" from SimplyCast, a computer marketing and communications software company partnering in the project.
"(SimplyCast) will get to know the business a little bit better so that they can make some suggestions on some digital tools that may help that business," she said. "The businesses may already have an idea of what they're looking for when they go into that call and they may discover some tools that they didn't know existed."
Terrence McEachern is a local business reporter with the SaltWire Network.
