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FROM THE CEO
By W Kenneth Yancey, Jr.
Technology is Important to SCORE's Strategy
As a nation, we have access to technology that seems limitless in its potential. And, the technologies used today are strengthening small businesses. I came across a recent AC Nielsen study that reports 51 percent of small businesses using the Internet believe it has helped their business become more profitable, while 58 percent of small
business feel that using the Internet has helped their businesses grow and expand. I can't help but wonder how many of those Internet-savvy entrepreneurs polled expressing positive business results are SCORE clients.
Web Extends SCORE Services
SCORE's award-winning Web site has proven to be a powerful tool for helping small businesses become more profitable, to grow and expand. At www.score.org, Ask SCORE for Business Advice-the centerpiece of SCORE's Web site-small business clients can communicate directly, quickly and
electronically with SCORE counselors from across the nation. Clients can connect with SCORE counselors and rapidly pinpoint the information they seek to make informed business decisions. SCORE's online business advice service is truly unique and valued in the small business marketplace.
SCORE's Web site and email counseling support SCORE's overall mission to provide accessible services that meet clients' needs and to serve more small business owners. It also allows more volunteers-particularly working volunteers, with time constraints, and disabled volunteers to participate in SCORE
counseling from their home or business offices. Email counselors also enjoy the ability to use business skills in specific, niche areas.
Several SCORE alliance partners, from the National Business Association (NBA) to The Veterans Corporation, have integrated SCORE's portable Ask SCORE Co-branded Module as an "add-on" online resource to their Web sites. Entrepreneurs visiting other Web sites, who may not know about SCORE, learn about SCORE
services and can ask a counselor for advice. The Ask SCORE module is building SCORE's visibility.
SCORE Continues to Build Web Offerings
Email counseling was born in 1994 with about a dozen SCORE counselors serving entrepreneurs via a CompuServe Forum. When SCORE's first Web site went online on June 11,1997, the Cyberchapter had 140 volunteers. Today, SCORE has 1,200 online counselors. This summer we hope to boost that number to 1,500. With more than 100,000 email
counseling sessions conducted last fiscal year, email counseling is growing and accounts for 30 percent of SCORE's total sessions. In 2003, when SCORE conducted an online client satisfaction survey, we found that 89 percent of email clients would recommend SCORE to another entrepreneur. Seventy-four percent felt that SCORE was helpful to
them in developing an effective business strategy.
SCORE is committed to using new technology to facilitate the exchange of business advice and resources between SCORE counselors and clients. Moving forward, we will look at ways in which we can make counseling in an online environment a more robust service. Private chat counseling or Web video-conferencing
are examples of two methods that could enhance the depth of email counseling and our Web offerings.
We continue to add new content to SCORE's Web site each month. Recently we have added small business and financial templates developed by the Seattle, WA Chapter, how-to articles and 60-second guides offering quick business tips.
Dedicated, knowledgeable, enthusiastic volunteers make SCORE successful; technology leverages SCORE's services to
even greater heights of success. As a volunteer service organization, SCORE strives to make the best
use of technology to aid America's small businesses.
THE NEWSLETTER FOR SMALL BUSINESS COUNSELORS/July 2004 |
