Potential Issues within BCE

07/06/09 | slide Joint Information Systems Committee Supporting education and research Business and Community Engagement (BCE) Simon Whittemore 10 December 2008 Supporting BCE Practitioners Workshop: Feedback from the October 08 Demand Side workshop

Key issues for SMEs and other Business and Community organisations (1) Innovation and sustainability Innovation essential to survival - slow down… more vital than ever now What can you do for my org. NOW in the next 6 months….and impact longer term Perceived gap between business needs and institution delivery ‘ Diversification’ substitute for innovation - what to do if or when something fails. SMEs make decisions a.m., implement p.m. - not the case in HEIs. Speed of response can be an issue for an SME – it can be too slow (especially in the contracts area). Lack of pace can lead to discussions fading out Access to capital major issue for SMEs New combinations of knowledge / skills for new markets needed Third sector with their low overheads (such as volunteers), can drive innovation Innovation can be two things: Doing new things Doing existing things quicker/cheaper/better –often more buy-in fr. business 07/06/09 | slide

Key issues for SMEs and other Business and Community organisations (2) Cultural and organisational issues; skills Individuals often key drivers - if they move on, things can fall apart Cultural attitudes towards failure - not seen as bad thing but learning experience Business Devt. people in univs often viewed suspiciously by academics. Gulf between research and it making money Academics – esp. from R. intensive HEIs –often unwilling to meet SME Agility – may not be agile as an organisation, but individuals may be We need people to deal with change Universities don’t teach skills like good laboratory management, project management etc which are essential skills for workplace….. FE expertise in WFD; FE and He boundaries to blur? SME's don’t have the right skills. Libraries could help, working with RDAs. Managerial skills + qualities (esp resilience and resourcefulness in current climate) are lacking - Universities role…... 07/06/09 | slide

Users’ access to institutional services and resources (1) Focus: library, business information resources, access to research output and scholarly content Awareness Who funds widening access beyond education to resources - e.g. journals, online Dbs Mindset has to change – HEIs expect business to come to them? Issue with packaging and terminology Key is clarity of information – we need a broker to link people. Technology not a good broker. The offer and potential solutions How would access to resources etc be controlled ? Authentication – tech. can support pretty much anything: barcode, IP, username / password, shibboleth etc. Issue is identifying the user and costing accordingly. Different costing models for different user groups - technology is there Remote access – currently need to access online resources through walk-in (library). Alumni are allowed access to resources. As a tax payer why is there not free access to government papers? 07/06/09 | slide

Users’ access to institutional services and resources (2) Focus: library, business information resources, access to research output and scholarly content The offer and potential solutions SMEs may be willing to pay for research services. Access to expertise via online search tools but It is difficult to put knowledge about expertise in a searchable format. The BDM’s role is to capture this information to facilitate brokerage. Key point - guided access by knowledge expert who tailors information access to user’s needs The question of who should own the information about the contacts (e.g. facebook)? Should it be the institutions or individuals? ( Academia.edu) Virtual tours for businesses who are too busy at attend a regular open day Osswatch – all content is open access – they receive around 12,000 hits a month with approx 60% from dot.com domains. 07/06/09 | slide

The customer experience; relationship management (1) Focus: BCE services under knowledge transfer/exchange and employer engagement Agility and responsiveness Univs have to ask what their USP is over private companies. An SME would go to a private company over a univ unless looking for something very specialised. IP – collaboration to allow IP to be used. We need a sensible approach to negotiation without being too precious. Use an open approach wherever possible Responsive and flexible, one step ahead of what you would expect from a private company. Across HEI/FE websites there is a lack of conventions. Linked up approach is required from univs i.e. If univ A cannot provide what the SME / org. is looking for they should signpost other institutions/organisations who can 07/06/09 | slide

The customer experience; relationship management (2) Focus: BCE services under knowledge transfer/exchange and employer engagement Engagement models and processes SLAs in place if you are relying on third party services? Community of practice – set up or emerging. Finding collaboration partnerships – ‘friend of a friend’ Danger of reaching too wide – market segmentation needed; Internal CRM issues - (inter departmental) v personal contacts and trust Drive from HEFCE to make universities more competitive, could this drive result in less collaboration? Some initiatives (Vouchers) that enable SMEs to use some services for free but perhaps these are not well publicised enough. Businesses don't use univs as they don't know for sure that the service is going to be good. There is a need for better marketing and promotion, market segmentation etc There is an importance of looking at end to end processes and technology supporting the workflow. Supply chain management? 07/06/09 | slide

Potential Issues within BCE

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Potential Issues within BCE