Remote support to companies
About this good practice
In April 2020, LMT noticed that many people took advantage of the crisis to think about their entrepreneurial project. Thus, we anticipated the increase in the creation of start-ups. Moreover, we knew that digital was a lever that SMEs would use to better resist.
It was essential to support them on these subjects despite the lock-down. This is why LMT created the following 2 kinds of remote support tools:
a) Online training for start-ups
On a dedicated platform, start-ups have access to training videos made by our collaborators, articles written by LMT employees and an aggregation of podcasts and articles related to the business development.
Since 2020, 12 articles have been written and 18 videos have been published for a total duration of 2 hours.
Thus, start-ups have permanent access to quality contents that deal with the different stages of their business development, providing them with clear and accessible advices, methods and tools.
b) Webinars for SMEs
LMT has created a webinar programme for the SMEs. Each month, a one-hour webinar bringing together about 25 people is organised to raise awareness on innovation and digital transformation, as well as to train them in tools and methods.
Examples of the topics covered:
- ‘Database: how to value them and protect yourself?’
- ‘Data: Presentation of use cases to improve your performance’
These webinars are also an opportunity to establish initial contacts with companies in order to offer long-term support.
Resources needed
Human resources: organising a webinar takes an average of 2.5 days of preparation for 1 person. This includes both the time spent on creating the content that will be presented to the participants, but also on communicating about the event.
Evidence of success
During the year 2021:
- 26 people benefited from the online coaching for start-ups.
- 132 people participated in the 10 webinars organised to support the digital transformation of companies.
Potential for learning or transfer
This distance coaching is a great approach to meet the needs of companies, despite the current situation caused by the COVID-19. It has allowed us to rethink the way we support companies, but also to be able to reach companies that we would probably never meet.
This good practice is very easily transferable. It does, however, require time to identify the precise needs to which the training courses should respond. It also requires monitoring to identify the tools that can be adapted to make distance learning possible.