Google high-flyer to launch Coventry and Warwickshire LEP web portal
A NEW service for businesses in Coventry and Warwickshire will be launched later this month by a renowned IT figure who is returning to his home patch.
Matt Charman, Google’s head of SME enterprise marketing for Europe and Africa, will help launch the new Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership web portal (cwlep.com) which has been designed to help businesses across the area.
Charman studied at the University of Warwick and spent two years working there before moving away. He returns to the university on May 31 as one of the leading experts in Google Apps for business and cloud computing, to launch the LEP portal at a special event.
He said: “I worked at the university encouraging small and medium enterprises to fully engage with IT to help their businesses.
“Things have moved massively forward since then and there is great opportunity for businesses to improve and discover new ways of working using Google Apps and cloud computing
“Businesses have hardly dipped their toe in the water and there is so much they can do in terms of flexibility and new ways of working.”
Charman will be joined at the event by Rhys Sharp, chief technical officer at SCC, who will talk on cloud-enabling technologies, and the SME team from the Warwick Manufacturing Group.
Tracy Westall, of SCC and chair of the LEP’s IT and media group, will open the event while Andrew Butt, of Stratford-upon-Avon-based Enable Software, will explain the features of the new CW LEP portal.
The portal, which has been created by Leamington-based Noisegate Media, carries a wealth of relevant information for businesses in the area as well as outlining the work of the LEP.
Martin Yardley, managing director of the CW LEP, said: “We see the portal as a key tool in our over-riding aim of breaking down the barriers to growth.
“It has a host of useful and relevant information for businesses who are operating in Coventry and Warwickshire but also for those thinking of investing in our area.”
