Business Link advisory services see dramatic increase

MORE entrepreneurs than ever are benefiting from taking business information and advice, according to reports on the UK’s Business Link service.

Around 800,000 customers accessed the business advice organisation in the 12 months ended March 31. One in four start-ups and more than 200,000 people who were thinking about setting up their own business also contacted Business Link for advice.

The number of firms receiving one-to-one support from an adviser rose by around 20%.

Moreover, women and ethnic minority firms using the service than ever before. Nearly a third (31%) of enquiries were from women compared to 26% the year before. Contact from entrepreneurs from an ethnic minority background rose from 9% to 14%.

Much of the service’s success is being attributed to its newly launch online channel. The number of businesses using information on the website has nearly doubled rising from 222,000 in 2006 to 415,000 last year.

Business Link said that firms have saved £251m as a result of its advisory content, although claims that the figure could be closer to £4bn if increased turnover and profits were taken into account.

Areas experiencing an increase in traffic volumes included advice on environmental issues and international trade.

Information from the Employing People section also enjoyed an increase with 48% using this content in 2007 compared to 41% in 2006.

Financial information was the most sought after content with 53% of users in 2007 having used the Finance and Grants section – compared to 49% in 2006.

Business expansion plans have also been at the forefront of many business minds as the information under Growing the Business section of the site was used by 44% in 2007 compared to 37% in 2006.

An increase in regular use throughout the year was also significant with 26% of businesses using the site 10 or more times in 2007 compared to 21% in 2006.

David Dinsdale, Director at businesslink.gov.uk said;

“Our aim is to offer simple, straightforward guidance and support that delivers bottom line benefits to businesses.

“These results show that businesslink.gov.uk has a quantifiable impact on UK business success by saving them time and money.”

Overall customer satisfaction with Business Link’s services remains high. Around 95% of customers said they would use the service again and 97% said they would recommend Business Link if asked.