A silenced voice for Welsh business
Tuesday, January 8th, 2008On January 3 2008 the Cardiff Chamber of Commerce closed after 141 years. According to news reports the problem dated from 2004 when the Chamber received between £1m and £2m in training payments “to which they were not entitled”. The debt, now due to the Welsh Assembly’s Department for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills, could not it seems be deferred without contravening European law, thereby forcing the Chamber into liquidation.
As the Chamber’s account manager for over two and half years, while at Peter Gill & Associates, I had numerous discussions about web based membership services. It was disappointing none of my suggestions were taken up, but the reason why is now clear. Let’s hope the new look ’south Wales’ Chamber embraces the web to deliver real business networking services when it’s operational.
In the meantime, Welsh business should look at the some of exceptional online networking services that now exist and which deliver REAL value. These include:
XING founded in August 2003, is one of the best, and uses the latest social networking tools to connect tens of millions of members across 16 languages and all industries. If you follow the 6 degrees principle you’ll understand how XING works. XING’s annual premium membership is just £50 pa; although most users will try for free first. Unlike many of the other sites XING allows users to upload their Outlook address book - a tool which is very useful in building your online network.
LinkedIn is a professional relationships providing an online network of more than 17 million experienced professionals from around the world, representing 150 industries. A business account costs £10 per month, although the free account is good place to start.
ecademy is probably the UK best offering, but unlike the others is not based on the latest Web2.0 toolkit. Again the basic membership is free, but as this doesn’t allow users to initiate a contact is of limited use. To get any real value you need the £10 per month PowerNetworker.
Facebook - no don’t laugh. Facebook is a great social networking tool for 60+ million. If you haven’t checked laterly you’ll have missed that Corporate Networks and Business Groups are springing up daily. You’ll probably have also not realised that the events calendar is an excellent tool for all sorts of gatherings. But best of all it’s FREE to join.
These are just some of the sites that exist today to help Welsh business network. So don’t mourn the loss of Cardiff Chamber - it will be replaced. Instead see this as an opportunity to review what business networking is all about and join one of these sites.
