The digital learning and assessment specialist, eCom Scotland, is not alone in discovering that its ‘Friends of eCom’ initiative is proving beneficial, especially in these unusual and challenging business times.

“Friends of eCom is an initiative set up to enable us to work collaboratively with other like-minded, forward thinking companies,” explained eCom’s Managing Director, Wendy Edie. “This informal joining together creates mutually beneficial outcomes and builds long lasting relationships.

“The initiative has developed rapidly due to the changing business environment during Covid-19 induced lockdown and includes many of our key partners from our supply chain, our clients and other like-minded organisations offering complementary products or services that can add value.”

Among the Friends of eCom that are finding this unofficial collaborative networking both helpful and profitable is the IT Managed Service and business telecommunications provider, SoConnect. Based in the Scottish Borders, SoConnect offers tailored IT Managed Service, internet and telcom packages to support business needs and suit all budgets, counting both SMEs and multi-national organisations among its rapidly growing customer base.

“SoConnect began in 2011 with just one employee and one client – and eCom Scotland was among its first major customers,” explained Ashleigh McCloskey, the company’s Marketing Manager. “We now service over 500 customers – mostly situated in the UK, with other clients based in North America, Europe and India – representing a broad spectrum of sectors.

“In their own complementary ways, both SoConnect and eCom have embraced new technology by moving into the world of ‘mixed reality’,” Ashleigh continued.

“Increasingly, we’re introducing our customers to the business benefits of using augmented reality, while eCom has launched, in eNetReality, its own virtual reality development tool. While eCom focuses on learning and development, we focus on the mainstream business world but we’re finding crossovers involving augmented and virtual reality where we can collaborate – and these are proving helpful to both businesses.”

Despite the challenging trading times brought about by the coronavirus pandemic and changing economic conditions SoConnect, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, recently expanded, acquiring another IT Managed Service business, called IT Centric, in January – and is seeing its business continue to grow.

“The Friends of eCom initiative illustrates the value of networking and collaborating with non-competing, complementary businesses,” said Ashleigh. “Not only is there the benefit of the cross-fertilisation of ideas and approaches that come with networking but, from time to time, opportunities occur for more active collaboration for the mutual benefit of everyone – both suppliers and customers.”

Wendy Edie added, “eCom is happy to expand the number of its Friends to include any non-competing organisations that would like to experience the business benefits of networking and collaboration at an organisational level.”

Further details of the Friends of eCom initiative, please contact eCom.

About SoConnect (https://soconnect.co.uk/)

SoConnect provides IT Managed services, internet and telecom services at competitive prices, with no compromise on service levels. Bringing an innovative approach to provide simple yet inspired solutions to companies’ communication challenges using a mix of traditional and evolving technologies, it strives to have always-happy customers, and a team who create lasting relationships through adding value, building trust and delivering fantastic service, allowing its customers, company and people to reach their full potential.

About eCom (https://www.ecomscotland.com/)

eCom creates innovative learning solutions – aimed at increasing learning engagement and driving productivity – to help organisations achieve their goals. With offices in Dunfermline, Scotland, and Athens, Georgia, in the USA, but with customers from around the world, eCom focuses on the delivery, tracking and reporting of workforce learning and development through innovative technologies. Its products and services address a range of workforce management, development and training challenges, including eLearning, online assessment, blended learning, competency management and accreditation.