ACTNOW: transforming Cornish business through broadband communications

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1 ACTNOW: transforming Cornish business through broadband communications Cornwall and Isles of Scilly, United Kingdom SYNTHESIS Actnow is a non-profit making partnership promoting economic development in the Cornwall region (south-west England) through the use of broadband information technology. The 20m project ( 30m), co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) was the first broadband partnership set up in the UK between the public and private sectors back in It heralded a step change in business models used to support broadband roll out in the UK. The initiative has been used as a model for other UK regions and has gone on to provide a test bed for a number of other innovative sub-projects supporting information and communication technologies (ICT) take up in Cornwall. Its original objectives were to bring broadband to Cornwall, encourage business uptake, encourage new ICT businesses to start up in the area as well as knock on effects of increasing competitiveness and attracting business to Cornwall. The first task of the project was to initiate the process of converting the local exchanges to bring broadband to 12 of the 100 British Telecom exchanges in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. These provided initial coverage for around 50% of businesses. This infrastructural work was combined with support to local businesses in the adoption of information technology and e-business models and skills development. Businesses were encouraged to sign up with Actnow to get access to financial incentives to connect to broadband, expert advice and a number of other supporting services. By the end of 2007, 9,500 businesses were using broadband technology; more than double the original targets and in all, over 50% of businesses in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly are signed up with Actnow. The agenda has evolved over the course of the project with increasing emphasis on reaching out to businesses and self-employed people who are more resistant to technology than the early adopters. There have already been measurable economic impacts and it is estimated that over 3,500 jobs have been secured as a consequence of Actnow and that gross domestic product in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly has been boosted by around 95m (approximately 142m) annually. The Actnow model was the first demand-led, shared-risk public private initiative model in the UK. British Telecom had to manage the project in order to create the demand which would justify the investment. Cornwall Enterprise was keen to deliver broadband and its capabilities to businesses in the sub-region. Together, they needed to create an environment where people understood and demanded broadband for themselves. As a result of this demand-driven approach broadband take-up in Cornwall was faster than in any other part of the country. Actnow also remains a known brand for the delivery of support services for broadband and will continue to innovate to enable it to adapt to the changing needs of the technology and infrastructure of the businesses. BT subsequently went on to develop new regional partnerships across the UK based on the Actnow model.

2 A number of key factors have helped this programme to deliver its economic and sustainable impact. These can be attributed to vision, trust and partnership. All the initial difficulties of the project were overcome by establishing a common understanding and a shared vision. Cornwall Enterprise worked hard to ensure that the vision of Actnow was shared by their public and private sector partners and with the sub regional businesses. Cornwall Enterprise did this by taking a business-oriented approach to the running of Actnow rather than treating it as a project. They put in place a business and marketing model which clearly defined targets designed for the sub-region, not for the reporting requirements, creating a common set of objectives for the investors and the businesses which promoted trust and transparency. Background information Country: Region: United Kingdom Cornwall and the Scilly Isles Project title: Actnow: Transforming Cornwall through ICT Key words: Information Society: ICT access, e-inclusion, Services and applications for companies Duration of project: Funding: Total budget 30,000,000 ERDF contribution 12,600,000 Regional budget 2,400,000 Private contribution 7,200,000 ERDF Objective: Objective 1 2

3 1. PROJECT DESCRIPTION Actnow is a non-profit making partnership with the purpose of promoting economic development in Cornwall and the Scilly Isles through the use of broadband technology and ICT. The project is led by Cornwall Enterprise, the economic development service of Cornwall County Council. The overall objectives are: to bring broadband and its benefits to the sub-region of Cornwall and the Scilly Isles; to improve the competitiveness of Cornish businesses on a national and world-wide stage; to stimulate growth in new SMEs within the sub-region; to attract and enable external businesses to do business in Cornwall; to improve understanding of the benefits that ICT offers to SMEs. The original goal was to convert 12 of the 100 local exchanges to support ADSL 1 in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, to provide coverage for around 50% of businesses. Alongside this infrastructural work, Actnow set a target to sign up 3,300 businesses to broadband by April Businesses were set to benefit from access to broadband in the a number of ways including improved business efficiency; improved profitability; increased turnover; increased customer base; increased productivity; predictable broadband costs; better IT skills; increased flexible working opportunities. Actnow is an ongoing initiative and provides a number of tailored services: Advice on connecting to broadband and details of available rebates on costs; Free expert advice about how to use IT to improve business; Specialist IT advice for farms; A flexible working project examining the productivity, employee and environmental benefits of flexible working; Advice for accommodation providers on how to offer broadband as a facility for guests; Computer recycling; Local events, for example on flexible working; A smaller project promoting broadband and ICT within the voluntary sector. There services are continually appraised and evolve with the changing needs of businesses connecting to broadband. For example, for the self-employed or those who run a business or farm, Actnow gives a rebate of at least 60 ( 100). Once connected, ongoing support is provided to help businesses make the most of broadband, including, for example, tailored business advice or signposting to training. A new Actnow accelerator service has recently been introduced to offer financial help of up to 40% on IT investments. The project is also working with growth businesses to maximise the benefits of broadband by facilitating the introduction of new business practices, increasing efficiency and profitability. There is also a growing emphasis aimed at encouraging all citizens to take up broadband, thereby reducing digital exclusion. In those areas where there is currently no broadband access, the 1 3

4 project is also looking at how broadband can be made accessible through alternative technologies. The project beneficiaries are Cornish businesses but ultimately the aim is to enable all people in Cornwall to benefit from broadband access. Already, under the Actnow banner, there are schemes that support citizens access to broadband. By 2007, 9,500 businesses were signed up with Actnow and are using broadband technology. This is more than double the original target and accounts for over 50% of businesses in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. From June 2006, broadband has been available through all 100 exchanges, reaching a potential 99% of businesses and consumers in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. 3,700 businesses have received free ICT related advice from an Actnow advisor. 1,700 businesses supported by Actnow accelerator subsidies, have spent a total of 7.5m on ICT investments. Moreover, 450 farms in Cornwall are connected to broadband, and 130 farms have invested a total of 200,000 on ICT infrastructure. Actnow has coordinated the roll out of wireless hotspots across the region so no one is more than 10 minutes from broadband access. The high level of business take up has also been reflected across the population as a whole. In total (including residential users) Cornwall has a broadband penetration rate of over 37%, compared to the national average of 30.5%. Actnow has also stimulated companies to use broadband in a number of ways by introducing ICT awards. In 2005 the awards were for: Most innovative use of broadband; Best website; Most improved business through the use of broadband and ICT; Best agricultural use of broadband ; Best use of broadband to improve accessibility. The awards were set up to reward the real revolution that was happening in local businesses which had shown the necessary imagination, energy and innovation to make the most of broadband and really transform their business. In February 2004 Actnow hosted the broadband edge conference at the Eden project 2 in Cornwall to share knowledge and best practice with leaders of public and private sector organisations throughout the UK. Originally they expected a mainly local audience but in fact the conference attracted broad national coverage. There have already been measurable economic impacts. It is estimated that over 3,500 jobs have been secured as a consequence of Actnow and that GDP in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly has benefited by around 95m ( 142.5m 3 ) annually Based on the report: Transforming Cornwall through ICT: Actnow the story so far and the vision for the future

5 Without European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) support, the public private partnership between BT and the Cornish authorities would not have happened. At the time, BT would not have invested in Cornwall without a shared risk model as there was no proven demand for broadband for businesses. The ERDF Objective One funds facilitated this partnership and made the project work by providing the support services to stimulate demand and services enabling businesses to capitalise on the benefits of broadband. 2. POLITICAL AND STRATEGIC CONTEXT Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly are characterised by a narrow economic base, with a preponderance of low value added sectors. Compared to other regions in the UK and Europe, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly lagged behind in terms of the number of people using computers and the Internet. At the beginning of this period of funding this was coupled with a lack of broadband Internet infrastructure. In the South West in 2002 the UK Government indicated that 45% of the population of the South West would be left without broadband coverage, a figure only matched by Wales. London by comparison has 100%. When given Objective One status as part of the consultation process, the harnessing of technological development as a means of overcoming some of the disadvantages of a rural economy remote from the rest of the UK was considered as high priority. It is within this context that Actnow emerged as a project in Cornwall and the Scilly Isles. To harness the potential of the Information Society, action was needed to bring together British Telecom and local and regional players to stimulate demand and uptake of broadband in businesses. The project provides all the necessary accompanying services, thus ensuring that once demand is stimulated, action can take place to help businesses become digitally enabled. 3. IMPLEMENTATION 3.1. Project design and planning Actnow was instigated by Cornwall Enterprise 4 and the Objective One partnership for Cornwall and the Scilly Isles. The idea started with an enquiry to British Telecom with a simple question about their plans over the then coming three years in terms of broadband roll out. In BT had already started to look at the viability of broadband roll out and had done some speculative investment in South Wales which had not worked out. They had upgraded some exchanges, but there had been little take up. BT told the South West they were a low priority area and in fact one of the regions least likely to have broadband roll out. In response, and in order to investigate the real needs of businesses in the sub-region, Cornwall Enterprise commissioned a piece of research which looked into the potential broadband take up in the sub-region. This yielded positive results, and based on these, they went back to BT to discuss the possibility of a model which might benefit the business community but not disadvantage the present, or future telecoms operators. BT was willing to invest some time to research this issue and look at a new economic investment model 4 Cornwall Enterprise is the economic development service for Cornwall County Council; see 5

6 which would serve the operation, the public authority and the South West of England Regional Development Agency (South West RDA) 5. The biggest challenge was to balance demand with supply across the sub-region, and in 2002 there were gaps on both sides. There was also a certain level of scepticism from the public sector investors in the region. There were concerns about partnering with private sector money in the sub-region, backing the wrong technology and also about whether Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly had the right kind of business profile to enable a programme like this to succeed. The research showed that it might be possible to pump in prime investment to allow businesses time to understand the capabilities of broadband, and to link the roll out with good marketing and associated business services. The proposal went to tender and BT won. The ERDF funding supported the capital investment, advisory services and small business adoption. To ensure that all stakeholders would benefit, a shared risk model was proposed. The payback for BT was the broadband take up and revenue. The benefit for Cornwall would be companies investing, working better, creating economic prosperity and increased employment in the region. At the outset Cornwall Enterprise proposed that it would take charge of the initial marketing and the delivery of services, leaving BT to concentrate on the upgrading of the exchanges. The reason for this was to ensure the build up of trust between Actnow and Cornish businesses. Cornwall Enterprise was in a perfect position to drum up demand through tailor-made campaigns for local and sub-regional businesses, thus addressing their specific needs and creating a trusted brand for Cornish people delivered in a Cornish way. A high profile marketing campaign used the press and its own advertising vehicle. It worked at a micro level, engaging individual businesses on the ground. The cost of the technology upgrade used 30% of the budget, marketing another 30%, and. the remaining 40% was absorbed by business support services Management, monitoring and evaluation system Cornwall Enterprise based Actnow on a small business model, not as part of a public sector organisation. Cornwall Enterprise did not second a cohort of staff to Actnow for the duration of the programme; instead it was built up by people chosen to run a business. Being built up rather than created was important. The programme started by employing a few core people to support the project manager. The initial focus was on building demand. Funding was held back at the start, allowing time to formulate the business offer and to decide later on much more targeted spending. There are regular partnership meetings and a steering group, which literally steers but does not manage. The project was keen not to run on a majority partner voting system, and as a result, the Actnow team reports to the steering group on undertaken activities and new plans. The large degree of autonomy encourages innovation. As part of its monitoring and evaluation process, Actnow submits quarterly reports on outputs to the Government Office in the South West. In 2005 Actnow commissioned SustainIT (a UK charity monitoring developments in the Information Society) and the University of Bradford to survey the impacts of broadband on businesses in Cornwall. Customer benchmarking surveys were also carried out, and in February 2006 a survey of 5 6

7 over 700 businesses was undertaken. This reported on the positive impacts of broadband in terms of efficiency, profitability, turnover, skills and investment. In addition to normal project monitoring activities, Actnow has been able to use ADSL broadband penetration figures supplied by BT and research undertaken at the regional level by Cornwall Enterprise. An overall evaluation of the project is being organised through the Connecting South West programme 6. There is also comprehensive internal and external auditing, which is crucial for transparency when working with BT, the major incumbent. Actnow is, and needs to be run like a business in order to work with BT. In terms of obstacles, Actnow had to make some initial hard-headed decisions relating to investment, marketing and services. The structure of the management and the business model ensured that they were able to make them quickly. A number of early assumptions were changed once the views of the market were established. Actnow used focus groups and customer and market feedback mechanisms to shape these initial service offers Governance: partnership and leadership The partnership was formed to cover all the elements needed to provide a comprehensive service to businesses in Cornwall: Actnow is led by Cornwall Enterprise but is run separately; The Objective One office is the gateway in the Objective One region. They are the fund administrators for ERDF; Business Link for Devon & Cornwall is the main business support provider. It has a supportive role in the project and provides some associated expert services for businesses connecting to broadband; South West RDA s role is to give policy advice and to link the services up with other initiatives; British Telecom is the main telecoms incumbent in the UK. Its role is to upgrade the exchanges and to provide broadband services; Cornwall College is set up specifically to meet the training needs of local industry. It was involved in a minor way in the partnership but provided initial support for the marketing activities and helped to involve local businesses in the programme; Defra is the UK Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs and is the national partner in this project, providing funding and policy support; The Rural Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Partnership is an expertise provider and is particularly important due to its rural expertise and wide coverage at local level. Rural Cornwall gives vital public sector support to a wide range of economic community development projects in rural areas of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. The Partnership includes all the sub-regional local authorities plus the voluntary and private sector; The final contributor is the Federation of Small Businesses in the UK. The latter is the largest campaigning pressure group promoting and protecting the interests of the self-employed and owners of small firms in the UK. It has had a strategic and operational role in the programme. At the strategic level it has been a voice for small businesses in shaping the service delivery of Actnow. At the operational level it helped in 6 A programme run by the Cornwall Enterprise to connect all the areas of the South West of England: 7

8 the campaigns to deliver broadband to rural areas, and has promoted Actnow through its own website to all its members. Although Actnow is a large partnership, many of the partners are not involved in the dayto-day running of the project. The dominant partners are Cornwall Enterprise, BT and the regional authorities responsible for ERDF funding. There were some weak areas of the partnership, which made it necessary to review the priorities of the support services. The further education college and business link were involved in order to provide training and established business support services. It was difficult to establish new tailor made services within organisations which already provided a number of services to businesses. Some partners came in seeing Actnow as another income stream. The strong central partnership between Cornwall Enterprise, BT and Objective One was crucial in enabling the project to overcome these issues. Projects like this need to have a long-term vision of business prosperity/economic growth in the subregion. This was already a central goal of Cornwall Enterprise and Objective One. BT could buy into this because they saw the benefit for their business of a shared risk model. Some of the other partners lacked the foresight to see that in the long term, the project would lead to increased take up of other related services (and therefore more revenue). The partners with a more national orientation were also less able to deliver Actnow in a Cornish way. Overall however, the partnership has worked well. Through Actnow it was possible at the beginning to overcome any minor obstacles, with business driving the project forward in a relatively autonomous way Innovative elements and novel approaches to implementation The main innovative elements of the project relate to the process of project design and approaches to communicating and disseminating the project s work. A new partnership The partners had not worked together before, and this was the first time that BT had partnered with a region to undertake such a project. In putting together the partnership some fundamental issues had to be addressed, as it was important that the model ensured that all partners broke even. BT needed new customers, Cornwall Enterprise needed new connections, new businesses, employment and growth. Part of this model meant building trust between the partners. BT has gone on to form a number of new regional partnerships elsewhere in the UK as a consequence of Actnow. Project design and planning For the partners, the project design, planning and management involved a number of new practices. BT had to upgrade the first 12 exchanges and simultaneously Cornwall Enterprise and the other partners had to put together a campaign and deliver services that would support this process. This was one of the reasons that Cornwall Enterprise created Actnow as a company. At first the company employed a small number of staff to build up the delivery as would happen in the private sector. The independent business model and the autonomy of Actnow as a company facilitated the dynamic implementation of the programme. It created room for innovation to happen and for the fast delivery of new and 8

9 market driven services for businesses. Services could be adapted quickly to changing needs without the need of public sector bureaucracy. Project implementation the demand-led approach When other areas of the Cornish sub-region found out they were not going to be upgraded in the first round, one village started a petition to get BT interested. This was the beginning of the BT trigger system which it then used nationally. BT helped to facilitate community campaigns where people went on to their websites and registered, and when a certain number was hit that village would be connected. It initiated a process whereby towns and villages across the country competed with each other to help prioritise exchange upgrade. This put upgrading in the hands of communities and allowed them to drive the demand, which allowed BT to justify its investment. Now all 100 exchanges in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly have been enabled and there is broadband coverage of 90%. When the Isles of Scilly received broadband they saw the fastest take up in history. New approaches to communicating The project was keen to establish Actnow as a sustainable brand in Cornwall. The brand of Actnow stands for honest broker a first port of call for advice and guidance. The work on the brand and the marketing campaign has been extensive and at local level. It was very important to keep the buzz going about the technology, and to ensure that businesses did not just get broadband, but that they were fully supported where necessary with information, advice and training. The marketing campaign ensured fast take up of broadband across the sub-region and meant that communities were broadband ready as soon at the exchange was upgraded. New approaches to use the project results Although the focus of this project has been on Cornwall and the Scilly Isles, Actnow has also worked with other sub regions and internationally to transfer its business model to new settings. The Broadband Devon project is modelled on Actnow, and in Poland, the team presented their model at a workshop aimed at to exchanging good practice in broadband roll out. As mentioned, BT has gone on to partner in other regions, using the same strategy. The results from the initial services have led to the development of follow on services showing the wide application of the model. New services/sub projects include: Actnow reach: connecting 50 voluntary and community projects to broadband as well as providing funding and training support to at least 30. Actnow flex: a pilot project supporting 50 small and medium-sized businesses in the adoption of flexible working practices. Actnow ICT awards: These were set up to reward local businesses which had shown the necessary imagination, energy and innovation to make the most of what broadband can do and really transform their business. A broadband edge conference to share knowledge and best practice with leaders of public and private sector organisations throughout the UK. Originally a mainly local audience was expected, but the conference attracted broad national coverage. 9

10 3.5. Key implementation obstacles and problem-solving practices The main obstacles to implementation related to trust and to partnership, but both issues were easily overcome through good management practices, a business oriented approach to delivery, and by learning from past mistakes. When the project started, a number of the public investors were wary about using Cornish money to partner with the private sector.. They were worried about issues such as backing the wrong technology and Cornwall having the wrong business profile for this sort of initiative. For Cornwall Enterprise, this was the first public/ private partnership they had entered into in a formal sense. Cornwall Enterprise had previously had a negative experience with a company who had come in to deliver broadband solutions in the region. Although they were not in a formal partnership with them when it went wrong, Cornwall Enterprise were obliged to undertake damage limitation on behalf of businesses in the region who had invested. For this reason a strong leadership emerged with Cornwall Enterprise leading the delivery and BT upgrading the exchanges. Initial take up by businesses was slow. In order to overcome this, Actnow did some market research with regional SMEs, and as a consequence refined the assumptions in the business plan. Actnow responded quickly to change, but this meant that at the beginning the partnership had to deal with a certain amount of strain. The management structure responded well to the initial teething problems. It was important that there were optimists involved in the partnership mix, and it was clear from the beginning that BT and Cornwall Enterprise were extremely positive and vision -oriented in this process. There were some substantial auditing issues with BT the national telecoms operator (financial and regulatory), as it is important to ensure that public money does not cause undue distortion of competition within the Single Market. This was the first time that Cornwall Enterprise had to deal with this issue. However the paper work involved and the intervention did not outweigh the achievements. On balance, the administrative requirements of working across a range of public sector organisations can be just as onerous. Cornwall Enterprise worked out non-disclosure agreements with BT in order to respond to all the requirements. These were easily dealt with once a system was in place for monitoring and assessing the auditing requirements. Since Actnow, BT has formed new partnerships in other regions using the same model and learning from the initial obstacles. Actnow has been open with its business and marketing model, and has made it available to other regions in the UK. As part of this model it has stressed the importance of partner engagement, evaluating the risk, having a methodology in place for problem solving and building a strong central team to deliver the services.

11 4. INNOVATION RESULTS Actnow is mainly providing indirect support for innovation through general development of infrastructure and support services and new models for services delivery. General development of infrastructure and support services Actnow is creating an environment for innovation by: Putting in broadband infrastructure; Giving incentives to businesses to take up the services; Giving expert business support to transform businesses through broadband. These address the deficiencies of access to and exploitation of broadband in the regional innovation system. There was no broadband before Actnow and to date (2007) over 9,500 businesses now have broadband. According to the Actnow customer survey and the BT survey (2006), this has already resulted in: Increased productivity (48% of Actnow customers saw increased productivity); Improved profitability (70% of Actnow customers saw growth in profitability); Increased turnover (65% of Actnow customers). Providing these benefits to businesses opens up opportunities for new product and process innovation. Businesses are more connected to the regional and national knowledge economy. Actnow links businesses to expert support services and education and training. Actnow has seen individual company innovations through its business ICT awards. Some examples include: Barlow Cycles who won the Actnow ICT award in A company founded in 1949 which embraced broadband initially with a simple web presence, and by 2004 was using full electronic supply chain management. The company turnover has increased dramatically and it has expanded into specialised areas of cycling. CFP Software picked up the Cornwall Business Award for Best use of technology sponsored by Actnow in The company is a supplier of residential property management and lettings software and signed up with Actnow back in June The technology changed its business model and helped it gain a competitive edge through new product development to address customer services. This directly increased sales, profits and market share. New models for service delivery The Actnow model was unique in that this was the first demand led, shared risk public/private initiative model in the UK. BT needed to manage the investment in order to create demand to justify the investment. Cornwall Enterprise was keen to deliver broadband and its capabilities to businesses in the sub-region. Together they needed to create an environment were people understood broadband and demanded it for themselves. To take this forward, Cornwall Enterprise, the lead partner, created the organisation Actnow to work as a small business in the sub region. The aim of the organisation was to

12 create demand for its products and services and sell them to the businesses. It also had to ensure that its products and services were right for businesses who at that time had no access to broadband and consequently little insight into the types of services that would be required. This work took place alongside the upgrading of exchanges by BT to provide the broadband access. This was an unusual approach to running a public sector project, but this was an unusual project. A small business model meant that there was room for innovation and fast delivery of new and market driven services for businesses. Services adapted quickly to changing needs without the need for public sector bureaucracy. For a new business to survive the early years, it is important that there is good (regularly reviewed) business strategy, cash flow, targeted marketing, continual strive for new customers and creation of a reputation. This is best done by a dedicated team of people committed to building up a sustainable business for the future. The project was run in this way. As a result of this approach, broadband take up in Cornwall was faster than in any other part of the country because of the pull of demand. Actnow also remains a known brand for the delivery of support services for broadband, and will continue to innovate to adapt to the changing needs of the technology and infrastructure of businesses. 5. SUSTAINABILITY AND TRANSFERABILITY 5.1. Sustainability Cornwall has qualified for the ERDF funding and the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Economic Forum will take work forward under the new programme. One of the main objectives of the future strategy is competitiveness, under which ICTs remains a key focus. Although work has yet to be commissioned, Actnow will continue in this next round. It will include a significant digital infrastructure upgrade and work to ensure that the economic benefits of this are fully exploited. The funding will again follow a publicprivate partnership model, including ERDF and private sector contribution Transferability Actnow as a model has already been transferred to other regions in the UK. There is no IPR attached to the model and other regions have approached Actnow and been guided by Cornwall Enterprise and BT on the implementation of a similar approach. This includes the partnership model and the marketing model. BT also rolled out their trigger system as a consequence of Actnow (this has now stopped as it had served its purpose), and this could also be used by incumbents in other European regions where demand is not known. It gives incumbents the confidence to invest their money in an area. The small business model of Actnow, working autonomously to deliver flexible services, is an important transferable element. This is particularly so in regions where lead partners are likely to be hampered by other administrative priorities. Actnow is already involved in BReATH, a European IST (Information Society Technologies) funded project under the Sixth Framework Programme for Research and Development of the European Commission. This stimulates and supports the transfer of know-how and best practices in planning and delivering broadband services to the EU New 12

13 Member States and Associated Candidates. There is enormous potential here for implementing a project to stimulate demand for access. 6. CONCLUSIONS: MAIN SUCCESS FACTORS There have been a number of inter-related success factors which helped this programme to deliver economic and sustainable impacts in the Objective One sub-region. The buy-in from the private sector (BT) Getting BT to commit to investing in the sub-region was vital to the success of the project. BT became involved in an initial scoping exercise at the request of Cornwall Enterprise, which gave them time to meet and interact with their potential future partners. Cornwall Enterprise worked hard on the ground in the initial stages of the project to help guarantee take up of services so that BT would recoup its investment in exchange upgrade. The funding model The way that the funding came together was also crucial to the success of Actnow. In the early days the cash was important for start up, but it needed the private sector to bankroll the upgrade of the exchanges. Prompt payment from the ERDF helped greatly with the progress of the project. However, if the cash had been needed for the upgrade there would have been some problems with cash flow, and these would have hindered implementation. The marketing model Cornwall Enterprise and BT started Actnow in an area where there was no obvious demand for broadband. A marketing campaign was launched in order to ensure take up once the exchanges had been upgraded. The marketing was Cornwall s largest business sector campaign. The campaign started with market research and worked from the local leaflet level to encouraging businesses to promote broadband amongst their peers. The post activation support was crucial and the visibility of Actnow in the region is high. The demand-led method Actnow was the first time BT tested a demand-led approach to introducing broadband to a rural area. After the initial exchanges were upgraded, BT would only upgrade where demand came from local businesses and reached a set threshold. This approach was successful because it put the impetus into the hands of local businesses and also meant that Cornwall Enterprise had to work hard in the sub region to promote the benefits of broadband and prove its success. BT subsequently rolled out this approach across the UK. As a consequence, take up in Cornwall was faster than in any other part of the country and it also accelerated during the life of Actnow. During the final stages of the project, the key success can be attributed to vision, trust and partnership. All the initial difficulties of the project were overcome by establishing a common understanding and a shared vision. Cornwall Enterprise worked hard to ensure that the vision for Actnow was shared by its public and private sector partners and with the sub regional businesses. Cornwall Enterprise achieved this by taking a business-oriented approach to the running of Actnow and its investors, rather than treating it as a project. To run the project they set up business and marketing models which clearly defined targets 13

14 designed for the sub-region, not for the reporting requirements. This established trust between the investors and also with the businesses. PROJECT CONTACT DETAILS Name: Position: Nigel Ashcroft Project Director Organisation: Actnow Cornwall Enterprise Address: New Technology House Tolvaddon Energy Park Tolvaddon Camborne Cornwall TR14 0HX Telephone: Fax: Further information: The information contained in this case study is up to date as of: June 2007 This case study has been prepared by Rebecca Allinson in the framework of a study carried out by Technopolis Group on behalf of the European Commission. The contents and views expressed in this case study are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of the European Commission. 14