EEDA - East of England Development Agency

LiZLaKe - planning for success

1 September 2009

EEDA-supported training helps Essex business

The pace of technology development often complicates decision making; it’s easy to feel burdened by constant demands to upgrade. One Essex business used EEDA-supported training to make the right decisions for its future.

Liz Lake is the owner of a chartered landscape architects and urban design practice. She recognises the importance of training: “I want highly trained staff because I want a reputation for excellence.”

Liz used the Towards 2010 programme, co-financed by EEDA and the European Social Fund, to part-fund training in CorelDRAW. The opportunity to find local and specific training was a particular advantage of the programme.

The funding also helped the company learn about Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping software. “GIS programmes are the future, but for a company like us they’re a big investment,” said Liz. “We had to decide when to invest. I made an informed choice. As a small business, it was too early for us. We could have wasted a lot of money by investing at the wrong time – so Towards 2010 was invaluable.”

Towards 2010 enabled LiZLaKe to make the transition to computer based design quickly. It also saved the company from burdening itself with investment in other technology too early.

Find out more on Train to Gain and Beyond 2010.

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