5 reasons why tech businesses should work together

Guest Blog by Feyaza Khan

The key theme at Tech Connect last week was collaboration. It seemed like every speaker was trying to get the 200 guests at Goonhilly Earth Station to think less insularly.

The reasons suggested were varied showing how they’d help tech businesses survive long term and in case you missed them, we’ve picked out 5 of our favourites:

Increased productivity: This one’s pretty obvious, two heads are better than one and all that and most of the speakers at Tech Connect were clear that working together meant more stuff got done, with more time left over for other things, whether that was being able to take on another client, having more thinking space or even just time for a flake 99.
Sharing the Love (and money): One of the reasons companies might not want to work together is competition, which makes sense if you’re Asda and Sainsburys…oh, wait. In reality, smaller companies that work together tend to succeed say the experts. Those working together in the same geographical location can benefit from collabs – for example by pooling funds for research in a common area of interest and those in different parts of the country/world benefit from knowledge and tech-sharing.
Learning stuff you don’t know: We all think we know everything about our businesses and sometimes maybe because we’re so close to it, we don’t – won’t – see any faults or shortcomings that might be quite glaring to the outsider. This calls for working with firms outside our sector, who could just be the wake up call we need.
New ways of working: We need to learn to survive in the business world and working with other people and businesses gives us an insight into new ways of working we might not have thought of, while using systems we didn’t know existed. Using a simple example, you might use a few pay-sites to access research data, but your collab buddy probably uses an integrated app with all the resources you need for free, saving you time and possibly thousands of pounds.
New investment: Judging from the attendance at Tech Connect, there are lots of sole traders in Cornwall’s tech sector, who could find that collaborative opportunities make them look more attractive to new investors/ clients. Also, working with similar companies overseas could help limit risks of investment in new technology while also sharing market know-how.

If you’re interested in a collaborating or just getting to know other tech people in Cornwall find local meetups on the Software Cornwall events calendar