About Derby Business ICT

As a company Derby Business ICT was formed in 2008 by myself Peter Smith; previously a teacher with over 20 years experience in Technology education.

On leaving full time teaching I undertook some short term IT contracts. It soon became evident to me that many of the skills I developed over the years were transferable to the business world and were needed.

I was surprised to find that in many cases business investment in technology has not been matched by investing in the training necessary to put this technology to best use.

ICT is about understanding business technology and having the capability to use it. Derby Business ICT's mission is to help a business do this.

Having moved into teaching from engineering I taught at all levels and led IT/ICT curriculum development in what is now a core subject in all schools. I have been head of ICT in two secondary schools and a county advisory teacher for IT. Much of my time had been spent over these years working with colleagues, of differing experience, to support them to embed ICT into their work in school.

I have a wealth of training experience in a wide range of software applications from spreadsheets (Excel) to word processing (Word) and Desktop Publishing (Publisher) to presentations (Power Point). I have even had my own software published. I can bring considerable expertise with all the main Microsoft Office products but also an understanding of how these products were designed to work together, exchanging data to provide business with the information they need.

I don't stop at the Microsoft stuff - I have expertise in a number of the Corel, Adobe and Macromedia products.

My driving philosophy is that 'ownership' of technology must shift away from the perceived experts (the IT professionals) to the users – business leaders, managers and personnel.

It is only when people have the understanding and confidence to fully use Information and Communication Technology that it becomes the very powerful business tool it has been designed to be. It allows individuals to derive the information that they know they need to have that competitive edge and be successful.