Tell us a little about yourself and how long you have been running your business
My name is Kate and I work for 21st Century Home Support Ltd. My boss, Susie, set up the company 14 years ago and I joined her 7 years ago and now we run it together. We supply support in the home for the elderly, for busy mums, to help run large households and for working people who need help in their absence. The personal aspect is essential to our business and we go out and meet and then keep in touch with every client and get to know all our staff too.
When did you realise you needed a website for the business?
We had an old website which was set up many years ago, but it had not appeared to generate much business and was very out of date.
How important do you feel it is to have your business online these days?
I believe it to be essential that a company is online in this day and age. Although many of our clients are elderly and do not use the internet, it is often their families or friends who search online for help for them and it is vital that we appear high up in their searches.
Did you expect BT to be designing websites?
To be honest, it was a surprise to me that BT could help with the whole design process. It is obvious that an organisation like BT would help run a website, emails and the lines attached, but it never occurred to me that they would carry out such a comprehensive website set-up process as well.
What made you choose BT to design your new website?
Once I gathered from BT that we could deal with the same team throughout the process and that we had a direct line and direct email contact with the small team themselves, this is what sold their design service to us. We had been so fed up with our old website company and never managing to speak to the same person twice, that it was a breath of fresh air to know we had one team responsible for us and that they would be with us every step of the way and, indeed, have been since the set up too.
What have you got planned for the next few months?
To be honest, it looks like the next few months will be the same as what has been happening since BT set up our new website and that is that we are likely to be dealing with the huge increase in interest in our business which has arisen through our new website!
What did you think of the day filming with the team from BT?
The filming crew were very considerate and realised that it was a normal working day for us so they had to put up with all kinds of distractions. But, apart from drawing a lot of attention from the offices and shops around us with our bright lighting, the morning with the crew was very relaxed.
If you could give a tip to other businesses, what would it be?
Unlike the very out of date impression we all had of BT being a large impersonal organisation, make sure you give BT a chance to show you the service they can provide because they are far from that old reputation and are in fact an extremely client lead team of professionals who are very keen to work with you and listen to your needs.
