Small Business Week

We've seen everything this year: a stock market languishing in the doldrums and some of the biggest banking and insurance names in the world disappearing overnight. We have seen some frantic headlines and nightmare predictions. It's a wild business world, which makes events like Small Business Week and the 2009 Business Pulse report all the more important.

Small Business Week brings together business experts from a range of government, business and independent organisations to create an opportunity to talk, take stock, and find out what's really happening at the heart of the small business community. It gives us a valuable chance to take action and support businesses on their road to recovery. But to do that properly we need to know what's really happening out there: the 2009 Business Pulse tells us exactly that, with 7,200 respondents it is the UK's largest survey of small- and medium-sized businesses this year.

Last year it was unsettling to say the least for many owner-managers. This year we have the greatest admiration for UK businesses for getting through this tumultuous period. There are clear signs that businesses have innovated and adapted for the better to emerge stronger for the future. Small businesses are in no doubt that the entrepreneurial spirit of the UK will get us through.

We know that companies are beginning to get new customers through the door by embracing a phenomenon called 'business social networking'. Some members of our business social network, BT Tradespace, have seen a significant increase in sales over the last 'difficult' year - much of this due to the increasing role that building an effective online presence and social networking is having on capturing customers.

For all of us, managing costs has made us think even more about how we optimise our operations. And in many cases our customers have successfully reduced expenditure by embracing technologies that enable flexible working.

We're working with more than a million businesses across the UK on how we can give them services that deliver greater value and cost predictability - and enable small businesses to compete irrespective of their size.

The 2009 Business Pulse report shows that there are seeds of optimism with almost half the respondents saying their businesses are operating better as a result of changes they've made during the downturn. And again, nearly half believe small businesses will innovate and diversify to create new industries as the UK emerges from the downturn. The old adage that behind every cloud there is silver lining still rings true.

The small business community is determined to survive the downturn and thrive. Despite the obvious knock to confidence, positivity about when the upturn will come is emerging and encouraging. The UK's smaller firms are innovating to succeed and now more than ever the right support and resources must be available to allow them to compete and prosper today and beyond.

Throughout Small Business Week and beyond, BT Business will continue to provide support to the small business community - to help them do what they do best and to help them survive and thrive.