Town of Cochrane Strategic Plan – Final Report October 2014
provide businesses with reliable ICT infrastructure is its chief competitive advantage. That said, there
are significant challenges that the community has to face with respect to fostering interest in online
investment.
4.2.1 Championing the Business Community: The Need for Leadership
In terms of coordinating and communicating with Cochrane’s business community, a partnership
between the Board of Trade and the Department of Economic Development (DED) will prove
essential. The latter was not identified in either the technology or small business SWOT analyses in
any way, suggesting its relative obscurity in the community or confusion as to its role apart from
Council. Given its mandate for business development in the Town of Cochrane, DED will likely
assume a leading role should E-business become a priority of the community. Both the Board of
Trade and DED will have a hand to play in spreading awareness and assisting Cochrane’s SMEs to
access funding.
Some northern communities have opted to spearhead ICT priorities by making them a mandate of
their official strategic plans. Kapuskasing, for example, commits to the leveraging of electronic
communications in order to diversify the economy. 187 Meanwhile, Hearst strives to utilise a
centralised Business Improvement Area website to provide comparative information on merchants in
their catchment area.188 This is being done to help reduce the negative impact of external shopping
habits.
4.2.2 Skills Development
As noted in the SWOT analyses, a lack of interest and knowledge has resulted in apathy with respect
to IT solutions. This means that one of the most difficult hurdles for Cochrane to overcome will be
building the community’s overall ICT skillsets. Whichever organization(s) eventually takes the lead in
spearheading E-business enterprise in Cochrane, it will first and foremost have to work to overcome
this apathy by launching an awareness campaign.
Strategic alliances and partnerships with organizations mandated to provide ICT education
awareness will be essential here. NEOnet Inc. is a good candidate for the community to approach,
given its mandate to facilitate ICT education and awareness. In terms of Cochrane’s aging
population, a possible initiative may be to reinstate the Seniors’ Computer Training Program.
Additionally, the need for locally held business education workshops has been identified.
4.2.3 Diversifying Cochrane’s ICT Sector
Although it is true that Cochrane Telecom Services provides the community with reliable Internet
services, this sector may not be robust enough in the community to launch a comprehensive Ebusiness strategy. A lack of web developers in the community means that, as was shown, most of
web development activity is being conducted from outside of Cochrane (in the context of the BEAM
program). One solution may be for CTS itself to consider offering web development services. Failing
that, the Department of Economic Development would need to promote Cochrane in terms of its
competitive advantage among northern communities – for example targeting Northern College’s
computer engineering graduates.
187
Town of Kapuskasing (2010). Kapuskasing Economic Development Strategy. Available at:
http://www.kapuskasing.ca/Documents/Businesses/Kapuskasing%20Final%20Strategy%20%20(Website).pdf
188
Town of Hearst. (2003). Perspective 2020 InSight: An economic development strategy for the Corporation of the
Town of HEARST, ONTARIO. Available at: http://ow.ly/voXuX
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