The Digital Economy Program is funded by the Government of Alberta to allow this service to be delivered at completely no cost. The program is delivered through a partnership between participating communities in Alberta, the University of Alberta, Business Link, and Digital Main Street.

If your Alberta business is eligible, you can sign up here.

The answer is yes, provided the business fits the requirements of being a small, registered business in Alberta.

Once an eligible company signs up on the site they will be entered into the database and their account will be assigned to a Digital Service Squad Consultant who will then reach out to them and start the process.

We will assign a consultant as soon as possible. Our goal is to assign consultants to businesses within 72 hours of their completed application, assuming there is no waitlist and that slots are available. Note that we review signups on a first come, first served basis.

The goal of the program is to jumpstart businesses with the basics, educate them, and get them comfortable with using digital tools in their businesses and be motivated and equipped to continue to the next step by themselves (or to seek services from a marketing company). A Digital Assessment tool will be used to provide recommendations based on the identified needs. The scope of the work will then be agreed upon by the business owner and consultant.

Typically between 2-4 hrs. You will be required to attend an initial consultation, as well as any follow up meetings as necessary. You may also be required to provide your consultant with login information or platform access as requested.

Understand your needs: have a specific idea of the areas you need help with and what you want to get out of this consultation. Have your access information: login and permissions (that can later be changed) for consultants to be able to sign in, edit and improve sites and accounts. Working branding files: copies of your logo/ any previous branding items to incorporate into new plans. Most useful if these are in a working document format (IE, .psd or .indd) Business and product photos: images of your business and/or products are helpful in case you are not able to take new ones for your consultant to use

Our aim is to help as many businesses as possible throughout the duration of the program, so we have a limited time for our consultants to work with businesses. Since the needs will vary, the time will be based on the identified priorities. The Digital Economy Program will seek to focus on the most impactful initiatives for each business.

Officially the program is planned to run until the first quarter of 2023 (based on the number of applications). Our engagements with businesses are typically completed within one to two weeks.

During your time with your consultant, you will be taught how to use digital tools so you will be well-equipped once your time is done with us. Your consultant will also be able to direct you to additional resources or programs that will continue to assist you.

We send out our policy on missed meetings in our intial email to businesses. You can view it here