BOOST (Business Optimising Online Skills Training)

Designed to equip you with both the fundamentals of best business practice and an understanding of the most current developments affecting businesses, such as AI, cloud storage, and cybersecurity, our Boost training course, funded by the CPCA, offers either 10- or 12-week options, starting in January 2025.

In a weekly, two-hour online live seminar (also available on-demand) you will learn about:

• business planning
• growth strategies
• finance and operations
• digital marketing
• artificial intelligence
• social media
• the cloud and cyber security
• e-commerce
• understanding your business data and much more.

Details of the weekly seminars can be found below.

You’ll hear from industry experts, access case studies from a range of relevant businesses, receive practical bite-sized training on useful software such as MS Office and benefit from the networking opportunities the course presents.

Upon completion of the course, you’ll enjoy an in-person celebration event at ARU Peterborough’s stunning campus on Bishops Road, Peterborough and meet the other course participants.

Which version of the course is right for me?

• If you’re in start-up or pre-start-up mode, or feel that a review of the basics will be beneficial for your business, choose the 12-week option.
• If you’re already an established business, seeking to build upon and update your skills, choose the 10-week option

Register your interest using our online form, and we’ll be in touch with further details. The course is free.

Each week during the course, we’ll send you a reminder email of the upcoming session with links to access the live seminar on Microsoft Teams.

You can include as many individuals within your organisation as you wish.

Weekly seminar topics

A weekly live webinar will take place covering the topics below. All webinars run from 1–3pm on Wednesdays, but are also recorded to view on demand should the live session not work around your business needs.

• 29/01/25: Introduction to Entrepreneurship and Business Planning (12-week option)
• 05/02/25: Legal, Financial, and Operational Foundations (12-week option)
• 12/02/25: Introduction to Digital Transformation and Productivity
• 19/02/25: Building a Digital Strategy for Growth
• 26/02/25: Productivity Tools for Everyday Tasks
• 05/03/25: Cloud accounting and Making Tax Digital
• 12/03/25: Website Development, Optimisation, E-commerce, and Emerging Technologies
• 19/03/25: Social Media Marketing for Customer Engagement
• 26/03/25: Content Marketing, IP, and Email Marketing
• 02/04/25: Digital Advertising, Data Analytics, Reporting, and Revenue Insights
• 09/04/25: Digitising Business Operations
• 16/04/25: Cybersecurity, Data Protection, Business Continuity & IP
• 23/04/25: Cohort Celebration