Many small businesses are too scared of new technology to embrace it and allow it to help their company and its owners, according to Neville Grant, the assistant general manager of Bermuda Small Business Development Corporation (BSBDC).

And this is why BSBDC has set up a workshop on Thursday afternoon called "Using Technology in Your Small Business" that will help small businesses work out what computers and their systems can do for them.

"We want businesses to have more time to do the things that make money, so that they can have more chargeable hours in their companies," said Mr. Grant who has organised the conference to be held at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. this Thursday.

"We don't want to scare people away with technology. What we want to do is talk about the great strides that have been made in this field. It is out there and it can save a lot of time. Instead of standing in line for hours every week, you can use on-line banking.

"Those hours every day add up to days and weeks that could be used doing something that earns money. There are a lot of things that can speed up working now, and we want to show them this."

The four-hour seminar is aimed at helping the small business person do everything from chose a computer, the software to go with it as well as information about web-sites and advice on e-mail.

Time saving measures such as software which is user-friendly and can track orders and payments and using on-line banking and direct payments as well as ATMs are also highlighted.

Guy Wheelan, business development manager at ACT will, along with two other colleagues, speak in general about PCs and what someone would need to set up with a computer.

He will also deal with security issues and how to stop your children or family looking at things they should not see.

"There are different levels of protection," said Mr. Wheelan. "Then there are the problems of spamming and viruses, as well as hackers and all the other nasties."

He added: "There are a lot of things you can do on-line these days, such as on-line ordering, tracking deliveries get and give quotes. The computer and the Internet have many potential uses for a tool for business. Ed Benevides, vice president of E-commerce and Electronic Banking and a Glenn Frazier, Electronic Banking Manager from Bank of Bermuda will both speak about online banking, direct payroll and deposits and the power of ATMs.

"If people use these services more, then they can use that time they save to do more important things with their business," said Mr. Benevides. "We will be giving a short demonstration about how to use on-line banking and take questions as well."Charles Peters, manager of government and business services at Paragon, said his company will be speaking about data base management."We will be speaking about build versus buy software," said Mr. Benevides. "We will talk about packages that are custom made... for something like that you would come to a company like us, and then there are ones off the shelf."

And he said that his team would help small businesses wade through the different software options which can be bought to make the best choice for their business.

Joe Addison of Nex Gen Technologies will be the final speaker of the day and will be discussing e-mail and websites. "Time is money, and this is a way to move away from administrative work," he said. "It is about time best spent. E-mail and direct marketing can really help."

There will also be a question and answer sessions after each talk. For more information e-mail ngrantgov.bm.