Here is the original proposal that my group came up with, it did change a couple of times over time. when we met on zoom and when we got together with the professor to streamline it.

Jason Sandifer

Empowertech

Introduction

Empowertech is an idea that we have put together to help people in this country to gain basic digital and technology skills.  The need for the skills is ever growing.  The need for the skills will help not only the person but also the businesses from falling victim to the harsh reality of crime out in the digital world. 

Problem:

  In the ever-changing world of technology and the digital world the need to help people with basic skills is paramount.  There are certain parts of the population that have been left behind in gaining basic digital and technological skills.  The reasons for some people being left behind in acquiring this skills can be many. These people need to have access to a way to acquire the skills directly or to find help with the questions or concerns they have.  The need for people to have even very basic skills in this ever-changing environment is a major matter of security.  These people without gaining these skills or being able to get help could cause them major problems.  These problems can be any of the following but not limited to these like identity theft, loss of money to email scams,  loss of time to solve these problems after the fact(if it is a fixable problem), and embarrassment. The lack of these skills can also put companies at risk if they have employees who fall into this group how lack basic digital skills.

Context:

 There is a large amount of data from studies and research that show that human error is a major problem.  The data shows that people with little or no digital awareness or skills fall victim to digital crime.  The data shows that there is a need to help people get the basic skills to help protect them.  Potential partners and the statistics show that this has been long needed initiative in this digital environment. The statistics show that it is an ever-growing need for everyone to protect their information and to navigate the digital world more securely.  The Empowertech idea will help to bring the needed skills and knowledge to those who need the help.

Solutions:

The Empowertech initiative will provide help to the community of digital surfers with little to no basic skills.  The company will leverage the knowledge of the cybersecurity world to help people with acquiring the knowledge or answering questions they may have.  The company will have multiple avenues to assist the customer with their needs:

24/7 help line:

The help line will be managed and maned 24/7 by employees who will be able to help with problems that the customer has.  We will be able to help people with support, guidance, and troubleshooting.  We will be able to help the customer with multiple digital devices, online safety, and software.  We will be able to help the customer identify email and other online scams to help keep them protected from the ever-growing number of online scams.  The fact that we will be there every day around the clock will help make the customers comfortable and confident to use us for all their questions and concerns about their maneuvering of the digital world.  

Quick guides:

  The Empowertech initiative will offer quick guides for them to keep at home.  These guides will be comprehensive step by step walk through for multiple topics.  These topics will include surfing the web,  safely using email, operating systems, and digital devices.  These guides  will be there to help the customer to better understand and even learn information and skills to make the digital world less concerning and help them become more comfortable with the digital world. The quick guides will include known scams and the things to look for to avoid them.

Workshops and Classes:

  The Empowertech initiative will be offering workshops and classes.  These workshops and classes will provide an in-person instruction about the digital world.  These workshops and classes will be age appropriate and skill level appropriate to help better provide the knowledge to help the attendees feel better and safer about their time online.  The knowledge will be connived by providing the most up-to-date information and hands on experiences to allow them the best possible experience.

Partnerships:

  Empowertech will look to partners like AARP, social service groups, and government agencies.  These partnerships will allow us to expand our customer base.  These partnerships will help provide information, expand funding, and allow us to access to existing databases.  These partnerships will and can help us access our target customers.  These partnerships will allow us to help these organizations provide a service that can help their customers.  These partnerships will help them provide this current worldly skills to further their base memberships.

Barriers:

  We at Empowertech will be helping the community with a much-needed product and service.  We here at Empowertech know that we will have some things to overcome to be successful.

Rapid changes:

The rapid changes to technology and scams will be a barrier that will affect all aspects of the company.  The need to acquire information on the new technologies and scams to provide the most up-to-date information is a core goal of the company.

Reach:

  The need to expand the reach of the service from just the most vulnerable to anyone that has questions or concerns.  This will be paramount to the sustainability of the company’s future.

Willingness

  We will run into some of the older generation that will not want or too embarrassed to want or except help.

Assessment:

Long term commitment with partners like AARP, social programs and government partnership.  These will be partnerships that will help guide and gauge are long term success.

Feed back from customers that will help get our name out there and help us fine tune the service to better help the customer.

With feed back from customers we will be able to feed this into data bases to figure out statistics and metrics to again further fine tune the business model.

Conclusion:

Empowertech will help bridge the gap for the people who need help acquiring basic technology skills and help them surf the web, online bank , and email safer and better than without us.