The popular visitor attraction at Wych Cross, near Forest Row, beat off stiff competition from dozens of other small businesses in the county to take the award. Proprietor Linda Johnson was presented with the award at the December get-together of Broadband East Sussex partner organisations at the White Hart Hotel, Lewes.
The llama park had impressed the judges with the way it has used broadband technology to slash costs, improve supplier relationships and extend its customer offering including the launch of an online shop selling alpaca knitwear and South American crafts.
Runners-up were Astec Computing (UK) Ltd from St Leonards-on-Sea, Blue World Media Ltd from Horam and The Tri Store from Eastbourne.
Councillor Bob Tidy, County Council Lead Member for E-government, said: "We are delighted with the way small firms in the county are harnessing the power of broadband to transform the way they do business. The award submissions we received have proved conclusively that broadband is the most important business tool in the box. Firms that aren’t already connected should do so without delay or risk being left behind.”
Patricia Vaz, South East regional director of BT, sponsors of the award, added: "These awards are a celebration of what is good about East Sussex businesses and broadband. The winner and runners-up have shown how broadband has made their businesses more efficient and effective. They also demonstrate that taking up and utilising broadband is a win-win decision for any company.”
Earlier, Sally Meecham, Broadband East Sussex project manager, had reported that take-up of the technology in the county was still running well above the national average at 30.3 per cent.
This, she said, was a significant achievement for the Broadband East Sussex partnership which had been formed by East Sussex County Council, BT and others in 2002 to promote broadband coverage and usage.
Its success had been recognised with a string of national and regional awards for excellence over the last three years. These include a current nomination in the National E-Gov Awards category for local E-government excellence for take-up. The winners are due to be announced on 25 January.
With the main thrust of the programme now completed, Broadband East Sussex has turned its attention to demonstrating how firms in different sectors of industry and commerce can improve their efficiency and profitability by connecting to broadband.
Details of the ongoing programme of ‘on the road’ events, together with information on how broadband can benefit your business, is available at www.broadbandeastsussex.co.uk or call 01273 482288.
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