
DS Small Business Help Ltd have been recognised at the Wales Region of the Federation of Small Businesses 2019 awards held in Cardiff, by taking the Digital Innovation Award. The awards were hosted by Sian Lloyd, BBC Wales Correspondent and the award was presented to Dionne Sherwood, the firm’s principal, by Marsha Ward.
All entries in the Digital Innovation Category had to talk about their current business success particularly in relation to online performance and optimisation of all aspects of e-commerce to achieve growth and strong financial performances and also explain to the judges why this is impressive compared to competitors and peers. Dionne also explained that she had to share evidence of successful online business performance including innovation, delivery, and customer service.
Dionne showed that her firm uses either software that is cloud based or cloud hosted. She says “This means that client work can be accessed anywhere they have internet access, which is especially useful when away from the office. Cloud based software means that they can easily work through things with clients without making a special trip to the client premises. This means that client problems are sorted out quickly and efficiently. The firm also encourages the use of electronic signatory and has a filing cabinet in the cloud where clients can access their documents at any time. Of course, with this sort of access, we have to take the security of data very seriously”
When asked what this award means for the firm, Dionne says “We are absolutely delighted to have been recognised as a forward-thinking firm, not just in the accountancy world, but among small businesses generally. We know the efficiencies within the firm mean that not only can a small team provide a quality service to their clients, but can also provide business growth and advisory services, which are much more valuable to clients than compliance services.”
At DSSBH we endeavour to do as much as we possibly can using electronic tools. This includes encouraging clients to use Cloudbased Software to maintain their accounting records, sharing documents using secure document exchange and keeping client files in the cloud so that a client can access them from an electronic filing cabinet rather than trawling through hundreds of e-mails to try and find an attachment. Electronic signature is also encouraged. By using such systems, the efficiencies to be gained for both client and DSSBH are huge.
We are now entered into the UK wide awards, the ceremony of which takes place in London on 23 May 2019.

The awards comprised 11 categories and DSSBH was one of only three Ceredigion based organisations that made the shortlist in any of the categories. Gwe Cambrian Web Cyf were shortlisted for both the Micro Business of the Year with partner Emlyn Jones shortlisted for Young Entrepreneur of the year. In addition, Tir Coed which has its head office in Aberystwyth was shortlisted for the Community award.