Is it time for a 'bonfire of Business Links'?

Doug Richard, the former Dragons' Den panellist, is not known for being backward in coming forward when expressing his views and he certainly wasn't at a roundtable debate I attended with him last week.

I joined representatives of other small business online publishers (Fresh Business Thinking, Marketing and Startup Donut, Smarta.com and Enterprise Nation) to debate Doug's Enterprise Manifesto, an eight-point plan which calls for a shake-up of business support and other related issues.

One of the most controversial elements of the proposals is a call for the regional elements of Business Link, the government's flagship business advisory service in England, to be scrapped with all services concentrated on its online offering Businesslink.gov.uk. Doug is so passionate about the subject that at Wednesday's roundtable he demanded "a bonfire of Business Links" leading to "nothing but ash".

Business Link is a subject which always provokes widly differing views. Some love it; others hate it. In fact, it could be described as the Marmite of the business support world! On a serious note though, I have been critical of the service in the past and I agree with Doug to the extent that the system needs to be radically reformed. Too much money has been wasted on providing multiple initiatives and schemes which all do the same thing and too many entrepreneurs are left confused as to where to turn for help.

However, it's much easier to say let Business Link burn than coming up with something to replace it. This was an issue which led to much debate among last week's panel.

Nick James, founder of Fresh Business Thinking, agreed with Doug that Business Link should only provide support online. I have a problem with that though. Not all wannabe entrepreneurs will turn to the internet for support and assuming that they will misses the point. When I brought this point up, James told me: "If people aren't using the internet they shouldn't be in business." Yes, the internet should form part of any business' strategy but to assume that just because they won't go online for help in the early days misses the fact that many entrepreneurs can't because of poor broadband connections or simply because they don't know how. Rory MccGwire, managing director of BHP Information Solutions, agreed with this point when he highlighted the fact that Businesslink.gov.uk reaches only 45% of businesses with the remaining 55%, as Rory said, exactly the people who need the most help to start up and grow a business.

The bit of the offline Business Link service which receives the most praise is the events featuring expert speakers from the entrepreneurial community. This shows that offline support is still very much an issue.

So what should replace the regional Business Links if they are scrapped? In my view, it is something that brings together the best of what the private sector is doing in terms of events and other networking services alongside online communities like those represented at last week's roundtable through which thousands of small business owners are already helping each other deal with everyday business problems.

This is a debate that will run and run and given that the Conservative Party has promised a shake-up of Business Link it will be interesting to see whether they take any action if they end up in power after the coalition negotiations with the Liberal Democrats.

I'm not saying I have all the answers but I do think the issue goes beyond scrapping Business Link offline and taking it all online.