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Firms get free e-training
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July 19, 2000: 3:39 p.m. ET
Cisco, SBA team to offer interactive training classes for small businesses
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Small-business owners and employees will be able to take e-business training classes over the Internet for free, under a program announced Wednesday by the federal Small Business Administration and Internet equipment maker Cisco Systems.
Cisco (CSCO: Research, Estimates) will provide the course content and will pay for making it available, while the SBA will make the online classroom available at its Web site, officials of the two organizations said at a news conference that was Webcast from the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
Darryl Dennis, the SBA's head of entrepreneurial development, said he hoped the online training would help narrow the "digital divide" that separates the "haves" from the "have-nots" in the online economy: "Ready access to information is the most dynamic dimension shaping our lives."
E-business basics for small firms
The first three courses went online Wednesday, with programs on the Internet economy, Internet basics and e-commerce basics, said Charles Giancarlo, senior vice president and general manager of Cisco. Over the next couple of months, three more will become available, on e-business basics, Web marketing and developing a plan for your online business.
 Initial courses are straightforward video presentations, he said. The next ones will feature a mix of video and text, with more interactive elements.
The online courses are designed to be accessible to anyone with a 28.8Kbps modem connection or faster, making them available to almost anyone who can reach the World Wide Web.
"The courses themselves are technology-neutral" and will not favor sponsor Cisco over other companies, Giancarlo said.
Cisco also offers technical training programs that lead to professional certification, but Giancarlo said the SBA-affiliated courses "focus on the decision maker in the small and medium business" and do not lead to a certificate.
In the future, the partners plan to make more material available, but they weren't sure Wednesday what form it would take. "We'll collect feedback from that to see what our next steps should be," Giancarlo said.
The Cisco-sponsored e-commerce classes will join a variety of other topics, which include starting a business and financial management, the officials said.
The SBA site attracts 9.5 million Internet hits a week. 
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