NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — The past few years have been tough on many small business owners who tried to navigate increased costs and disruptions with the supply chain.
The Better Business Bureau of Middle Tennessee and Southern Kentucky hopes to help some of them understand and adapt to the hardships they're experiencing.
Jason Johnson, of Johnson Business Technology Solutions, is who they're targeting.
"It started in 2020. We noticed products getting harder and harder to find," said Johnson.
Johnson said he hasn't seen an obvious solution to his problem.
"We've had servers go on back order for six months. Desktops, even laptops go back over six months to get the product," he said.
Johnson runs the tech services and hardware company, but it's been tough because of supply chain issues.
"We have one product that's been on back order for over a year, multiple of that same product," he said.
Whenever that happens, it means lost revenue for the company.
Tech needs are often immediate and back ordered product means a sale likely won't happen.
"Sometimes the price is increasing from the time we order it to the time we receive it. We've had to change our entire sales process to let people know that the price change will have to reflect that on their bill."
The Better Business Bureau saw these problems among its members.
Lorneth Peters, communications manager for the Middle Tennessee and Southern Kentucky office, said they decided to create a workshop, lead by local professors, to address the problem.
"We're all impacted. From businesses to consumers, we're impacted in some way," said Peters. "We know our businesses, were asking for this and we're just finding a way to support them."
Johnson said he's looking forward to that insight.
"I'd like to see if we can get that product in faster if we can. If we can leverage someone else, some buying power through another organization to get our product in faster," he said.
The workshop will start August 10 and run every Wednesday for four weeks.
