“My digital assistant” helps you to carry out your administrative procedures on the Internet and to avoid scams on the Internet, in particular thanks to Christophe Venin, who started this activity in the Chalon-sur-Saône region in Saône-et- Loire. “My Digital Assistant” is a company that has offices throughout France and therefore in Burgundy. Interview with Christophe Venin.
We can say that you have gone from personal assistance, from being a police officer in Chevigny-Saint-Sauveur, to digital assistance. What prompted you to embark on this new adventure?
Already, the desire for change. I was in the national gendarmerie for over thirty years and at one point in my life I wanted to change jobs. Being in the service of people is anchored in me, so in September 2019, with my wife, we created the franchise company, “My digital assistant” in Chalon-sur-Saône.
“My digital assistant” is aimed at which audience?
We are aimed at all audiences. We work to support everyone in the digital world.
There are currently many administrative procedures that go through the Internet. Can you help people get out of here too?
In fact, with the 2022 action plan that plans to put 100% of administrative procedures online, it is part of my daily life. I accompany people, individuals. So of course, from time to time we do things for them, but the goal is still to support them so that they become independent in these daily procedures.
The digital world is also, unfortunately, set traps and scams for people who use it. As a former police officer, should it be important for you to be aware of these dangers?
Indeed. We are also referred to the cybermalveillance.gouv.fr platform, so when people contact us after a scam, we support them. There is technical assistance to go to work on your computer, but we also tell them that they are victims of a scam and how to avoid it. We even organized conferences in the municipalities to explain the pitfalls and how to fight them. We prevent these digital scams from becoming more and more present in the daily lives of digital users.
How much do the training courses you teach cost?
When we do training for the person, we start with the training at 69 euros per hour, but all our interventions are subject to tax rebates. When you work for the local authorities, the CCAS, there is a first contact with us and from every moment we draw up individualized training budgets. During this contact, we listen to them, analyze the needs and plan with them a program that we define by budget.
How many customers do you need to make this business model profitable?
The maximum! Today we know that there are 13 million French people who are far from digital, which corresponds to approximately 6,000 people in Burgundy Franche-Comté. So we have a job. We have work to do.