Launch of Cybersecurity report in Enterprise Ireland

CyberEurope spotlights opportunities for Irish cybersecurity companies in Europe

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Irish cybersecurity companies and market experts from all over Europe gathered last week in Enterprise Ireland’s East Point campus for CyberEurope – a conference that explored opportunities, challenges and strategies for Irish businesses exporting to the UK and Europe.

CyberEurope also saw the release of a research report commissioned by Enterprise Ireland, with market scoping analysis delivered by strategy and risk-management consultancy CEIS.

This new detailed report, titled The European Cybersecurity Market: Mapping the Opportunities and Route to Market for Irish SMEs, presents an overview of export opportunities for Enterprise Ireland-backed companies in eight target countries: Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the UK, and international institutions: European Union and NATO.

Download the report’s key summaries now

 

CyberEurope report highlights

While there are significant differences between the cybersecurity markets of the eight countries studied, Enterprise Ireland’s research demonstrates continued levels of growth across each.

The report identifies three “opportunity clusters” that can be used as a guide when assessing markets: the first groups the UK, France, Germany and the Netherlands, the second is Belgium, and the third includes Poland, Spain and Italy. Each cluster market is categorised based on macro factors including market size and maturity, competition level, policy framework and market accessibility.

These opportunity clusters are intended to help Irish businesses to prioritise target export markets and to inform their decision to invest in either more challenging and more mature high value-added markets, or to focus efforts on less mature and less saturated markets. Cybersecurity Report

The report also makes recommendations for companies entering a new market, such as establishing a local presence, obtaining relevant European or national certifications, and to leverage hot and trending topics of interest in the cybersecurity sector’s sub-segments.

Download the full report: The European Cybersecurity Market: Mapping the Opportunities and Route to Market for Irish SMEs 

 

Exciting time for the Irish cybersecurity sector

The report and related event are part of a drive to create visibility for Irish cybersecurity companies among potential overseas buyers, partners and customersaccording to Enterprise Ireland’s Senior Market Advisor for Benelux, Matthijs Egger.

Egger, who led the project for Enterprise Ireland, says: “The report, and hosting a conference on this scale, really is a milestone for the sector in Ireland.”

The publication of the report marks the culmination of an Enterprise Ireland market scoping project, which aims to give client companies an overview of opportunities in the sector in these markets, and to establish how best to support them.

Sarah McNabb, Market Advisor for the UK at Enterprise Ireland, says that the cybersecurity industry is seeing such growth because it’s becoming a board-level issue: “It’s shifting from a reactive to a proactive issue and companies aren’t sitting back anymore waiting for an attack to happen.”

 

Making valuable connections

Presentations and panel discussions at the East Point event allowed attendees to explore the detail behind the data. Panel members gave their views on the findings and discussed the report’s impact. Egger says: “By having real discussions with experts from the markets studied, participants could check and validate the realities on the ground in each market.”

CyberEurope event in Enterprise Ireland, DublinPanel member Manfredi Blasucci, IT Security Manager for Auchan Retail Italy, agrees with the importance of the clusters identified and adds that he sees the European cyber market as being split by the north and south of Europe – with the north valuing quality of service most, and the south valuing price.

One of the most valuable elements of the event, Egger says, was the opportunity for networking. “Along with Enterprise Ireland Market Advisors at the event, we had buyers from six markets, so there were lots of introduction opportunities for client companies.”

The day concluded with a workshop, which gave attendants the key criteria and next steps for finding the best routes to market in Europe, and a site visit to UCD’s Centre for Cybersecurity and Cybercrime Investigation (CCI).

 

Importance of the report for cybersecurity in Ireland

Speaker Pat Larkin, CEO of information security company Ward Solutions, and Board Member of Cyber Ireland, an organisation uniting resources between government, academia and industry, says that the report offers valuable insights for resource-strapped SMEs in Ireland when making informed decisions.

“It’s very important that any decisions we make in the context of exporting to new markets are based on the most up-to-date information and advice, to maximise the likelihood of success and shorten the time to return on investment.”

Larkin says that the report “presents a very clear set of market information to any prospective Irish cyber SME planning on exporting to Europe”.

He expands on the relevance of the report saying that the information helps narrow-in on markets that are most suitable for each company’s offering: “It saves us the time and effort in performing this research. It offers a higher level of data quality, and it’s a clear pathway to making decisions on which market to focus on and why.”

Iberia

Ambition Spain & Portugal: How we got Iberia to work for us

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Easy to get to, easy to get around, but a tough nut to crack. It’s sometimes thought that the Iberian markets of Spain and Portugal are challenging to take on. Language barriers and differences in business culture are cited as barriers to a combined market with a GDP of almost €1.5trn.

But both countries not only actively trade with Eurozone neighbours including Ireland but enjoy legacy links with growing, dynamic markets in South America and Africa, acting as bridges for firms active in the Iberian market. It’s no wonder the region is home to global giants such as Banco Santander and Telefónica.

The economic downturn changed the region’s business landscape, and structural reforms opened up new opportunities for firms looking for a route to market. Along with reforms in labour and employment, a cultural shift towards innovation has helped Irish firms to enter this valuable market.

 

Formula for Irish success in Spain and Portugal

At Enterprise Ireland’s Ambition Spain and Portugal event, Irish firms that have made successful entries to the market outlined why it had worked for them. The common ingredients for successful exporting included getting boots on the ground, perseverance, and robust planning.

Research and planning was a major exercise for Atlantic Therapeutics, the Galway-based rehabilitative medical devices firm. The company already has a presence beyond Ireland in the UK, France, Germany and the USA, and wanted to move into Spain. Market research threw up interesting market segments.

“When we started out 18 months ago looking at the Spanish market, we looked at the medical device space to start with. Through Enterprise Ireland, we were introduced to people who could focus our route to the Spanish market,” Alan O’Shea, Head of Distribution Markets for Atlantic Therapeutics.

During discussions, the company realised that their rehab devices could get market share by using the well-developed TV home shopping channels in a very buoyant private home use market.

“It isn’t traditionally the usual distribution channel for our technology,” he told delegates. “We’re two months in and so far it’s a very positive experience.”

Finding a complementary partner with local market knowledge and contacts can provide a lift to securing new exports. That was the route that helped accelerate growth for Tullamore-based emergency vehicle kit-out specialists Acetech. Enterprise Ireland helped to introduce the firm to a Spanish ambulance manufacturer who was interested in their vehicle intelligence systems.

“They will now represent us, in terms of putting our equipment in the vehicles they are providing to the Spanish marketplace, and also the Latin American marketplace as well,” Acetech sales director Fergus Claffey told delegates.

By 2020, Spanish business will account for 10% of turnover for Acetech as a result, he said.

 

What to do after market entry

Once in the market, Irish firms should get boots on the ground as regularly as possible, the conference was told. Not only will you get a handle on the business culture but it can help with honing your product fit, and generate new market opportunities.

Eamonn MacLughadha, founder of Spanish-based import company Machemac and based in Spain for the past 23 years, said Irish firms should get their feet on the ground if only to get an idea of scale.

“If you are capable of supplying 50% of the Irish market, that may only equate to 5% of the Spanish market. If your product takes, do you even the capability to deliver?”

With six months being a typical timeframe for payment in Spain, resourcing your route to entry is vital, he added.

“The closer you stick to a Spanish customer, the better the feedback you get on a problem. Getting to see them face to face will get you what you need to know. A phone call or email just won’t cut it.” says MacLughadha.

Likewise in Portugal, being in the market is seen as a commitment to the customer, said Helder Palhas, country manager for Aspire Technology. “Keep your relationship alive. Don’t just abandon a customer after a sale, keep in touch. Go for lunch, even if you don’t have a product to sell them right now – it will make a difference.”

The sentiment was echoed by Mr Claffey: “We thought we knew what we were doing with the research but we learnt more from a three-hour plane trip to Spain than three months of planning. Stop relying on Skype.”

One of the biggest pitfalls that befalls Irish firms trying to enter the market in Spain, according to MacLughadha, is not appreciating the length of the average sales cycle.

“In my experience here, the sales cycle is a lot longer than Irish companies are used to, or comfortable with. They give up too soon. The sales cycle is a lot longer. I’ve seen agri sales take two years from trade show to sale. That wouldn’t be unusual. You have to persevere.”

For Acetech, entering the Spanish market was a revelation even with all the steep learnings: “The cultural fit between Ireland and Spain is very, very good. I don’t know why we didn’t do it earlier,” said Mr Claffey.

Learn more on trading in the Spanish and Portuguese markets and the Enterprise Ireland supports available with our Going Global guide.

How Modubuild Became the Go-To Contractor for Global Data Centre Providers

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“When we did finally take the plunge to grow our business internationally, our growth skyrocketed and today we’re delivering multiple multimillion-euro projects  simultaneously.” 

Kevin Brennan, co-founder and managing director of Modubuild

Overview:

  • Sector: Construction, Data Centre industry, Biopharma and Pharma
  • Markets: Netherland, Sweden, Belgium, Germany, Finland,
  • Supports: Job Expansion Fund, Enterprise Ireland’s International Office Network

Case Study: Modubuild

The world is producing more data than ever and the need for high-capacity storage systems has never been greater. In fact, TechNavio said it expects the data centre market in Europe to surpass $25 billion in 2023, a compound annual growth rate of 11% since 2019 — and Kilkenny-based Modubuild is banking on being a big part of that.

Established in 2006, Modubuild provides on-site modular construction solutions on some of Europe’s largest high-tech projects, primarily in the data centre, biopharmaceutical and pharmaceutical sectors. The company also operates a 140,000-square-foot off-site production facility in Castlecomer, where entire high-tech building modules are constructed within the factory and then transported to sites across Europe.

Modubuild has grown an average of 45% year-on-year for the last six years, with significant contracts in Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, the UK and Finland. Its customers include leading global data centre providers, as well as biopharma companies such as Amgen, Eli Lilly, Pfizer, MSD and more.

“We were a small Irish company for a number of years. When we did finally take the plunge to grow our business internationally, our growth skyrocketed and today we’re delivering multiple multimillion-euro projects simultaneously,” reveals Kevin Brennan, co-founder and managing director of Modubuild, noting that the right support has been essential to the company achieving its global ambitions — and Enterprise Ireland has been a key partner on its path to growth.

 

The Netherlands: a gateway to Europe’s data centre industry

Modubuild wasn’t always in the data centre business. Back in its early days, the company provided specialist modular fire and explosion systems for pharmaceutical companies and infrastructure projects such as the Limerick Tunnel and Dublin Airport. But it wasn’t long before Kevin and his team noticed a gap in the market for companies that could deliver high-tech data centre systems quickly and in multiple locations throughout Northern Europe.

“We wanted to grow the company internationally and we wanted to become the leading international player in high-tech modular construction, to do this we knew we needed to grow our team and partner with the right organisations in our target markets,” Kevin says, explaining the reason behind Modubuild becoming an Enterprise Ireland client company in 2014. “We knew that Enterprise Ireland could introduce us to various partners in target markets and could also help us with funding to hire the additional staff we needed at the time.”

With the help of Enterprise Ireland’s Job Expansion Fund, which provides grant support of up to €150,000 towards the recruitment of additional employees, Modubuild was able to grow from 10 to 20 employees, enabling it to invest in picking up opportunities in new markets.

“A lot of small businesses might think twice about hiring people because of the cost blow,” Kevin says. “Whereas, if you have the financial support behind you from Enterprise Ireland, it makes it that little bit easier to overhire people in advance of winning contracts.”

In 2015, Modubuild won its first large international contract — a data centre project in the Netherlands, worth €8 million, for a client that the company had previously worked for in Ireland.

“That was our biggest contract up to that point and it was in a new market so it was a double win for us,” Kevin recalls, adding, “From this, we developed a reputation as a company that could deliver large, complex, fast-track projects internationally. At the time, it was one of the largest data centre projects in Europe.”

That said, there was more to entering the Dutch market than winning a contract there — Modubuild needed local advisors and partners that could guide the company on the legal and tax compliance front. Enterprise Ireland recommended a law firm that could offer advice around contract, legal and tax requirements as well as an accountancy firm that could help with day-to-day work related to labour, payroll and local compliance.

Since then the company has continued to ramp up work in the Netherlands — there are currently multiple multi-million projects ongoing — and, with Enterprise Ireland’s support and guidance, opened an office in Amsterdam in January of this year.

“Enterprise Ireland arranged for Kevin Kelly, the Ambassador of Ireland to the Netherlands, to attend the official opening and we got a nice bit of PR around that,” Kevin says, adding that something similar is planned in the coming months when the company will announce the opening of a new office in Brussels. “We recently set up a regional office in Belgium where we have won our largest project to date. We have also secured significant contracts in Finland and Sweden, so we expect to see continued strong growth across the Benelux and Nordics regions in addition to Ireland and the UK.”

 

Scaling for future growth

With the digital universe expected to reach 44 zettabytes by 2020, fuelled by the Internet of Things and the use of connected devices, the global data centre industry shows no signs of slowing down — and either does Modubuild.

“We’ll continue to grow our international data centre business. Every year we’re picking up more contracts and larger contracts, which is causing us to grow across Northern Europe and we expect to enter some new markets within the next year such as Norway,” Kevin says.

He also sees the off-site facility as a major factor in Modubuild’s future growth.

“We’re the only company in Europe with an off-site facility that can produce these high-tech buildings and it allows us greater control of quality, greater efficiency and enables us to export a higher value product, meaning we can do more of the value-add within Ireland before we ship out the buildings” states Brennan.

And because a strong team will be central to such growth, Modubuild is in the middle of a major recruitment drive and has hired 20 additional people in the last 12 months, bringing its total to 45 direct staff as well as over 200 indirect employees.

“I expect that Enterprise Ireland will help us with more job expansion funding and by making key introductions as we enter new markets,” Kevin shares, adding that he’d urge any Irish company that’s considering a move to talk to Enterprise Ireland and to other companies who have successfully diversified their client base. “It’s extremely worthwhile to move into new markets. The benefit of scaling your business internationally is that you’re not dependent on any particular market. Even if things are quieter in Ireland, when you have multiple different markets, you spread your risk.”

Read more on the supports available to help your business diversify into new markets or speak to your Development Advisor today.

 

Commitment to excellence keeps Takumi at cutting edge of engineering manufacturing

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When Takumi Precision Engineering wanted to grow its capability, its management team realised that it would require a significant investment in capital equipment, innovation, and staff training.

Investing for the future is not new for Takumi. Founded in 1998 by Gerry Reynolds, the Limerick-based engineering manufacturer is a leading supplier of components to a wide variety of multinational aerospace and medical device companies. Over the years, Takumi has accumulated a unique range of CNC precision machining equipment and invested in its staff to a level that has positioned the company at the cutting edge of their sector.

Takumi’s revenues have doubled to €10m in the four years since it moved into the aerospace market in 2015. Aerospace now accounts for 60% of its business but the medical devices sector is also a vitally important market segment, which continues to offer ongoing opportunities – and Takumi’s management team is confident that the company will be a €20m business by 2025.

In order to continue its strong growth trajectory, Takumi had to put solid foundations in place. The company sought assistance from Enterprise Ireland’s Operational Excellence offer, a large-scale holistic company transformation programme that is designed to deliver a change in company culture and raise productivity.

Culture can be one of the most difficult elements in an organisation to change and even more difficult to sustain. The Operational Excellence offer is focused on embedding competencies necessary to achieve ongoing productivity and efficiency gains, thereby creating sustainable improvements in the business and across its supply chain throughout its one to two-year assignment period.

This is not an easy task for businesses and requires full commitment at every level of management, in every department, at every stage of the transformation. Operational Excellence assignments must be built around an identifiable project plan. This can include support for business innovation, capability building, and/or capital expenditure.

Companies benefit from a streamlined process whereby they can apply for these supports within the one Operational Excellence offer, as opposed to the usual process of applying to Enterprise Ireland for them separately.

Business innovation support includes the implementation of new production, delivery or organisational methods in the company, while capability training is offered to support the plan along with capital expenditure related to production or operations.

 

How Takumi used Enterprise Ireland’s Operational Excellence offer

The result is a one-off application to transform the business, and Takumi sought assistance through Operational Excellence in the following headings:

  1. Acquisition of new capital equipment
  2. Introduction of a new Nadcap approved metal treatment plant for aerospace components
  3. Refinement and strengthening of the key core competence of metal cutting/machining through an R&D project on discovering and adopting the latest 5-axis CAM technology
  4. Adoption of Lean methodologies into the business operating systems, particularly through fine-tuning the ERP system and adopting Industry 4.0 practices across the entire bandwidth of the business, including processing orders, scheduling and planning, reporting and metrics
  5. Growing further tiers of management and supervisors so that the business can continue to expand while preserving the ethos of ‘growing our own’.

Takumi has involved its entire management team in its Operational Excellence offer, which is running from 2018-2021.

Managing Director Gerry Reynolds said: “It might be a new programme but I believe that Operational Excellence will be widely adopted by industry. It affords companies an opportunity to put together a comprehensive business plan that really can transform businesses. The application process is really no more difficult than previous programmes.

“There has been some apprehension that some business are not ‘ready’ for OpEx but, in reality, what business is not ready for a comprehensive plan? Being all encompassing, OpEx can deliver a more coherent business plan. Some previous programmes could be somewhat fragmented and lack cohesiveness. I look forward to the experience of transforming and growing Takumi into a bigger, high tech, modern, Industry 4.0 factory.”

Enterprise Ireland’s Operational Excellence offer provides the best possible support to companies that wish to transform their business. Not only does it systematically change the way work is performed, it enables companies to change the culture and mindset of how they do business. By offering more than one support option, it encourages managers to view the business in holistic terms and, as Takumi has shown, what business isn’t ready for a cohesive and comprehensive plan?

 

Learn how Enterprise Ireland’s competitiveness supports can help transform your business.

Ambition Benelux: How to find the right export partner

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There are challenges to breaking into new export markets like Benelux. These include determining if your products are the right fit for your target market, cultural and linguistic barriers, and the costs of establishing a presence in a new country.

While support from resources like Enterprise Ireland’s overseas offices and Market Research Centre will help you to find solutions for these challenges, sourcing indigenous partners for sales channels is one way that Irish companies gain footholds in new regions.

As an exporting nation, Ireland’s track record in building bridges to new markets is strong. Right now, one of the most exciting market opportunities lies in the nearby Eurozone. As well as offering attractive markets individually, the Benelux region, covering the open economies Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, offers a valuable proving ground for, and gateway to, that wider Eurozone market.

 

Why you should consider sourcing an export partner for Benelux

Choosing the right export partner is a significant undertaking. Care must be taken to ensure that the partnership will be adequately beneficial. When done well, it will give your business a solid foundation in the new market.

The potential benefits and risks were expertly outlined by QuPact’s Brian English at Enterprise Ireland’s Ambition Benelux event in Athlone. English advised that the usual route to market channels for Benelux are similar to those that work in Ireland, and include partners, distributors and wholesalers, agents and reps, direct sales, franchising, and licensing to referral partners.

Initially, bypassing your own direct salesforce to get up and running can offer advantages, English told attendees: “I encourage people to think about using channels for two big reasons. First, is the time to get your product to market. If you compare the amount of time that you can get to sales, invoicing and collecting money in a market using channels, compared to setting up and going directly or acquiring customers directly, that is a big win.”

Enterprise Ireland Benelux team“Secondly, there is a saving on direct costs. Think about the cashflow impact that putting a direct salesperson into the Benelux region has from day one: payroll costs, expenses, and associated costs.

“Whereas, if you can leverage the right channel, it’s quite feasible that you can source a partner who owns the relationship with your target customer. That can help you to get to sales quicker, and with more conserved cash.”

While Enterprise Ireland’s in-country market advisors are always available to assist with networking with potential partners, English advised that options are also often found within the company’s existing network.

 

Get inspired by Azpiral and Over-C’s successful partnerships in Benelux

The conference heard that Limerick’s Azpiral, creators of the AzpiralPRO integrated real-time loyalty platform, had just concluded a deal that will see their cloud-based solution positioned in 350 AVIA service stations in the Netherlands, representing 10% of the market. AVIA is an international leader in the European forecourt sector, with over 3,000 stations across 15 European countries.

After exploring opportunities in the market last year, Sales Director Kevin Nolan reported that he is “hopeful that being the first choice in loyalty software for international brands like Circle K, Gulf Oil, Spar and AVIA will present opportunities for Azpiral to continue to expand internationally.”

A second success story is Cork’s Over-C, who deploys an integrated digital platform providing transparency for all functions relating to the upkeep of high-footfall, high-risk public facilities, such as shopping centres, stadia and transit hubs, with operations in Amsterdam.

Over-C leveraged existing links with Dutch-owned client ScotRail when targeting the market. James Murphy, Head of Partnerships, told delegates: “I see the Netherlands as a gateway to the rest of Europe. The Netherlands are early software adopters, and Germany looks at the Netherlands and what works there, so it’s good preparation for new markets.”

Over-C’s innovative software uses artificial intelligence, data and analytics to provide industry professionals with key insights for time-critical decision-making. It has been operating in the Dutch market for two years, with customers including Facilicom, Trigion, Koopgoot, Plaza Nieuwegein Shopping Centre, and Wereldhave. Over-C is currently working with KPN to identify further opportunities through their customer base.

Some firms can view channels as an afterthought, and still see direct sales as the best option, but they are missing out on leveraging a partner’s boots on the ground, English said.

“Think about putting them at the center of your business. They have an input into the sales process, into marketing, into new product development, into engineering. If you can bring the channels, as your eyes and ears in the local market, into your business and get contributions into those critical areas, you’ll end up with a much better sales ecosystem.”

Vetting your prospective partners, be they agents or distributors, is vital, said English. Make sure you understand the laws and compensation due to an agent should you eventually terminate the arrangement as it covers not only existing customers but those you may subsequently acquire based on agent work.

Distributors of your product should be vetted to ensure they have the capital or secured credit in place to acquire your stock, a frequent oversight by many, said English.

Whichever route you choose, make sure you’re partnering with someone who owns that end relationship with your target customer, he added.

“Look at all of their routes to market and find out who owns the relationships with those end customers. It’s a labour of love that takes about 30 days. But once it’s done, you can make really informed decisions about your strategy to go into the markers and about which channels you want to work with.”

Abcon

How Enterprise Ireland’s Market Research Centre helped Abcon to break new markets

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“You need to be constantly selling and expanding your customer base. You can’t depend on a particular country or territory or one big customer.” 

Lyn Sharkey, Abcon Sales and Marketing Director

Overview:

  • Sector: Design and Manufacturing
  • Markets: Germany, France, UK, Nordics, Eastern Europe
  • Supports:  Enterprise Ireland’s Market Research Centre
  • Goals: To increase exports to mainland European countries
  • Challenges: Abcon needed help identifying and accessing people in key EU markets
  • Results: Abcon has transitioned from  a company whose exports were almost all to the UK to trading in multiple European markets

Case Study: Abcon

A decade ago, the UK was effectively Abcon’s entire export market, says Lyn Sharkey, the company’s Sales and Marketing Director. While Abcon had focused on increasing exports to other markets over the past ten years, Brexit accelerated its efforts.

Abcon

Working with Enterprise Ireland’s Market Research Centre helped Abcon to pinpoint new markets with the potential to grow the business and to gain expert insights into how to compete in them.

Based in Cootehill, Co. Cavan, the Abrasives and Industrial Hose Manufacturer currently employs 155 people. Its Industrial Hose Division markets its goods under the CavMac brand, which Abcon acquired in 2007 and serves sectors including oil and gas, mining and aggregates, food and beverage, and portside services and dredging. The Abrasives Division serves totally different sectors including stainless steel fabrication, joinery, aerospace, and automotive. Exports are hugely important to both.

A number of Market Research Centre supports helped Abcon to increase exports to European countries. These included independent and reliable information from blue-chip providers, such as Gartner, Frost & Sullivan, Mintel and others, databases of potential leads and prospects, guidance on the right trade events to attend, and in-market knowledge. 

Sharkey emphasised that obtaining such information would have been much more difficult without the help of the Market Research Centre.

With a high volume of sales driven by internet searches, accurate information about the names of products in local languages is essential to underpinning successful international digital marketing tactics. Assistance with learning how its products are described in the languages of key overseas markets proved to be one of the most useful services.

 

Support for moving beyond the UK as your sole export market

Long before Brexit made diversification a matter of urgency, Abcon understood that relying on a single market, or a small number of large customers, was a risk. Sharkey says, “We are very conscious that, over the years, some customers for whatever reason come and go. You need to be constantly selling and expanding your customer base. You can’t depend on a particular country or territory or one big customer.”

While the opportunity to enter new markets is one every ambitious Irish company should consider, authoritative market research is critical to such business decisions. With support from the Market Research Centre’s information specialists, Abcon realised that a strategy of increasing exports to countries beyond the UK would help the company to grow and diversify the business. 

“Over the last ten years, we have been steadily growing export sales to territories outside the UK, because initially the UK was our only export market.” explains Sharkey.

The UK, nevertheless, remains an important market for Abcon, accounting for 27% of turnover.

 

Dipping into Deutschland

In recent years, Germany has become an important market for the business. Sharkey offers some advice for other Irish companies aiming to increase exports to the Eurozone’s largest economy: “Know who your target customers are. You have to visit them, attend the shows. We recommend staying in touch with the Enterprise Ireland office in that territory because they can let you know about appropriate events to attend and give you an insight into how that market operates. At International Markets Week, the team told us about events they host, to which companies backed by Enterprise Ireland can invite potential customers. It’s all about relationships at the end of the day. You need to get in front of the customer and understand what they need.”

Germany is not Abcon’s only European market. Its CavMac division engages in significant volumes of business across the Nordic countries. Other important markets include the Netherlands, Italy, France, and the Czech Republic.

While none of these markets are primarily English speaking, Abcon’s experience has been that the need to hire staff with native language skills varies depending on the territory.

“In central and eastern Europe, where English isn’t as widely spoken, it’s definitely helpful that we have Russian, Polish and Latvian speakers in our company.” says Sharkey.

The Market Research Centre helps companies backed by Enterprise Ireland to explore opportunities and to compete in international markets. If your company is considering breaking into new markets, struggling with Brexit or dealing with thorny strategic issues, the Research Centre’s extensive resources and expertise should be your first port of call.

Sharkey strongly recommends that companies similarly positioned take advantage of this support, concluding: “I definitely would. First of all, it’s a free service to client companies. You’re not paying for lists that may be out of date, as can be a risk elsewhere. Their information specialists work to keep them updated and the searches are quite versatile. The support you receive from the Market Research Centre is really helpful. The team can help you to understand and refine the searches. They want to make sure you go away with a meaningful list. Their customer service is really good”.

 

Key takeouts:

  • Working with the Market Research Centre helped Abcon to find new markets and to decide how to compete in them.

  • Supports accessed included independent and reliable information from blue-chip providers, such as Gartner, Frost & Sullivan, and Mintel, databases of potential leads and prospects, guidance on the right trade events to attend, and in-market knowledge.

  • Help with learning how its products are described in languages of overseas markets was one of the most useful services received.

Read more on the supports available to help your business diversify into new markets or speak to your Development Advisor today.

Minister Breen & Brian O'Driscoll

Brian O’Driscoll talks business lessons from the rugby pitch

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With Irish ambition focused on the Rugby World Cup in Japan, we look back at insights legend Brian O’Driscoll shared on the need to seek out new markets at Enterprise Ireland’s Ambition Asia Pacific event earlier this year.

Holding the Rugby World Cup in Japan marked a decisive change for international rugby but one which holds lessons for Irish businesses, according to rugby legend Brian O’Driscoll.

The former Ireland and Leinster captain was speaking at Ambition Asia Pacific, a major conference organised by Enterprise Ireland.  Drawing parallels between the world of sport and the world of business, he provided insights into how success on the playing field can be translated to business.

 

Be brave and discover new markets

Among these was the need to be brave and seek out new markets. “The Rugby World Cup in Japan is a new departure and it’s really important. World rugby has obviously realised there’s no point going back to the same markets that are synonymous with rugby, where we’ve had a host of World Cups already. If you want to grow the game, you’ve got to grow into new markets,” he said.

Given that the monies raised during a World Cup are used to fund the game over the following four years, it’s vital that the tournament goes where the revenues are, and “Japan is an untapped market,” he said.

 

Team performance matters most

O’Driscoll spoke about his memories of taking up the captaincy of the national team at the age of 23 and being daunted by his relative youth. He realised he needed help.

“There are very few successful teams that are about one person, or one leader. I realised very quickly that I had shortcomings as a leader and that I needed to bring some ideas from elsewhere, from experienced players who had been at the coalface for a number of years, and in particular from the guys that maybe had missed out in the captaincy challenge.” said O’Driscoll

The right culture is enormously important for the success of any team, he suggested. In his case, success came from being in teams where members were encouraged to see their own personal performance as secondary. And a successful team cannot have a blame culture, O’Driscoll added. It must have people who take responsibility for their own actions.

In the digital age, bringing people together as a team can be hard. At Leinster they introduced a rule which helped. “You can walk into a dressing room and have 50 people on their phone, not talking to one another. So we introduced a rule that everyone going in every morning must shake hands with everyone in the organisation. It came from France, where everyone does the two kisses, so we went with a handshake or a fist bump,” he said.

“That five seconds of conversations every day gave you an opportunity to have this commonality with the other person and understand them a little more. In rugby, you’ve got to feel you have each other’s back and it has been an integral part of the success,” he said.

 

Focus to win

Bouncing back from knockbacks and disappointments is important too, as is learning how to do that.

One intervention that was hugely beneficial to him occurred when a sports psychologist suggested that, instead of concentrating on improving seven or eight facets of his game, as O’Driscoll worried he needed to, he should concentrate on the two which he felt could be world class. O’Driscoll did so, to enormous success.

Focusing on what sets you apart from the crowd, your USP, is good business advice too. Not only will it differentiate you but, as in O’Driscoll’s case, it gives you confidence.

Confidence can also be built on constructive feedback, from customers as well as team members. When he gave up rugby and began a new career in TV punditry, what O’Driscoll missed most was the honest feedback that athletes get. He could find no one to give it to him, so he didn’t improve as fast as he wanted to.

“The only way I was going to improve, to understand where my timing was awful, was through feedback. They all said I was doing great and I said that’s no good to me, I needed to know where I was going wrong. It’s the only way to grow and get better.”

Similarly, in business, feedback from your least contented customers most often deliver the competitive insights that help you win in markets around the world.

 

Enterprise Ireland’s Ambition events feature speakers with experience in developing business in new markets.  View upcoming Ambition events and register today.

Cubic Telecom is Helping Germany’s Biggest Carmakers to Drive Forward

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“Enterprise Ireland is always extremely helpful in terms of providing meeting space and setting up partner meetings, finding out beforehand who we want to make contact with and enabling those briefings at the show.” Gerry McQuaid, CCO Cubic Telecom

Overview:

  • Sector: IoT
  • Markets: APAC, China, Europe, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Middle East
  • Supports: Trade Missions & Events, International Office Network

Case Study: Cubic Telecom

In an always-on world where consumers expect instant access to information and experiences, car manufacturers are clamouring to ensure that 24/7 connectivity is provided behind the wheel — and Dublin-based Cubic Telecom is supplying the solution.

Cubic’s global connectivity platform PACE enables cars and other devices to automatically connect to high-speed local mobile networks around the world. The company is a fully licensed mobile services provider powering high-quality connectivity worldwide for global manufacturers, including six brands within Volkswagen Group, e.GO Electric Vehicles and Panasonic Automotive, among others.

Not to mention, Cubic’s connected car solution supports 2.5 million cars in 93 markets globally, with capabilities across Europe, North America, Latin America, the Middle East, Russia, Africa and Asia-Pacific.

“Our focus spans wider than the Irish market,” reveals CCO Gerry McQuaid, who has been part of the Cubic Telecom team from its beginning in 2009. “Obviously we support the sale of our partners’ products in Ireland but we are focused on the global market and we have had that global focus from the start.”

But scaling internationally requires more than identifying a global customer base and Gerry says Enterprise Ireland’s assistance has been critical in helping Cubic to forge strategic partnerships every step of the way.

 

Powering global connections

When Cubic Telecom made its first foray into the international market, it was with a SIM card that let travellers make low-cost phone calls from anywhere in the world without incurring huge roaming charges. But the company soon switched gears to focus on creating technology that would connect any device to the internet while abroad and in 2012 took part in a major trade mission to China, helmed by Enterprise Ireland and then Taoiseach Enda Kenny.

“Enterprise Ireland helped to arrange private meetings in China with the Taoiseach which gave a fantastic boost to our fledging profile in China,” Gerry says, noting that the trip ultimately helped to cement our business relationships with Qualcomm, Lenovo and China Unicom.

At the same time, demand for vehicle connectivity was on the rise. Automakers wanted to transform cars into infotainment centres on wheels and Cubic Telecom’s technology, which is embedded at the manufacturing stage, could enable standardised vehicles to offer connected services anywhere in the world.

“We’ve always attended MWC and exhibited as part of Enterprise Ireland’s pavilion stand. That’s where we meet our customers, prospects, mobile operator partners, technology partners and important industry analysts every year,” Gerry says. “We are delighted with the support provided to us by Enterprise Ireland in regard to exhibition stand facilities and the arrangement of key meetings ahead of each event.”

Cubic’s first auto contract was with German car giant Audi, which was looking to provide its drivers with a fully digital experience — something that traditional mobile operators were struggling to achieve.

“We were delighted to partner with the leading automotive brand within Volkswagen Group and this partnership has been an intrinsic part of developing our business success in Germany,” Gerry says.

As a result, Germany is one of Cubic’s biggest overseas markets.

“It’s important to point out that we did not select Germany as a generic target market,” Gerry says. “Instead, we looked at the world’s biggest automotive manufacturers and decided which companies we wished to build a partnership with. This naturally led us to Germany, the home of some of the world’s top auto manufacturers. We were very careful to take the time to understand what is required to do business successfully with large prestigious German companies and we had excellent support from the Enterprise Ireland team in Germany.”

Enterprise Ireland still works closely with Cubic Telecom to support its continued growth in other international markets.

“As well as being part of Enterprise Ireland’s pavilion at MWC Barcelona annually, last year we participated with Enterprise Ireland in MWC Americas in Los Angeles for the first time. That proved to be a great success,” shares Elaine Murray, Cubic Telecom’s External Communications Manager, adding, “Enterprise Ireland is always extremely helpful in terms of providing meeting space and setting up partner meetings, finding out beforehand who we want to make contact with and enabling those briefings at the show.”

Besides trade shows and networking opportunities, Cubic Telecom is often invited to sit on conference panels hosted by Enterprise Ireland, which Elaine describes as “integral” to the company’s exposure in foreign markets. Gerry agrees: “We’re always more than happy to participate because it’s a win-win situation.”

Brazil, Brexit and beyond

One of the next stops on Cubic’s path to world domination is Brazil, a notoriously tough nut for non-Brazilian car manufacturers to crack in terms of IoT connected device services.

“We have received excellent advice from Enterprise Ireland to assist with setting up our local presence in Brazil,” Gerry says. “Like in Germany, we align ourselves with the markets that our customers have prioritised. As all of the world’s major automotive companies want to sell connected cars in Brazil, we prioritised establishing a unique locally compliant solution for global automotive and IoT companies there.”

Speaking of complicated, while the UK is not a dominant market for Cubic, it is an important one for many of the company’s customers.

“If you’re driving on the motorways in the UK, most of the cars are German-built cars, so Brexit does have a concern for us in terms of what’s going to happen to the ease of doing business but we’re not as exposed as other companies because we are used to dealing with complicated market conditions around the world,” Gerry says.

His advice: Irish companies must reduce their dependence on the UK market, regardless of the Brexit outcome.

“Any Irish company that’s trying to do business in overseas markets has a very valuable resource that is always there to help in Enterprise Ireland,”

“Start by considering the needs of the customer you are selling to, what solution you are selling, who you need to sell it to and what markets those target customers are in. Then leverage the Enterprise Ireland regional offices to get introductions to the people in that market who you need to meet.”

Read more on the supports available to help your business diversify into new markets or speak to your Development Advisor today.

 

How France Became Mullan Lighting’s Biggest Export Market

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Mullan Lighting has come a long way from its humble beginnings in traditional pub and church lighting. Revenues are expected to reach over €5 million by the end of 2019 and the main reason for Mullan’s growth is that it exports 80% of what it manufactures.

Edel Treanor, Mullan Lighting, Marketing Director

Overview:

  • Sector: Design & Manufacturing
  • Goals: To double the company size, to get the factory operating at full capacity, and to create long-term employment for local people.
  • Challenges: Mullan wanted to start exporting new markets but needed help identifying potential opportunities.
  • Results: In just six years, Mullan’s annual revenue has increased from €100,000 to €5 million — 80% of which are exports.

Case Study: Mullan Lighting

Mullan Lighting’s Bright Idea

Monaghan-based Mullan Lighting has designed and manufactured bespoke solutions across the commercial, hospitality, retail and residential sectors, counting everyone from Caffe Nero and Costa Coffee to global multinationals Google and LinkedIn as clients.

Founded in 2009 by architect Mike Treanor, the company now employs 65 people in its manufacturing facility inside a former shoe mill in the heritage village of Mullan. It sells in more than 55 countries worldwide and expects to reach over €5 million in sales by the end of 2019. But it wasn’t plain sailing from the start.

“For the first couple of years, it was a lot of groundwork — Mike was on the road, knocking on doors — and very little return. We knew we had to start looking further afield,” explains Edel Treanor, Mullan’s marketing director, adding, “The economy in Ireland wasn’t great at the time and there weren’t that many projects happening — and for those projects that were happening, we were already getting the majority of the work but it wasn’t enough to sustain the business.”

That’s what prompted Mullan Lighting to become an Enterprise Ireland client in 2013 and their goal was three-fold: to double the company size in three to five years, to get the factory operating at full capacity, and to create long-term employment for local people. Achieving this would require stepping into new markets — and Enterprise Ireland’s support ensured that Mullan put its best foot forward.

 

Spotlight on France

“It’s much easier to talk to your neighbours than it is to talk to someone who’s in Dubai or Australia so we knew that if we targeted regions close to Ireland then we could be there quickly and we could respond to queries quickly,” Edel shares.

Working closely with Enterprise Ireland’s Market Research Centre, Mullan identified France as the best Eurozone market to enter. Specifically, when the company developed a new children’s lighting range aimed at high-volume retailers, the MRC determined the market size for such products in France, highlighted key prospects to target and suggested trade fairs to attend.

As Edel says, focusing on France made sense: “Maison & Objet takes place in Paris and that’s one of the largest trade shows and markets for sourcing interior design, furniture and lighting products. Plus, Paris is seen as a design capital of the world,” she points out.

With the help of Enterprise Ireland’s Internationalisation Grant, Mullan began to dip into the French market help. The company attended Maison & Objet in 2013 to scope out their competitors’ strengths and weaknesses and hone their own value proposition — and soon their bespoke lighting creations were lighting up hotels and restaurants all over France.

“It took us about two years to really be comfortable in the market,” Edel reveals, noting that Enterprise Ireland’s support has been instrumental throughout the process, from setting up meetings with agents when they first entered the market to putting them in touch with Irish businesses who were already well established in France.

“Those [established] businesses gave us feedback on our marketing materials, our company presence, our distribution plan — everything. As a new brand entering the market, that insight was invaluable.”

Edel Treanor, Mullan Lighting, Marketing Director

Expanding into France also meant a website refresh and Enterprise Ireland’s Business Process Improvement Grant helped Mullan to make their online presence more user-friendly and appealing to the market.

“We also realised that we needed someone on staff who could speak to the client in their language so in 2015 we hired our first full-time native French speaker to help develop the market for us,” Edel adds.

Mullan is on track to do around €800,000 in sales in France this year. To ensure the company hits that mark and continues its growth trajectory within the market, several clients — and one prospect — recently travelled to Mullan Village as part of an Enterprise Ireland inward buyer visit.

“We figured it would be really good to show them exactly what we do and how we do it,” Edel says, adding that the visit included a trip to Castle Leslie to see some of Mullan’s creations up close as well as to the iconic Cafe en Seine in Dublin, the company’s largest bespoke project of 2018. “No one recognised any of the lights because they’re not in our catalogue and it was great for the buyers to see the level of bespoke work that we can do.”

Needless to say, the trip was a success: Mullan has since received orders from each of the visiting buyers, even the prospect.

 

Next steps in Mullan’s growth journey

Mullan Lighting has come a long way from its humble beginnings in traditional pub and church lighting. Revenues are expected to reach over €5 million by the end of 2019 — a massive increase from its first-year turnover of €100,000 — and the main reason for Mullan’s growth is that it exports 80% of what it manufactures.

“Our business has absolutely been driven by international sales,” Edel says, noting that in addition to France, the UK, Germany, the Nordics and Iceland are Mullan’s other big markets.

“About 25% of our business goes to the UK, which is a significant amount, so we took part in Enterprise Ireland’s Brexit readiness programme and got advice from a consultant on what measures to put in place to mitigate the risk of what might happen if there is a hard Brexit.”

As Mullan is only 200 metres from the Ireland-UK border, part of that action plan included creating a UK company and setting up a base in Northern Ireland.

“If we can export to ourselves five miles up the road, hopefully we will inherit any customs delays instead of passing them on to our customers,” Edel explains, adding, “We’ve also identified hotspots where our UK clients are based and are considering opening another premises over there.”

Additionally, the company is hoping to further its presence in Germany and the Netherlands.

“We’re looking at markets that are nearby and have a lot of projects going on, with styles that are similar to what we can develop and manufacture,” Edel says. “The model and approach we’ve taken with France has really worked for us. We see that as something we can replicate in the German and Dutch markets with Enterprise Ireland’s help.”

Read more on the supports available to help your business diversify into new markets or speak to your Development Advisor today.