Local knowledge business US

Local knowledge can help you to set up business in the US

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No matter what your sector is, if you are boosting the local economy and creating jobs, your success will be encouraged with state-based support available to those who set up business in the US.

Every state in the union has an Economic Development Office (EDO), agency or authority, charged with attracting business to the locality and making setting up as painless as possible.

The umbrella organisation for these state-based development agencies is SelectUSA, which has personnel working in most US embassies, including Dublin.

SelectUSA investment specialists can help you to find useful data and information on the overall American economy, industry sector overviews, and relevant federal resources. To find out what makes establishing in one state different from setting up in another, you will need to access each state’s economic development agency. You can find listings for them here.

At the recent E3 ‘Entrepreneurship Export Exchange’ conference, hosted in Dublin by Enterprise Ireland and Global Situation Room, representatives from the Iowa Economic Development Authority, the Mississippi Development Authority and Enterprise Florida outlined why their state makes a good US location for Irish-owned start-ups.

Siobhan Masterson, Head of Corporate Affairs at IBEC, explained that the state-based organisations are a bit like the IDA. She estimates that, in the last year or so, representatives from eleven US states have visited the country to pitch for Irish business.

While each agency can, of course, be expected to represent its state’s interests, compelling arguments were made at the conference for considering alternatives to headline locations, such as San Francisco, Miami, Boston, and New York.

 

Setting up business in Iowa

Kaitlyn McKay, a business development manager with the State of Iowa’s Europe Office in Frankfurt am Main, advised, “Take a look at real estate prices in San Francisco or Boston. Take a look at average rates of pay in these locations. They are really expensive.

“If you are a small tech company, you would probably be better off setting up elsewhere – somewhere where there is an industry cluster for your sector but where labour is more competitively priced, and where finding and retaining staff isn’t as much of an issue.”

In Iowa’s case, the state has a strong IT sector. It is also a hub for plant, animal and human biosciences. The state capital, Des Moines, is home to America’s second-highest concentration of financial service companies. There are currently 433 foreign-owned companies operating in Iowa, including Kerry Group and CRH. Among the incentive programs companies can avail of are: a high-quality jobs programme, which offers tax benefits and loans to businesses moving to the state or expanding their facilities, a tax credit if you increase Iowa employments by 10%, and funding for new jobs training.

 

Setting up business in Mississippi

Also speaking at the E3 conference, James Miller of the Mississippi Development Authority argued that the Magnolia State was an ideal business location for new businesses for a number of reasons. Mississippi enjoys America’s lowest cost of living and ranks in America’s top ten for the most tax friendly states for business, states with the most competitive labour costs, lowest utility charges, and fastest for authorising business permits. Mississippi is also a noted hub for advanced manufacturing and has a works fund that that supports training for new jobs.

 

Supports for setting up available at state, city and country level

Not only are business supports available at state level in the US, support agencies also operate at city and country level. In some locations, business support organisations operate across state boundaries, such as Select Greater Philadelphia, a public-private partnership promoting inward investment across 11 counties in three different states.

In addition to providing access to funding and tax credits, support organisations can provide facts and figures about local market conditions. Some keep a register of vacant commercial properties and brown-field sites, others can refer you to private business networks that will help you to source accommodation, business partners, and potential customers.

“These economic development organisations aren’t just interested in big firms who will bring hundreds of jobs to their localities,” says Seán Davis, Enterprise Ireland’s regional manager for North America. “They will want to have a conversation with you if you are an SME looking to open a sub-office with two or three employees. It’s well worth giving them a phone call and 20 minutes of your time to find out what they have to offer and how they might help you.”

Masterson adds that, as well as public bodies, it’s worth tapping into the knowledge of private networks in the US, such as Chambers of Commerce, trade associations, and professional bodies. “Private organisations will tell you things that public bodies can’t necessarily reveal.

“Before deciding on a location, look at the online editions of local newspapers – they will also give you a different picture than the one you might receive from state-run economic development organisations.”

Before choosing a location in America: Do your homework and find out where you can get help.

Learn more about the Enterprise Ireland global network and and accessing the US market on our dedicated US Market page.

How Modular Automation transformed into a substantial international exporter

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Over the past five years, Modular Automation, a 32 year-old Shannon-based company that delivers advanced technological solutions for the manufacturing industry, has grown its business significantly thanks to export success.

The company delivers automation solutions for advanced manufacturers, including custom solutions and build-to-print machines for clients such as Johnson & Johnson, Boston Scientific, Stryker and Medtronic.

Working with these companies’ manufacturing sites in Ireland provided Modular Automation with invaluable opportunities to sell into their sister sites overseas, attendees heard at Competing for the Future, a breakfast briefing organised by Enterprise Ireland as part of its International Markets Week programme.

 

International markets are now hugely important for Modular Automation

Leveraging multinational clients here and following them overseas enabled the company to grow revenues and double staff to 150 people, CEO Vivian Farrell noted.

International markets are now “hugely important in terms of reaching our ambitions for growth,” said Farrell.

Three years ago, the company opened a US office, in Florida. The idea was not just to service the sister sites of clients in Ireland but to also serve as a base from which to develop new customers.  “That is our strategy for growth and it is working for us, but it’s only achievable if we do a good job for the multinationals in Ireland, and critical to that is R&D and innovation,” she said.

“We’re investing heavily in R&D and innovation in Ireland and we see that as a catalyst for growth, in particular in the US.”

Much of Modular Automation’s research and development comes as a result of co-investment with customers here. “The machines that we develop for our customers haven’t existed before, so it’s primarily custom automation. It’s new and it’s risky, and it involves a lot of R&D. But when we crack it, very often there’s a market for that in their sister sites,” she said.

 

Winning business across the US

While Modular Automation already had a significant customer base in Florida when it chose to locate there, the company has succeeded in winning business right across the US, from New York to the West Coast.

“We opened the office in 2015 but started planning it in 2014. The background to it was that there was a lot of discussion around Made in America at the time. We felt it was a risk that was going to make it more difficult for our customers – and potential customers – in the US to do business with us, unless we had a base there. We felt we needed to commit investment to the US, get boots on the ground, and show we were there for the long haul and willing to invest in the US market.”

Setting up the new office was challenging. “We were naive at the start in thinking that after maybe 12 months we’d have secured our first new deal. In fact it took double that amount of time. That was one of the key learnings we made,” she said.

It was an expensive time. “You’ve got a lot of set up costs and hiring in the US is expensive as well. There were a lot of lessons in the first two years of set up but thankfully it is starting to pay off now. We’ve secured some nice deals and are hoping to grow that into the future.”

She advises anyone thinking of following suit to “put it down on paper. There’s nothing like getting your ambition down on paper and seeing it through.”

 

Make the most of Enterprise Ireland supports

Make the most of Enterprise Ireland’s supports. “There are 650 clients here at this event alone,” she said. “We find it a fantastic resource, being able to tap into businesses that have already made the move is hugely helpful, talking to people who have done something similar to what we were planning.”

The US is an easy place to do business but it can also be overwhelming because of its sheer size, she said. “Getting on the ground and engaging with the Enterprise Ireland representatives who are out there and who know the landscape is hugely helpful.” Staff from Modular Automation also attended Enterprise Ireland trade missions, which helped make initial introductions to new customers.

“Tap into that network, talk to other businesses, talk to the Enterprise Ireland staff, get on the ground,” she said. “Be brave and take the leap.”

 

For more information on entering the North American market visit our dedicated US Markets page.

NIVA – simplifying the Common Agricultural Policy claims process

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“Horizon 2020 is an ideal funding stream as it enables cross-border collaboration and ensures that technology developed will be fit for purpose on a pan European basis.”

David Hearne, Walton Institute, NIVA Horizon 2020 project

Key Takeouts:

  • Walton Institute (formerly TSSG), part of the Waterford Institute of Technology, is involved in a project that aims to develop and implement a range of digital innovations to improve the administration of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
  • The NIVA project has received €10.5m in funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.
  • Walton Institute is focused on developing a geo-tagged photo app to help simplify the CAP claims process for farmers and paying agencies.

H2020 Case Study: NIVA

    The European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) supports farmers, safeguards agri-food supplies and encourages sustainable management of land resources. Administering and controlling payments to farmers under CAP is done through the integrated administration and control system (IACS), which is the subject of the Horizon 2020 project, NIVA (New IACS Vision in Action).

    The three-year project, led by The Netherlands’ Wageningen University & Research and involving 27 partners, aims to modernise IACS by delivering a suite of digital solutions, e-tools and good practices for e-governance. These will ultimately produce more transparent, simpler processes that will reduce the administrative burden on farmers, paying agencies and other stakeholders.

    In Ireland, a multi-disciplinary team made up of The Walton Institute (formerly TSSG) – a centre of excellence for ICT research and innovation – the Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT), Teagasc – the Agriculture and Food Development Authority – and led by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is tasked with developing a geo-tagged photo app.

    The app will be used to resolve claim queries by enabling farmers to send digital photos of their land parcels directly to the paying agency, which will reduce the need for inspections and accelerate claim processing.

    “Our app is one of nine innovations in this project with different countries working on each,” explains David Hearne of Walton Institute’s Creative Design Unit. “Other areas include decision support systems, machine data and a solution for simplifying payments, but in the end they will all come together in one ecosystem, which will be used by paying agencies across Europe.”

    Although it won’t be the first geo-tagged photo app on the market, Hearne explains that what sets this one apart is the user-centric, multi-actor design.

    “We take the approach that we don’t know what the users want; we can’t decide what’s best for a farmer in the west of Ireland who needs to send a photo to the Dept of Agriculture. So the project started by gathering data about the needs of all stakeholders, not just in Ireland but across Europe. It’s an iterative process, so when we’d developed the first version of the app, it was tested by users across Europe and their feedback informed the next iteration and so on.

    “The fact that farmers and other stakeholders have been involved from the beginning gives them a sense of ownership, and that should result in a higher adoption rate at the end,” adds Hearne.

     

    Horizon benefits  

    Horizon 2020 has provided €10.5m in funding for the project, but beyond the financial investment the programme offers multiple other benefits.

    “Horizon 2020 is an ideal funding stream as it enables cross-border collaboration and ensures that technology developed will be fit for purpose on a pan European basis,” says Hearne

    “Currently, our app is being tested across nine EU countries with over 200 users, and other solutions being developed under NIVA will likewise be tested across different countries, so there’s a lot of interaction, integration and learning across the project.”

    Monthly work package meetings and bi-monthly project meetings, all virtual at the minute, keep the project on course and ensure that innovation is shared across the partners.

    On a personal and professional level, Hearne believes his involvement in Horizon 2020 projects has been highly advantageous.

    “It’s great to focus on these large projects with so many moving parts. You learn so much, for example, the various technologies used in different countries, how they are implemented and what the issues are.

    Hearne confirms “The opportunity to collaborate with researchers in other countries is also invaluable. You build up a huge contact base, which gives you the opportunity to collaborate on more projects.”

    To others who have not yet dipped their toe in the Horizon water, Hearne simply says “Do it”.

    “It’s a great opportunity to be involved in projects that can actually change people’s lives. With NIVA we’re reducing the burden on farmers, so we’re making a difference. My advice would be to focus on something that you’re really passionate about.”

    His other advice is to seek out the right partners at the start and use the supports that are available to help with putting the proposal together.

    “I was involved in writing sections of the NIVA proposal. It was a new experience for me because I come from a very technical background, but I had the support of people in WIT to guide me in how to approach it. And the more you do it the easier it gets.

    “We’re also in close contact with Enterprise Ireland, who have a real interest in the project, and we know that they’re there to help us if we need it.”

    For advice or further information about applying for Horizon 2020 support please contact HorizonSupport@enterprise-ireland.com or consult www.horizoneurope.ie

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    Female entrepreneurs show leadership credentials as they take it global

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    Increasing numbers of women are making the decision to turn great ideas into great businesses.

    As aspiring female entrepreneurs find the pathway to success, they are also supporting and inspiring each other along the way, through mentoring and knowledge sharing initiatives such as Going for Growth and ACORNS. This support plays a vital role in fostering entrepreneurship for women in business, from the initial idea through to becoming an internationally trading company.

     

    A sprinkling of fairy magic

    It was as Ireland was emerging from the depths of the economic crash that Niamh Sherwin Barry turned what had been mostly a bit of fun into one of Ireland’s most iconic and successful toy exporting companies.

    The Irish Fairy Door Company has sold more than 750,000 products worldwide but it started as a chat between friends at the kitchen table one evening in 2013.

    Co-founder, Niamh says: “We had these little shapes that looked like doors, and we called them fairy doors, myself and my friend Aoife. We were just discussing what our fairies were doing and laughing about it and that got us and our husbands thinking that we could definitely make money out of this.

    “Our Local Enterprise Office in South Dublin was just incredible. We got €78,000 in funding and it was totally business changing. We used it for developing the product, the website, and for marketing on social media. We had been sitting around the kitchen table making the doors ourselves but now we were able to take on carpenters to make the doors.

    “The LEO also gave us lots of mentoring and support getting us ready to export, they were absolutely brilliant – and it continued when we transitioned to Enterprise Ireland.

    “We’ve received €450,00 in funding so far – a third from Enterprise Ireland, a third from the bank and a third from a private investor – but there has also been mentoring and support for trade shows, particularly in the US and Canada, which are big markets for us.”

    The Irish Fairy Door Company recently signed a “game-changing” global animation deal to bring the characters from its fairy stories to Wild Brain, a digital network with 50 million subscribers and a portfolio that includes brands such as Fireman Sam, Curious George, Shopkins and Ben 10.

    Niamh says: “This product, this little piece of wood takes the child into their own imagination and has the potential and the capacity to stay in that child’s memory forever – and I don’t think there’s that much out there that would have that power.”

    Niamh’s journey with the Irish Fairy Door Company has instilled in Niamh a belief that other aspiring female entrepreneurs can also turn their great ideas into great businesses.

    “There is nothing stronger than one woman helping another – I really do feel that. The networks for women run by the LEOs and Enterprise Ireland are tremendous for providing support and belief that you can achieve your goals.”

     

    Female entrepreneurs build confidence and support

    Anne Reilly was a full-time mother and a part-time lecturer in Irish payroll and employment law when, in 2005, she founded her own company providing payroll services and information to local companies in Co Louth.

    Going global wasn’t on Anne’s radar until she received a phone call from an Australian company asking if Paycheck Plus could process payroll for their employees in Ireland.

    Anne realised that her company had the makings of something much bigger. She says: “I knew that if a company in Australia could find us and trust us to run their payroll here in Ireland, then other companies could too. But I didn’t really know how to go about getting into an international market or even a parochial market at that stage and I didn’t have a whole lot of business acumen in terms of entrepreneurship.

    “I was dropping the kids to school one morning and heard that Louth Local Enterprise Office was having an open day and I decided that I would go there. That was a big deal for me, I was very nervous about going in to meet people in an entity like that because I wasn’t sure whether I’d be judged.

    “They gave me five sessions with their business mentor, who explained to me how to go about setting and achieving objectives for myself and the business. That had a huge impact on me and gave me a lot of confidence.”

    Today, Paycheck Plus has 17 full-time employees providing payroll services in Ireland and the UK for companies from 18 different countries. Last year, the company was named In-Country Payroll Provider of the Year at the Global Payroll Awards.

    “I really do believe that without the help of Louth LEO in giving me that confidence and making me feel less alone, that would never have happened. It was a huge gateway into where we ended up going,” Anne says

    Anne is now very involved in supporting female entrepreneurship through Going for Growth, an initiative for female entrepreneurs based on shared learning through roundtable sessions hosted by a female lead who has developed a large business. She is also a voluntary leader and special adviser with ACORNS, which promotes female entrepreneurship and job creation in rural Ireland.

    “I think many women find it easier to ask other women for help than men do to ask other men for help,” she says. “I also find women very willing to share and that’s hugely instrumental in professional and personal development because the synergy of shared knowledge is so strong.”

     

    Going global from Gorey

    Vanessa Tierney leveraged 15 years of experience in recruitment for tech companies when she founded the smart-working matching platform Abodoo. It connects companies with remote working professionals globally through an intuitive technology system that also reduces unconscious bias in the hiring process.

    Based in the Wexford LEO-supported Hatch Lab in Gorey, Abodoo received a priming grant in October 2017 but moved quickly into Enterprise Ireland’s High Potential Start-up Unit. The company already counts Shopify, Vodafone, and Apple as clients.

    Vanessa says: “Abodoo is like a dating website for remote workers. Our system will feed companies and recruitment agencies with great matches but it’s all automated – there’s no human element to Abodoo.

    “We’re matching on skills. You don’t know whether the person is male or a female and you don’t know how old they are – just if they have the right soft skills, hard skills, experience, salary expectations, and connectivity. Only after you invite the match into the recruitment process do employers find out if they’re a man or a woman, if they’re 50 or 25.”

    Between angel investment and Enterprise Ireland and LEO support, Abodoo has raised more than €800,000 in funding and is currently conducting a first round of venture capital funding to raise between $6 million and $10 million before launching in the US early next year.

    Vanessa says, “We’ve had more than 20,000 people and a hundred companies register on Abodoo and we’ve had hundreds of matches. The majority have been in Ireland with about 20% in England. However, there are 212 million skilled people unemployed globally for whom the traditional workplace doesn’t fit their needs. The VC funding is going to allow us to reach those people, get our matchings to a really superior level, and really grow internationally.”

    Eliminating bias is a key element of Abodoo’s mission and Vanessa is conscious that there is still some way to go to level the playing field for female entrepreneurs.

    “There’s been such an upward trend in support by Enterprise Ireland to female entrepreneurs but if you look at the space that I’m in – tech – representation remains low. I’m not meeting many women, and just 3% of venture capital money globally goes to female entrepreneurs.”

    Enterprise Ireland is working with the LEOs to develop a new strategy for female entrepreneurship, which will address some of these issues. Sheelagh Daly, Entrepreneurship Manager (Regions) for Enterprise Ireland, believes that the strong links between the two organisations and an understanding of the vital role both play will be key to doing so successfully.

    “There are still areas which pose more challenges for women who are setting up businesses,” says Daly, who is a former chair of the Network of Local Enterprise Offices and was the driving force behind the inaugural National Women’s Enterprise Day in 2007. “The new strategy will be focusing on confidence building, capability building, networking, and access to finance.”

    For Vanessa, it is vital that women continue to support, learn, and drive each other forward.

    “Women thrive when we can connect with another woman who’s been there done it,” she says. “I proactively reached out to successful Irish women who have gone global, and they have been phenomenally supportive and that is what has given me the confidence to go for it.”

    SpeakingNGI – Shaping the internet of the future

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    “We are delighted and proud to have contributed to the successful building of the EU’s flagship Next Generation Internet – An Open Internet Initiative (NGI)”.

    TSSG’s Strategic EU Liaison Manager and coordinator of the SpeakNGI.eu project, James Clarke

    Key Takeouts:

    • TSSG (Telecommunications Software & Systems Group), an internationally recognised centre of excellence for ICT research and innovation at the Waterford Institute of Technology, led the influential SpeakNGI.eu project, which was a Pathfinder Project for the European Commission’s large-scale, flagship Next Generation Internet (NGI) initiative.
    • The project was funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation ICT work programme 2018-2020 (WP2018-20).
    • SpeakNGI.eu’s NGI Consultation Platform and Knowledge Base were among numerous contributing projects helping to shape the internet of the future into an Internet of humans that responds to people’s fundamental needs, including trust, security and inclusion, and reflects the values and the norms that we enjoy in Europe.

    Case Study: SpeakingNGI

    Evolving the internet from its current problem-strewn form into a human-centric, secure, inclusive space that supports people’s needs and addresses global sustainability challenges is a European Commission (EC) priority.  It’s an ambitious goal, now embodied in the EC’s flagship Next Generation Internet (NGI) initiative.

    SpeakNGI.eu, a partnership between TSSG and Trust-IT Services Ltd, was one of three Horizon 2020-funded Pathfinder Projects that aimed to identify research topics, enable dynamic consultation, and shape the programme for the NGI initiative. For more information on the initiative, please consult the NGI Brochure.

    Begun in 2017 and running for just 18 months, SpeakNGI.eu addressed the dynamic consultation aspect of the pathfinder programme, by building a platform with mechanisms for engagement with the NGI stakeholder communities, creating a knowledge base and establishing a 16-strong European Champions Panel of thought-leaders.

    “These pathfinder projects were important cogs in a bigger wheel and a very important step towards the establishment of the EU’s flagship NGI initiative and directly contributing to the selection of priority NGI topics for the open calls being funded by the larger scaled NGI Research and Innovation Action projects,” explains James Clarke, SpeakNGI.eu project coordinator.

    “We were considering what the Internet will look like 10 years from now, dealing with mounting concerns about security and privacy, and anticipating radically new functionalities. Our platform enabled organisations and individuals to share their ideas and we collated the information and published it in a readable format, essentially building the topics that would eventually be funded through cascade funded open calls by the NGI RIAs.”

     

    From data gathering to experimentation

    Following the successful conclusion of the Pathfinder Projects, the EC launched Research and Innovation Actions (RIA) as the next step towards its vision of creating the ‘internet of humans’.

    In the first tranche of the NGI RIAs, they funded open-call NGI projects based on the topics the pathfinders identified, such as privacy and trust technologies, decentralized data governance, and better search and discovery technologies.

    On the back of SpeakNGI.eu’s success, Clarke led a five-partner team that secured an NGI RIA project covering EU – US cooperation. The project, NGIAtlantic.eu, which runs until June 2022, is funding EU-based researchers and innovators to carry out NGI-related experiments in collaboration with US research teams.

    “We have a €3.5 million budget, 80% of which is dedicated for open calls funding third-party projects. We select, fund and monitor the projects, which are building on research results and moving to the experimentation stage on EU and US experimental platforms,” says Clarke.

    “The vision of a new initiative, launched by the EC in 2016, is now at the stage of funding innovators through RIAs with an overall budget of €75 million over a three-year period. We are delighted and proud to have been part of this long-term strategic action and to have contributed to the successful building of the EU’s flagship NGI initiative.”

    Building on experience

    The two NGI projects are not Clarke’s first foray into the world of EU funding and he has a wealth of experience to call upon.

    “I’ve been involved in EU-funded projects back to the early-nineties so this wasn’t a first for me. For the most part, the experience has been good and challenging. Where it hasn’t been so good, it can be down to teaming up with the wrong partners, perhaps with not enough foresight into the strategy and team building experiences when working in the proposal stages. With experience, I’ve learned how to pick the right partners every time, which is very important,” says Clarke.

    Clarke says “There is certainly a lot of work involved in putting a proposal together for projects. I found the Enterprise Ireland Coordinator Grant to be a huge support in helping prepare a successful Horizon proposal.”

    It has enabled me to bring in great mentors to help with not just the reviewing process, but also to generate content, where needed. And if I couldn’t find someone suitable, who was also available, in Ireland, I could go further into Europe to get the right person.

    “Before Covid-19, I would meet the mentor and spend a couple of days working with them on the proposal and I found that much more effective than relying on feedback from written drafts. Since I started taking that approach, I’ve been winning more projects.”

    Although he admits that being a coordinator on a Horizon 2020 project can be sometimes difficult, Clarke firmly believes the experience has many rewards.

    “Working with like-minded researchers and innovators from around Europe has been a big thrill for me. Coordinating a Horizon 2020 project also frequently offers the opportunity to be invited to participate in more projects, events and follow-up activities. The more you succeed, the more invites you get. Overall, it’s very fulfilling and enjoyable.”

    For advice or further information about applying for Horizon 2020 support please contact HorizonSupport@enterprise-ireland.com or consult www.horizoneurope.ie

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    Relationship building key for Irish medtech suppliers breaking into the US

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    While Ireland’s reputation for health innovation is admired across the world, breaking into new markets is rarely easy. The US hospital supply chain is one of the most potentially lucrative for Irish companies but also one of the most difficult for outsiders to penetrate.

    Earlier this year, Enterprise Ireland’s life sciences team hosted Navigating the US Hospital Supply Chain, aiming to help Irish exporters to become more familiar with the intricacies of the sector and increase their chances of securing wins.

    One of the day’s most persistent themes was the need within the US hospital supply chain for suppliers that adopt a collaborative approach.

    David Walsh, Director of Supply Chain Administration at Boston’s Children Hospital, was a key speaker at the event. In his presentation and the panel discussion that followed, he returned repeatedly to the subject of open collaboration.

    “We’re a team. We all work together. We want to work with you if there’s a benefit on both sides,” he told an audience of medtech professionals. “We can learn from you and you can learn from us.”

    Relationship-building a key competitive advantage for Irish medtech suppliers

    The reputation Irish suppliers have developed for relationship-building is a key competitive advantage that serves this need well. Meditec Medical has applied the approach over the course of its relationship with Boston Children’s Hospital, thanks to an introduction facilitated by Enterprise Ireland.

    Alan Sullivan, Managing Director of Meditec, advised exporters, “Before going into the US market, you need to be ready.

    “We got our product tested on the east coast of America for compliance with fire regulation. Because we were already looking for our FDA approval, we had these wheels in motion.”

    Building successful business relationships requires consistent contact. While technology can bridge geographic gaps in day-to-day communications, a lasting partnership requires frequent presence in the US, including availability for stakeholder meetings. Working with a supplier located on a different continent may be considered less favourably than local options, so perceptions of risk must be mitigated in the eyes of the buyer.

    Walsh advised on the importance of presenting your ability to deal with the inevitable issues experienced during trials and roll-outs, remotely. Exporters should be prepared to answer the question: “It’s a good quality product, but what if we have problems?”

    Irish medtech businesses can’t afford to ignore the open invitation to dialogue when entering the US market but it can be intimidating for those who are new to it.

    Unlike the relatively centralised system familiar in Ireland, purchasing decisions in the US are made either by large hospitals and networks, or by group purchasing organisations (GPOs) comprised of several smaller hospitals and health centres that pool resources in order to gain more clout in the market.

    Charlie Miceli, VP Network Chief Supply Chain Officer at the University of Vermont Health Network, explained, “Getting in at group level can reap huge rewards. There are six hospitals in the University of Vermont Health Network.”

    From an outsider’s perspective, it can also make for a confusing landscape, however, with the question of where to go, and who to speak to at the first point of contact, challenging for new entrants.

    In what can already be a long sales cycle, getting in with the right person at the right stage is crucial. The best way to avoid spending time on what supply chain calls the ‘circular wheel’ is to ask the question of how to engage.

    “Try to understand what the roles are,” said Dave. “Ask the question and we’ll help you to find right person to talk to at the right stage.”

    Enterprise Ireland can also help with the process. In the Boston office, we have successfully connected a number of Irish medtech suppliers with key stakeholders in the US hospital supply chain. We encourage the companies we support to reach out and see how we can assist with their approach.

    This article was originally published in the Sunday Independent.

    PM Group and Diversification Success

    After recession drove PM Group to look further afield, it didn’t look back

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    PM Group is an Irish headquartered, international project delivery company, operating in Europe, the USA, and Asia. The company has a 45-year track record in project management, process design, facility design, and construction management for leading multinational companies.

    A decade ago, things looked a little different, business development manager John Brophy told delegates at Competing for the Future, a panel discussion which took place at the RDS in Dublin as part Enterprise Ireland’s International Markets Week.

    In 2007, the recession left PM Group faced with a diminishing home market. At the time, it had offices in Ireland, the UK, Russia and Poland, but the majority of its work was Irish based and, therefore, highly exposed to the construction downturn here.

     

    PM Group expands to mainland Europe

    “In order to diversify, we had to look out and mainland Europe was a very accessible market,” said Brophy. “We focused initially on Belgium, which was a massive market for many of our customers. We went out on a project by project basis with our customers.”

    It opened an office in Brussels and has continued to grow there right up to today. Earlier this year, it acquired a company in Belgium which it has brought into PM Group.

    “That gives us a greater presence. Most of our customers don’t want a single project, they are looking for continuity of relationship. So you need to be on the ground. You need to have people who can speak the language and you need to be able to service them time and again.”

    Establishing partnerships with locally based companies has been an important part of its export strategy over the past 11 years, helping to guide it through language barriers, differing tax, visa, planning, permitting and other regulatory rules.

     

    Forming strong local partnerships

    “As an Irish company, we have found that we are quite good at partnerships, and if you form partnerships and alliances with local companies, you share your workload but they also help you to deliver and be successful for your clients,” said Brophy.

    “You can’t go in and disrupt a market and say ‘We’re the best’. You need to work in partnership and understand how things are done. They are never done exactly as they are at home and you’ve got to learn very fast throughout a project. Local partners help with that.”

    In recent years, PM Group has been taking action to mitigate the risk of Brexit.  The UK has already seen a slowdown in business investment since the Brexit vote, he said. “We work in capital projects, so it tends to be at the forefront of what people are deciding strategically for their business.”

    Rather than diminish its footprint in the UK however, PM Group has responded to Brexit by growing its UK presence, acquiring a company there and adding two new offices, in Manchester and Edinburgh, “Because no matter what, the UK is a big country and you need to have a regional presence,” he said.

     

    Diversification strategy

    The Group has also diversified sectorally, including into chemical and petro chemical sectors, which the recent acquisition will help it service, he said. “So we have widened what we can do.”

    Its UK acquisition is also helping it with its overall talent pool needs, creating a fresh and valuable new pipeline that can be fed through to the rest of the organisation.

    Not every decision in relation to exports strategy will be correct, he said. PM Group moved into some markets, such as Russia and the Middle East, from which it subsequently departed. “By and large though, where we chose to go was good,” he said.

    Any overseas expansion comes at a cost however. “It took a huge stretch on the management team. We sell a service, so the important thing for our customers is that the service they get around the world matches the service they get here, so we had to put people in the field. Finding the people was a challenge. We now have a local manager in China, Belgium and Poland, and that’s where we have got to in terms of maturity.”

    Finding staff is only ever the start, it’s finding customers that counts. “It’s hard,” said Brophy. “You really have to find a way to differentiate yourself from the competition. You can’t go in there and say ‘We’re here, isn’t that good enough?’”

    Today, PM Group has 17 offices around the world and works in high-tech sectors such as pharmaceuticals, medical devices, data centres, and food. All through this overseas expansion, investing in innovation has enabled PM Group to differentiate itself, as has its ongoing commitment to staff training.

    “We have a lot of subject matter experts now. You have to be the best. You have to be someone who is sought after because price isn’t the only factor. It’s about being sought after and being able to offer a service that maybe they can’t find locally.”

    Learn how Enterprise Ireland supports business to diversify with the Market Discovery Fund.

     

     

    Irish companies Branding US

    How to brand for success in the USA

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    Irish companies selling in the US market should use branding and marketing communications that are more direct and more Irish than they would use at home.

    That was a key insight that emerged at the E3: ‘Entrepreneurship Export Exchange’ conference in Dublin, during a session on ‘Defining your brand and pitching your company in America’, led by Brett Bruen, President of Global Situation Room, and Gina London, a former CNN correspondent turned communications consultant.

    Straight talking

    “What works well in Ireland, the UK, or the rest of Europe, does not necessarily lead to success in the American market,” advised Bruen, a former US diplomat, who served at the White House as a director of global engagement in charge of public diplomacy, international media, and crisis communications.

    “Many Irish firms that work with Global Situation Room have an understated quality to their marketing communications that is not as well received in the United States as it is here,” he said.

    “In the US, you need to emphasise why you are the best.  It’s not just about your technology. You need to tell the story of your company and explain why it is passionate about its products.”

    Playing the green card

    One of Bruen’s key insights is that Irish companies should take full advantage of their national identity, and the ways in which Ireland and the Irish are viewed so positively in the USA.

    “Whether you are selling soap or solar panels, Enterprise Ireland-backed companies really should wrap themselves in the Irish flag,” he advised. “In the US, Irish identity is associated with a level of honesty. US Americans, no matter what their own ethnic background might be, have an affinity with what they believe the Irish represent.

    “That means, for example, that you should say that you are an Irish company in your PowerPoint presentations, and should also explicitly say so on your website.”

    Bruen’s firm, Global Situation Room, were co-sponsors of the conference with Enterprise Ireland. He advised attendees that strong, relevant website content was a crucial element of branding and marketing in the US.

    “I would really encourage Irish firms coming to America looking for business or investment to have someone with expertise in the American market go through their website and check for inconsistencies,” he noted.

    “Just because your digital content is in English don’t assume that it will be OK for American audiences. There are cultural preferences and linguistic differences that you need to adopt for marketing messages to succeed.”

    Branding is also about you

    Gina London advised that Irish business leaders should remember that how they present themselves, and how they communicate personally, is an important aspect of branding and marketing, especially when seeking the backing of American investors.

    “When you meet other CEOs, you need to have a handshake that is firm. You need to maintain eye contact. You need to be upfront and not pull back,” London said. “You have to show that you are confident, that you are a peer, and an equal.

    “Americans are more direct than Europeans. They make a decision about whether to do a deal with someone largely within the first few minutes of meeting, when they determine if you are credible and ‘have the goods’. Americans are wired to look for weakness and to see if one party has an advantage over the other in a relationship. You are more likely to get a deal, and get a better deal, if you are not going cap in hand to someone.”

    Of course, there are company founders and CEOs who are more reserved than others, and aren’t as comfortable making full-length presentations to, for example, a group of potential investors.  Nevertheless, London advises that the CEO should be present at such meetings, and should speak for at least a few minutes about how they founded the company, before handing over the rest of the presentation to another member of the senior management team.

    Practice your pitch

    “Every company founder should be able to tell the story of how they came to create the company without difficulty,” says London. “They should rehearse it until they have it pat.

    “The Irish pride themselves on being a nation of storytellers. As a result, they sometimes tell their story on the wing, or from the hip. That isn’t good enough. You need to rehearse telling your story so that it has a beginning, a middle, and an end, and especially a good ending that emphasises why you are the best at what you do, and why you meet a real need.”

    “Don’t leave an American audience to draw its own conclusions, when you are pitching your business,” adds Breun. “You are dealing with a different culture. You need to keep it short and sticky and make your exact value proposition clear to the person you are engaging with. Emphasise that and underline it.”

    Think local

    Both Bruen and London stressed that America should not be seen as one homogenous market. Both advised that marketing communications that work in New York or Boston will not necessarily work in Mississippi or Georgia.

    “Do your homework,” advised London. “This is very basic stuff but when meeting a potential client or investor spend some time online researching the individuals you will meet and their companies. Also, find out about the places they live and work.  If it looks like you understand the local culture, you will look like you know what you are talking about.”

     

    Learn how Enterprise Ireland can help your business to export to North America on our USA Markets page.

    T.E. Laboratories maximising commercial benefit of IP

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    “Enterprise Ireland’s IP Strategy programme has made a fantastic impact. It’s going to change the landscape of how we handle IP.”

    Breda Moore, Technical Director, T. E. Laboratories

    Key Takeouts:

    • T.E. Laboratories is evolving from primarily providing environmental and oil analysis services in the Irish market to developing novel, game-changing analytical sensors and instruments for customers worldwide.
    • Enterprise Ireland’s IP Plus Strategy programme and Lean Plus programme have had a dramatic impact on the company’s approach to product development and IP protection.
    • T.E. Laboratories is now moving to commercialise a range of new environmental analysis products, initially targeting the US market.

    Case Study: T.E. Laboratories

    T.E. Laboratories Ltd, based in Tullow, Co Carlow, started life in 1991 carrying out fuel analysis. It still does; but the company is now entering new territories, with future growth set to be driven by hi-tech product launches, based on novel intellectual property (IP) developed in-house or via technology transfer from international partners.

    “We have enjoyed iterative growth from the start, becoming an accredited environmental laboratory and a chemical manufacturer as well as Ireland’s only specialised oil analysis laboratory,” explains Technical Director, Breda Moore. Clients include multinational pharmaceutical and other manufacturers as well as local authorities, utilities and fleet operators.

    “Specialist analytical and chemical manufacturing services are set to remain important pillars of our business. But our future growth projections are based on the company evolving as a leader in developing advanced sensors and analysers for environmental and oil applications.

    “Moving into a purpose-built building, in 2010, with a dedicated R&D laboratory for new product development, was a key milestone. Our focus changed from doing more of the same to being quite expansive about product development, looking at things that we might have previously considered too big a challenge, either financially or knowledge wise, with the aim of producing a significant number of new products in a relatively short time.”

    T.E. Laboratories now employs 50 people, including seven full-time researchers in the R&D lab, which is the engine room for new product development. The lab is 75% funded through EU collaborative research projects (such as Horizon 2020 and Framework programmes), allowing this relatively small company to punch above its weight in innovation terms.

    Protecting intellectual property

    Now, with R&D projects delivering tangible results, the challenge of maximising the return from this output has come sharply into focus.  

    “We are starting to generate significant levels of IP both internally and in collaborative projects. As these products get closer to market, thinking strategically about their commercialisation becomes important, making us realise that, up to now, we hadn’t given IP enough attention,” explains Moore. 

    For T.E. Laboratories, then, the recent launch of Enterprise Ireland’s new IP Strategy programme was perfectly timed. The pilot programme provides companies with financial support towards the cost of engaging an external IP advisor to help them develop an IP strategy to secure the maximum return from their RD&I activities, and, in the process, strengthen their in-house IP management capabilities.

    “Through the IP Plus Strategy programme, we’re putting in place a formal process to cover the IP that we’ve already generated so that we can leverage maximum benefit from it, and we’re also looking at the IP we’re starting to produce to identify the best strategy for protecting that,” says Moore.

    “For example, we’ve reviewed all the default agreements in our European projects to see how they can be improved, and we’ve examined how we can capture IP in our labs and where we can derive a commercial advantage. It’s all about putting procedures in place to handle IP in a consistent way; whereas before it was very reactive.

    “The advice we’ve received from the IP attorney has made a fantastic impact in a short space of time. We can see that we have an awful lot more to do, but the IP Plus Strategy programme is going to change the landscape of how we handle IP.”

    New product development

    Among TelLab’s developing IP portfolio are a new breed of environmental sensors, which Moore describes as “game changers”.

    “We believe we are leading the field in low-cost environmental sensors with our Aqua Monitrix device, which offers real-time, remote monitoring of water quality,” she explains. “We see massive potential in the US market.”

    One of TelLab’s Aqua Monitrix prototypes is currently competing in a nitrogen sensor challenge, coordinated by the US Environmental Protection Agency.  If it can meet performance goals during onsite testing, the prize for TelLab will include an order of 200 units and a performance verification report.

    “It’s an exciting time for us,” Moore says. “I believe this product range will change the company by an order of magnitude.”

    Intertwining a focus on Lean and IP

    Dovetailing with the focus on IP protection, T.E. Laboratories recently completed Enterprise Ireland’s Lean Start programme and is now working through Lean Plus to achieve increased competitiveness and productivity across operations.

    “We’re particularly interested in applying Lean to our new product development activities. This will enable us to bring products that are successful at the research phase to the market as efficiently as possible. We will cut out unnecessary steps, concentrating on features that add actual value to the end user, and designing with Lean manufacturing in mind,” explains Moore.

    “For us, the Lean and IP Strategy programmes are going to cross over significantly in some areas, and we see that as having a hugely beneficial impact,” she adds.

    “As we bring these products to international markets, we will continue to use Enterprise Ireland’s global network of offices, and we anticipate significant benefits arising from the IP Plus Strategy and the Lean Plus programmes.”

    Learn more about Enterprise Ireland’s Innovation supports here.

    Social media USA

    Social media #success in the USA

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    Sean Davis, Enterprise Ireland’s regional manager for North America, shares insights about how social media can be used to propel your business in the market.

    Your corporate online presence has for some time been a cornerstone of the image and brand equities your company wants to communicate. The past five years has seen enormous growth in social media platforms as an enabler of those communications. The hits and misses of viral content demonstrate its potential to help build a presence, particularly in the US.

    The effectiveness of social media to help companies to engage with customers was explored at the E3: ‘Entrepreneurship Export Exchange’ conference in Dublin, co-hosted by Enterprise Ireland and the Washington DC consultancy Global Situation Room.

    Business confidence is high, presenting opportunities for Irish companies across the US. With 313,000 jobs added in February, the US unemployment rate is at 4.1%, its lowest since 2001. GDP growth for Q4 2017 was also faster than predicted.

    A third of E3’s conference speakers hailed from a media background and advised that ‘getting your story right’ is critical for Irish companies in the US, when using social media and presenting pitches to customers and investors. Business leaders should practice telling their story succinctly in a way that makes its impact easy to grasp.

    Declan Fearon, Managing Director at Tipperary Crystal and CEO at Freezadome, comments, “Freezadome attended to explore strategies for growing exports to the USA and Mexico. E3 was the most informative conference I’ve attended in years. The knowledgeable mix of speakers in the packed room travelled from the US and UK to share expertise on how to sell and grow your business, and how valuable the Irish connection can be in the market.”

    With the US long leading the development of cutting-edge marketing, most innovations are now shaping the digital space. North America is home to the world’s highest penetration of social media users. According to Statista, the global statistics portal, 81% of US Americans had a social media profile in 2017. That range of penetration enables Irish companies to access a huge potential customer base on networks such as Twitter and LinkedIn at potentially low cost.

    With social media marketing reaching a point of maturity, it is important to consider the most recent trends in your sector. A quick competitor review of how effectively others are using social media can help you to decide which channels are worth investment.

    Smart use of social media at industry events provides one of the best opportunities to engage a highly-targeted audience. Event hashtags are closely followed by attendees many of whom may be potential customers and partners. Staff should include the event’s handle and hashtag to share insights that can help build the right following and engagement.

    Philip Martin, CEO of Cora Systems, comments, “The #IrishAdvantage is allowing Cora to power transformation in enterprise organisations such as Teleflex, Allergan, Boston Scientific, Analog, Elanco and Nabriva. Introductions made at Enterprise Ireland events helped Cora to develop strong partnerships in the US. The multinational nature of our client base enables seamless implementations of our enterprise portfolio and project management solution for US customers.”

    How Irish companies should negotiate contracts with US clients was another important topic explored at E3. Irish businesses can be daunted when approaching American firms, viewing themselves at a disadvantage, with odds stacked in favour of the larger company.

    Irish suppliers should remember that domain expertise can help you to occupy a strong negotiating position. Being the main sectoral expert in the room and owning the subject matter can add value to the potentially broader capabilities of large US companies. The well-known flexibility of Irish companies should also apply to contract negotiations. Irish firms should remember to sell US clients what they need, and not simply what you offer at present.

    To learn more about what US locations offer, Irish companies should contact local economic development offices (EDOs), which operate at state level from coast to coast, north to south, and at city and county level. EDOs aren’t just interested in big firms but are open to conversations with SMEs interested in opening a sub-office with even two or three employees. The EDOs’ umbrella organisation SelectUSA has personnel in the US embassy in Dublin.

    This article was originally published in the Sunday Independent.

    Visit out US Market pages for key insights and information on routes to market.

    From Howth Head to the frontline: How D4H helps emergency responders save lives across the world

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    Most companies say they provide customers with the best service. But do they go the extra mile to really understand their customers’ needs? D4H Technologies certainly does.

    Based in the Baily lighthouse on Howth Head, D4H has created a suite of market-leading software solutions that enhance the readiness, response and re-evaluation capabilities of emergency service providers and public safety teams around the world.

    Helping and protecting others is in the blood for the people at D4H. Robin Blandford, founder and CEO, is also the deputy officer in charge of the Coast Guard station in Howth. Many of his employees hold similar positions.

    “Nearly all of our staff would have some sort of role in the emergency response services – on search and rescue teams and emergency management,” Robin explains. “It is a factor we look for when we’re hiring staff. It gives them a passion for our market. I use our product with the Coast Guard and it gives me a very good understanding of the user and what they need.”

    How D4H started their journey with Enterprise Ireland

    D4H evolved from a database that Robin developed for his Coast Guard station to look for patterns and trends in local incidents. “Slowly that transitioned into becoming a useful tool for managing the unit itself until I eventually gave up my regular job to focus on the software fulltime in 2008,” he says.

    “We went straight into Enterprise Ireland and the DIT hothouse incubator. We got €17,000 in funding to help cover costs while we built our product. That was year one.

    “When we came out the incubator, it felt like we were coming off a cliff because we needed to find customers and revenue and we weren’t quite at that point. So we applied for the first-ever year of Enterprise Ireland’s Competitive Start Funding and were accepted. It was a real turning point for us. Enterprise Ireland gave us €50,000 for 10% of the company, and it was the last investment we have taken.

    “Since then D4H has just grown organically. Budgets are reasonably steady in public safety, so there was no impact from the recession – we were exporting from day one. We are now up to 12 employees. Our growth has been steady at around 50% annually. We have a very strong base with some very big name customers.”

    Specialised software that saves lives

    The threats of terrorism, industrial accidents and severe weather might seem a world away from a quiet lighthouse on the northern edge of Dublin Bay, yet it is from there that D4H’s work helps saves lives when such events occur.

    Robins says, “Dealing with these threats requires specialised teams with specialised equipment and specialised training, and that’s exactly who we serve.

    “Our software helps track the training, qualifications and availability of personnel and the equipment they use. We have an incident management product which tracks everything the response teams do, and an incident reporting tool which lets teams analyse and re-evaluate their performance. That feeds back into the readiness, so it’s a cycle between our products.

    “About 80% of our customers are in North America. We supply police, fire, SWAT, chemical response teams, bomb squads, disaster response, medical response, search and rescue teams, and others throughout Canada and east coast United States. We’ve done the Boston Marathon for the last two years, assisted with software for that.

    “We’re also working with a number of cities on the west coast of the US. A lot of the firefighters tackling wildfires there recently would be tracked using our system with regards to training and their equipment readiness.”

    “Another growth area is corporate organisations. These events hurt them, they shutdown offices and affect their sales. This year we’ve seen a massive uptake in very large companies contacting us and asking us what public safety are doing and how can we replicate this.”

    Leveraging Enterprise Ireland’s overseas network

    Most of D4H’s target customers won’t be found on any generic list of companies and so the company leverages Enterprise Ireland’s network to open doors and make introductions.

    Robin says: “We tell Enterprise Ireland who we want to be introduced to and their local office do some research around the company, or provide an introduction letter, or get us a meeting.

    “We’re dealing with bomb squads, SWAT teams, hazmat teams and others. If we have a big meeting and we get a letter of introduction from Enterprise Ireland, something which states that they stand over us and are an investor in our company, then it provides us with good credibility.

    “I’m very comfortable with how were doing it. All the signals are very good. Ours is a very niche market, you can’t just pump in advertising and marketing money and expect to clean up. Public safety is a very risk averse industry, you have to build trust and relationships, and we’ve done that very well.”

    Channel sales

    Channelling Success with Channel Strategy

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    Máire P. Walsh, SVP Digital Technologies at Enterprise Ireland’s Silicon Valley office, explains how an effective channel sales strategy can give Irish companies a wide international reach.

    The business plans of start-up companies often focus on direct sales, aiming to sell as many products and solutions to as many consumers and end users as possible. The right channel sales strategy can, however, give Irish companies of all sizes and stages of maturity a wider reach, helping them to grow more quickly than a business plan that relies on direct sales alone. A successful channel strategy enables Irish exporters with unique technologies to harness sales opportunities at scale, driving business results in the US market and beyond.

    Enterprise Ireland recently held a Sales and Channel Strategy Seminar in Dublin, which featured US industry thought leaders and senior executives, and was designed to advise and guide high performing Irish start-ups to expand into the US through the channel ecosystem. World-class experts on sales planning and channel strategy shared tips and success stories, while the event showcased a number of Irish companies that are already capitalising on the potential of the channel ecosystem to drive rapid growth.

    Irish companies can apply insights shared by the event’s global speakers to use a smart channel sales strategy to quickly grow their business.

    A “Best Practices in Channel” panel featured Kevin Morata, Global Channel Strategy at Dell EMC, Gerard Sheridan, Global OEM Sales Director at DataStax, and Kurt Hoppe, Global Head of Innovation at GM. The panel discussed how true collaboration is key to building successful relationships with channel partners. Companies should be aware that not all channel partners are created equal. With 20% of partners driving 80% of sales, Irish companies should allocate more time and resources to partners that will help to maximize business results. One tip for building trust is to feed leads to new channel partners at the beginning. That will allow them to gain experience in selling your product while developing a strong understanding of your value proposition.

    Tiffany Wagner, Global Head of Sales Planning at SAP, described how a successful strategy must focus on your value proposition, rather than on the features and functions of your solution. At SAP, design thinking is key to well-orchestrated enterprise sales planning programs. All enterprise sales require a “3 x 3” influence model – three decision makers and three influencers must contribute to the process.

    Insights were shared by Irish companies, including AltoCloud, Channel Mechanics and PlanNet21 Communications, that have scaled by partnering with the channel ecosystem. Kenneth Fox, Channel Mechanics CEO, described the three points of the channel triangle:  vendors, distributors and partners. The Channel Mechanics solution sits at the centre of the triangle, providing automation that runs the entire ecosystem.

    Barry O’Sullivan, AltoCloud CEO, described how his company was formed with the channel in mind. Leveraging the business and personal relationships of partners has allowed AltoCloud to build a strong partner channel. One tip for Irish exporters is to have a ‘corporate vendor resources’ presence in the US and not attempt to drive it from Ireland.

    When launching as an ambitious company almost 20 years ago, PlanNet21 Communications convinced partners to accept them into their channel program. The strategy has delivered revenues close to €50m, with the company on a mission to hit €100m within the next two years. Denise Tormey, co-founder of PlanNet21 Communications, described the strategy that drove their success, “Trust is hard won. We manage communication face-to-face, over the phone and by mail, to build those interpersonal relationships. We listen. We respond in a timely manner. We ask ‘Why?’ We care. We are true partners.”

    The insight echoed the guidance of many of the day’s Irish and US speakers. A foundation of trust must be established to build effective relationships. Otherwise channel partner alliances are destined to fall flat and fail to deliver the growth promised. For channel strategy support, contact Enterprise Ireland’s Strategic Marketing Review program, which acts as a mechanism to review and develop your market development strategy overseas.

    This article was originally published in the Sunday Independent.