IoT

Finding the 0.01% that moves the dial in IoT

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Robert Bushnell, Senior Development Adviser in Digital Technologies at Enterprise Ireland, describes how Irish companies are shaking up the fast-moving IoT sector.

As the much-hyped next wave of IT solutions, the Internet of Things (IoT) can, in theory, create a huge number of opportunities for Irish exporters across sectors. Over the last three years, however, it has become clear that, while IoT projects generate huge amounts of data, that is not always an advantage. 99% of data currently generated by IoT technologies is useless. 99% of the remaining 1% may potentially be useful but value cannot be extracted in a meaningful way. Can the remaining 0.01% actually make a difference to a business?

IoT is the slightly grandiose moniker given to a collection of technologies and equipment that connects things, as opposed to people, over the internet. An IoT project usually involves sensors, cloud, connectivity, and lots of data and analytics. There the futuristic pitch ends, as many IoT applications are more practical than first impressions might suggest. One of the most prominent Irish early movers in the area is Davra Networks, whose CEO Paul Glynn explains, “IoT simply means connecting assets that have not been connected before in order to tell management what is happening in their business.”

All Irish exporters active in IoT must ensure that the data they generate belongs to that crucial 0.01%. Many companies working in IoT sell on a Software-as-a-Service monthly subscription model. If the data generated is not moving the dial for clients, monthly payments will soon stop, and the large upfront costs incurred at the beginning of a project written off.

A number of Irish companies have found innovative ways to make themselves essential by delivering that 0.01% of meaningful data, saving lives and securing energy along the way. Davra Networks has implemented a potentially life-saving solution for a Mexican mining company. Mines contain reservoirs of water to help minimise dust. If those reservoirs overflow, lives are lost. Davra’s platform monitors reservoirs and builds in local weather data, opening pumps to prevent floods. Paul Glynn explains, “We build a digital twin of the reservoir – a digital version of a physical asset that changes the way it acts in the real world”.

A second fast-growing Enterprise Ireland-supported company active in the space is Asavie, who works with some of the world’s leading mobile network operators (including AT&T, Telefonica, Vodafone and Verizon) and hardware manufacturers (including Dell and MultiTech). Asavie makes secure connectivity simple for thousands of businesses, notably in the energy sector. In a critical and highly-regulated sector such as energy supply, having visibility and control of communications at all times is essential. Asavie has helped a global energy intelligence management company to securely connect thousands of industrial companies to energy utilities in order to offer on-demand, real-time energy demand response services that do just that.

Beyond those examples is a wave of innovative Irish companies ready to capitalise on the anticipated explosion in demand for IoT technologies. Cubic powers the IoT strategy of global companies including Audi and Panasonic, Taoglas delivers world-class antenna technology, and Druid Networks uses cellular IoT technology to work on Sweden’s zero car accident initiative, providing connectivity for high-speed trains, planes and container ports.

Analysts consider the IoT wave to be still in its early adopter stage, creating lots of potential for Irish companies, higher education institutes and the public sector to collaborate on the development of solutions. Enterprise Ireland’s IoT cluster works with Dublin’s local authorities on the SmartDublin project and is exploring partnerships in areas including ports and harbours, search and rescue technologies, and drones.

Ireland’s higher education institutions, such as the Connect Centre in Trinity College Dublin and the Nimbus Centre in Cork Institute of Technology, have dived into these opportunities head first, producing interesting work in areas such as specialist IoT communications and sensor layers.

The most important thing companies can do is focus on that 0.01% of data that makes them essential while others succumb to the hype.

This article was originally published in the Sunday Independent.

 

Enjoyed this article? Read more on IoT here.

Seed supply causing concern for fintech start-ups

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A shortage of seed funding, and a concomitant need for larger Series A deals, are twin challenges facing Irish fintech start-ups.

Ireland: A Fintech Factory took place as part of MoneyConf 2018 at the RDS in Dublin, attracting more than 100 representatives from the global venture capital and financial services sectors.

Supporting the fintech sector is a national priority

“Enterprise Ireland’s focus on financial services is in line with the Irish government’s focus on it as a strategic sector,” said Leo McAdams, divisional manager financial services and business process outsourcing at Enterprise Ireland, introducing the event.

Ireland’s fintech sector is exciting and disruptive, he told delegates, and includes specialist subsectors such as payments, international compliance, regtech, and deeptech.

Recent years have seen a considerable increase in the number of fintech start-ups, many of which are supported by Enterprise Ireland.

PitchBook identified Enterprise Ireland as the third-largest seed investor in start-ups in the world. “That is quite an extraordinary effort from the organisation but is because we have such an excellent set of entrepreneurs here,” said McAdams.

Ireland’s world-class environment for fintech start-ups

Ireland offers a world-class environment for fintech start-ups too, a central part of which is the partnership engagement Enterprise Ireland offers, providing access to its portfolio of 200 fintech companies. As well as supporting innovation through its technology centres, Enterprise Ireland cofunds in partnership with VCs and banks.

A need to improve funding supply is becoming evident, delegates heard. While Ireland has benefited from significant amounts of capital inflows in recent years, it “hasn’t hit all points equally,” said Donnchadh Cullinan, manager, banking relations and growth capital at Enterprise Ireland. 

In particular, a gap at seed stage is emerging. This is having a knock-on effect on the later stages of a fintech start up’s funding journey, pointed out Nicola McClafferty an investor with Draper Esprit. The venture capital firm is based in London and Dublin and invests in early-stage and high-growth technology companies, from Series A upwards.

She, too, identified supply constraints in private capital for early stage investments as a challenge, pointing out too that, as a result, deal sizes in Ireland are increasingly anomalous in European terms.

“Enterprise Ireland is unique in a European context and that brings a significant advantage to Irish companies, but that gap is very real for broad scale, private capital at the seed stage,” she said.

This is despite the fact that, across Europe, there has never been so much private capital available at seed and growth stage level for companies. Its availability has caused European funding rounds to grow to a point where a previously typical €5 million Series A round is now more likely to be €10 million. Series B has gone from €10 million to €20 million, she said. 

This has not happened in Ireland, however, a fact which is not without consequence: “If you are looking at an Irish Series A company, against a UK or a French Series A company, the challenge is that there’s a lot more institutional seed funding available in the UK or France, to get companies further along to support a larger A raise. I often see Irish companies coming in to raise their €4 million A round, and you just don’t typically see that in the UK now,” she said.

Supporting Irish companies to compete globally

“What we need to do is to get companies to be able to compete at that level. It will open up even more external capital.”

Not getting to that point puts Irish start-ups hoping to raise seed funding in the UK at a disadvantage.

“Unfortunately there is a mindset of ‘You should be able to raise your seed capital locally and then go to international investors’,” said McClafferty. “If you haven’t managed to raise your seed locally, the feeling is that it says something about your company, rather than the local eco system.”

It’s a conversation she has had with seed investors in the UK. “Why can’t they raise in Ireland? is their question,” she said.

“Seed investment has shrunk in Ireland in the last year and it’s something we need to look at. Enterprise Ireland plays an amazing role but we need to see that matched from private capital to get these companies to a point where they can compete at an international level for funding.”

 

Enjoyed this article? Learn more on fintech opportunities here: Irish fintechs primed to shine with post-Brexit opportunity

 

Irish Dog Foods learns new market research tricks to target export growth

 Irish Dog Foods learns new market research tricks to target export growth

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When Irish Dog Foods needed to learn more about the relationship between man and his best friend, their first port of call was the Enterprise Ireland Market Research Centre.

The award-winning manufacturer has worked with Enterprise Ireland to develop innovative new product ranges for export during a relationship spanning more than 10 years – but the partnership has stepped up a level in the last two years.

Marketing Manager, Darren Keating explains: “Irish Dog Foods has used the Market Research Centre for every new market we’ve entered in the past two years – Portugal, Germany, Korea and Spain.

Excellent access to information

“The access to information they provide you with is excellent. They give you the tools and facilities to be better prepared when you move into new markets. As a company, you learn and benefit from the process of working with the Market Research Centre.

“We might be having a conversation internally about whether to put some effort into Poland or Denmark. At that point, we have some key questions to ask, such as what is the size of the market, who are the big players, is it dominated by retailers, is it dominated by pet stores, is it dominated by brands, or by private labels?

“One of the best avenues we would use to answer these questions would be the reports which are available at the Market Research Centre. They can give us access to data by company, sector, market and general country information. We still have to clean the data, but we wouldn’t be able to do it as professionally, quickly or as comprehensively without the facilities that the Market Research Centre provides.”

Knowledge it takes to break new markets

After more than 25 years in business and with around 50 exports markets globally, Naas-based Irish Dog Foods is one of the most recognisable names in pet food retail across the globe. However, this old dog is always keen to learn new tricks when it comes to breaking in to new international markets.

Darren explains: “When we launched in South Korea this year it was the result of 26 months of planning and preparation.

“One of the things we learned during our market research is that almost all the dogs are small – there are practically no large dogs in Korea because it’s mostly large population centres with apartment living. That meant we specifically targeted the owners of small dogs.

“We also learned that the average spend on pet food was very high in Korea, so we were able to target our very high-quality foods at the buyers and retailers. That information came from reports provided by the Market Research Centre. It meant that when we were making our pitches, we were knowledgeable, we were experienced, we knew what we were doing, and it was impressive in terms of the buyer listening to us.

“The impression the buyers got was, ‘these guys know what they’re doing. They’re not just throwing everything on the table, they have an understanding of what will work in my market. It wasn’t the reason why we got the business, but it was a big help and it did make our pitches more professional.”

New markets can be big revenue drivers

The new markets Irish Dog Foods has moved into recently are expected to become significant revenue drivers over the next five years, and the company plans to continue its work with the Market Research Centre.

Darren says: “Recently, we started thinking about targeting the Polish market. We want to know things like, what’s the percentage of dog-owning households, what’s the dog population, what is a consumption of dog food – and what about dry food versus wet food? We can get that information in reports from the Market Research Centre and it helps us really get into the detail of the dog food category in Poland.

“We can also use them for lead generation. Who are the top 20 retailers in Poland? Can I get a database of all the pet distributors in Poland? If we get 200 leads and there are 50 targetable leads after cleaning, then that’s a good start.”

“The Market Research Centre doesn’t do our work for us, but it does provide the material
for us to do our work – and that makes the process much easier.”

Learn more about Enterprise Ireland’s Market Diversification supports here.

 

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.

Hanley Energy’s path to powering giants of the internet

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Innovative solutions and a partnership approach have been central to the success of Hanley Energy, a global innovator in energy and power management delivery.

Headquartered in Stamullen, Co. Meath, Hanley Energy was set up in 2009 by co-founders Dennis Nordon and Clive Gilmore. The pair started out in a Local Enterprise Office incubation centre and, thanks to decades of experience in designing and delivering turnkey solutions for Europe’s most power-intensive users, they quickly built up a portfolio of domestic clients, including CIÉ, Glanbia, Roadstone and Largo Foods.

“Initially all our work was with indigenous Irish companies, providing energy management solutions, in real time, for companies who wanted to see exactly what their energy usage was,” says Nordon.

While the company still operates across a range of sectors, from food production to pharmaceutical, transport and heavy manufacturing, in 2010 it began developing specialist power management solutions for the country’s burgeoning data centre sector.

Powering data centres – lynch pin of the digital world

Used to house the vast banks of computing power required to store, process and distribute an insatiable amount of data, these data centres are the lynch pin of the digital world and one for which continuous, clean energy supply is mission critical.

Hanley Energy developed a range of bespoke solutions to enable its Tier 1 data centre clients to maximise uptime and minimise operational costs. Because of the secrecy that surrounds data centres, it cannot name these clients but suffice to say, “they are the giants of the internet,” says Nordon.

In 2013, the company opened a new headquarters and manufacturing facility in Stamullen. Within 18 months it had doubled in size. Demand is such that in 2018 a further extension will see it expand its physical footprint by 50%.

Today Hanley Energy employs 57 people and has grown by providing clients with a one stop shop solution for energy products, software and service, from consultancy and advisory, to design, build & maintenance, as well as the complete life cycle management process.

“Essentially, we help our clients to reduce their overall energy costs, ensure 100% up-time and optimise their operational competitiveness,” says Nordon.

But it isn’t just technical know-how that accounts for Hanley Energy’s success. “While innovation is our unique selling proposition, a key driver of our growth is relationships,” he says.

“Our commercial tag line is ‘Trusted Energy Partner’ and that is our ethos. It’s by being a trusted partner that you can really add value for clients. It’s about building relationships and working with clients on a partnership model over the long term.”

It is this partnership approach that has helped them develop its significant overseas business, starting with an invitation from a client located in Ireland to deliver a cutting-edge solution to one of its overseas plants.

“They realised we are not some ordinary ‘me too’ vendor and asked us to look into a problem they were having in the United States,” explains Nordon.

“Hanley Energy is not simply a reseller or integrator but a developer of innovative technologies. We’ve been working with big data centres for long enough now that we understand the challenges they face. They are enormous power consumers with a mandate that requires them to keep that power on 24/7 365 days a year. For these clients, an outage simply cannot occur. We are tasked with keeping the power on and we create the solutions to do that,” says Nordon.

“We also provide the metrics that allow granularity as to how much power they are using and where they are using it. When you are using energy at this level, a percentage saving is colossal.”

Leveraging the overseas presence of multinational clients based here has enabled Hanley Energy to establish operations in Germany, Sweden, the US and Australia, with a further office planned for South Africa.

Once Hanley Energy has established a presence in each new market it then seeks out additional opportunities there, which require its skillset and expertise.

Resourcing global expansion

“Enterprise Ireland’s overseas offices have been a huge help to us in that, from providing us with initial office space, to making introductions and identifying opportunities,” he says.

Expanding into international markets can put a massive strain on resources. To avoid this Hanley Energy has implemented a Global Competence Centre model as part of its strategic growth plan, based at its Irish headquarters. 

“Our senior management and technical expertise resides in Ireland and all our research & development and new product development operations take place here,” says Nordon.

“Many of our products are IP (intellectual property) protected and have taken years to develop. So when we enter a new market, operating on a Global Competence Centre model allows us to parachute our expert personnel in wherever and whenever they are required, to train up the teams on the ground. This has helped us get up to speed quickly in each new market. It is a very effective way to scale and has been our strategic driver for growth.”

To learn more about expanding your business internationally visit Markets & Opportunities.

Retail tech USA

Irish companies shop innovative tech solutions to US retail sector

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Eva Murphy Ryan, market executive for education and technology based in Enterprise Ireland’s New York office, explains how Irish companies are poised to disrupt the fast-moving US retail tech sector.

From the rise of data analysis and personalisation to voice recognition applications, new technologies are continually changing the retail landscape. With brands and retailers feeling an increasing pressure to stay ahead of the competition, the retail technology sector in the US represents a significant and growing opportunity for Irish exporters. The scale of that opportunity is huge, with the US retail industry already estimated to be worth $2.6 trillion. (Source: National Retail Federation)

While the US has long been a hub for digital technology, innovation is now poised to transform the ways in which consumers shop. This month, US retailer Nordstrom acquired two retail tech companies, integrating new tools to further improve customer experience. These acquisitions enable Nordstrom sales associates to communicate with customers outside of the store, offering style advice and personalised product recommendations, while strengthening Nordstrom’s ability to send consumers customised mobile messages.

With US giants such as Nordstrom and Amazon viewing tech integration as the future of retail, we have begun to see Irish companies target growing opportunities in the US. Hannah Webb, Head of Retail Technology for Enterprise Ireland in the USA, comments “Retail technology companies in Ireland understand the challenges that US retailers face. They provide highly advanced platforms and innovative solutions that address issues, such as how to track online to instore purchases, how to manage data analysis, and deliver enhanced customer experiences.” 

Three such companies supported by Enterprise Ireland are VisitorM, Pointy and Voysis.  

Limerick start-up VisitorM bridges the gap between physical and digital customer experiences. Touchscreen stations allow customers to provide feedback on their in-store shopping experience at the point-of-sale. VisitorM’s technology is soon to be used by shoppers in the US under a new deal with established clothing retailer Old Navy.

A second innovative Irish start-up, Pointy, makes it easy for local shops to display their full product range online, enabling them to be found by local consumers on search engines like Google. The solution helps retailers to reach a much wider audience and drive in-store visits. In the US, more than 2,000 retailers across 50 states currently use Pointy, with the company on track for adoption by 1% of all US retailers by the end of 2018.

Irish start-up Voysis helps retailers to respond to Alexa and Amazon’s position in the market. The brand-specific platform that Voysis provides adds voice capabilities to websites and mobile apps, delivering a more conversational experience to consumers, that moves beyond the use of smart speakers. Voysis aimed to replicate the experience of speaking to an in-store associate, allowing their solution to be just as helpful and knowledgeable about the context of what the consumer seeks while shopping. With the prediction that, by 2020, 50% of all searches will be voice searches, solutions like Voysis are shaping the consumer experience now and informing the future of retail. (Source: comScore)

Showcasing Irish innovation and building strong networks with keys buyers are important steps to growing business in the US retail tech sector. With support from Enterprise Ireland, these companies and others from Ireland’s retail tech cluster have the opportunity to present their solutions at major US trade shows, such as NRF Big Show, which attracts 40,000 attendees, and Shoptalk, attracting 8,500 attendees. David Andreasson, Director of Finance and Operations at Voysis, comments, “At Shoptalk, one of the largest retail conferences in the world, brands immediately saw the value of what we provide and the experiences that are brought to life through the Voysis platform.”

With retail evolving rapidly, brands and sellers, from the established to the emerging, will continue to source innovation and technology that will help them compete into the future. As Irish technology companies continue to target the US retail market, they will succeed by promoting strong and highly differentiated value propositions.

This article was originally published in the Sunday Independent.

Local Enterprise heroes

Following in the footsteps of Local Enterprise heroes

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For many companies, becoming an Enterprise Ireland client is a significant step on a journey that started at a regional level. Local Enterprise Offices throughout Ireland provide supports, advice and training to start-up companies and existing micro-enterprises of up to ten employees. It is in this environment that experience is gained and vital lessons are learned which allow companies to prepare for growth and to take their ambition global.

A recipe for successful growth to €21 million annual turnover

It was in 1993 that a young man from Clonakilty got in touch with his Local Enterprise Office (LEO) in West Cork to ask if they could help him turn his business idea into a reality. Diarmuid O’Sullivan wanted to produce traditional churn-made yogurts. He knew how to make yogurts but he didn’t have enough funding to get the venture off the ground.

“I had the idea but not enough money,” Diarmuid recalls. “I heard there was funding available from the Local Enterprise Office, so I contacted them and put in an application. The maximum support they could provide at the time was £50,000 and the LEO in Clonakilty was able to help me put my ideas into a business plan to help secure funding.

“I also received quite a lot of mentoring and coaching. That was all done at concept stage – I hadn’t even identified a production site – but the support meant that I was able to get Irish Yogurts up and running by March 1994.”

Diarmuid’s yogurt-making idea was a recipe for success. His company grew quickly and its products were soon on the shelves of Irish food shops and supermarkets.

“In one of those early years, we grew by about 78.5%. That brought its own challenges, with regard to working capital. The Local Enterprise Office suggested that I move onto Enterprise Ireland, where there were financial supports for fast-growing companies which were creating jobs.

“We hadn’t really focused on exports, not at that stage. That came after we started working with Enterprise Ireland. Our first export customer in the UK was Tesco.”

This progress was recognised in 1998, when Irish Yogurts was named winner of Ireland’s first ever National Enterprise Award. In just a few years, it had gone from being a bright idea with insufficient funding to becoming an award-winning food producer.

Today, Irish Yogurts employs 160 people at its Clonakilty base and sells to every major supermarket chain in the UK and Ireland. Its annual turnover has grown from €300,000 to €21 million, with exports accounting for 30% of their business.

“We appreciate the input of the Local Enterprise Office and Enterprise Ireland, who supported us and our staff every step of the way,” Diarmuid says. “We still work with them and avail of supports and advice. Enterprise Ireland is very much a part of our team.”

A roll of honour

Irish Yogurts is one of hundreds of companies from every corner of Ireland that have transferred from Local Enterprise Office support to become Enterprise Ireland clients. Last year, 80 companies made the move. In 2016, the figure was 40. The roll of honour includes 10 other former winners of the National Enterprise Awards:

It is a track record that the Local Enterprise Offices are proud of. Oisín Geoghegan, chair of the network of Local Enterprise Offices, said, “It’s one of our targets to transfer companies to Enterprise Ireland – it’s progression. Companies which transfer into Enterprise Ireland are companies with growth ambitions to be exporting and creating jobs, which is incredibly important, particularly for the regions. So we would see it as an indicator of success when a company moves on to Enterprise Ireland.”

Local expertise supporting global ambition

Engineering services provider Obelisk engaged with their Local Enterprise Office in Cavan, even before they set up the company in 1996. Four years later, Obelisk won the National Enterprise Award.

Founder director Colm Murphy said, “We were looking to capitalise on the growth of mobile phone usage by offering installation services for operators. The people in our LEO understood the idea that opportunity was coming down the track. That gave us the confidence that our idea was good and could to grow into something big.

“They had an incubator office which we were able to rent and provided grant aid for early employees. They also provided us with advice about how to set up a company, and other supports such as training and mentoring – there was a lot more to it than financial support.”

The support has been paying off ever since, Colm says. “Last year we turned over €27 million. Employee numbers are between 250 and 300 people. We’ve expanded to include infrastructure solutions for fixed telecoms and the energy sector in Ireland, the UK, and South Africa.

“We want to continue growing. We’re looking for further investment. Over the next two to three years, we’re looking to hit the €100 million mark in sales. Exports are currently a third of our turnover but we expect that to become a 50/50 split.”

So what part did being able to access business expertise and support at a local level play in the company’s success? “Back in 1996-97, we would have found it difficult to kick-off from a zero base,” Colm explains. “We were just a couple of guys with an idea, and sometimes going for funding and that kind of stuff can be daunting. But when you get the kind of support that we did from the Local Enterprise Office, that’s a massive kick start.

“I would recommend that any company should be in touch with their Local Enterprise Office. They’ve always been good at describing the product set they have and how they support you. If you don’t ask, you don’t get and if you’re not engaging with them then you won’t necessarily be aware of new supports that are on offer.”

Reassurance and support

The view that “if you don’t ask then you won’t get” is shared by John Lynch, Chief Technology Officer of Acutrace. The Dublin tech company provides software and hardware which allows companies to control and monitor their energy usage. They count the likes of Google, Twitter and IBM among their customers.

Founded in 2015, Acutrace wasted no time in contacting their Local Enterprise Office in South Dublin. John says, “We reached out to the Local Enterprise Office immediately and they were brilliant. They gave us an employment grants and we managed to employ two engineers under that scheme. Within the first three months, we were exporting to London.

The company was growing quickly and the Local Enterprise Office was instrumental in steering Acutrace towards Enterprise Ireland’s High Potential Start-up (HPSU) programme.

John says, “Once we learned the criteria for the HPSU, we used that as our yardstick to reach for. We knew we had to have significant exports, we knew we had to have a scalable product that would generate employment and we needed to have the magic number of a turnover of €1 million, so it was a good objective to hit and we exceeded the target that year.

“By the end of 2016, we had turned over more than €1.5 million and we were exporting 40% of a product that was created in Ireland to the UK.”

The advice, professional support and reassurance they received has left a lasting impression on John and Acutrace.

He says, “I’m coming off the back of 20 years in the industry and so is my business partner Aidan, but it’s a little bit different when it’s your own enterprise – the risks are higher and there’s an isolation you feel, it can be profound. Then you engage with your Local Enterprise Office and you feel part of something, that you’re being protected or mentored.

“There’s funding and that’s important, but it’s also having that extra bit of confidence that there’s someone else behind you who has your back, that if you are going to create employment, well there’s someone there who’s grateful for that and they’re helping you, and they’re encouraging you.”

“You might be destined for Enterprise Ireland but until you hit that criteria the LEOs will mentor you and steer you in the right direction.”

Working hand in hand

That direction involves advice and supports, which evolve and change to meet the needs of encouraging start-up companies and other micro enterprises of ten or fewer employees, says Oisín Geoghegan.

“We provide a very broad range of supports – initial business advice, information and guidance, training and mentoring, and financial supports such as feasibility, priming or expansion grants. It can include money to employ people or towards marketing costs, business development, and so on.

“We also point entrepreneurs and companies in the direction of other supports that are available, such as the New Frontiers incubation programme and Innovation Vouchers from other agencies such as Failte Ireland, Intreo, Bord Bia and Microfinance Ireland.”

“For companies with strong growth ambitions, we work hand in hand with Enterprise Ireland on their journey and ensure that they make that contact at an appropriate stage so their development continues to be supported.”

Frankfurt’s opportunity for Irish fintech

Frankfurt’s opportunity for Irish fintech

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Jane Greene, senior market advisor for software and services based at Enterprise Ireland’s office in Dusseldorf, explains why Ireland and Frankfurt make for ideal fintech partners in a post-Brexit climate.

The result of the Brexit vote launched a conversation about the possible relocation of international banking services from London to other European cities. While Paris and Luxembourg have featured prominently, a leading narrative has positioned Dublin versus Frankfurt as location of choice.

It should not be a case of one city or the other, however. Regardless of the impact of Brexit, Frankfurt is too important a financial services hub for Irish fintech companies to overlook.

Frankfurt is the financial capital of the Eurozone, home to the European Central Bank, German Central Bank, and over 200 domestic and foreign banks.

The greater Rhein-Main region surrounding Frankfurt is home to one quarter of Germany’s fintech companies alone. As well as being the location for household software names such as SAP and Software AG, Frankfurt has seen international banks including UBS and Goldman Sachs announce the relocation of European operations to the city in the wake of Brexit.

Ireland is a globally-recognised centre for International Financial Services (IFS), with a 40-year track record in the fintech space. Fexco, which established in 1981, is now operational around the world. Newer success stories include financial services software company Fenergo and cross-border payments platform TransferMate.

The post-Brexit banking debate has shone valuable light on the strength of Ireland’s financial services sector and, particularly, its cohort of innovative fintech companies. As the debate has raised Ireland’s profile, it is now time to capitalise on that.

The biggest opportunity facing fintech companies is not Brexit but PSD2. The EU’s new Payment Services Directive is forcing traditional banks to digitise operations and open up to third parties, providing access to everything from customer data to payment infrastructure, to enable them to build innovative new services.

While initially fintech was viewed as a disruptor by banks, out to shake up “their” market, that view has changed dramatically. Today, legacy banks are in a race to source the best fintech innovators to help them improve services, not least in the face of challenger banks, such as N26.

The fact that this highly innovative, mobile-first bank is German speaks to the strength of the country’s financial services sector.

Niall Hogan, co-founder of Irish payments fintech Touchtech, comments, “While many older Germans are still quite conservative and use cash, the younger generation are like their Scandinavian and British counterparts and expect slick digital experiences. Our Germany headquartered client N26 has over 850,000 customers across Europe and is doing very well in Ireland. Our experience working with German financial institutions is that they take time to come to a decision, but once that decision is made follow-through is guaranteed.”

Enterprise Ireland tells Ireland’s strong fintech story in Germany, building relationships with innovation managers at some of the world’s best-known banks, and introducing them to innovative Irish companies that can partner with them to offer solutions in the areas of payments, security, compliance and data analytics.

The Irish Advantage website helps Enterprise Ireland to tell that story, encouraging international financial services buyers to source fintech partners established here.

With both banks and fintechs recognising that neither the “fin” nor the “tech” can succeed alone, Irish fintech companies that are serious about capturing global opportunities must consider Frankfurt.

However great your technology, building a strong value proposition and articulating the business problem you solve is key to securing time with buyers in the region. While using social business networks can open doors, Irish fintech professionals should be clear about the nature and purpose of their request or enquiry. While the fintech sector is international in nature, exceptional preparation for meetings is always a must in Germany.

This article was originally published in the Sunday Independent.

Fuelling company growth AsiaPac

Fuelling your company’s growth in AsiaPac

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The size of Asia reflects the scale of the opportunity it presents to Irish businesses, delegates at Routes to Growth AsiaPac, a major conference held in Dublin’s Aviva Stadium, heard recently.

“Three of the four top economies of the world are in Asia. It accounts for half the world’s population and a growing middle class,” said Julie Sinnamon, chief executive of Enterprise Ireland, which organised the event.

“China, India and the ASEAN countries are showing more than double global growth rates, so they are not alone large markets but ones have massive growth within them. And ASEAN is one of the world’s largest economic zones, with a population greater than the EU and economic growth of double the EU’s.”

The AsiaPac region also includes Australia, remarkable for enjoying more than 25 years of continuous growth.

The region offers particular opportunities right now for Irish businesses in sectors such as aviation, financial services, international education and construction & engineering.

But there are challenges too.

“With Asia, you can’t go in, do a bit of business, and come home. You have to be really committed to the market. You need a balance sheet that can withstand the investment and you need an understanding of the culture,” she said.

There are logistical challenges related to distance, cost, lack of relationships and the need for a local presence. It’s not a homogenous block either. “Each of these countries has different culture that we need to recognise and appreciate. The Western mentality – believing we have the answer to your problem – doesn’t go down well in AsiaPac, you have to listen, and have patience.”

Be aware of distinct operational requirements in markets such as China, said MJ Guan, a partner at the China Ireland Growth Technology Fund.

It isn’t a question of simply translating your marketing materials but of doing first hand, on the ground market research for yourself. “Don’t just rely on third party agents,” he said.

Localisation requires much more than translation too, as companies such as Google and Uber have discovered. To assume that just because your business is successful in the Western world it will be successful in the AsiaPac region is a mistake.

Trip wires can include not finding out if you can get a direct licence to operate in your sector, and, if not, partnering with a local business. If you sell B2B get your “China Pricing” right. “In China we like to ask for a high discount from a vendor. If you don’t give a discount the customer may think you are not serious about the business,” he said.

Guan was at the event representing the second China Ireland Growth Technology Fund, which is newly launched. It aims to support Irish companies looking to access the Chinese market, as well as Chinese firms looking to use Ireland as a European base.

Announced in March 2018 by Ireland’s sovereign wealth fund, the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF), and its Chinese equivalent, the CIC Capital Corporation (CIC Capital), the Euro 150 million fund is a successor to the now fully-invested China Ireland Technology Growth Fund launched in 2014.

That USD 100 million fund supported six Irish technology firms expanding into China, including Irish-founded Movidius, the global leader in machine vision technology that was subsequently acquired by Intel.

The new Fund will once again be co-managed by Dublin-based Atlantic Bridge and Beijing-based WestSummit Capital.

The sectors it is open to applications from are quite wide, said Elaine Coughlan, founding managing partner of Atlantic Bridge. They include agri-tech and med-tech, enterprise and consumer software, semi conductors and industry-4.0 “all the things China wants access to and wants to buy,” she said.

Even where a company is not ready for investment, the Fund can help applicants make contacts and start building crucial relationships.

“We look at thousands of companies on an annual basis and with a lot of them we say ‘You are not ready yet, here are some contacts, here are some relationships, do a little more work, a little more market research, and come back to us’” said Coughlan.

“It’s very rare we say ‘no, never’. We say ‘not now, come back to us’, and give them some pointers to think about in terms of execution. We’ve a portfolio now of companies – of CEOs, VPs (vice presidents) and BDs (business development executives) – who are in China and who can share that knowledge with other Irish companies.”

One company the Fund has already invested in is indoor positioning systems company Decawave, which currently has five people based in China.

“You need to get out there on the ground so use Enterprise Ireland and the Department of Foreign Affairs and all the resources open to you. There is always someone who can give you introductions,” said Paul Costigan, chief sales and marketing officer at Decawave.

Its technology is based around “really precise GPS that works indoors, with very many applications for robotics, drones, AI, automation and smart factories, all the areas that China is so far ahead in,” said Costigan. In fact, “China already accounts for 60% of our revenues and we haven’t even got going yet.”

Irish fintechs post-Brexit opportunity

Irish fintechs primed to shine with post-Brexit opportunity

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Giles O’Neill, Head of Fintech at Enterprise Ireland, explains why the sector’s thought leaders see a post-Brexit opportunity for young innovative Irish companies.

Chris Skinner, fintech and financial services expert, in Dublin to deliver the keynote speech for Enterprise Ireland’s Future of Fintech conference, said, “I talk about fintech being like a parent and a child, with the bank being the parent and fintech the child. Five years ago, everyone was talking about fintech being disruptive, out to get rid of banks. But five years later, the banks are still here.”

Skinner’s view of growing collaborations between disruptive start-ups and established banks was echoed by panellists, which included Elly Hardwick, head of innovation at Deutsche Bank, Kamlesh Thakur, chairman of Mumbai-based Prime Investrade and Stephen Moran, head of research and development at Bank of Ireland, at the conference attended by more than 100 leaders, disruptors and collaborators from international banking and fintech hubs including New York, Singapore and Sydney. Attendees of the event held at Dogpatch Labs in January also met Enterprise Ireland-backed companies to discuss partnership opportunities.

With opportunities emerging as attitudes towards the sector mature, a combination of established global leaders with significant Irish operations and innovative Irish companies positions the industry well for international growth. Ireland has become a globally-recognised centre for specialist International Financial Services, with 200 Enterprise Ireland-backed companies employing nearly 10,000 people across the sector at the end of 2017. Irish companies, from start-ups to scaling and large multinational companies, have achieved significant impact in international markets, exporting to 100 countries.

Companies offer innovative solutions and services across payments, regulatory technologies and broader fintech applications, an achievement supported by astute investments and an understanding of the market that allows them to meet the requirements of the toughest professional procurement, business teams and institutions in the world. For many Irish-based companies, disruption involves delivering a better, more convenient customer experience.

Irish fintechs to watch

“Legacy banks use the SWIFT network, which is slow and opaque, charges hefty ForEx fees, and fees both to send and receive money. We believe that is not fit for purpose,” said Gary Conroy, chief commercial officer of the Irish-headquartered international payments business, TransferMate.

Irish start-up Plynk targets millennials with a service that enables them “text” one another money. “For us, payments are social,” said Charles Dowd, Plynk’s CEO and co-founder. “With the phone, you phoned places. With a mobile, you call people. You don’t think about the systems. Mobile money will be the same. It’s not about payments, it’s about people.”

The point was echoed by Conroy of TransferMate in relation crypto currencies, “Cards, banks, the blockchain are just rails. How quickly I can get the payment from A to B is all people care about.”

In the regulatory space, the cost of governance, risk and compliance is estimated at 15% of the total cost of running a financial services firm. Technology can help deliver a better customer experience there too.

“RegTech is about the intelligent use of technology to get better outcomes for clients. It’s also about stopping regulations getting in the way of the user experience,” said John Byrne, CEO of regulatory risk intelligence firm Corlytics.

Brexit may be viewed nervously by some sectors but, for fintech, it promises to bring real opportunity, according to expert Chris Skinner, “US banks are actively relocating core European services to Ireland, I’m not just hearing that, I’m seeing it,” he said. “London is still seen as a global financial centre, but for access to Europe, with the assumption that London no longer has that access to Europe, the next best place for US banks is Ireland, and not just Dublin but along the West coast too.”

This confluence of favourable market circumstances internationally and a strong ecosystem at home, makes the future of fintech bright for Irish companies, particularly in the UK and North American markets, with Europe and Asia Pacific, also featuring strongly in last year’s export figures.

 

Enjoyed this article? Read more insightful fintech articles here.

This article was originally published in the Sunday Independent.

growth opportunities Asia Pacific region

Tap into growth opportunities in Asia Pacific region

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Delegates attending Routes to Growth Asia Pacific, a major conference organised by Enterprise Ireland in Dublin, were advised that to succeed they should make good use of two vital pieces of technology – their ears.

“Always listen,” said Dicky Yip, non-executive director of Chinese insurance giant PingAn and a former chief executive of HSBC China.

“It takes time to understand the cultural differences, even in terms of how to attend a meeting. Always try to think of the other party’s circumstances.”

It’s a fact former Aer Lingus CEO Dermot Mannion could relate to, thanks to his time as deputy chairman of Royal Brunei Airlines. “The biggest mistake I made was just 30 days in,” he told attendees.

“I took it on myself to make a presentation to the board with my initial impressions of what was wrong with the airline that we needed to put right. Frankly, there were some pretty harsh conclusions.”

When his twenty-minute presentation was complete, the room was silent. “There were no questions, no comments. So I walked away thinking, this is going to be easy, everybody is agreed about the harsh medicine we need to take.”

Not so. “The very next day I had an appointment with one of the directors and quizzed him a little bit about the reaction. It became clear that they didn’t like what they heard in the first five minutes and so shut down. Nobody listened to the points I made after that.”

Mannion had yet to deal with the cultural aspects of doing business in Asia Pacific. “I didn’t deal with the relational side. I hadn’t socialised the ideas in advance and I didn’t anticipate the cultural significance of the fact that people don’t like to say no. It’s viewed as disrespectful in meetings to do so. But worst of all, I didn’t go in there saying ‘Is this the right answer?’ I hadn’t even asked if it was the right question.”

The experience became an important lesson. “Surviving that, I went on to build the relationships, respect traditions and culture, and to ask the right questions. It was an early lesson and very valuable.”

Relationships are the foundation of business across the Asia Pacific region

Relationships are the foundation on which business is transacted across Asia Pacific. Taking the time to build them pays dividends.

“The hardest thing for Irish people to do is meet Japanese standards, which are very high,” said Martin Murray, executive director of the Asia Matters think tank.

“Japan works for high-end, high-service, high-tech products if you can meet Japanese standards but it is hard to do. It is very demanding. Every time you answer a question it provokes another nine questions. But if you can do that, business people in Japan will trust you, and if they trust you good things happen, and they introduce you to their networks. If you can satisfy a Japanese customer, you can satisfy anyone.”

Be prepared for the time it takes to get to that point, he cautioned, referring to the Japanese adage that “you sit on a cold stone for three years and eventually it becomes warm”.

“The Japanese don’t like people being pushy or engaging in a hard sell at the beginning. They have another saying too, ‘if a nail stands up you hammer it down’. But if they really trust you, you become friends for life. They are very loyal, very honest, and there are no issues with finance. But you have to have that personal relationship. It’s not just transactional.”

The Asia Pacific region offers particularly striking opportunities in aviation, delegates heard. “Ireland has emerged as one of the greatest global aviation hubs in recent times, with a significant development of aviation talent,” said Dermot Mannion.

Asia Pacific fastest-growing region for aviation

“All this is happening at a time when Asia Pacific is far and away the fastest-growing region for aviation. Over the next twenty years, the number of aircraft going into the Asia Pacific region will be equal to the combination of North America and Europe combined. We are very well-positioned to take advantage of that.”

Demand for ICT is growing too. “Countries and governments that invest in ICT are doing it to support economic development,” said David Harmon, vice president Global Public Affairs at Huawei Technologies in China. “Their plans have as their premise the need to develop technologies to modernise sectors across the length and breadth of their countries.” These sectors include health, education, agriculture, food, aviation, and travel.

Insurer PingAn is already on a path towards becoming a technology company, for example. “It’s not going to open branches but will use AI and technology to reach customers,” said Yip, pointing out that, as 99.99% of PingAn’s business is in China, SMEs that can work with PingAn overseas are “most welcome” at the insurer.

Equally, “State banks, which have massive market share, only started to think about technology ten years ago. Most Chinese banks are looking outwards for technical assistance,” he said.

China’s One Belt One Road infrastructure initiative is giving rise to opportunities in construction and engineering, he said, suggesting Hong Kong as a good route in. It both understands Chinese business culture and has been China’s conduit to the outside world for more than half a century, he said, making it “a good stepping stone for Irish business”.

The advent of new direct flights from Dublin to Hong Kong and Beijing will help. “Don’t underestimate the impact of having ‘Dublin’ on departure boards in Hong Kong is going to have,” said Mannion. “It will create a dynamic where companies in that part of the world will be interested, because it will be easier to do business here.”

Visit our markets section for insights on Singapore and China and the opportunities for Irish companies.

Critical Healthcare MD

How Critical Healthcare Makes a Difference to Medical Emergency Services

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 “Our research found that that organisations were suffering from a lack of purchasing control, resulting in maverick buying, excessive supplier costs, endemic overstocking.”

 

 

Key Takeouts:

  • Critical Healthcare’s search for a competitive edge led to in-depth field research, including discussions with both procurement and ambulance teams.
  • Research inspired them to develop a managed service that streamlines procurement and stock management processes while eliminating risk.
  • Enterprise Ireland awarded the company a €150,000 Business Innovation grant to assist with the further development of the system.

Case Study: Critical Healthcare

Based in Kilbeggan, Co. Westmeath, Critical Healthcare was established 18 years ago with the aim of becoming the first choice for the emergency medical services in Ireland. Having become specialists in the market, Critical Healthcare identified further opportunities to enhance their offering and disrupt the expanding niche further afield.

“We started out supplying everything from bandages to airways, nebulisers, nasal cannulas and stretchers,” says managing director Anne Cusack. “Our customers were the emergency medical services, like the National Ambulance Service, fire service, and other rescue services. Back in those early days we were only operating in the Irish market.”

As the recession drove the market to become ever more competitive, Critical Healthcare decided it needed to examine its value proposition in full.

“Back in 2012, we were only supplying products to our customers, and we felt that we needed to move beyond that,” says Cusack. “We couldn’t continue to compete on price alone. We needed to find a way to add value to our customer offering, which would not only assist with their procurement processes, but also enable us to become part of their procurement solution.”

Successful search for competitive edge

The company’s search for a competitive edge led to in-depth field research, including discussions with both the procurement and ambulance teams within the National Ambulance Service, which uncovered potential opportunities.
Cusack explains, “Our research found that organisations were suffering from a lack of purchasing control, resulting in maverick buying, excessive supplier costs, endemic overstocking. As a result, many products were going out of date and there was poor visibility of which supplies were being used, and where. Manual purchasing processes across multiple locations were time-consuming, prone to error, and costly. Paper can be lost and manual data entry leaves room for mistakes. Increased volume of supplier queries can swamp finance departments.”

Understanding these issues inspired Critical Healthcare to develop a managed service, which provides a highly flexible solution that streamlines procurement and stock management processes, eliminates risk, improves productivity, and reduces costs.

The resulting Medlogistix Software as a Service (SaaS) system is specifically tailored to the needs of the healthcare sector. When it was piloted in the National Ambulance Service in 2012, it demonstrated savings of up to 37% on annual spend. After this success, Critical Healthcare won a tender in 2013 to implement Medlogistix across all 102 National Ambulance Service stations in Ireland, followed by contracts with Dublin Fire Brigade and the Irish Coastguard. But even that was just the beginning.

Support for becoming internationally competitive

“We knew we had something that was equally relevant to the emergency services markets internationally,” Cusack recalls. “We started looking at the UK, Scandinavian, and German markets. That’s where Enterprise Ireland enters our story. We had built the original system in-house but recognised we needed assistance to develop it further, to ensure the scalability and reliability it needed to be internationally competitive.”

Enterprise Ireland awarded the company a €150,000 Business Innovation grant in 2015, to assist with the further development of the system.

Cusack says, “We spent a year working with a development company, scoping out the needs of the system and writing the software. 2016 was spent finalising and user-testing the system, and it went live across our existing customers in 2017.”

Medlogistix, a business intelligence software package, incorporates e-procurement, stock management, and a reporting dashboard, all backed by a managed service for a traditionally manual paper-based sector.

Competing for and winning the largest international contracts

International success was already assured, due to a contract won in 2015 with Falck, the UK’s largest private ambulance service provider, thanks to the Enterprise Ireland development support.
“Falck is the largest private ambulance service provider in the world,” says Cusack. “They are headquartered in Denmark and have operations in 55 countries. We were able to compete for and win the contract in the UK because we were able to demonstrate the savings the package could offer across all elements of the procurement process and we were able to tell them what the new system would look like. Falck has been one of our biggest international advocates since.”

The next step for Critical Healthcare is expansion into continental Europe. Industry observers see strong underlying market growth for Emergency Medical Services in the EU, driven by trends including demographic shifts. In the UK, for example, the use of ambulance services has increased by 59% over a decade. The share of citizens aged 65 and older is expected to grow from 19% to 24% from 2015 to 2030 across the EU, with the number of transports required much higher for older citizens.

“The new system is working fantastically well and has made us competitive in international markets,” Cusack notes. “We are now in the next phase of its development, which we are funding ourselves. We are talking to Falck in Denmark and putting together a case for the system’s roll-out in other European countries. Our business is growing strongly. We currently employ 22 people in Kilbeggan, with forecasts to increase that to 30 over the next five years. Our turnover target for this year is €6.4 million and our goal is to grow that to €10 million in 2020.”

Learn more about Enterprise Ireland’s Competitiveness supports here.