Deanna O’Connor speaks to Nik Healy, Solutions Director of Convergent
Deanna O’Connor speaks to Nik Healy, Solutions Director of Convergent, about solving document and business information overload
Before you read on, think about your personal document and data storage. You have messages coming to you via email, texts, WhatsApp, DMs on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. You might store various documents and images in email, on your hard drive, Dropbox, Google Docs, Google Photos, Microsoft OneDrive, iCloud, and perhaps some actual paper in drawers in the kitchen or a filing cabinet in the home office. You scribble some notes in a notebook, but others on a notes app on your phone. All your work appointments are in your online calendar, but that dentist appointment next month – that’s on the family schedule stuck on the fridge door. You’re just one person, and it’s already hard to keep track of the amount of information and documentation you’re producing and storing. Now, extrapolate that out to a large organisation with hundreds or thousands of people, and it quickly becomes overwhelming and highly inefficient.
“When it comes to businesses, small and large, it’s a massive problem,” says Nik Healy, Solutions Director of Convergent, a document and information management consultancy with a mission to help businesses dissolve the boundaries of information flow and bring an end to content chaos.
He recounts a tale of one large organisation which was using over 900 different applications. “That’s the extreme, but it’s something we always see, the proliferation of information and duplication of information across multiple systems, that causes chaos.”
Systems Overload
According to recent research conducted by Convergent, 63% of Irish businesses report using up to 10 different systems and applications to store information, and 23.7% of respondents operate more than 10 systems across their businesses. This disconnected scattergun approach to information storage and usage prohibits information from flowing and results in inefficiencies and manual processes. It also restricts reporting and business intelligence opportunities.
“It’s very difficult for anybody to find the correct information and the right versions of version of documents, and more importantly, to be able to understand the context of information,” Healy says.
Harking back to the days of paper-based filing, he points out that everything was at least, organised by one system, in one place. “At least there was there was structure. But nowadays, I give the analogy that it’s like having filing cabinets, but all the labels and the classifications have been removed.”
Clearing the Chaos
Data analytics and AI offer such incredible possibilities, if you can leverage what you have. But you can only leverage what you can find.
“In order for companies to take that seriously, they’ve got to first tackle the issue of their information sprawl and information chaos through their organisation because AI is not going to sort that out. It needs structure, it needs data. It needs to understand how information is stored
in order to get the context of what it is and give users a meaningful interpretation.”
While we are still early days in the deployment of AI, having structures in place that are necessary to support it will be key.
“There’s a belief out there that there has to be a better way of doing things, and it is being driven by the proliferation of information nowadays – the amount of information being generated is growing exponentially. On top of that, there’s the administrative burdens that organisations have to deal with around compliance,” he says. “They are spending on administration of their information, rather than being able to use that information to be more creative and productive.”
The root cause of problems for a lot of companies stems from what Healy calls “functional decision making” – acquiring software and systems for particular functions of the business, for example HR, leading to siloed information, with different systems in different departments.
“Another example is health and safety in the construction and engineering industry,” he notes. “It has ballooned to the point where it is unmanageable. They might have the information in a nice app that is user friendly, but the data isn’t going anywhere, it’s just sitting in the cloud. It’s not actionable. It doesn’t communicate with anything else in the organisation – it’s a completely siloed set of information that nobody can access information isn’t flowing.”
From the ground up
As Convergent has evolved its information management consultancy business, Healy has worked with client organisations of all sizes, from enterprises to start-ups and SMEs. He says working with the smaller businesses is most rewarding, when he can reach them at the right time: “It’s a great opportunity to influence these organisations and get them set up for future growth,” he says.
While it can be a gargantuan task to make a difference in large, departmentalised organisations – “it’s like turning the Titanic,” he jokes – he relishes the opportunity to work with younger companies. “When they are in an expansion phase, they are really keen to build in efficiencies into the organisation, so it’s a really sweet spot to deal with those kinds of organisations.
“They know they have to get their house in order if they want to continue to grow because it’s a competitive market out there and every percentage point makes a difference to survival or not.”
That being said, he maintains that there is hope at enterprise level (“it just takes three times longer to do it”). Managing change is key to success in any setting he says. “The business process owners have to be involved and champion this. When you get that interaction and that engagement, you’re off to a head start.”
For anyone thinking of making positive changes to organise their content chaos, he advises, “Think big, start small.” And failing that… call in the experts.
Force to be reckoned with : Drogheda & District Chamber CEO Hubert Murphy
Drogheda & District Chamber CEO Hubert Murphy on creating channels for members to do business
How are you finding your new role as CEO at Drogheda & District Chamber?
I took on the role in June 2024 and it’s been a great experience. Working closely with the chamber council, we intend on further creating the landscape to allow Drogheda and district to thrive in the years to come. I believe in change, as standing still in life and business is never an option. I love engaging with members and seeing how we can deliver for them. That is what we are here for.
Can you tell me about your career so far?
I spent many years in the newspaper industry with INM and then Mediahuis. Then in 2021, I took on a new role as General Manager at Drogheda United FC in the League of Ireland. It was a wonderful opportunity to engage with the community so well as developing national and international business contacts. To see the club win the FAI Cup in 2024 and qualify for Europe was special. It’s a huge boost to the town.
Do you think previously held roles will inform your new CEO position?
I see the chamber brand as one that can deliver great things for the Drogheda region. In the same way as the name of a local newspaper or local football team draws support, confidence and trust, the chamber does likewise. You bring a little bit of life experience to any role you do, be it paid or voluntary, and that adds to the team and the product. I believe consistent and solid branding is huge in business and a bit like a football team, we now carry the chamber logo on our jackets. Proper PR and selling the chamber is equally as important, that’s why we introduced the concept of ‘ribbon cuttings’ for new members. We need to celebrate every little achievement with them.
How is business in Drogheda?
Drogheda is like every other big town. It has ways to improve but by working as a collective for the greater good, so much can be achieved. We want to see a rejuvenated main street, enhance the Purple Flag experience for those visiting the town and make the town a major destination location for international businesses. The M1 corridor has great potential and being close to the airport, backed by a motorway and rail service, we are primed for major investment.
What are some of the challenges facing business?
Drogheda is the biggest town in Ireland and has the potential to be a city. That alone draws constant debate, from traffic, to education needs, crime, housing and other social elements. The thing that makes Drogheda stand apart is the potential of the place. We are building 7,500 new homes on the north side of the town, a new IDA park is going in, we have a new €1bn sustainably powered enterprise campus planned, offshore windfarms are earmarked off the coast, a new multi million-euro port is planned, along with the completion of a new link road and the arrival of the DART. The chamber will be a willing partner in all of this.
How does Drogheda & District Chamber support its members?
I believe in two things – an attitude of Chamber First and making sure we treat those that support us as family members. There is no better feeling for our team than to solve one member’s problem by introducing them to another member. The more we build the membership, the more contacts are made. We have a weekly newsletter that keeps us all informed and our regular coffee and chats mornings are so popular.
As CEO, what are your ambitions?
Drogheda is a regional growth centre and will be a force to be reckoned with in the years to come. But a bird can’t fly on one wing. The chamber is all about collaboration and building teams and inspiring others on the journey. We signed a Friendship and Solidarity Agreement with our friends in Lisburn Chamber of Commerce in October and we are planning on adding to our ‘family’ of contacts in England in 2025. We must create channels for our members to do business and also open the door to others to come to Drogheda and sample what we have here.
Ger Roe, Board Creative Director at Publicis Dublin, talks to Deanna O’Connor about the latest trends in advertising
Ger Roe, Board Creative Director at Publicis Dublin, talks to Deanna O’Connor about the latest trends in advertising, why comedy is too risky for some and the impact of AI on the industry
The advertising challenge of cutting through the noise has never changed. It has never been easy. It requires brilliant insights and extremely well-crafted executions. Some brands accept that and still create below par work and then buy audiences. But are they achieving mental availability? With attention spans reducing and media obliteration, having strong creative work is no longer a nice–to–have, it’s an imperative.
Like fashion and culture, advertising always reflects trends, changes in our behaviour, or matches consumer sentiment in the economy—for example, too much confidence and positivity might be out of step in a recession.
In the last number of years, we’ve seen lots of changes borne out of good reasons. ‘Sadvertising’ ads come to mind—they’re the ones that make us feel very emotional and were very common around the pandemic. But when lockdown ended, and our spirits lifted, they mostly disappeared. Likewise, anyone buying a manifesto-styled campaign (as exemplified by Apple’s ‘Here’s To the Crazy Ones’) will be very late to the party. Sadly, very few who were inspired by it got anywhere close to Apple’s, and in their ambition to seem authentic, they unintentionally undermined themselves.
The Power of Sonic Audio
What we’re now witnessing is the power of sonic audio; sometimes they’re irritants but they’re often super-effective for brands looking to stand out. Pot Noodle’s recent ‘Nothing Satisfies Like Pot Noodle’ effort showed a woman in her office canteen slurping down noodles, and received hundreds of compliments, as well as outraged complaints. Pot Noodle countered with a clever compensation scheme devised to stir up more publicity, as well as a hilarious clapback edit of the ad with the female slurping sounds replaced with a male voiceover.
Sonic treatments like this are a well-known Japanese tactic called ‘nodogoshi’. So successful was the slurping noise in Japanese beer commercials that in 2017 Japan’s major brewers mutually agreed to an advertising restriction that stopped the use of gulping sounds in their beer commercials, after the Japanese government expressed concerns that sound effect could cause mental distress in viewers with alcohol-dependency issues.
Music is the Answer
We’re all aware of great brands that assign a famous musical track to their brand, but when a brand launches itself, or a product, alongside a new track by an artist, their advertising can really blow up. One example that stands out in my mind is Apple’s launch of the HomePod in 2018, with a four-minute short directed by Oscar-winning director Spike Jonze featuring FKA Twigs dancing to Anderson Paak’s new song ‘‘Til It’s Over’.
We have very much established a music style with the work we do with Virgin also (such as the 1980s earworm ‘Word Up’ in the Virgin Media ‘It’s Playtime’ ad). In contrast to this, one of the
more expected ways to use audio and music in advertising is where you take a famous or well-known track and simply change the lyrics to suit your narrative—for example the ‘30 in Town’ speed campaign for the RSA which rewords ‘Dirty Old Town’. Regardless of my personal preference there is a very good reason for this in behaviour change style advertising; it can be extremely effective when you need to create mental availability faster.
Is Comedy Too Controversial?
When we scroll through our socials, we are often reminded of hilarious ads from the 1990s or the 2000s. A recurring question I’m asked is ‘why don’t we see as many funny ads anymore?’ Sadly, comedy often relies on a victim, and unless your victim is non-human, like the badger in our recent Gas Networks Ireland (GNI) ‘Dial Before You Dig’ campaign, it can be very tricky. These days whether we want to believe it or not people can be quick to find offence and even mobilise against a brand. It requires a very confident and less conservative client because comedy isn’t easy; it requires a lot of experience and understanding in order to execute it authentically. Done correctly—as in our ‘Jedward Split’ campaign for GNI—it can be extremely effective and really cut through.
The Trend of Iconicity
Iconicity is a new genre used now by a number of the bigger more confident brands. To explain, brands like Ikea, Coca–Cola, Heineken, and McDonald’s are so infamous that they can play with their fame. Heineken ran a 150th anniversary campaign which riffed on people mispronouncing and misspelling their name all over the world. Another example is Coca–Cola’s ‘Every Coca-Cola is Welcome’ campaign which applauds homespun efforts at recreating the logo outside remote and intriguing shops around the world. Ikea probably went furthest where they listened to consumers complaints that their life wasn’t like a catalogue—and referenced this in their latest campaign where a beautiful lifestyle scene is interrupted by the stark realism of the mom getting sick in the background, or the view of a stunning bedroom scene shattered by the family pet having a pee on the good rug.
The State of Social Media
With the shift in user attention away from broadcast channels, audiences have greater agency in their choice of media consumption, easily skipping past a lot of advertising on social and digital channels or paying subscription fees to avoid advertising altogether. Advertising to consumers via social media does not ensure their attention. The fragmented user attention on the platforms requires a different creative approach in how to storytell. A good creative strategy should leverage the available formats and work with multiple exposures over several experience points which can increase cost and complexity for advertisers in delivering successful campaigns.
Additionally, factors such as negative opinions under posts, fake news, and controversial brand posts in social media advertising can adversely impact brand image and purchase intention among consumers, so it’s essential for brands to carefully manage their image on social networks.
Is AI Coming for Us?
AI is easily the biggest threat and the biggest advantage to the advertising and marketing industry. What I would say is AI will most likely mop up all easier or basic asks.
Most of the bigger agencies are employing AI regularly on tedious tasks that didn’t have a great deal of value anyway. Will it take jobs? Certainly, if someone can employ a better use of AI better than another person of course they would be of more value.
While AI might be able to create an ad or even offer up a sort of campaign in the future, that’s not how professional organisations use their agency partners these days. Most big brands and organisations use their agency as a strategic partner and tend to have very smart creative people consulting in problem-solving. This often goes beyond just marketing problems. In fact, very often the last answer is an ad.
Agencies as Strategic Partners
I think the role for strategic communications partners is going to become even more important with more and more content becoming AI generated as consumers struggle to identify what’s real and what’s fake. There will be winners and losers with the most authentic brands winning out. The best agencies know how to develop and maintain authentic personalities for brands. For me, that will be the key difference going forward.
The strongest brands are using their agencies to position them and develop unique purposes. Outwardly, agencies will help them to find accurate and intuitive ways to either change behaviour or attract the audiences they need in newer ways. Inwardly, it’s about making sure the entire organisation has also bought into the brand purpose.
In this way, agency employees are not just selling a product – they are selling the brand experience or service which sometimes also has a product attached.
2024 Recognition Awards Winners and Highlight Reel
Now in their 12th year, the InBUSINESS Recognition Awards honour exceptional business achievement and celebrate resilience and success in Irish business.
Our awards program recognises organisations that demonstrate the core values of business innovation, product innovation, technological achievement and employee engagement via a set of established business and product award categories.
This year’s winners were chosen across 24 categories based on a broad criteria including a profile of the business, the services it provides and the importance of customer care. All winners have demonstrated their ability to adapt and grow and all are very worthy of this recognition, setting the standard for business in Ireland today.
Despite the challenges businesses have experienced over the past couple of years, along with current challenges including rising costs, inflation and a lack of skilled staff, the business leaders profiled over the next few pages have maintained and strengthened their focus on growth.
These winners were announced on the 11th of April at a gala awards ceremony in the Clontarf Castle, Dublin
Highlight Video
June Butler : Rising to the Challenge
Irish companies founded within the past six years are impressing investors lately with their innovative devices to improve patients’ quality of life and recovery, writes Sorcha Corcoran.
Irish SMEs have proven their resilience over the past few years, but they are still facing multiple
challenges given the current business environment, including the ongoing economic effects of
Brexit, recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic, the availability of skilled staff and access to new
customers and markets.
As June Butler, Chief Executive Officer of the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI),
points out, the abrupt increase of input costs, in particular energy costs, presents the most
significant challenge to SMEs in Ireland right now. However, relative to their European
counterparts, Irish SMEs have not invested to the same levels in energy-efficiency measures in
recent years.
The European Investment Bank Investment Survey, ‘European Firms and Climate Change
2020/2021’, shows that European SMEs allocate on average 12% of their total investment to
measures to improve their energy efficiency. Comparatively, Irish SMEs devote only 6% of their
investment budget, suggesting there is opportunity for efficiency gains in this area.
“We want to help Irish businesses to address this gap and make it easier for them to enhance
their energy efficiency and improve their sustainability in the long-term. In order to stay
competitive and improve their future growth prospects, Irish SMEs need to consider their green
transition and invest more in areas such as sustainability and digitalisation,” says Butler.
“We know that making a significant investment decision can be difficult when costs are rising,
but we are committed to helping Irish SMEs overcome these challenges by providing them with
accessible and affordable finance. To this end, we have developed and recently launched our
Energy Efficiency Loan Scheme [EELS].”
Specifically tailored
The EELS is a €150m loan guarantee scheme specifically tailored to the needs of SMEs,
farmers and fishers investing in energy efficient equipment and looking to reduce their energy
bills.
The scheme offers low-cost finance ranging from €10,000 to €150,000 at reduced interest rates
and with repayment terms of up to ten years. “This repayment flexibility aims to ensure that the
business’s existing cash flow is not negatively impacted for the investment cost,” notes Butler.
“Credit is available across a range of finance products to ensure the best match for the business
funding requirements. Types of finance include term loans, hire purchase and asset-finance
products.”
At present, EELS is available through AIB, Bank of Ireland and Capitalflow, with additional on-
lenders to follow in the coming weeks. Businesses can apply for the funding through a
straightforward two-step process that starts by completing the eligibility application form
available on the SBCI website (www.sbci.gov.ie). Eligible businesses will receive an eligibility
number (a code) that applicants provide to one of the participating on-lenders as part of their
credit application.
The energy-efficient equipment SMEs can invest in through the scheme ranges from heat
pumps, solar panels, LED lighting, chillers and fluid coolers to commercial water boilers, electric
vehicle charging points and other energy-saving technology.
“For instance, from conversations our team had with farmers who visited our stand at the
National Ploughing Championships in September, there was a lot of interest in EELS funding for
the installation of solar panels on farm buildings. Most farms have abundant roof space suitable
for this,” says Butler.
“Businesses in the hospitality sector may choose to avail of EELS funding for installing solar
panels or switching to LED lighting, but they could also use it for the purchase of energy-efficient
A4-rated kitchen equipment. This could include commercial ovens, fridges and dishwashers, or
even commercial water boilers and commercial laundry washers or dryers – all of which will
reduce their ongoing energy usage.”
Other businesses are considering this scheme to fund the installation of electric vehicle
charging points, so that their customers can charge their electric vehicles while staying at their
hotel or having dinner at their restaurant, she adds.
The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland maintains a central listing, the ‘Triple E Register for
Products’, which contains details of all of the energy-saving equipment that is eligible for funding
under EELS. This exhaustive register contains products that all meet a minimum set of energy-
efficiency criteria and typically are of a best-in-class efficiency standard.
Stimulating climate-friendly investment, supporting sustainability and the transition to a net-zero
economy is one of the key priorities of the SBCI’s strategy, according to Butler.
“EELS represents a milestone in our commitment to support the Government’s goal of achieving
a 51% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, as indicated in the Climate Action Plan
2021. Businesses in Ireland account for around 13% of the country’s greenhouse gas
emissions, so reducing the energy that a business consumes will contribute to the reduction of
their carbon emissions,” she says.
“Not only does EELS offer businesses opportunities to lower their running costs and increase
profit margins; it also protects them from current and future risks such as energy costs and
carbon tax.
“Making a commitment to save energy and reduce emissions may also help businesses attract
and grow their base of customers in line with increasing consumer interest in climate change
and sustainability.”
Purpose and priorities
Established in 2014, the SBCI’s purpose is to improve the structure of finance markets for Irish
businesses, so that it is easier for these businesses to get the finance they need. This helps
businesses to prosper and builds economic activity in Ireland.
To date, more than 50,000 Irish SMEs from across different economic sectors, from agriculture
to wholesale and retail, have availed of SBCI-funded or guaranteed products. It has provided a
combination of low-cost liquidity and risk-sharing guarantees on loans to Irish SMEs totaling
over €3.2bn.
“We continue to support businesses that are still dealing with the economic impact of the Covid-
19 pandemic and the continued uncertainty surrounding Brexit. Our COVID-19 Loan Scheme
and Brexit Impact Loan Scheme offer low-cost lending of up to €1.5m per applicant over a six-
year period,” says Butler.
“In addition, as we provide an 80% guarantee to the participating on-lenders, collateral
requirements are reduced, with loans up to €500,000 being unsecured. Both of these schemes
will run until the end of December 2022 or until fully subscribed and are available through a
range of finance providers, including credit unions.”
Chief Executive Officer of the SBCI since September 2021, Butler has over 20 years’
experience in the financial services sector. Prior to her appointment, she served as Head of
SME Banking and Sectors in Bank of Ireland where she was responsible for formulating and
driving the strategic direction for the business, including the delivery of the finance and funding
requirements of Irish SMEs. She has also led a team of sector specialists providing strategic
insight into the needs of Irish businesses across a variety of sectors.
“My priorities as CEO of the SBCI over the coming months are threefold. Firstly, I want us to
continue delivering government policy measures by increasing access to finance for Irish SMEs
through large-scale loan guarantee schemes,” she says.
“At the same time, we will endeavour to promote sustainability through the development of
targeted financial solutions such as EELS, which address the challenges posed by climate
change to SMEs and the broader economy.
“Thirdly, I want us to enable SMEs to grow and prosper through the delivery of innovative
supports which we may develop through strategic partnerships for SMEs as they grow their
businesses.”
For more information, visit the website, www.sbci.gov.ie, follow the SBCI on social media
(@SBCIreland) or get in touch via email at info@sbci.gov.ie.
Cathal Fay : Power to the People
Cathal Fay, CEO and Co-founder of PrepayPower
Power to the PeopleSelected as Ireland’s Most Trusted Leader by Great Places to Work this year and an EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2022 finalist, Cathal Fay, CEO and Co-founder of PrepayPower, believes its service will become attractive to a larger cohort of people due to the energy crisis.
Q: Have you always had a business head on your shoulders?
Cathal Fay (CF): I started out my career in the 1990s in Eircom, which was very much a large semi-State company at the time. I learnt lots during my time there. However, I found it a little slow moving and lacking in autonomy for me. When an opportunity came up to leave to start a business in e-books and mobile productivity software I said yes immediately. This was back in 2000 in the days before smartphones and the software that we developed was for pocket computers (Psion Organisers).
We were too early to the market and unfortunately the business was unsuccessful. However, I was bitten by the start-up bug and wanted to continue. I moved into mobile content (ringtones, graphics and games) with Red Circle. I led this business to become the largest provider of ringtones in the UK, growing its revenues from €5m to €25m within three years. The business was sold to Zamano in 2007 in a €24.4m deal. After that exit, I was approached by a former colleague in 2010 to join a start-up in the prepaid electricity space and jumped at the chance. At that point PrepayPower was born. This was the first time in Ireland that customers could choose a prepaid electricity service.
Q: How did you grow and develop the business?
CF: We started off in 2010 above a second-hand bookshop in Blackrock in Dublin. At that time we had no customers and no revenues. With my experience in marketing and operations from Red Circle we used our limited funding which we had raised from friends and family to prove our business model with a trial in Tallaght in 2011. The response rates to our advertising were off the charts. Sales continued to roll in through customer recommendations when we didn’t have enough money to advertise.
The next step was to raise sufficient funding to be able to drive the business to grow to its potential. It took us 11 months to find the right investors for us. Eventually we brought in two tremendous investors in Ulric Kenny, Co-founder of Ion Equity, and serial tech entrepreneur Andrew Collins. They brought not just capital but wonderful experience to the business and have been instrumental in helping me to drive it. With annual turnover of around €200m, PrepayPower now has just over 170,000 electricity customers, together with 60,000 gas customers and – uniquely in Ireland – 15,000 pay-as-you-go broadband customers.
Q: What is the secret to the success of PrepayPower?
CF: We put customers in control by providing them with information on how much electricity they’re using so that they can reduce consumption and save. The average customer reduces their usage by over 8% per annum when they join us. We back this with great customer service. We are the top-ranked supplier in Ireland on TrustPilot based on our customer reviews. Our great team of 350 people work together to drive the success of the business. We use the Great Places to Work model to get the pulse of the organisation and we always rank well, particularly with all team members being clear on their purpose.
We have a variety of different skillsets across a range of areas from sales, customer experience, finance and software development to hedging. Our hedging expertise has helped us to manage the rising electricity and gas wholesale markets more effectively than competitors.
Q: Any other news or future plans you can share?
CF: We are approaching 250,000 customer accounts. This is a combination of 173,000 electricity accounts, 61,000 gas accounts and 16,000 broadband accounts. This will be a great team celebration where we all get together to reflect on our continued growth.
We are about to launch a feature in our app to allow customers to put some money aside in summer months to help deal with the increase in energy costs in winter. In the longer term we plan on continuing to grow our offering by providing more energy services to customers to help them move their demand to times when energy is cheaper and greener.
Aidan D’Arcy : Full Speed Ahead
Full Speed Ahead with Virgin Media Business
Already delivering the fastest broadband speeds in Ireland, Virgin Media Business is firmly committed to ensuring that connectivity, security and reliability continues for businesses of all sizes.
Virgin Media Ireland recently appointed Aidan D’Arcy as Vice-President of Wholesale and Business with immediate effect, reporting to CEO Tony Hanway. Having first joined the business as an engineering graduate in 2004, in his new role D’Arcy will be responsible for the strategic growth and development of Virgin Media Business, while also working closely with the Tech Solutions and Consumer functions.
An important area of responsibility for D’Arcy will be to oversee the expansion of Virgin Media’s full-fibre network – the focus of a current €200m investment by the company. The upgrade is expected to take three years to complete and create over 500 jobs, eventually delivering speeds of up to 10Gbps (Gigabits per second) to 1 million premises nationwide.
“Virgin Media’s full-fibre investment is an exciting development for customers across Ireland. It demonstrates our commitment to providing the best-connected entertainment experiences to Irish consumers and provides a step towards a 10G broadband service,” says D’Arcy.
The investment also offers the potential to work with other service providers at a wholesale level, he adds. “Wholesale is an interesting opportunity for Virgin Media and we will continue to monitor any potential place we could take in this area.”
Businesses will see benefits from going full-fibre from the perspective of speed superiority being maintained with flexibility to upgrade to 1G and also to add on tailored business services such as Virgin Media’s Cloud Voice product and Business WiFi.“Additionally, our business TV offering is going from strength to strength with our TV360 platform and some exciting current and new content in the pipeline,” D’Arcy notes.
Partnering with purpose
Virgin Media Business is very mindful of the unprecedented challenges facing businesses at the moment and is helping them as a trustworthy and reliable partner.
“Certainty is a key condition that businesses need and arguably the most illusive one over the past few years. Covid-19 was a difficult period for many businesses to navigate through and now there are fresh challenges emerging from inflation and supply-chain uncertainty – to name just two. On top of this, cyber threats are more prevalent now than ever,” says D’Arcy.
“Robust protections for businesses are important as we see the increasing use of cloud and digital services. Virgin Media’s connectivity portfolio from SD-WAN to Dedicated Internet Access and broadband all have options for cyber-security enablement. If any customer doesn’t have cyber protection – which we would encourage all businesses to have – we have options for them to review this with our expert team.”
The Central Statistics Office’s ‘Survey on E-Commerce and ICT 2021’ revealed that 59% of businesses had purchased cloud computing services, up from 51% in 2020. It also showed that one third of enterprises made use of interconnected devices or systems that can be monitored or controlled remotely via the Internet.
With the more widespread move towards a more digital future, it has become essential for businesses to be equipped with better connectivity and collaboration to fully embrace this transition. The gap in connectivity capabilities between larger enterprises and SMEs became apparent during the pandemic. However, the pandemic also presented an opportunity for smaller businesses to bridge the divide and increase their appetite for digital transformation.
In its white paper, The Road to the Digital Future of SMEs, IDC stated: “From Voice-over Internet Protocol [VoIP] to accessing the cloud, the benefits of flexible working, improving digital marketing and enhancing customer experience mean that reliable, high Internet-connection speed is a necessity for the future.” According to D’Arcy, this is especially true for SMEs taking their first steps towards a future that looks exponentially more digital than ever before and where hybrid working will become the norm.
The third annual National Remote Working Survey, released by NUI Galway in May, revealed that, of those employees who could work remotely, 52% were currently working hybrid, 40% fully remotely and only 8% were fully onsite. Compiled from responses from over 8,400 employees, the research highlighted that 30% of all respondents indicated that they would change job if their future remote working preferences were not facilitated.
“With many workplaces adopting a hybrid model of working, reliable and fast connectivity lies at the heart of this journey for small firms as they endeavour to empower their people to do their job wherever they are, whenever it matters and however works best for everyone,” says D’Arcy.
“Good connectivity is crucial for SMEs in helping people to collaborate better with colleagues and customers remotely. It has the potential to improve productivity for individuals working remotely, in the office or anywhere else – allowing people to do their jobs in a healthy, sustainable way in this new normal.”
Backing Business
Another important way that Virgin Media Business has shown its commitment to SMEs in recent years has been its #BackingBusiness initiative, which involved a €1m support fund being pledged in 2020.
“Our goal is to create opportunities for all businesses to grow through digital technology. With #BackingBusiness, we wanted to support them by sharing their inspiring stories of resilience and promote their businesses across our Virgin Media television channels and our social media platforms,” D’Arcy explains.
“With a reach of around 2.7 million people every week across our channels, we were able to support over 300 businesses through promotions, helping them to get back to business. We took our shows on the road, broadcasting on Ireland AM, Elaine, The Six O’Clock Show and The Tonight Show from Limerick, Cork and Kilkenny, showcasing some wonderful local businesses.”
Virgin Media Business then took the initiative a step further in partnership with Digital Business Ireland (DBI), Permanent TSB, Milk Bottle Labs and Local Enterprise Offices. Five successful applicants benefited from a complete digital transformation to enhance their e-commerce offering and trading platform so they could compete globally.
The digital transformation package, funded by Permanent TSB, included a professionally built e-commerce store on Shopify by Milk Bottle Labs; one year of free fibre business broadband with Virgin Media Business; dedicated training in digital marketing from their Local Enterprise Office; business development support and full membership of DBI’s extensive network; and expert support to boost their digital delivery.
“The idea was to help these small businesses make the most of new online consumer spending patterns with support from industry experts to help raise their e-commerce offering to the next level,” says D’Arcy.
“#BackingBusiness proved so popular and impactful to indigenous Irish SMEs in 2020 and 2021 that we will be continuing the programme in 2022 and beyond. The next phase of the initiative will bring together two of our passions – sustainability and supporting Irish businesses – and the focus will remain on innovative, forward-thinking and ambitious businesses.”
Medtech Momentum
Medtech Momentum
Irish companies founded within the past six years are impressing investors lately with their innovative devices to improve patients’ quality of life and recovery, writes Sorcha Corcoran.
In June, Loci Orthopaedics was awarded over €8m in funding and financial support from the European Commission via the highly competitive European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator Programme – a major validation for the new implant it has developed for the treatment of thumb base joint arthritis. The Galway-based company will receive €2.5m in grant funding initially, followed by a €5.5m equity investment, supported by the European Investment Bank.
Over 30 million people in the EU and 20 million people in the US are affected by thumb base joint arthritis, a condition which causes pain and decreased hand function. Driven to improve the lives of sufferers and address the unmet clinical need they identified, Dr Brendan Boland and Gerry Clarke founded Loci Orthopaedics in 2017 as a spin-out from NUI Galway, University College Cork and KU Leuven in Belgium.
“We used the most recent biomechanics research to ensure the implant we designed fully recreates the natural biomechanics of the joint for superior clinical outcomes,” says Clarke.
“To receive this level of funding is a massive endorsement of the need for a better treatment for this crippling condition. It will enable us to complete a clinical trial we started recently and pursue regulatory clearance in the EU and US, prior to full-scale commercialisation and clinical use,” adds Boland.
Revolutionising bone repair
Also in the field of orthopaedics, Zoan BioMed recently announced a partnership with Swedish 3D bioprinting company Cellink, which it hopes will lead to a future where bone breaks can be repaired by 3D printing bones made from marine coral.
Founded in 2016 by Declan Clarke and Ronnie Robins, Zoan BioMed designs and develops orthopaedic devices from the ethical and sustainable cultivation of marine coral, grown at its state-of-the-art facility on the shores of Lough Inagh in Connemara. Along with leading clinicians around the world, Zoan BioMed recognised the huge potential of marine coral to improve patient outcomes and reduce the costs associated with bone repair.
“Because of its comparative similarities to human bone structure and inherent strength and purity, marine coral is a highly effective bone grafting substitute,” says Stephen Wann, CEO, Zoan BioMed.
The company has developed the world’s first, scalable indoor coral production system with ISO 13485 accreditation. When harvested, refined into granules and implanted by a surgeon into the bone trauma site, the material accelerates healing, safeguards against infection, reduces surgeon operating time and ultimately gets patients back on their feet and enjoying life quicker.
“With Cellink, we have the ideal partner that can build upon the encouraging trial results we have observed with our coral material. It is incredibly exciting to envisage that we can mimic and improve these results with a 3D-printed solution that can offer customised patient devices,” says Wann.
To date, Zoan BioMed has been funded through private investment, along with backing from the European Fund, Enterprise Ireland, Western Development Commission and Údarás Na Gaeltachta. In May it announced its latest fundraising round of up to €5m, to allow it to scale and grow internationally.
Easing discomfort
Meanwhile, three angel syndicates from the Halo Business Angel Network led a recent €1.925m investment in SymPhysis Medical, which is developing a device that eases the discomfort and distress of fluid in the chest for cancer patients undergoing palliative care.
Company founders Dr Michelle Tierney and Tim Jones uncovered the under-met need for effective treatment of fluid in the chest, or malignant ple
ural effusion, as part of the NUI Galway BioInnovate Fellowship programme. The condition is experienced by roughly half of metastatic cancer patients and can cause severe shortness of breath and chest pain. Often patients are fitted with an invasive and uncomfortable pleural catheter.
Using novel technologies, Tierney and Jones are working on a discreet, patient-centric drainage device called ‘Releaze’, which is less invasive to place than leading competitor devices on the market and can be removed after just 30 days.
Crucially, a usability study carried out with the UK’s National Innovation Centre for Ageing has shown that the device can be managed by patients themselves without the assistance of a nurse. “The ability to successfully drain the fluid and to perform this with confidence in an outpatient setting will greatly benefit patients,” said Dr David Breen, a leading interventional pulmonologist in Galway University Hospital, who has been advising the team for the past four years.
SymPhysis Medical has filed two patent applications relating to the novel aspects of the technology used to create the new device. According to the co-founders, the funding will be used to complete product development and target Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance. It will also help the company to expand its team from three to seven people by the end of this year.
“Following FDA clearance, we expect test market sales in the US to reach €1.5m in the first year, starting in Q4 2023. We are already working with two of the top five cancer care centres in the US. The team will quickly follow the rollout there by seeking the CE Mark in the EU and, by Q4 2025, we expect turnover to reach €49m,” says Jones.
Addressing air bubbles
Moving down to Cork, Gasgon Medical recently raised €2.25m as part of a funding round led by DBIC Ventures and including a number of private investors in the US. This comes on top of the company’s success in winning a €3m Fast Track to Innovation grant from the EIC last December and being awarded the top Seedcorn prize of €100,000 in 2021.
Founded by Vincent Forde in 2018, Gasgon Medical has developed a low-cost device called AirVault that attaches directly to intravenous (IV) drips in hospitals to eliminate air bubbles. These can be fatal for patients if they enter the bloodstream and potentially dangerous for nurses, who must break the IV line if air bubbles form, which exposes them to medications that can be harmful over time.
“We are currently carrying out pilot studies of our patent-pending technology in hospitals in Ireland, Europe and the US. They see it as a no-brainer and our aim is for every IV system worldwide to have an AirVault attached as the de-facto solution to eliminating air bubbles,” says Forde.
Currently employing six people, Gasgon Medical plans to hire in Ireland and the US with this new round of funding. The money will also be used for marketing and expanding into new markets, including veterinary and human use.
“The resources required to track and eliminate air from IVs is a constant drain for nurses and health systems. Our priority is in accelerating development work to attain regulatory approval, to be ready to launch products into hospitals, with an initial focus on the US,” says Forde.
A Call to Order with Eithne Dunne
Ireland has no shortage of players in the burgeoning food-tech field, all of whom have literally made it their business to tackle the most pressing problems for their
food services clients, writes EITHNE DUNNE.
Given the colossal challenges the food services sector has had to face over the past two years, it needs all the help it can get. And at least some of that help will come in the form of software that will boost effciency, cut down on unnecessary time and expense, and therefore improve the all-important bottom line.
From the customer’s perspective, the restaurant
and takeaway business is pretty sophisticated from a tech point of view; you can order via an app or online and it’s generally pretty seamless. Not so, however, for those running the business, as Barry McNerney, CEO of Unify Ordering, explains:
“In most restaurants the chefs and managers are still compiling orders using paper and pen and either phoning them in to a supplier’s answering machine or emailing them,” he says.
It’s not hard to figure out that this ‘system’ can lead to all kinds of errors and misunderstandings with food orders. This translates into operational problems for the restaurant, not to mention waste. Unify’s so ware allows restaurant staff to compile orders throughout the day, collaborate on them and then send them through to suppliers – all electronically, leaving far less room for mistakes.
Natural Progression
Bord Gáis Energy is playing a leading role in the transition to net-zero greenhouse emissions by re-imagining the use of energy with the help of innovative NATURAL products and services.
Bord Gáis Energy recently announced a new partnership with French renewable energy producer Neoen on three solar farms that will provide electricity to the national grid in 2022. Under an agreement running until the end of 2037, Bord Gáis Energy will be the sole offtaker of the electricity produced from facilities in Co Meath and Co Wicklow. The three solar farms are already under construction and will have a capacity of 58MWp, the production of which will be enough to power around 12,700 homes a year. This is the latest development in Bord Gáis Energy’s transformation to support the journey to net-zero as outlined in the Government’s Climate Action Plan published in November.
“We’re facing a hugely challenging yet exciting time for Ireland’s energy industry as we look to decarbonise the electricity system. At Bord Gáis Energy, we fully support the Government’s target of reaching 80% renewable energy by 2030,” says Dave Kirwan, Managing Director of Bord Gáis Energy. “Our current renewable supply portfolio is in excess of 220MW, which powers around 73,000 homes. We aim to treble this by 2025.”
