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Digitalisation of Irish SMEs
SMEs make up 99.8% of active businesses in the Irish economy and believe it or not 70% of the SME workforce is employed in non-digital sectors such as services, construction and manufacturing. Despite this, Ireland is already in a strong position, being among the most digitalised countries in the world (6th in the EU digital index DESI) for many years. Beyond this ranking, a European Investment Bank report (2019) unveiled a two-speed digital economy in which a small number of multinationals operate with high digitalisation levels and productivity, whereas traditional indigenous SMEs have been slower in leveraging digital solutions to reduce costs, drive innovation and expand market presence. Considering their relevance to the Irish economy, SMEs need to be at the core of digital transformation strategy.
New ways of working
The Covid 19 crisis hastened the arrival of ”digital” in typically more labour intensive sectors such as retail and health care and has brought the digital agenda into focus for more localised SMEs with typically lower adoption such as construction, leisure, retail and hospitality. The use of cloud-based technology has also greatly accelerated and the pandemic has highlighted the increased the need for employees to have simple, effective remote access to their systems and data rather than reaching for files on a dusty shelf in an office out of bounds!
When more employees are working remotely, the value of maximising the efficiency of processes and using technology to automate basic tasks cannot be underestimated. It can help to eliminate human error and potentially free up 25-35% of every single work day for other tasks that require. Companies who automate basic processes help to liberate employees to work at a higher level every day, and the advanced competency and creativity of the workforce can positively influence and impact decision making. Through digitalisation companies may become more competitive and effective at connecting more deeply with their product and their customer.
Industry 4.0
Industry 4.0 or the ‘fourth industrial revolution’ and the opportunities that digitalisation can bring to sectors such as manufacturing, has never been more in focus to ensure competitive advantage. In fact, a McKinsey study on Shaping the Future of Work (2017) estimated that new digitally-enabled automation and artificial intelligence have the potential to bring an uplift in GDP of €550 billion (or 1.2% per year) from 2016 to 2030 in nine European “digital front runner” economies, including Ireland, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.
Evidence suggests that companies who embrace digitalisation tend to experience better access to new markets, increased innovation and improved competitiveness. It is for this reason digitalisation is a European Commission policy priority and the central theme of a recent Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) event held with EEN Ireland partners on 8 December last - ‘‘Developing SME ‘resilience’ through digitalisation in a Covid/post-Covid Environment’’.
At the online event, it was evident that digital transformation requires an enterprise-wide change driven by digital technologies and the integration of transformation processes into every aspect of the company. This transformation should be supported at company level by changes in culture, leadership, skills and processes.
Resilience and growth at Cantec Ireland – Smart Office
At the recen EEN event, Cantec Ireland – Smart Office proved to be an excellent example of an Irish SME who has focussed on demands for digital solutions from SMEs in traditional sectors. Greg Tuohy, Managing Director & Paul Martin, Commercial Director, shared how digitalisation is not just about acquiring IT equipment and systems but about people and process and finding solutions to customer problems. Digitalisation encompasses fundamental business dimensions, processes, products and business models to deliver smart and connected products which both drive and adapt to changes in customers’ behaviour.
Key to the company’s capability in this area is Cantec Ireland’s recently announced merger with Cork Chamber member, SmartOffice Technology, an innovative software provider based in Cork. Specifically, Cantec has evolved and adapted its traditional print offering to focus on providing sustainable solutions for companies’ print requirement and digital document management. Cantec have capacity to implement systems to reduce paper usage and print volumes, promote document management and other tools to automate business processes for SMEs. This move away from traditional printing and paper handling has enabled an expansion of the company’s software and product portfolio. By working with SmartOffice, Cantec have delved into their typical customer’s processes, identified the problems and designed clever custom-built solutions, ideal for both office-based and remote workers. Such tools can also deliver both cost reduction and improve security.
The company is confident about its prospects and recognises that the business case for digitalisation is even more compelling with the convergence of digitalisation and sustainability – sustainability opportunities and challenges emerge when using digital tools to map the environmental footprint or environmental shifts on a business.
A case in point is Cantec’s partnership with Canon, which helped UCC, one of the world’s ‘greenest’ universities to build a controlled print solution. Cantec also worked to decommission UCC’s current fleet of print devices, install new ‘remanufactured’ machines with impeccable green credentials and streamline the way they are used to meet UCC’s targets on waste.
At the event, Greg Tuohy, MD of Cantec, outlined “our merger with SmartOffice means that we stay ahead of our competitors in providing efficient, effective, cloud based AI technology. Cantec Ireland – Smart Office’s goal is to be the Number 1 provider of integrated hardware and software products in Ireland within five years.’’
The merger is a testament to Cantec’s resilience and in its next iteration will see the company seeking to recruit 10 people in 2021 with a further 20 roles over the next two years. Five of these roles will be based on the company’s new Carrigtwohill office in Cork.
