In recent months, there have been many reports on blogs that user satisfaction with Cloud Accounting Products is much higher than with Traditional Accounting Software. This talk will explain what cloud accounting is, identify how it differs from Traditional Accounting Products, identify the main products, highlight opportunities to integrate with other cloud apps and will review the advantages and disadvantages that are being reported both from the users’ perspective and the accountant’s perspective.
With redundancies, layoffs and downsizing those left in organisations are expected to do the work of those let go with real work well-being consequences. Employee well-being has to be managed. My talk will share with others the practical steps employers can take to create a workplace where well-being is as important as targets and profits.
My talk challenge participants to think about 3 things:
In my talk I will explore traditional vs new media and show attendees how to craft their message and select media according to their audience. A practical approach to using pr and social media tools to promote your business to your target audience
A day doesn't go by with out the news that some organisation has had its data compromised or its services taken off line due to a breach in Information Security. Larger organisations are normally able to withstand the reputational and monetary damage associated with a breach, however its quite common for smaller enterprises to go under due to a breach.
In this talk Mark will discuss some steps that an SME can take so as to protect their digital assets. Techniques for working and collaborating across teams securely will also be discussed and also what to do when you’re data is breached.
Mark McDonagh, CISSA, CISSP, CISM is the CTO of NetFort and a board member of the Information Systems Security Association of Ireland.
Publicising your business through media will give attendees an insight into the way a news room works and how to maximise your chances of getting your news story published. It will consider the traditional press release method and question whether the death knell has been sounded for press releases. It will look at the role social media plays in influencing news stories and dominating the news. Finally, the presentation will focus on the power of radio and the advantages of using such a medium.
I did Leaving certificate in last recession of the 80s, resisted emigration and started www.johndalyfoods.com importing fresh food and wholesaling to retail trade. It was a difficult business but we grew it to a nation wide service employing 80 people with a turn over of 14m. I sold it in 2006 and was shocked at effects of retirement on a 42 year old. I went into education and did a higher diploma and honors degree in business and currently completing an MBA. In 2009 i started www.irelandfood.ie selling chickens and milk to retailers in the west of Ireland.The company employs 12 and is profitable but has no debt.
Developing Ability Ltd. is up and running since 2007. We have stumbled along the road and now finally are making inroads into our market. The mistakes we made were avoidable but understandable. Almost all of them relate to marketing, in the true sense of the word - matching your product or service to customers' expectations and needs. Lessons include picking the right partners, picking the right initial "loose brick" segments, Roger's diffusion curve and opinion leaders, avoiding competition and being able to admit mistakes, change direction, dump something and move on...
"The product is fine, we just need a new user!" Mark will be giving a talk on his experiences in involving the end-user in the design process.
Life work balance is one of the greatest myths out there. The search for it is one of the biggest causes of disappointment both in our work and home life. Learn the key strategies to overcome this problem. So that you can achieve real success and fulfilment in your life.
Ensuring you have the right information from your site analytics, making it truly actionable analytics, is vital to improve the performance of your website. If you're looking to improve your SEO efforts, gain a higher return on your PPC campaigns or simply gain targeted market intelligence that fuels conversions; gathering the right information from your analytics is the key.
Although cash is usually seen as the biggest constraint for start-ups, the resource that really matters is time -- not in the sense of whether one has enough hours in the day, but how long it will take to bring a product to market and generate revenue. The time forecasts we make in our business plans are usually way out, that's because, by nature, we're too optimistic about the state of the market we're addressing, or too ambitious in our product development. This leads to big blunders, all of which I have made. With everything taking longer than you would like, you make hurried deals with customers which end up costing money, upset the bank, upset investors, launch things too early, or misapply precious funds to product development, when you might do better to spend money on marketing. I am going to distil My Biggest Blunder: Timescales into a consideration of a 3 x 3 grid, with 'Product' up the y axis, and 'Market' across the x axis. On each scale there will be three values; Current, Emerging and Novel. By picking a cell on the grid, we'll consider what are the challenges of selling a current product in a current market compared with selling, say, a novel product in a novel market, or a current product in an emerging market and so on -- The grid will also give me a structure for relaying the pitfalls of not being self-critical about the state of your product and its market, and the consequent under budgeting of time that results in grey hairs and sleepless nights.
We've been running Cauwill for just over 2 years now. I'ts an Internet Startup company. I'd like share our experience so far - the good stuff but more importantly also the bad stuff i.e lessons learned. I want to share the things we did well and the things we didn't do so well. Finally, I'd like to share the software we use in day to day business and some tips we've picked up along the way.
I'm very interested in engaging with participants in a workshop-style session where we explore some of the thinkings of John Sweeney, Dave Siegel and Weimer Baumgardner who talk about "innovation at the speed of laughter", "the power of fun in innovating" and " the more people laugh, the greater the quality and quantity of their ideas".
Key to the success of any company or product is the people behind it. When I started my company, I knew that if we were going to succeed then I need to have an "A-Team" of my own - I needed to find a bunch of talented and motivated people to share the journey with me. And once I had that, then we could take on the world.
I learnt the hard way. I was like a sheep that followed the guide book on hiring and motivation. It took me a while to realise that most of it was a waste of time. I needed to challenge the old way of thinking and in doing so I came to better understand how to bring great people together.
In this talk I'll share what I've learnt about finding people and motivating them in the pursuit of creating a team that is invincible.
Speaker Nial O’Reilly will explore the thesis that striking a balance between thinking, feeling and doing is the route to more effective execution at work.
He will explore the idea that each of us has developed a preference for one of these three forms of intelligence and the good news that we can modify this preference to enable us to be more effective.
Our environment today is forcing us down the route of over thinking and over doing and we are in danger of loosing touch with our capacity for emotional intelligence.
Explore your centre of intelligence preference and learn to execute more effectively.
If you want to grow your business, particularly in a recession, an online presence will help you tap into a worldwide marketplace.
Yet many business owners have websites that don’t deliver. They may look very impressive, but are not being found by potential customers.
They also have websites that they find hard to maintain without external help.
Having a website is only part of the process in building an online business. This presentation explains a methodology for getting your business on the front page of google worldwide – and enabling you to generate both an offline and online income.
It demonstrates a step by step process which can be followed by anyone with basic computer skills and the necessary motivation and determination to succeed.
I specialise in applying lean and agile methods to software development organisations - but many of these principles can equally apply to small companies developing product and service offerings. Recently the Lean Start-Up movement has looked at how these can help entrepreneurs develop, validate and market their ideas where cash is scarce and time is of the essence. In this talk I'll introduce some of the Lean principles so we can discuss how they can be applied by small businesses and start-ups.
Sourcing money to invest in your business is a challenge for all entrepreneurs. We will look at the different options available from state agencies both in terms of financial and other types of supports. The talk will look at the range of grant aid from Enterprise boards, Enterprise Ireland, Fáilte Ireland and other bodies. We will also point people in the direction of where one can get information online including advice on how to go about looking for formal investments such as bank finance or investments from 3rd parties e.g. BES, Angel investors, Venture Capital etc..
So you have done all the hard work. You have spent time planning your business. You know your product, your people and your market. You have written a business plan but are unsure if it hits the mark. This presentation highlights key challenges that every startup promoter must answer for their business. I will synthetise my experience of working with hundreds of startups in Ireland in recent years to present the key issues that will make your business plan do what it is supposed to – get you invited back for a second meeting, and, if all goes well, raise some capital and attract some initial customers.
I have been centrally involved in developing Business Challenger our online Business Plan Review and Scoring tool. I will conclude my presentation with a ‘Start Up Quiz’. The first five correct entries to Tweet me with the correct answers will receive a Business Plan review complements of Bridgewater Management.
The demands of managing a business that has limited resources, while coupled with the demands to juggle the job with other aspects of life; proves to be extremely challenging. People can feel that their life is hectic, and are constantly fire-fighting. Some feel they have no choices and get stressed which leads to health problems.
In my talk I will address some of the issues above plus ways to overcome challenges. I will discuss briefly how you can focus on what you need most, what the biggest time wasters are and bring some new awareness on how to manage time.
Having interviewed 300+ entrepreneurs for the Entrepreneur of the Year Awards programme and working with early stage ventures for nigh on 10 years- a pattern, a formula and a roadmap is evident of the key drivers, strategies and tactics that grow a business from ‘start up’ to the eventual ‘next level’.
Greg will share the insights deduced and in particular ‘the Entrepreneurs Journey Roadmap’. Essential for the journey is ‘brand positioning’ ; how it’s about what you do to the markets’ ‘mind’ and not the product and why it’s the key to scaling Irish entrepreneurial ventures in global markets.
I will talk about how we should put more emphsis on choosing our market before we choose our product or service within that market.
This talk is based on the experience of a young Irish American company appearing on RTE’s Dragon’s Den programme. It includes the run-up to appearing on the show, the experience itself and how the show affected the business following the screening. There is also an interesting insight into the dragon’s themselves and how they lived up to the presenters expectations.
Details: Before the show…the application, interview in Dublin, the business screening process, lights camera action, the pitch -what’s shown versus what’s not!, meeting the dragons afterwards and the business 16 months on.
From the initial idea through to prototype building, product commercialisation, successful fundraising and beyond is a rollercoaster ride - and that is the only thing that is guaranteed! In this session, I will talk about my own experience of starting and building a business.
Introducing the traditional idea of creativity and innovation. Understanding the habits and patterns that stifle creativity. The need to leave the mistake culture behind, and forge a new more dynamic approach as an entrepreneur. Pushing creativity onto a new level by finding your creative flow. Discovering the secrets to maintaining creative flow. Taking the risk to live the life you were born to live.
Fans, hashtags, poking... no I'm not talking about an 80's rock concert. So, we've all heard the buzzwords and I'm sure you know your tweets from your status updates, so what we're going to cover is how to really engage your target audience in a meaningful and relevant way to ultimately convert prospective customers into sales.
Case Studies:
I've started two games studios, Nephin Games in 2004 and Tribal City Interactive in 2009. I will compare both startups from a founder's perspective covering aspects such as funding, business relationships, staffing, focus and sharing some of the key differences between the two and the reasons behind them.