Is Facebook in trouble?

The key social platform for companies working in the business to business sectors is undoubtedly Linked In. This is increasingly the case since Microsoft purchased Linked In for $26 billion last year. Microsoft have continued to invest in Linked In and it is continually improving the LinkedIn offering to business. I will outline how the Linked In offering is vital to businesses below. As GDPR takes effect, Linked In has become more important to businesses seeking to contact new or existing customers or contacts.

             

The new GDPR legislation became law in Summer 2018 (May 25^th). This means that businesses need to have prior permission before proactively contacting a potential customer by email. Because connecting to someone on Linked In requires them to accept the Linked In request, this allows companies to safely contact target customers in the knowledge they have firstly accepted the LinkedIn request (and are therefore unlikely to complain about being contacted). Linked In have added new features in the summer of 2018 such as Video Captions , Translations, Trending Topic and Smart Replies which will continue to add value to business users. (Ref: Forbes.com ‘Four New Linked In Features You Shouldn’t Ignore’ – May 15^th 2018).

In this summer, FaceBook has faced a lot of problems as a result of the Cambridge Analytica scandal where they were caught selling users data to political organisations. Their financial results were behind target and their share price dropped. Businesses may be deciding the FaceBook is not a safe platform for them to use to communicate with their customers. Mark Zuckerburg has been trying to convince businesses that FaceBook is investing in new technology in securing data and in sniffing out Fake News but it is still uncertain if businesses will trust him.

(Ref: Cnet.com ‘Facebook's newest problem: Business is slowing’ 25^th July 2018)

Newer applications that are proving really popular with businesses in Ireland in the summer of 2018 include Slack (a team chat app which works as a productivity tool – allowing real time participation on projects seamlessly), HubSpot (an inbound marketing and sales platform), Basecamp (a project management app), Asana (a checklist planning app) and Trello (another project management app).

There are some really useful apps which allow SMEs and one person businesses to operate really efficiently without big teams or specialist staff include Wave Apps www.waveapps.com (an invoicing system), Tripit www.tripit.com (a travel management system), Stripe www.stripe.com (credit card payment platform) and Moo www.moo.com low cost high quality business cards.

Some Irish companies have been at the forefront of building new apps and technologies which are making their mark in the international business world.

Statsports (www.statsports.com) is a small company based in Newry who have developed sports performance apps and technology for football and athletics clubs. The company has grown from a small start to be the world leading provider of GPS tracking and analysis systems for sports. This summer they signed a $1 billion deal with Major League Soccer in the USA. This five year deal will see millions of American soccer players using Stats Sports app to monitor performance – making it the world’s largest player data monitoring programme. (Ref IrishTimes.com Thursday March 29^th 2018 – ‘Irish Sports Tech form signs 1 billion US soccer deal’).

In July, the NDRC www.ndrc.ie (National Digital Research Centre) announced that it’s start -up digital technology companies have now reached a market capitalisation of nearly €500 million.  Their supported start-ups now employ  approximately 1,000 people directly.

(Ref: NDRC.ie News Page – ‘NDRC companies’ market cap nears €500m after strong 2017’).

Small and Medium sized companies are using apps to do things that they used to outsource to specialist providers. A typical example of this is website development. Smaller companies feel that they don’t have to spend lots of money on web development companies when apps such as Wix, Weebly and Squarespace make it easy and very cheap to develop good looking websites with reasonable functionality. 

Another key development that is becoming more and more popular with companies in Ireland is the possibility of remote working (or ‘smart’ working). Technology makes this increasingly easy for employers and it can help them to cut down on expensive office space while improving the ‘work life’ balance of their employees.

Large tech companies based in Ireland are really setting the trend. Companies like Google, Facebook, Air BnB, Twitter and Microsoft all encourage (and insist on ) flexible ‘smart’ working. Microsoft’s new huge campus in Sandyford is a typical example. Workers don’t have allocated desks but instead are encouraged to move about. They have a locker for their laptop but they are encouraged to work in informal groups as they need to collaborate on projects. (Ref: Journal.ie “Take a guided tour of Microsoft's new Dublin HQ” 22 Feb 2018).

Vodafone has recently announce that it will partner with  Abadoo to deliver flexible working solutions to Irish businesses. According to figures quoted by Vodafone, more than 200,000 people in Ireland work either from home or in a co-working space, and this is increasingly being considered by both businesses and employees. (Ref: IrishTimes.ie ‘Vodafone partners with Abadoo to promote remote working in Ireland’ July 23^rd 2018).

It looks like Dublin is going to continue to be an exciting place for tech companies to operate in. The New Harbour Innovation Campus has received the green light by Dun Laoghaire Rathdown council. This will be one of the biggest technology centres in Europe and will employ over 1000 people.  The pier is receiving over €20 million in funding and the centre will be a hub for companies operating in data analytics, artificial intelligence, cyber security and augmented reality.

The hub will see leading global companies collaborating with start-ups, SMEs, academic institutions and State enterprise agencies to develop and apply advances in technology.

So, the summer of 2018 clearly shows that internet technology landscape for small and large companies in Ireland is very innovative, creative and vibrant. There are lots of new businesses being created and lots of revenues being driven by technology companies – both indigenous and multinationals based here in Ireland.