STRAIGHT TALK
Straight Talk: Michele Quinn, Irish Software Association
20-09-2005
by Deirdre McArdle
As the software industry becomes ever more important to the Irish economy Deirdre McArdle caught up with the Irish Software Association's director Michele Quinn to find out how the organisation aims to drive the sector to become a leader in Europe.
ENN: How has the ISA changed since its foundation in 1978?
Quinn: Well I think the ISA has grown dramatically over the past 25 plus years. With the software sector, as well as the ICT sector, increasingly becoming one of the central drivers of the economy, the ISA is much more central in Ireland and increasingly important as a trade association.
ENN: What do you consider the ISA's most important role in the Irish software sector?
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ENN: The ISA has mentioned frequently how sales and marketing skills are vital for the development of the software industry. How important do you think initiatives like the SaleStar programme are to the sector?
Quinn: They are critical. This is the third year of SaleStar and its success has evolved every year. I think the sales and marketing issues has been one of the biggest challenges traditionally for companies because the majority of the CEOs and founders of a lot of the software companies are from an engineering and technical background, so there was a lack of an innate capability in sales and marketing. I think, though, we've overcome that through initiatives such as SalesStar.
Now leadership capabilities has come up as another area that we need to look at to help companies build a company to a higher revenue bracket. So we're looking at doing something like a SaleStar type of programme that will look at leadership skills.
ENN: Funding has traditionally been another hurdle. Is the venture capital situation better now? Where does it need to be?
Quinn: Funding is one of the most critical issues for the scaling up and development of software companies. I think there are a number of things we need to look at in terms of funding; it's one of our three priority areas. What we need to do, and what we are trying to do is to educate our members to look at funding as a journey and not take start-stop stages, which I think has been what's happened. The first EUR100,000 is usually the most difficult for companies to get so we understand that if companies are struggling, they are not looking at the bigger picture.
Also, in terms of the amount of funding available, compared to our US counterparts, we are quite under-funded. So it's absolutely critical that the Business Expansion Scheme and seed capital scheme, which are due to stop at the end of next year, are prolonged and increased if at all possible.
What we also need is more investment at the early stages for companies, from government etc. You need to invest in the winners and really not spread the funding too thinly so that the high-potential start-ups are really given an opportunity and not just a few euros. We also need to get companies to look at all sources of funding out there, be that national, EU level and even international level, which is ambitious, but if companies are ambitious themselves they need to look at these options.
ENN: At your annual conference in May you said: "It is all about working towards the creation of an environment where Ireland's indigenous software industry can become the leading 'home grown' sector in Europe." Do you think this is realistic?
Quinn: Yes. I mean, look where Ireland is now in terms of where we have come in the last 10-15 years, I don't think anyone would have said we would be in this situation now. I think if you don't have the ambition to do it, you will never do it. You need to set the bar high and bring everyone along with you.
ENN: Is there a country or region that you think Ireland should emulate in terms of developing a healthy software industry?
Quinn: I think we need to look to our counterparts in Silicon Valley in the US and we also need to look at Israel. They would be two key role models for us, particularly Israel.
ENN: Right now we're looking at all these low-cost economies, like Eastern Europe and Asia, springing up. How can we counteract this particular challenge?
Quinn: I hardly have a conversation without India and China coming up in it, always as a threat. What's very important is that we turn the threat around into an opportunity. If you look at Ireland, we have the highest number of Mandarin speakers in Europe, and we need to utilise that and work with the resources we have here. What we should also do is use Ireland as a gateway for European markets for the likes of China for example.
I think it's important that we don't always look at the likes of India and China as a threat; I mean without doubt they're a low-cost economy, but we need to look at it as an opportunity, not just for Ireland Inc. but for the software industry.
ENN: Do you think the government is doing enough to encourage Irish software firms?
Quinn: I'll answer that in two ways. I think we have a very pro-business government and we have good relationships with the likes of the state agencies.
But on the other hand, no, in terms of the procurement issue in particular, there isn't enough being done at all. It's embarrassing actually in terms of the support the government gives to indigenous Ireland software companies. What we are looking for is a set aside for the purchase of innovative technologies, but government won't do that. Now, you look at the UK government and the support the government gives indigenous companies there. A lot of their purchases of technology are from indigenous companies; that is not the case in Ireland.
