Software Asset Management Ireland is delighted to receive the Deloitte Tech Fast 50 award this week in our first year of entering the competition. The fact that last year’s winners were Daft.ie, Ireland’s most well-known property website, illustrates the very high standard required to achieve this success.
Press releases from the likes of SiliconRepublic.com, Bizstartsup.ie and Deloitte.com may state that all of the companies short-listed have done well in “challenging financial market conditions” but that’s the understatement of the year.
If SAMI has achieved an aggregate growth rate of 5505% over the last five years it is because of the dedication and hard work that has been consistently provided by all team members. In the face of a national economic storm, Ireland’s tech industry doesn’t have any other choice but to continue to raise its game.
This week Seth Godin blogged that, “The market now expects and demands an unreasonable effort and investment on your part”, and this is the new reality that Irish tech companies face.
Former chairman of Intel, Craig Barrett, acknowledged this week in an RTE News interview that Ireland’s competitive advantages have diminished over the last 20 years and that they would be unlikely to set up in Ireland today if the same decision was back on the table.
In our online global village, India and China are producing highly skilled graduates who will work for less pay than their Western counterparts. If this fact is now contributing to 9.6% unemployment in the U.S., you can be sure it is an even bigger challenge for a country as small as Ireland.
MDs and business leaders in Ireland will have to expect and demand an unreasonable effort by employees if Irish businesses are to remain competitive.
Education Itself Is Not Enough
Politicians and the media are falling over themselves in the rush to use buzzwords and phrases surrounding education and innovation. So much so that many of us have become jaded and cynical as soon as the very word ‘innovation’ is mentioned.
If we can put that mindset to one side for a moment, I would urge people to watch a video lecture by Dr. Tony Wagner, co-director of Harvard’s Change Leadership Group. Although the title is ‘7 skills that students need for their future’, the lecture goes to the heart of where the global economy is heading and is as relevant to any business leader as it is to a teacher, educator or student.
At Software Asset Management Ireland, we know exactly what innovation really means to every educational institution in the country: achieve more with less money.
So in the face of education cuts, how will schools, colleges and universities maximise their budgets and resources? Will “free” software be the Trojan horse that allows advertisers access to school and pupil data?
At SAMI we thrive on unreasonable challenges. We answer these questions with one word: Edvance.
Edvance is a custom built school management and VLE system for schools based on Microsoft technology. It saves schools time, money and maximises resources. It takes security very seriously and doesn’t allow the ad man a foot in the door either to your school or its online data.
Every school in Ireland needs to give its pupils a platform upon which they can achieve the highest grades and be prepared to compete in our new global marketplace. Edvance is that platform.
Together we can help your school or academic institution create its own award-winning headline.
Talk to us today about Edvance – Call us now for details: 01 8973100.