Damien English, TD
Minister of State for Business, Employment and Retail
We find ourselves at an industrial, economic, and societal turning point, facing transformational challenges led by the twin digital and low-carbon transition.
Embracing digital transformation and adopting new technologies is just as vital for the economy as it is for individual businesses; not only as we recover from the impacts of the pandemic, but as we work to improve our overall competitiveness, sustainability, and the resilience of our enterprise base.
Accepting the need for digitalisation
If we are to achieve a digital transition right across the country, our businesses must embrace digitalisation and view it as a necessary investment. We want to encourage businesses to seize the opportunities offered by digital technologies as a matter of urgency.
This will help you increase productivity, reduce waste, and save you time and money in the long run.
We want to encourage businesses to seize the opportunities offered by digital technologies as a matter of urgency.
Learning opportunity for digital growth
Over the summer, we held a series of Grow Digital workshops around the country. One of the key advantages of those workshops was that we had an opportunity to hear the real and practical questions that our businesses are asking about how they go about digitalisation.
For many, the first and most important question was, “How do I go about beginning my digital transition? What are my first steps?”
From speaking to businesses around the country, we know that it can be daunting to consider “digitalisation” as a whole. The advice offered by exemplar businesses at Grow Digital workshops has been to start by taking a step back and considering one thing about your business that you’d like to change. Focus on a specific pain point or logjam and ask yourself if there’s any way that a digital approach might help you to address those obstructions.
For some, that might be as simple as adopting new software to address issues with your workflow. For others, it might be about introducing automation or using digital technologies to test and deploy widescale technical solutions to improve their operations.
Support for businesses is available
In June, we launched the Digital Transition Fund alongside our Grow Digital Campaign to help businesses as they look toward their digitalisation. The fund draws on the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility and is in place to help companies at all stages of their digital journey, from the first steps of establishing an online presence to reaching new markets and improving productivity. We encourage every business to consider what they can do in their business using this funding to help make those changes.