72pc of Irish IT companies expect international sales to grow in coming year

13 Sep 2013

Mark Little, founder and CEO, Storyful; Edel Creely, ISA chair and Trilogy Technologies managing director; and Paul Sweetman, ISA director; launch the 2013 ISA Awards. Image via Naoise Culhane

Seventy-two per cent of Irish IT companies expect international sales to grow over the coming year, according to the results of the ISA Digital Technology Index (DTI), the quarterly sentiment survey conducted among Irish technology companies.

The results were revealed by Irish Software Association (ISA) chair Edel Creely while launching the ISA 2013 Software Industry Awards (now open for entries).

The ISA is urging all Irish software and digital technology companies to submit their entries for the awards by 4 October. Entry is free.

“The ISA Software Awards, the annual industry event, will recognise the success of this industry that is innovating, transforming and scaling,” Creely said.

“According to the recent ISA DTI, eight out of 10 indigenous IT companies plan to hire over the next three months, while it found that 63pc of Irish companies are more confident about their business now, compared to three months ago.

“The awards aim to recognise and reward this success. They assist Irish companies to demonstrate the breadth of innovation, vision and execution in their businesses for their customers, employees and investors, as they continue to grow internationally,” Creely added.

Last year’s award winners include Openet (awarded Company of the Year 2012), The Now Factory and FeedHenry, while Barry Smith from University College Dublin was awarded Outstanding Academic Achievement of the Year and James Whelton from CoderDojo was named as ISA Person of the Year.

Ireland’s indigenous software and digital IT sector is growing, with almost 730 Irish-owned digital technology companies employing more than 10,000 people and contributing €1.8bn to the economy.

The categories for this year’s ISA Software Industry Awards are ISA Digital Technology Company of the Year; Outstanding Achievement In International Growth; Digital Technology Services Project of the Year; Emerging Company of the Year; Technology Innovation of the Year; Excellence in Talent Development; Multinational Corporation Initiative of the Year; and Outstanding Academic Achievement of the Year.

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com