Irish Green Dragon protects its treasure via the internet

23 Dec 2008

While the arrival of the Volvo Ocean Race in Galway next June will bring over €43m to the local economy, business has already rolled in as the Irish Green Dragon team has selected an online accounting system from a local software firm.

Regardless of where the Volvo Ocean Race is in the world, the Irish Green Dragon team will be able to access its accounting system through the use of Dublin firm Visor’s AccountsIQ online accounting platform.

The accountsIQ solution was chosen by Let’s Do It Global, the organisation that was set up following the successful bid for Galway to host a stopover in the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09.

It is a condition of the stopover that Let’s Do It Global enters a team in the race and so Green Dragon was born. The targets for the Galway Volvo Ocean Race stopover are that it will generate €43m for the local economy and will deliver over 140,000 visitors to Galway from 23 May to 06 June 2009.

AccountsIQ is a new breed of accounting software that has been designed to move all accounting online. 

Developed by Irish entrepreneur, Tony Connolly, a former partner with top five Irish accountancy firm Farrell Grant Sparks, it is designed to improve services, boost productivity, cut costs and create new revenue streams. 

Accounting staff, management, and client users can access their accounts online at any time, from anywhere with an internet connection by simply logging in from a web page. It removes the need for users to have in-house IT support or servers. 

“We chose AccountsIQ for two main reasons,” explained Dick Duggan, finance director, Let’s Do It Global. “Firstly as a web based accounting product it allows the various users of our accounting information to access the system from the different parts of the world in which they are all located on a low cost monthly basis.

“In addition, it has the necessary reporting and multi currency functionality to allow us to keep our sponsors and shareholders fully aware of how the project is progressing at all times,” Duggan added.

Let’s Do It Global is a not for profit organisation, with senior members contributing on a voluntary basis. It is run in a professional, business-like way using a team of dedicated professionals with responsibility for key specific areas.

AccountsIQ was launched commercially in early 2007 after over 30 man years of extensive research and development. Visor was established in 2004 by  Connolly who had almost 20 years experience in the IT sector.

It started with a team of people that had more than 100 years experience between them in designing and implementing accounting, management reporting, and ERP systems. 

With the growth in broadband, they saw the possibilities to create a functionally rich online accounting platform.

Speaking with siliconrepublic.com, Connell said: “We purposely developed an online business and accounting app for access over web. It has a zero footprint and can be accessed from any connection.

“We’ve set the whole thing up for the Green Dragon team and they can access their accounts from anywhere to keep track of what’s going on. Right now the Dublin team in Ireland can keep track of fund raising and costs being accrued during the race.”

He said the software was developed from scratch. “We believe organisations have been looking for an application that could manage multiple independent entities on one platform for accounts and franchisees. Essentially it’s an application that can be used for any business.

“In terms of the Green Dragon team the ability to access it from anywhere is a huge advantage. Otherwise they would have been emailing stuff everywhere. The software also comes with a document management function so that everything to do with the race can be stored online.”

The Volvo Ocean Race started from Alicante, Spain on 11 October last. To follow the progress of the Green Dragon team around the world visit www.letsdoitgalway.com for real time updates of the yacht’s position.

By John Kennedy

Pictured: the Volvo Ocean Race. Image copyright: Dave Kneale/Volvo Ocean Race

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

editorial@siliconrepublic.com