Puddleducks.ie was founded in 2005 by Suzanne and Aedan Ryan as a home business in Carrigaline, County Cork. The firm specialises in outdoor clothing for children and has expanded its range to also cater for adults. The idea for Puddleducks.ie originated from something the founders observed in their everyday lives.

“Our son Jake, like any typical child, liked to splash around in the mud when he went outside. We found there was no suitable waterproof clothes available in Ireland for him and we sourced some from Sweden,” says Aedan Ryan, director of Puddleducks.ie. “We were looking for a business to start from home at the time so we got in touch with the supplier [Abeko] from Sweden and got the dealership for Ireland.” The range provided by Puddleducks.ie has expanded since then to include fleeces for children and waterproof clothing for adults. (more…)

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Founded in 2000, Motability Ireland adapts regular cars to suit disabled users. The firm provides a customisable service, enabling cars to be adjusted depending on whether the disabled user is a passenger or a driver.

The Ashbourne, County Meath business found its data requirements increasing as its business grew. The company, which has 12 employees, began to find the management and protection of information a strain on resources. The business wanted a solution that would free up its employees’ time to focus on the core business, as well as remove any stress over data security. (more…)

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Founded in Limerick in 1988, Instore now has 100 staff in six stores across Ireland. The furniture and interiors business was set up by John and Oliver Moloney, two brothers who saw an opening for more European-style furnishings in the Irish market.

Having begun life with a single store in Limerick, the business now has stores in Cork, Galway, Waterford and Dublin. The company has had a revolutionary attitude from the outset and continues to display that today. While in the early days innovation came in terms of the products sold, now Instore is setting the trend with the manner in which it sells furniture. Through strategic use of IT the business has been able to develop a clever mix of online and offline sales. (more…)

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urHired is a Glasnevin, Dublin-based technology start-up aimed at the employment market. Launched in September 2008, the company provides online video services to employers, enabling them to connect with job candidates in new ways. The company also offers prospective employees the opportunity to promote their skillsets online.

It’s all about using technology to change existing models, says urHired founder Gerard O’Rourke. “We’re using a medium that hasn’t really been used for this kind of functionality before. Other agencies are not using this technology. It makes us unique,” he says. (more…)

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A managed service offers to take a key aspect of a firm’s IT infrastructure and take over the management and maintenance of that element. This can allow businesses to cut costs by not having to deploy in-house specialists to look after specific aspects of IT infrastructure.

“Managed services can be as deep or shallow as required and are generally driven by the end customers’ own lack of internal skill set and resource availability,” says Neil Wisdom, sales director with telecoms services firm Complete Telecom. (more…)

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The protection of personal data is becoming increasingly important. Companies that handle and store customers’ personal information, including those who use electronic means to do so, are legally obligated to safeguard such data, to only use it for a specified purpose and to dispose of it safely when finished with it.

Knowing if you or your company is classed as a data controller is the first step toward understanding your legal obligations as a guardian of customer information. “In essence, you are a data controller if you can answer yes to the following question: Do you keep or process any information about living people?” explains Diarmuid Hallinan, assistant commissioner at the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner.

(more…)

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