BearingPoint: Irish online economy to reach 21.1 billion
The Irish internet economy will grow to €21.1 billion, 10% of GDP, by 2020, and as currently less than 25% of all online revenues go to national retailers, Irish companies should develop digital technologies to avoid losing out on this growth, says BearingPoint. In order to assist these companies with the development of their digital strategies, the consulting firm has partnered up with the Innovation Value Institute, an IT think tank.
Management and technology consulting firm BearingPoint recently released a research article, as part of its fifth BearingPoint Institute report, on the topic of digital economy. According to the firm, as the world is becoming more and more digital and “businesses are looking to embed digital within every step of their operations and truly engage with partners, suppliers and customers”, companies that fail to develop these technology capabilities, risk becoming irrelevant.
Irish internet economy
Recent researches into the Irish internet economy show that the country has a lot to gain from digitising its companies. While in 2014, Irish people spent €6 billion online in 2014, less than 25% of this money is spent on national goods*, which suggests that Irish retailers are missing out. As the Irish internet economy (currently worth 5% of GDP) is expected to grow to €21.1 billion (or 10% of GDP) by 2020, Irish retailers should transform into digital companies and take advantage of the expected growth on online sales, says BearingPoint. “Irish businesses can forge an entirely new digital environment using technologies like big data and cloud computing,” explains Michael O’Dwyer, Partner at BearingPoint Ireland. “Adoption of these new technologies drives up not only productivity and efficiency, but profitability. An innovative Ireland that embraces this new digital economy will not only remain relevant, but encourage business creation and attract continued foreign investment”
In order to help businesses in Ireland develop long-term digital strategies, BearingPoint has partnered with IT think tank Innovation Value Institute (IVI). “We are confident that the know-how delivered by our new partnership with the IVI will be of huge benefit to Irish businesses in this regard,” comments O’Dwyer. “We believe our mix of academic research with BearingPoint’s hands-on digital knowledge gained from working with digital leaders across Europe will help define the digital adoption roadmap which will significantly help Irish organisations accelerate their digital readiness,” adds Martin Delaney, General Manager at the IVI.
* In comparison: in 2013, just €1.1 billion was spent on Irish goods and services.
