THE IRISH Internet Association (IIA) has seen a significant increase in membership since January with some 30 new applications a month, almost double the usual number. Chief executive officer Fergal O’Byrne said it reflected a surge of interest in setting up online businesses.
He said many of the new members are recently unemployed, clutching redundancy cheques that they want to use to fund their web-based start-ups.
Speaking ahead of the IIA annual conference next Thursday, Mr O’Byrne said the theme of the event – Better Business Online in a Tough Economy – highlighted how the internet offered new opportunities as old business models fail.
“Cost isn’t an impediment to launching a web business any more, and we have examples of people who used to work with multinationals who are doing it,” he said. “If you have a €30,000 redundancy cheque you can set up online and still have money left to spend on marketing and growing the business.”
Entry level e-commerce sites with “all the bells and whistles” are available for a few thousand euro, according to Mr O’Byrne, and long-standing hurdles have gradually been eroded. “People are comfortable with using their credit cards online now and broadband is radically better, which all helps drive e-commerce.”
The technology needed to run an e-business is better now than at any time since the IIA was established in 1997, and this year its 550 member companies gave clear signals that they wanted the annual conference to give them more information on how to drive business online.
Speakers include Colm Long, director of online operations at Facebook, who will outline how to target social media for niche marketing. Google will also be there with online sales and operations director Ronan Harris talking about analytics.
“A few years ago people were obsessed with getting a website but had no idea how to use the metrics,” said Mr O’Byrne. “There has been a radical change and analytics are now taken very seriously. When someone doesn’t complete an online transaction, it is a loss of revenue. Now you can analyse what went wrong, take remedial action and get it fixed.”
Other topics will include online payment and the mobile web.
But is there a danger that an event that purports to face up to the recession could be a victim of it if companies choose to keep people in the office?
“The volume of ticket sales is ahead of last year and the sponsorship around the event is twice as high. People have responded to the theme because they believe they will get information that will help them save money or make better use of the web,” said Mr O’Byrne.
