Best firms will embrace changes in technology to stay on top

Søren Rode Andreasen was speaking at a Danske Advantage breakfast to kick off the two-day Digital DNA 2018 conference in Belfast’s St George’s Market, which also heard from Brendan Monaghan, the CEO of Belfast-based software company Neueda.

“The more successful a company is in its sector the more threatened it is by change and the more reluctant it is to adopt it,” he said.

“It becomes easier to say no when you are already a market leader. But this sort of culture is the main reason that digitisation doesn’t happen – it is not about the investment or technology,” he said.

“The expectations of customers are no longer being set by the traditional banks, they are being set by the big tech companies. So we must assume whatever can be automated will be automated and an amazing digital experience is expected as standard. The focus then turns to what cannot be digitised and how that can add value to your customers’ experience.”

Outlining exports as a vital area, Neueda CEO Brendan Monaghan said: “We need more of our technology companies to be selling globally and bringing euros and dollars back to Northern Ireland, rather than relying on customers from the public sector,” he said.

“The time to start doing that is now because the technology sector here is in great shape,” he added.