How Three Irish SMEs Saved Time and Money by Going Digital | LeanBPI in the Sunday Times

This article features several businesses we worked with through the LEO Digital for Business and Grow Digital programmes.

Nutty Delights

Nik & Vaishali Mehta — Dublin — dried fruit and nut retailer, established 2016

Nik and Vaishali Mehta set up Nutty Delights in 2016 as Ireland’s first and only dried fruit and nut retailer. Today they have two shops in Dublin, sell direct to 27,000 regular customers online, and have developed a fast-growing wholesale business selling to more than 400 convenience stores across Ireland — adding new outlets at a rate of 15 a week.

Working across three different business models with 400 stock-keeping units, their inventory was getting harder to manage. Their LEO digital consultant developed a digital inventory management system giving them a bird’s-eye view of stock levels across retail outlets, customers, and their warehouse. The couple reckon it has stripped between 30 and 40 hours of manual processes a week — the equivalent of a full-time member of staff.

“The system has stripped between 30 and 40 hours of manual processes a week from our overall workload — the equivalent of a full-time member of staff. Being a small business, it’s difficult for us to hire.” — Nik Mehta, Nutty Delights

Also featured in this article

Gary Lawlor – Lawlors Garage

Gary Lawlor — near Mallow, Co. Cork — auto garage

Gary Lawlor runs an auto garage near Mallow in Co Cork, and with skilled labour so hard to find, he’s incredibly busy. Through the Grow Digital initiative, a digital consultant developed a system where every car serviced is logged on an app via his smartphone. He can send out appointment reminders, and best of all, the system generates and sends invoices automatically — and follows them up, boosting cashflow. He can also send invoicing information to his accountant at the touch of a button.

“Now I can have my dinner and, at a click, send out four or five invoices while I’m eating. The days of sending handwritten paper invoices is gone really. Just being able to email them looks much more professional.”

— Gary Lawlor, Lawlors Garage, Co. Cork

Irish Apothecary

Nicole Langan — Ballyconneely, Co. Galway — wellness, organic skincare & fragrance

Nicole Langan’s wellness business started from her work as a therapist and today includes natural medicine, organic skincare, and personalised fragrance from her studio in Ballyconneely, Co Galway. She wanted online customers to have the same experience as visitors to her studio. With Grow Digital, she worked with a technologist who transferred her entire business online. The business, which employs three people, has posted a 30 per cent rise in revenues and opened up international sales.

“Business owners sometimes think they lack the head space to understand the intricacy of coding or whatever — but they don’t need to. Once you understand that your business model can be digitalised, that’s all you need to know.” — Nicole Langan, Irish Apothecary

LEO Digital for BusinessGrow Digital Voucher (up to €5,000)