Helping to make SMEs smarter, leaner and greener

This is the essence of competitiveness. Your Local Enterprise Office (LEO) offers a comprehensive suite of products and tools that can support these journeys.

It’s hard to imagine a small business owner or manager who wouldn’t want to save time, money and energy. But when you’re running a business it can be hard to pull back from the day-to-day tasks to find ways to become more competitive and productive.

Help is at hand with specialised resources from the LEO network. This is clear from All in a Day’s Work, a new productivity and competitiveness campaign from the LEO network. It’s showcasing the benefits to small businesses of making the most of LEO resources such as the Green for Business, Lean for Business and Digital for Business programmes.

These supports have seen thousands of businesses around Ireland succeed in increasing sales, productivity, employee numbers, and product and service quality.

The benefits can be startling. On average, businesses have seen an increase in production of 31pc and have saved €34,000 each by becoming more efficient due to the Lean for Business programme. Overall, the programme has saved Irish businesses more than €28m since it began in 2015. Among those that have benefited is Rascals Brewing. It found the help it got from LEO Dublin City meant it could cut hours off brew times by becoming more efficient.

Kerrigan’s Butchers has worked with LEO Fingal on digital business improvements, getting grant funding and training for web and social media channels, and also on greening its business. This involved understanding how to reduce its carbon emissions, and how to analyse its supply chain.

When it comes to business, “lean” refers to ways of doing things quicker, better and cheaper. It’s about putting in place and fine-tuning smart business processes while committing to a culture of continuous improvement. The Lean for Business programme offers SMEs free consultancy with a lean expert who can advise them on how to follow lean principles and help them develop an implementation plan. This should lead to time and cost savings. Businesses can also access further lean training and resources through the programme.

With sustainability high on everyone’s agenda, businesses need to understand how to reduce carbon emissions, promote biodiversity and be as “green” as possible. Similar to the Lean for Business programme, Green for Business offers SMEs free consultancy, a free green audit and a free implementation plan.

The third pillar of It’s All in a Day’s Work is digital technology. Most business owners and managers have heard of digital transformation, but what does it mean for a specific business? The Digital for Business programme enables SMEs to embrace technology and future-proof their businesses. Again, it offers free expert consultancy, plus free digital assessment and a tailored digital strategy.

Making your business more digital-first, leaner and greener is a smart way to future-proof it, and also leads to real cost savings and real growth today. Find out more at AllInADaysWork.ie.

Richard Murphy is head of LEO Support and Coordination Unit at Enterprise Ireland