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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY - Page 1 of 4

This report provides a review of the eBusiness Acceleration Fund Initiative undertaken by Enterprise Ireland. Interviews have been held with 45 organisations which participated in the Initiative and also with a selection of non-funded companies and IT consultants who assisted companies in receipt of funding. The key learning points have been distilled from these interviews and form the basis for this report.

The evaluation started on 18th June and was due for completion in November 2002

The 102 companies which received funding from the eBusiness Fund were located throughout the Republic of Ireland. The majority of companies were SMEs from traditional manufacturing sectors although almost all of the companies traded internationally.

The grant funding enabled the companies to undertake a wide variety of eBusiness projects which included developing:·

• Web-based sales
• Electronic customer databases
• IT interfaces with suppliers
• Order tracking and fulfilment systems
• Modern financial systems
• Production management systems
• Systems to facilitate centralised purchasing
• Web-based technical help directory
• Document management systems

In the majority of cases the availability of grant funding enabled companies to undertake eBusiness projects of a larger scale and on a shorter timescale than would have been possible without the grant. In some cases the receipt of grant funding was critical to undertaking the project. Many of the eBusiness projects have only recently been completed and consequently the companies are only just beginning to see the benefits. Despite this the funded companies reported receiving a wide range of benefits from their project and these include:

• Improved customer satisfaction
• Increased sales
• Increased market share
• Development of new markets
• Reduced cycle time
• Increased internal efficiency
• Cost reduction

The administration of the Fund was complex because legal constraints meant that the Fund drew upon five different grants and this made the application process complex. However the eBusiness Acceleration Fund Initiative has been well-managed and the majority of companies which received funding highly valued the financial and commercial support that they received from Enterprise Ireland. This support has been crucial in supporting the development of eBusiness capabilities in traditional manufacturing sectors in the Republic of Ireland.

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