INNOVATORS:Everyday needs and concerns provided the creative impulse for these innovators to set up their own companies
TAKEAWAY.IEWORKING LATE one night web developers Ciara Traynor and Anthony Kauffmann found themselves struck by a bad case of the munchies. The only problem at that time was what to eat and where to get it?
"Of course could we find a leaflet? Anthony wanted pizza and I fancied an Indian, so we got to thinking, why isn't there one site where all this is available?" explains Traynor.
That was the spark that led them setting up an new online food venture.
Spotting a niche in the Irish food market - connecting modern technology with an increasingly cosmopolitan consumer base - they established takeaway.ie.
The idea is simple; one website, multiple outlets and quick simple online ordering directly to your favourite restaurant.
"The idea is that we are a one stop shop for ordering food nationally," says Traynor. "Already our Dublin range of restaurants is growing and we are also delighted to have outlets in Galway, Mayo and Limerick."
First came the idea for takeaway.ie. Then came the technology.
"We came up with a direct online ordering system that is user friendly for the consumer and extremely efficient for the restaurant on the receiving end.
"The Irish consumer is very sophisticated and Irish food outlets recognise that. People want choice and they want quick access to it with no fuss."
The site currently hosts multiple food outlets; Italian, Chinese, Indian, Thai and office catering.
It is already in partnership with a broad selection of food outlets including premium brands like Insomnia, Bombay Pantry and Bistro Bianconi.
There is no set up charge to restaurants and it's free for website users. Takeaway.ie's business model will see it take a percentage of each sale generated through the site.
WATCHOURHOME.NETWhen Sandra Gaskin, a housewife and mother of three discovered that the apartment she owned in Spain was being let without her permission, she was determined to do something about it and protect her investment.
There was one big problem - how could she keep her eye on the Spanish property when she was in Ireland. After eight months of research she established watchyourhome.net, a service that allows Spanish property owners to leave their property for months on end without worrying if their apartment or villa is being abused in their absence.
The watchyourhome system incorporates a motion activated webcam, door sensors and a WiFi router. If anyone enters your property without your permission you will automatically receive a text and e-mail alert.
You can then go online and view your property from anywhere in the world at any time of the day or night.
The system not only allows you to view your property in real time, it will capture and store images of anyone who has entered your premises whether it be a rental agent, key holder or even a thief.
The system is also considered far more effective than traditional methods as you do not have to give codes to anyone else.
It has been common knowledge for a long time that unscrupulous letting agents and key holders have rented holiday home owners' properties in Spain for their personal gain.
A survey last year in the Marbella area of Spain by watchyourhome.net found that 18 per cent of people who owned property felt that it had been rented without their knowledge and agents or key holders were pocketing the cash, while 33 per cent of people who didn't rent their property, but had a key holder, felt someone had been in their apartment.
PRANGLE.IEAny journalist or editor can tell you what it's like to drown in a sea of press releases. Thousands of press releases are sent every day in Ireland - from all sorts of organisations whether it is business, government departments or agencies, charities, sporting groups or lobby groups.
The problem is that a sizeable proportion of those releases are misdirected and only serve to clog up the inboxes and desks of increasingly frustrated and annoyed journalists for whom they are not intended. For public relations companies and organisations, there is the issue of their releases not getting to the right person and the message getting lost - overall, it's a lose-lose situation for all concerned.
A former business journalist, Douglas Dalby, has set up Prangle.ie to try to sort out the mess. "The business was born out of the endless blizzard of news releases my colleagues and I were receiving in our e-mails every day in newsrooms up and down the country," he said. "The concept of Prangle is simple: it aims to allow journalists to select the releases that interest them in a single, structured web-based service and allows news providers to reach thousands of journalists without having to send releases to every e-mail address in the country."
From his own experience, Dalby identified the major public relations companies as the biggest disseminators of releases on behalf of their clients. He approached them with the concept and discovered that the frustration of journalists with the number of irrelevant releases landing in their inboxes was matched by agencies, who were finding it increasingly difficult to reach journalists. The turnover of journalists in the media is unprecedented at present, making it very difficult to keep tabs on who is covering what topic and who is working for what publication or radio station. There are now more than 500 registered publications in the Republic and more than 40 radio stations.
Prangle is a subscription service for news providers and is free to journalists. Dalby remains the sole full-time employee. Aside from the costs of web design and hosting, the single biggest cost has been earnings foregone. Dublin City Enterprise Board helped out with an employment grant, which coupled with his own savings helped him through the first crucial months.
He says the current service is the first step in establishing a broader media resource. "We're adding a comprehensive events diary next month," he says. "After that, we will be offering a head shots gallery and jobs board."
KINZNA.IEBANKS WILL now be able to offer customers a wide variety of online services securely from the convenience of any mobile phone browser, without the customer having to download special software.
Irish-based company Kinzna Ltd specializes in mobile internet solutions and is now offering a new product which will enable bank customers to view statements and account histories, receive alerts on account activities and on passing of set thresholds, monitor term deposits, access loan statements, transfer funds and pay bills.
Other value added services include branch/ATM locator, currency rates and mobile top-up. It is not restricted to a certain set of customers who use a specific mobile device or subscribe to a certain mobile operator, says Isam Khalaf, managing director of Kinzna.
"MobileBank is different from any solution currently available in the market today," he says.
"With mobileBank there is no need for client software download, banks can offer mobile banking services to all customers and customers can enjoy the service irrespective of whether they are using a mobile phone, PDA, XDA, Black Berry, or any other device," he adds.
