Technology start-ups anticipate exciting times for small business
We can expect tax to take centre stage as the election looms. Kites will be flying as promises are made about what a new administration will offer startups.
Not surprisingly, small business owners will be looking to see some pay back for the impressive economic growth of recent years.
Social welfare for the self-employed and paying hefty taxes on the following year’s earnings will be prominent issues.
Small businesses will be particularly watchful of their tax bills, as the exchequer’s coffers fill up.
This year was one of the best for venture capital and investment funding. AMCS, Movidius and Trustev — which was sold for $44 million (€40.1m) — showed the way.
Expect more top level investments for domestic startups as the year rolls on. Many startups were disappointed with the incentives the Government announced for entrepreneurs in October’s budget.
Crowd funding will also have a big year, boosted by new hosting platforms.
FinTech has moved fast to disrupt the way financial institutions currently do business. 2016 will see the convergence of FinTech into mainstream markets.
As people look to have more power at their fingertips, sending money to a friend by phone will become easier.
FinTech will increasingly be driven by ordinary consumers looking for alternatives to bureaucratic banks.
Ireland has set itself up in recent years as a competitive home for FinTech startups. Corlytics, Transfermate, Grid Finance and Linked Finance will be just a few names leading the way.
MedTech has had a profound impact on medicine. Expect to see more innovative, non-invasive, technology to emerge.
The GP is now at the forefront of MedTech as more surgeries turn to mobile technology to better interact with their patients.
Doctors are buying into technology that allows them to schedule surgeries. Expect to see more ‘organs- on-chips’ as more technology is developed to mimic the essential organs of the body.
Oculus, Sony, HTC and Samsung are expected to bring out their own versions of virtual reality technologies.
Virtual reality includes headsets which combine with a tablet or mobile device for shopping, engineering and gaming.
There is huge excitement on what this technology can deliver.
As prices for headsets drop further, virtual reality will be big news next year.
It will provide businesses with a new challenge on how to keep up with their customers’ demands.
The sale of Trustev to TransUnion was a reminder that online security is as important as ever.
Expect more players to tap this market. Behavioural technology has now become a big player in the market as algorithms seek to understand and trace user patterns and buying habits.
It’s no longer just large amounts of money that can be monitored securely.
It will also be an interesting year for data security and how it is used. Google and Facebook are coming under more pressure to keep users in the loop about how their data is used.
Late this year Max Schrems won his case involving Facebook’s policy of transferring data outside the EU based on the ‘Safe Harbour’ agreement with the US.
This was an eye-opening victory and we may well see more cases taken against similar companies who control huge amounts of data at their fingertips.
This year was also the year of the wearable — the iWatch from Apple was much talked about while Fitbit made more of an impact.
As people look to become more active, the technology will improve. Google Glass may have been a false start but the technology hasn’t gone away either.
Wearables will become more sophisticated.
Expect to see more devices monitoring brain activity. This will be accompanied by technologies to improve mental health and relaxation.
- Kehlan Kirwan is a writer and broadcaster on small businesses
