This talk is about Lorcan's journey over the last ten years: discovering his professional purpose, learning difficult lessons, and gaining valuable insights, all of which have led to the launch of Nio Digital - an Odoo Gold Partner.
It starts by covering his background as an entrepreneur, building three successful companies:
1. Infotech: a SAP ERP provider
2. Inova: a Microsoft Cloud Service provider
3. Resonance: a Retail POS and Mobile commerce provider
During this time, he discovered some key insights:
- Proposed solutions look great on PowerPoint; however, the reality is always different
- The Cloud opportunity - ERP & CRM technology is tried and tested, ready to use, and affordable
- SAP, Oracle, and Microsoft commercial software is closed, expensive, and full of constraints, leaving no room for any true innovation
- Big companies can afford digital transformation, but SMEs can't, so they get left behind
The story then describes his journey to find solutions to overcome his disillusionment with and constraints of commercial software business models:
- Discovery of Open Source Software: Milan Digital, Europa.eu, Odoo, and India-based resources
- Tech Intensity: Software Development - creation vs. consumption
- Resource Constraints: train and mentor your team and develop them through real project experience
- The "last mile" or industry verticals for business applications is where all the value is
- Education is the way to lead with change
- You can bootstrap your startup finances
And then starting Nio:
- Forming and developing a global team in the Caribbean, USA, Europe, and India.
- Achieving Odoo Gold: the certification exam is hard to pass!
- Launching on his 3rd attempt, a digital business platform for SMEs comprising:
a) Odoo + industry verticals
b) Digital training academy
c) Digital business network
And finally - the launch of Nio in August 2022:
- Digitalizing SME companies can stimulate economic activity
- Positively impacting national GDP to double the digital economy
- An opportunity to diversify Trinidad and Tobago's present oil and gas-based economy into the digital economy
