Conall Lavery founded Entropy in June 1993. The company is primarily focused on providing complete Internet connectivity and security solutions including TCP/IP network design and implementation, email integration and e-mail virus scanning, firewall solutions, encryption and digital signature facilities.
What was your first encounter with technology?
I guess like most people it was television when I was a kid. There was such great excitement about black and white television coming in to the house via the roof. Other than that, I’ve always been fairly exposed to technology because I trained as a sea-going officer when I was younger. I learnt all about radio and radar in great depth and when computers first got going in the 1970s, I was very interested in what was happening in that world.
How fond are you of technology?
I’d never describe myself as a technophobe. I may work in the area, but it’s a job rather than a hobby and that’s the way I’ve always tended to view it.
Is there any particular technology that you find indispensable in your working life?
I probably use all the work tools available. I got into mobile phones early on simply because I worked for Motorola at the time when they were first introduced, so I had one in my car when they were huge clunky things. I find mobiles useful as tools and I was also an early adopter of PDAs because I’m not very good at remembering things.
Have you ever invested in technology shares?
I have invested in shares and did pretty well during the dotcom boom, but like most people, I got stung when the whole thing went down. What probably saved me was that I would invest in stocks but then sell when the shares reached a certain level. This meant that when the market did fall out I didn’t lose out too badly.
Is ebusiness the way forward?
I’d agree with the belief that the ‘e’ will eventually be dropped and that what we now term ‘ebusiness’ will just be considered business. Having said that, I think that ebusiness isn’t necessarily right for all companies and it certainly isn’t the Holy Grail that it was once considered.
A few years back there was a feeling that if you weren’t in ebusiness, you were going to be out of business, but that’s not necessarily true. Likewise, there was once a theory that if you could find something that fitted the ebusiness mould, you’d be guaranteed success. In the end, ebusiness is the way forward for most companies because it’s a useful channel for them.
What are the main hindrances to conducting business online?
The biggest inhibiter is undoubtedly security. Most of the technology is already there to solve this problem, but what’s required is that people trust the system. At present, people willingly pass over their credit cards in shops without knowing how the credit card system works. However, they won’t do this online. I think that people will get more comfortable with Internet security in the future. Consumers are increasingly making small transactions online and once they find that there’s no problem in doing this, they’ll start conducting bigger transactions via the Net.
Will broadband change the way we conduct business in the future?
There are a lot of analysts claiming that once we have broadband there will be no more barriers to ebusiness, but, unless there are applications that really utilise it, and unless costs come down so that it is accessible to all of us, I think that it won’t take off as quickly as the experts predict. From a business point of view, something like videoconferencing will undoubtedly be popular because it will aid productivity and cut down on travel. But, broadband’s biggest influence is likely to be on the entertainment side.
What do you think will be the ‘next big thing’?
If you look back at all the things that have been touted as the next big thing, you quickly realise that most of those haven’t actually happened overnight, so I think we have to be wary of the ‘next big thing’. I’m not an early adopter of technology in general because I only buy something when I can see the business benefits in a product. I think there’s nothing wrong in sitting back and waiting to see how good something is rather than rushing to embrace it.
What are your favourite websites?
Most of the sites I visit would be for business purposes so I’d check out manufacturers’ sites to get pricing and product information; and I still look at the Nasdaq site (http://www.nasdaq.com) now and then to see how the technology companies are performing. A site I find particularly good is the government’s e-tender site (http://www.etenders.gov.ie/cmod/Tenders.nsf/) which makes it easy to keep a track of government tenders. For relaxation purposes, I like Entertainment.ie (www.entertainment.ie) which is great for letting you see what’s going on. I also get most of my news through ezines such as the Silicon.com ezine.
What do you think are the main benefits of technology for SMEs?
SMEs are probably more hard-headed than larger companies when it comes to costs and they don’t tend to jump on the bandwagon, so any technology has to benefit firms by saving money and making a company’s sales channel more effective.
28/04/2003
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