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Big Red Cloud is sponsoring the Service Business of the Year award at the Startups Awards 2014. In recognition of the dedication and sheer hard work in building a successful smart modern enterprise, Big Red Cloud is providing free accounting software for life for the Service Business Startups Awards category winner, free accounting for one year for the other twelve category winners and 90 days free access to the Big Red Cloud to all entrants.

In 2014 some five hundred thousand new companies will be registered in the UK, that’s over forty one thousand per month. UK entrepreneurial activity has recovered well since it hit a low point in 2005 when new company registrations just tipped over the one hundred thousand mark. Since then the UK economy has showed great resilience and new company registrations has continued to rise unabated to reach record levels in 2014 at just over four hundred and eighty thousand. The Startups Awards, now in its eleventh year, is a platform with which UK industry can acknowledge the success of the startup sector and the significant revenues and employment this sector contributes to the UK economy.

One of the noticeable shifts among the new emerging entrepreneurial sector in the UK is their adoption of cloud technology to run their businesses; be it their accounting software, the online tools to manage logistics and shipping, the ability to manage a multilingual website from the comfort of their office, or to liaise in real-time with key customers and business partners no matter where they are located.

Whilst the cloud has made some aspects of starting a business easier, the challenges and obstacles facing new startups are still considerable. Here at Big Red Cloud we’ve focused on helping startups get on with what they do best – running their businesses – by providing simple and easy-to-use accounting software at a price point that’s appropriate for a startup.

“We are delighted to sponsor the Startups Awards,” said Marc O’Dwyer, CEO at Big Red Cloud. “We deal with hundreds of small and medium enterprises on a weekly basis and we witness at first hand the huge amount of work that these startup heroes get through to make their business dreams a reality. Sponsoring helps us to continue to play our small part in both enabling and recognising their achievements.”

“Our message to startups is clear,” O’Dywer adds, “we deliver simple to use accounting and bookkeeping for business owners that know their business but won’t necessarily know accounts and books. In fact, we’re delivering a level of service that had previously only been available to large corporates and this is a game changer for startups. They now have access to a robust and feature rich technology stack at a fraction of the price. It’s a great time to be a Smart Modern Enterprise.”

Marc O'Dwyer

After completing a Graduate program in Marketing, Marc’s impressive sales career began at Allied Irish Banks, Pitney Bowes and Panasonic where he received numerous Irish and European sales performance awards and consistently exceeded targets and expectations. In 1992, Marc’s entrepreneurial spirit led him to set up his own business, Irish International Sales (IIS). Initially, this company was a reseller for Take 5 Accounts and Payroll software. Within four years, IIS became the largest reseller of Take 5 in Ireland, acquiring four other Take 5 resellers. He also found time to set up two mobile phone shops under the Cellular World brand and a web design company offering website design services for small businesses. In 2001, he bought the majority share in a small Irish software business, Big Red Book. At that time, the company was losing money. The company became profitable within two months, and Marc then acquired a payroll company to compliment Big Red Books Accounting products. In 2003, IIS were appointed as Channel Partners with SAP for their new SME product, SAP Business One. Marc sold his Take 5 business and concentrated on developing this new market for SAP As a result, by 2007, IIS was recognised as the largest Channel Partner for SAP in EMEA (Europe Middle East and Africa). In 2008, the IIS Sales Manager bought the Company from Marc in an MBO. He launched Big red cloud in June 2012, the online version of big red book, to date the company successfully converts 59% of trials into sales and the number of customers is growing rapidly. Marc continues to run both Big Red Book and Big Red Cloud which now support 75,000 businesses. He is a very keen sportsman, having played rugby for 20 years, represented Leinster at under 16 and under 20 levels, and league squash with Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club for 10 years. Marc has competed in 11 Marathons, including the London and Boston Marathons, and has completed several Triathlons and Half Ironman races. He has also completed six Ironman Races in Austria(x2), Frankfurt (Germany), Nice (France) , Mallorca (Spain) and Copenhagen (Denmark)

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