As NoCodeLab.ai builds its presence in Ireland and begins working with corporate clients here, we are grateful for the support of the Industrial Development Agency (IDA Ireland). For readers outside Ireland, IDA Ireland helps international companies establish and grow their operations in the country.
That support brought us to Salesforce Tower in Dublin for an evening with emerging businesses, technology leaders and honoured guests. Thank you to the IDA Ireland team for inviting us, and to Salesforce Ireland for hosting.
Andrew Vogelaar, SVP of Emerging, Consumer, Content & Business Services at IDA Ireland, captured the spirit of the gathering in his opening remarks. “One thing we do really, really well in Ireland is that we connect well.” I couldn’t agree more! Since joining NoCodeLab.ai in spring 2025, I’ve had many memorable weeks, but this one stands out for the sheer number of valuable conversations and new connections.
Nadja D’Arcy, Country Leader and Vice President for Salesforce Ireland, welcomed guests and reflected on Salesforce’s history in Ireland. Its first office outside the United States opened here 26 years ago. Looking ahead, Nadja spoke about Ireland’s opportunity to become Europe’s next AI capital, and the need for businesses, government and education to work together to pursue it.
On the eve of the EU AI Summit in Dublin, Jonathan McCrea moderated a panel with Martina Fitzgerald, CEO of Scale Ireland; Vanessa O’Mahony, Head of Commercial, EMEA at Anthropic; and Sean Blanchfield, CEO and Co-Founder of Jentic. Sean has also served on Ireland’s AI Advisory Council.
Words of advice from Anthropic: AI adoption is just the first step
Vanessa O’Mahony of Anthropic described three areas of AI adoption: individual productivity, faster internal processes and AI embedded in customer-facing products. Moving from individual use to better processes is often the harder step. It calls for a focused workflow, a way to prove value and attention to how people will work differently.
Her advice was to go narrow first. Choose work that matters, learn from the results and then consider how to expand. She also encouraged companies to involve sceptics alongside early adopters. Their questions can help test whether a proposed change will work in practice.
For leadership teams, the distinction matters: widespread AI use is encouraging, but it is not, by itself, a business outcome.
Build versus buy is changing
Sean Blanchfield of Jentic shared what he is hearing from enterprise customers. Some are reluctant to add more SaaS products. Others want to build more themselves, even if they are still developing the capability to do so. Connecting AI to existing systems and working across company data without creating new silos is central to that conversation.
Sean described Jentic’s work as connecting AI to enterprise APIs with governance. His perspective raises a practical question for technology providers: as customers gain more ways to build, where can a provider offer lasting value?
Scaling still depends on people and capital
Martina Fitzgerald of Scale Ireland brought the discussion back to the conditions in which Irish companies grow. Scale Ireland has more than 840 members, but funding remains a challenge: Martina said 80% of founders find it difficult or very difficult to raise capital. Sales and marketing have remained leading hiring needs in Scale Ireland’s survey for five years.
The hiring discussion added an AI dimension. Vanessa, drawing on Anthropic’s experience, spoke about people who can build and adapt without a complete playbook. Sean, drawing on his experience as a founder, emphasised curiosity, judgment and clarity. His point about clarity stayed with us: AI can make it easier to produce a great deal of work, including work that takes a team away from its goals.
From ambition to outcomes
At NoCodeLab.ai, we 100% agree with the speakers, particularly Vanessa’s emphasis on looking beyond initial adoption. In our work with companies, we support all three areas she described: helping teams use AI in their day-to-day work, improving business processes and bringing AI into customer-facing products.
Much of that success depends on the domain expertise of the people who will ultimately use the technology. They understand the customers, the exceptions and the risks. They can identify where a process creates friction and judge whether a proposed change makes it better. Their knowledge belongs at the start of an AI project, not just at rollout.
Ireland’s ambition to become Europe’s next AI capital is compelling. Turning it into sustained growth will take practical use cases, commercial focus and the connections between founders, international technology companies and ecosystem partners that Andrew encouraged us to keep building.
If your organisation is exploring where AI can create meaningful value, we would welcome a conversation about the people, processes and products involved.
#IDAIreland #SalesforceIreland #NoCodeLab #IrishTech #AI #Scaleups #EnterpriseAI #Innovation
