- Business
Ireland’s export economy shows no sign of slowing down. Enterprise Ireland’s latest annual report reveals that Enterprise Ireland-backed companies exported close to €39 billion in 2025 – a rise of 8% on the year before, and up 94% over the past decade.
That growth is spread across food and drink, manufacturing and technology alike, reflecting the ambition of Irish businesses that have successfully expanded beyond their home market into international territory.
But this kind of growth brings its own set of demands. Breaking into a new market takes more than simply winning over new customers – it requires an operational foundation capable of handling the extra complexity that comes with it. At Noledge, we see this play out time and again: businesses expanding internationally need the right systems and visibility in place to keep making sound decisions as things become more complex, not less.
Irish businesses are building real international reach
Enterprise Ireland’s figures illustrate just how far that reach now extends. For the first time, exports to the UK and to Europe each passed €11 billion, with both markets now making up 29% of total exports between them.
North America holds steady as the third-largest market at €7.34 billion, while the Nordic region recorded the fastest growth of all – up 39% to €2.78 billion, largely fuelled by demand from high-tech construction and data-centre projects.
Expanding across that many markets is no small feat, but it also brings more finance to manage, more reporting, more supply chains and more customer operations to keep on top of all at once. What worked well when a business operated in a single market often can’t provide the level of visibility needed once multiple countries, currencies and entities are involved.
Export readiness starts with operational visibility
When businesses begin gearing up to scale internationally, most of the early conversations understandably centre on market opportunity and winning customers. But long-term success rests just as heavily on what’s happening behind the scenes.
For finance teams, that generally means having real-time visibility across entities and currencies, without depending on manual consolidation. A growing organisation should be able to quickly answer the fundamental questions – which markets are performing well, where costs are starting to creep up, how currency movement is affecting margin, and whether every part of the business is pulling its weight.
Connected financial systems are what make those questions answerable in the first place. Bring that information together into one place, and reporting sharpens up, decisions become easier to make, and the overall picture becomes far clearer.
Connected supply chains support sustainable growth
Expansion reshapes supply chains too. New markets typically bring new suppliers and distribution partners into the mix, and accurate inventory data only becomes more critical as a result, not less.
Businesses need visibility over what stock they hold, where it’s located, and how efficiently it’s moving. Without that, forecasting demand and managing customer expectations both become harder, and opportunities to improve are easy to miss.
This is where linking finance, inventory and operations really pays off – particularly for retailers managing several locations, where bringing sales, stock and financial data together provides the visibility needed to expand with confidence.
Lessons from our own expansion
We’ve lived through this ourselves. Noledge has grown across both Ireland and the UK, and we’ve come up against the same challenges as the businesses we work with – managing added complexity, protecting visibility, and making sure our teams have what they need to make confident decisions.
It reinforced something we already knew: businesses need to get the right foundations in place before they scale, rather than scrambling to catch up once they already have. Our own UK expansion reflects that thinking, and it’s shaped the solutions we’ve gone on to build too.
We’ve grown our expertise alongside it. The acquisition of Pimbrook brought accounting, payroll and business technology capability into the group, and at Envisage, Steve Boyes’ appointment as Managing Director reflects that same commitment to helping organisations get more value from their finance processes as they scale.
Preparing for the next stage of growth
Enterprise Ireland’s report is a strong reminder of just how ambitious Irish businesses have become. As more of them look beyond Ireland’s borders, the ability to scale operationally – not just commercially – is only going to matter more.
Export readiness isn’t purely about picking the right markets. It’s about having the systems in place to support the business once it’s there – multi-entity and multi-currency reporting, supply chain visibility, and finance and inventory data that genuinely work together.
At Noledge, we help businesses figure out whether their current systems are ready for the next stage of growth, and where the gaps are likely to appear first. Our own expansion has taught us a great deal about what that takes, and we put that experience to work for the businesses we support.
If you’re planning a move into new markets and want to know whether your systems can keep up, get in touch with our team – we’re happy to help you think it through.
You can access Enterprise Ireland’s latest annual report here.
About the Author
Sinéad Galligani
Sinéad has been involved in the software industry, particularly in ERP, for over 25 years. Her career has spanned various roles, including Account Management, Key Account Management, and Business Development. In 2013, she became the Marketing Manager for The Noledge Group and now serves as the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO).