Handheld.ie can finally give clients some Brexit good news

While we feel a long way away from the UK/EU border in Northern Ireland, Brexit still has its long reaching effects here in Waterford. Just this week, Waterford software development company Handheld.ie received advice from the Department of Revenue through help from the Local Enterprise Office to contact our clients in Northern Ireland to inform them that there will be no tariffs on our products in a post Brexit event.

It was an ongoing concern for many of our clients that they could face and up to 28% tariff on the software that they use every day to produce their products, store their stock and sell their goods in Northern Ireland and throughout the Republic. Having informed our clients that there would be no tariff increase, several clients admitted had there been a tariff it would have had to serious impact on our business together.

Ciarán Cullen, Chief Executive of Handheld.ie outlines that “Northern Ireland and border crossing producers make up almost a quarter of our annual turnover and that business is growing. Ironically, while Brexit has been a significant threat to our business it has also presented a significant future opportunity to encourage our clients to track and determine the provenance of their food and engineering products, tracking where they were produced, their ingredients and how they are being transported.”

He continued, “Handheld.ie is certainly part of the answer to the questions posed by any new border following Brexit. We’re testing solutions with a few clients in the bakery sector around the border to ensure that they meet potential future requests from British and European custom officials.”

While Brexit does provide opportunity, Handheld.ie would much prefer a seamless border, where our clients can do business without any hindrance, because no matter what potential opportunity there may be for Handheld.ie, the certain outcome of reduced growth, both North and South of the border, will only damage our clients which will ultimately damage our business.

To counteract these effects, Handheld.ie has been active in the Belgian market and are looking to the Norwegian and Swedish markets, all of whom are keen to move to the type of software systems that we design and make in Waterford to capture and distribute data from portable hand held devices which empowers our clients to easily track orders, trace ingredients, locate stock and eliminate costly paper procedures from the entire production to delivery process.