Podcast Ep 306: Noledge Group CEO Ray Ryan’s journey through the evolution of enterprise software offers lessons on staying relevant in an industry where change is the only constant.
When Irish tech veteran Ray Ryan reflects on his three decades in business software, he often wishes he had chosen a simpler industry.
“Sometimes I wish I was in the wheelbarrow industry, because my only big choice in life would be yellow handles or red handles for 2027,” he says from his office in Cape Town, where he is expanding his latest venture.
“Going into a marketplace trying to be ubiquitous – you’ll fail miserably because you don’t have the resource or time. You need to identify a sector where you’ll be successful because you have a solution for that sector”
Instead, Ryan has spent his career navigating the relentless pace of technological change, building NetSuite and Sage ERP specialist Noledge Group from a 150-client operation in 2008 to a company now serving 2,200 clients across multiple markets. His journey mirrors the broader transformation of how businesses organise and operate their core functions.
In a wide-ranging interview for the ThinkBusiness Podcast Ryan is philosophical about technology plays a role in businesses today. His personal success began with understanding real-world operations such as the electrical distribution industry where he first cut his teeth before building a solution. His maxim: tech only works when it reflects how businesses actually are run.
The evolution of enterprise software
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Ryan’s entry into the tech world came through an unlikely route. Starting in electrical distribution, handling Russell Hobbs kettles and electric blankets, he observed that “high tech was actually in the kitchen” as domestic appliances evolved rapidly. This experience in understanding real business operations would prove invaluable when he transitioned to software.
“I was moving people from writing docket books into keying in an invoice in a computer system, which was actually a phenomenal leap of technology,” Ryan recalls of his early days in business software. “But it was really only the accounting system at the time – you’d taken somebody off quill and ink and moved them to a screen.”
That transformation, from manual processes to integrated digital systems, represents the core challenge facing businesses today. Ryan’s company has grown by helping organisations navigate successive waves of technological change, from standalone accounting packages to cloud-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems.
The integration imperative
The shift from isolated software applications to integrated platforms reflects a fundamental change in how businesses operate.
Ryan describes the problems created when companies adopted separate systems: “The manufacturing manager would buy a state of the art manufacturing solution, marketing would buy a CRM solution, finance had their solution, warehouse had theirs – it was all over the place and siloed.”
This fragmentation prevented senior management from getting a complete picture of their operations. Modern ERP systems address this by “aligning all of their thinking and activity to go in one direction,” Ryan explains.
However, the solution comes with trade-offs. “We don’t give you the state of the art, best CRM solution in the world. No, it’s not the best manufacturing solution available. But combined together, it is the best solution to run your business,” he acknowledges.
This pragmatic approach reflects a deeper truth about business technology: companies often purchase sophisticated software packages but utilide only a fraction of their capabilities.
Ryan’s experience suggests that 80% of features in specialised systems go unused, making integrated platforms more practical despite their limitations.
The AI acceleration
The emergence of artificial intelligence has compressed the traditional technology adoption cycle. “For the last three years, I’ve been thinking there has to be 10 guys in an attic somewhere writing a whole ERP solution built around AI,” Ryan says. “And lo and behold, I met them in August in Southampton.”
That meeting led to Noedge Group’s partnership with Implicit, a software company developing business applications using what Ryan calls “agentic AI.” The platform already serves 3,000 clients and represents what Ryan sees as the next fundamental shift in business software.
Yet this acceleration presents new challenges. “AI is a new platform, new development environment, new way of running software,” Ryan explains. “But we’re doing it on a global basis, because all this runs on cloud environments.”
Security in the cloud era
The shift to cloud-based AI systems has intensified longstanding security concerns. Ryan points to the fundamental vulnerability of current approaches: “The bad players are using the same tools, and if not better – they can focus on being bad while you’re trying to focus on delivering nice software.”
Many popular AI development tools “are not inherently built with security for developers,” Ryan warns. “You’re opening up your databases to tools that don’t have the security layer you might have in your current system.”
Noledge Group’s response has been to focus on platforms with built-in security architecture. The company works extensively with Oracle NetSuite, which runs on Oracle’s cloud infrastructure that has been autonomous since 2016.
“For three years before they announced it, there had been no programmers working on the software. The thing upgraded itself, secured itself, enhanced itself,” Ryan explains.
International expansion strategy
Noledge Group’s expansion into the UK market illustrates the practical challenges of international growth. Despite having suitable software for the convenience store sector and access to a market of 46,000 potential clients, success required local presence.
“A friend asked me ‘Who cares whether you come over or not? What’s the big deal about you going over?’“ Ryan recalls. “And I said, ‘My God, he’s right.’“ The breakthrough came with hiring Chris Hawley, a former Sage product manager with deep knowledge of the sector.
The UK operation now serves nearly 700 sites, with the company’s software acting as middleware connecting point-of-sale systems with accounting software for retailers like Spar and Morrisons.
Lessons for market entry
Ryan’s advice for companies considering international expansion emphasises focus over ambition. “Going into a marketplace trying to be ubiquitous – you’ll fail miserably because you don’t have the resource or time,” he argues. “You need to identify a sector where you’ll be successful because you have a solution for that sector.”
This sector-focused approach has enabled Noledge Group to grow from around 20 employees when Ryan started the current business to 70 people today, with operations in Ireland, the UK, South Africa, and India.
The company’s evolution reflects broader patterns in business technology adoption. As Ryan notes, the hierarchy remains unchanged from his early days: “Banks get them first, insurance companies second, enterprise level businesses third, and then Joe Soap and Co later on. That has not changed and will be the same for AI.”
Yet within this predictable pattern, companies like Noledge Group find opportunity by helping smaller businesses navigate technological transitions that larger enterprises adopted years earlier.
Ryan’s mantra – “stay relevant and stay with an audience” – encapsulates the challenge facing all technology companies in an era of accelerating change.
As artificial intelligence reshapes the software landscape once again, Ryan’s three-decade journey offers a template for survival: understand your customers’ real business needs, focus on practical solutions over technological sophistication, and always be prepared to reinvent your approach when the next wave of change arrives.
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