Andy Black

Charities Institute Ireland

Google Ads Freelancer

Daft.ie

DoneDeal Motors

Blaser Mills Law

The AA (Ireland)

Google Ads Freelancer 

Groupon

SkillPages

Helped build 120m Google Ads and keywords to acquire 15k signups a day.

Head of New User Acquisition

Populis

Led a team of 35 Google Ads specialists spending €120k/day.

Head of SEM Operations

Managed the English speaking markets team.

SEM Team Leader

Analyst/Trainer for a team of 35 Google Ads specialists spending €120k/day.

SEM Analyst & Trainer

Dunnes Stores

Senior Oracle Database Administrator

Lead Oracle Database Administrator

15+ years generating leads with long-tail paid search campaigns & dynamic landing pages. Click the link in my bio to get free tips & tools.

The economy was tanking in 2009 and the work dried up for an electrician friend.

He had a wife, two kids, and a baby on the way - and he had to hand his van back.

He was desperate, and I wanted to help.

I built him a basic website and got it ranking for “Kildare electrician” - but no calls came in.

Then a €50 Google Ads voucher fell out of a book.

We set up a few ads and he got a phone call the next day - his first lead.

From there, we found something surprising:

Most of the demand wasn’t for electricians - it was for appliance repairs.

So we scrapped the original site and rebuilt around what people were actually searching for.

Twice as many people clicked his ad.  More visitors converted into leads.  His phone rang more often.

That campaign launched two businesses - his and mine.


Since then, I've:

- Managed a team of 35 running €120k/day in Google Ads spend.

- Helped build 120 million keywords and ads for a startup, generating 15,000 signups/day.

- Created daily dashboards and optimisation systems for platforms like DoneDeal.ie and Daft.ie.


These days, I focus on helping one business per niche per region dominate their local market.

Law firms, trades, services - if people are searching for it, I'll help you get found.

If that’s you, I can help you:

- Discover what your market is already searching for.

- Build campaigns that echo it back clearly.

- Generate consistent, qualified website visitors and leads.

- Track the few numbers that matter, and ignore the rest.


Want to become the go-to provider in your region?

Drop me a message.

Founder & Google Ads Geek

VisionR

Delighted to join this exciting company which delivers retail insight to brick and mortar retailers as a SaaS solution.

Non Executive Director

Crane Capital Resources

Crane Capital Resources Ltd is a vehicle which allows me the facility to offer interim/contract  consultancy services to organisations who would like an objective review/overview of their IT structure and infrastructure and its suitability for future growth and scale. 
I am currently engaged with selected companies to deliver on the following objectives :

- IT Strategic Reviews and comprehensive health check of service delivery
- Infrastructure review
- Act as an Interim CIO/Head of IT
- Assistance with PCI compliance
- Review of IT costs
- Vendor contract engagement to consolidate IT costs
- IT succession planning  
- IT due diligence of potential acquisitions
- IT Risk Assessments

 Director Crane Capital Resources 

Applegreen PLC

Applegreen Plc is Ireland’s largest Irish independent forecourt retailer. Currently Applegreen operates 243 forecourt retail sites across the ROI, UK and US. Applegreen operate Burger King®, Costa Coffee®, ChopStix®, Greggs® , Freshii®, Lavazza® and Subway® franchisees.  

My task was to transform the IT services operation and infrastructure from an SME structure and mindset to an Enterprise one.   Adopting a Cloud First and 3rd party Vendor partnership strategy - Applegreen has transformed and  moved its IT operations to become more aligned with the business and its objectives.

Highlights- 
New EPOS implementation in 178 sites ROI/UK 
Consolidation of 8 independent telecommunication suppliers into one centrally managed service from one supplier., 
Moved multiple software services and applications from in house hardware to a hosted service in the cloud - Azure
Consolidation of two standalone payroll applications, ROI/UK, to one centrally managed solution for 2900 Employees
Implemented strong controls and security processes which facilitated Applegreen to become PCI-DSS compliant  



The transformation program is complete and Applegreen have moved to a Business as Usual (BAU)model utilising enterprise class services, partners and solutions.

Global Head of Information Technology

Musgrave Retail Partners Ireland (MRPI)

MRPI had an ambition to enter the Irish Financial services market offering selected General Insurance products to their Real Rewards customers - as a brand extension of the SuperValu offering.  My engagement was to complete the company set-up and seek Central Bank approval for SuperValu Financial Services, this has been fully completed and SuperValu are now successfully selling a very competitive Travel/Motor and Home Insurance offering's to their valued customers.  

The cornerstone to launching this initiative is having a clear segmented customer database and a strong a digital fulfilment platform which is fully integrated to the existing Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems.

In parallel to the SuperValu Financial Services initiative I initiated a long term strategy in relation to Payments and Acquiring, the objective was to streamline and homogenise the current multi acquirer multi supplier infrastructure which currently exists in our 600+store infrastructure under a new Payments and Acquiring structure which will save our retail partners significant costs over their current independent arrangements.

Head of Financial Services 

Smyths Toys

Crane Capital Resources Ltd.

Once I had successfully completed my work in Dunnes Stores my focus changed from a full time operational role to operating strategically and adding value on an interim basis to a number of clients.  Some examples are as follows: 

Smyths Toys Oct 12 /Dec13 – Interim - Head of Information Technology - Smyths Toys is one of Ireland’s fastest growing retailers and I was brought in to transform its IT operation from an SME mind-set to an enterprise one, to match the demands of a rapidly growing retail business.  This was a very ambitious and aggressive transformation project which involved significant change in an organisation which had outgrown its existing IT support and infrastructure suppliers.  In total 9 major transformational projects where carried out in parallel and all were completed on time and within budget.  A key part of my position was to manage the multiple vendors to deliver on the agreed timelines without any impact on store trading.  
 
On completing the transformation program I facilitated a seamless handover to a permanent CIO who is now in situ.

SourcePension Mar 12/Aug 12 – Interim - Operations Director - SourcePension is an innovative company which offers a cost effective Pension administration and fund services platform to the independent broker.   Worked with, founder, to assist with its expansion in both Ireland and the UK.  In addition, prepared and submitted a proposal to Enterprise Ireland for funding under its HPSU program which was approved as part of the assignment.

Capita Life and Pensions Services Ireland - Oct 11/Feb 12 – Interim - Transformation Director - brought in to realign a multimillion STG£ IT business transformation project which was experiencing delivery difficulties.   Successfully reassessed the overall delivery objectives and implemented stronger project governance which provided clearer accountabilities within the team which resulted in a successful project delivery.

Crane Capital Resources Limited - Interim Consulting Positions

I was responsible for all aspects of the Information Technology infrastructure and software applications in Ireland's largest, privately held, retail operation with over 18,000 employees and 154 stores spread across ROI, UK, NI and Spain.

Key Deliverables;

Responsible for vendor evaluation/selection and project implementation in relation to the following: new EPOS for 154 stores (3000 tills), Oracle HR/Payroll implementation (16,000 employees), Oracle Retail (Grocery) ERP solution,  MPLS network upgrade, rationalisation and standardisation of PC (3000PC) infrastructure and associated Operating Systems.

Head of Business Systems / Information Technology

CardBASE Technologies - An ID Data Company

Joined CardBASE with a view rationalising the company and to prepare it for a trade sale.  During my tenure we reduced the costs of the operation by over 65% and increased sales by over 25%.  Then, successfully sold the company in July 2004 to ID Data plc. Tasked with the integration of the operation into ID Data and on completion I departed having satisfactorily completed my assignment.

Bank of Ireland - Private Banking

Private Banking offers financial/wealth management services to High Net Worth individuals. I joined on assignment to build up a direct operation focusing on securing business from non BOI Customers, and to design, develop and implement a wealth management portal.  

•	Implemented new structure to attract and deal with direct clients who did not have a relationship with the Bank of Ireland.

•	Responsible for the development and deployment of the successful Wealth Management Internet Portal - Privatebanking.ie

Director

Hibernian Group - An Aviva Company

In Sept 93 I joined Hibernian Life to head up their Pensions operations. After a short space of time,  the Group Board identified me as an effective change manager and during my tenure with Hibernian Group I held a number of strategic positions within the Group.  These being, Head of Pensions, Head of Life and Pensions Operations, Group Head of Information Technology and finally General Manager Hibernian Life. As an executive director of both Hibernian Life and Hibernian Insurance I was involved in both the strategy and daily operations of both companies.

Director/General Manager - Hibernian Life - An Aviva Company

Siemens Nixdorf

Initially I was responsible for the introduction of Nixdorf Telecommunications products into the Asian marketplace. I subsequently I took up the responsibility to run the loss making Hong Kong operations.  I turned the company around and became profitable by focusing on strategic accounts and sold off our loss making business.

Regional Marketing Manager Asia Pacific/ General Manager Hong Kong

With more than 40 years of IT leadership and consultancy experience, I have successfully delivered complex and large-scale projects across various industries and markets, including retail, financial services, and software development. I help organisations achieve their goals by providing unbiased and objective reviews of their IT structure and infrastructure, and by implementing effective strategies to improve their performance, efficiency, and competitiveness.

Currently, I am a non executive director at VisionR, an exciting company that delivers retail insight to brick and mortar retailers as a SaaS solution. I leverage my expertise in IT strategy, vendor management, operations management, and process improvement to support the company's growth and innovation. I am also the director of Crane Capital Resources Ltd, a vehicle that allows me to offer interim/contract consultancy services to organisations that need an interim CIO/Head of IT, IT due diligence, IT risk assessment, or IT succession planning. I am passionate about helping organisations harness the power of information technology to enhance their customer experience, operational excellence, and market position. I am also looking for other NED or advisory positions where I can add value and share my insights.

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The Battle

Andy Black

Vincent Nolan

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