ESMA
Network
An FMCG trade network founded in 1976. We built ESMA one custom platform: public site, member directory, member dashboard and iOS and Android apps, with one back office behind all of it.
Where digital, automation and AI
pay back.
Mark and Adam Murphy are the digital and AI consultants at Loco Digital in Dublin, advising ambitious businesses across Ireland on where to invest and where not to. A clear-eyed look at where software, automation and AI move the numbers for your business. Scoped, costed and grant-mapped, with no hype and no vendor agenda.
The problem
Everyone’s selling AI.
Few will say where it won’t pay.
Between the hype and the vendor pitches, it’s hard to know where automation and AI move your numbers, and where they’re an expensive distraction. Most advice comes with something to sell, so you’re left guessing what to invest in and what to leave alone.
What we build
Advice you can
put a budget to.
What a consult gets you: a costed map of where to invest, and where not to. The plan can point to a private AI assistant, CRM integration, accounting automation or business process automation, or to leaving a process alone.
How we work
Consult. Design. Build.
We work from The Digital Hub in Dublin 8 with companies across Ireland, mostly remotely, with a few sessions in person.
01
Consult
We find where the work pays back: scoped, costed and honest about trade-offs.
02
Design
The system and the experience, around how your business works. You see it before it’s built.
03
Build
Engineered and shipped, led by one senior team. Working software in production, and you own the code.
Recent work
Platforms we have planned and built.
ESMA
ERP
HEADtoHEAD
The ERP HEADtoHEAD event site for Lumenia Consulting, rebuilt with a booking and payments engine on WooCommerce and Stripe set up to bill each event from its own company.
IPAV
A custom Laravel membership platform for the Institute of Professional Auctioneers and Valuers: a public member directory, a thirteen-step online application paid by Stripe, member accounts, and the rebuilt ipav.ie website.
FAQs
Digital and AI consultancy, answered.
What people ask us before a project like this starts.
What does an AI consultant cost in Ireland?
With Loco Digital, the consult is a fixed price, quoted in writing before it starts and sized to the processes and systems in scope. If you then build what it recommends, projects start from €10,000 ex VAT.
AI consultant or AI developer: which do we need?
A consultant if you have not yet chosen what to automate; a developer once the process, data and measure of success are clear. We do both, and the consult’s plan is yours to build with us or anyone else.
Do you push a particular technology?
No. Loco Digital is tool-agnostic, and the plan is built around your business rather than a stack we happen to like. We come to it with no vendor agenda, so we recommend platforms, providers and models on what you sell, who has to run them and what they cost to own over time. Where an off-the-shelf product is the right answer, we say so.
Can a grant pay for AI consultancy?
Sometimes. The Grow Digital Voucher is for off-the-shelf software and training, and excludes bespoke builds. Enterprise Ireland’s Digital Discovery grant pays up to 80%, to a maximum of €5,000, for an outside expert’s digital or AI roadmap. Enterprise Ireland decides who is eligible.
How long does a consult take?
A consult usually runs one to three weeks, depending on how much ground it covers and how quickly we can get time with your team. We can normally start within a week or two. It ends in a scoped, costed, prioritised plan with a dated timeline, so you leave knowing what the work is, what it costs and what order to do it in.
Who will we work with?
Mark Murphy, Founder & Managing Director, and Adam Murphy, Director of Technology, with the lead developer on any build.
What do we walk away with?
A scoped, costed, prioritised plan you can act on with us or with anyone else. It names the opportunities worth taking, the ones to leave alone, what each one will cost, what order to do them in, and which Irish or EU schemes the eligible parts might reach. You own the document, and there is no obligation to build it with Loco Digital.
Funding
Know what a grant
will and will not cover.
The Local Enterprise Office Grow Digital Voucher pays 50% of eligible digital adoption costs, up to €5,000: off-the-shelf software subscriptions, their configuration and training. It does not cover bespoke website development or custom software, and you need a completed Digital for Business project first. We scope which parts of your project qualify before you spend a euro.
Let’s talk
Let’s find
what pays back.
Prefer a call?
Book a free 30-minute callOpens a booking panel here, or a new tab if scripts are blocked. Cookie Policy.