Your LEO grant needs
an implementation partner.
The Digital for Business and Grow Digital schemes fund real IT and cybersecurity work — but only when it's delivered by a proper implementation partner. That's not a formality. It's the structure of the scheme. We fill that role correctly, so the grant money does what it's supposed to do.
Two routes. One goal:
get your IT properly funded.
Both schemes are designed to reduce the cost of adopting modern digital and cybersecurity infrastructure. The amounts, eligibility criteria, and application process differ — here's the practical difference.
Digital for Business
Administered by your Local Enterprise Office, this voucher scheme helps SMBs adopt digital tools and platforms. It's designed for businesses at an earlier stage of digital adoption — getting the foundations in place: Microsoft 365, managed devices, basic cybersecurity.
The LEO pays a portion of the approved supplier's invoice directly. You pay the remainder. The scheme moves relatively quickly once an application is approved.
Grow Digital
Grow Digital targets businesses that are ready to invest more seriously in digital capability — including cybersecurity infrastructure, cloud migration, and operational IT transformation. Funding levels are typically higher and the scope of eligible work is broader.
This scheme is well-matched to businesses moving from reactive IT to a fully managed, NIS2-aligned posture. The implementation deliverables need to be clearly scoped and documented.
The scheme doesn't fund a shopping list.
It funds a delivered outcome.
Most businesses focus on the grant amount. The businesses that get full value from these schemes focus on who's doing the implementation. Here's why that distinction matters.
The scheme requires documented deliverables
Grant funding isn't released against a vague scope. The work has to be defined, scoped, and delivered to a standard the scheme recognises. A proper implementation partner knows what that looks like. A generic IT vendor often doesn't.
Cybersecurity has to meet a real standard
Under both schemes, cybersecurity work needs to map to recognised frameworks — increasingly NIS2. If your implementation partner isn't building to that standard, you may have a funded IT project that still leaves you exposed — and non-compliant.
The right partner turns a grant into lasting value
A grant reduces the upfront cost of switching. But it's the ongoing managed service — the platform you're now on, the security posture you've built — that creates the real return. The two things need to be designed together from the start.
A real IT foundation.
Not a one-off project.
Grant-funded work under both schemes maps cleanly to our Secure tier — the NIS2 Protect baseline that every customer starts on. Here's what that means in practice.
Most businesses coming to us through a grant scheme have the same starting point: a mix of M365 licences no one has properly configured, devices that aren't managed, and no real cybersecurity layer in place. That's not a criticism — it's the normal baseline for a growing Irish SMB.
The grant funds the work of fixing that properly. We scope it, deliver it, document it, and then manage it on an ongoing basis. You end up on a platform that's genuinely secure, NIS2-aligned, and built to scale with your business — not a project that gets handed over and forgotten.
What's in scope
€75/user/mo on completion — monthly rolling, no lock-in
- Microsoft 365 — fully configured, licences audited and aligned
- Managed EDR — Huntress on every device
- Email security — Microsoft Defender / Mail Assure
- DNS filtering — N-able DNS Filter
- MFA enforced across all accounts
- Patch & vulnerability management — automated
- Cloud backup — M365 + all devices
- Asset inventory — documented in Hudu on day one
- Remote service desk access from go-live
Scoped & documented from day one
Every engagement starts with a pre-onboarding call to map your environment. We document everything in Hudu — devices, licences, configuration — before we touch anything. That documentation is yours, and it's what the grant scheme expects.
Live in two weeks — no AD required
Most businesses we onboard don't have an existing Active Directory or Entra ID setup. Our deployment playbook handles that. N-central agent goes on every device remotely, Huntress EDR is live, MFA is enforced — in two weeks, not two months.
NIS2 gap report as part of delivery
At the end of the onboarding phase we produce a gap report showing your position against full NIS2 compliance. That report is a credible, documented output — useful for the scheme, and useful for your own governance.
Ongoing managed service — not a handover
The grant funds the onboarding. What follows is a fully managed IT and cybersecurity service on a monthly rolling contract. You're not taking on a system and running it yourself — we run it for you, permanently.
From grant application
to live in four steps.
We keep this simple. Our role is to make the implementation side of the grant straightforward — so you can focus on running the application.
Eligibility call
We run through your business size, sector, and IT situation. We'll tell you honestly which scheme you're most likely to qualify for, what the scope of work would look like, and what the realistic grant contribution might be. No obligation, no sales pressure.
Application support
You apply to your Local Enterprise Office or the relevant scheme body. We support that process by providing a clear scope of work document and any technical context the application needs. We can't apply on your behalf — but we make the technical side of your application straightforward.
Onboarding & delivery
Once your grant is approved, we begin. Pre-onboarding call, environment documentation, agent deployment, security stack live, M365 configured. Everything scoped in the application is delivered and documented — on time, to a standard the scheme expects.
Managed service begins
From go-live you're on a monthly rolling managed IT and cybersecurity contract. The grant covered the cost of getting here. The managed service is what keeps you here — secure, supported, and building value from your technology.
On timelines: Grant approval timescales vary — Digital for Business tends to move faster than Grow Digital. We'll give you an honest read on this during the eligibility call. We don't start implementation work until your grant is confirmed.
What we will and won't tell you about these grants.
Grant schemes for digital adoption are genuinely useful. They reduce the cost of making a transition that most SMBs should be making anyway — moving from ad-hoc IT to a properly managed, cybersecurity-first platform. But there's a lot of noise around them, and some of it isn't helpful.
Here's what we'll always be straight about:
- Not every business qualifies. Eligibility depends on your size, sector, trading history, and prior grant history. We'll tell you during the call if we don't think you'll get through — not after you've wasted time on an application.
- The grant doesn't cover everything. These schemes cover a portion of the implementation cost. You'll have an ongoing managed service fee from go-live. We'll give you those numbers clearly upfront.
- We're not affiliated with LEO or Enterprise Ireland. We're an IT and cybersecurity provider who has delivered grant-funded implementations. We can't influence the outcome of your application.
- The grant is a starting point, not the whole story. The businesses that get the most from these schemes treat the grant as the trigger to build something lasting — not a one-off cost-saving exercise. That shift in thinking is worth more than the grant amount itself.
If you're looking for someone to oversell what a grant can do for you, we're not the right fit. If you want a partner who'll help you use it properly — and build something that compounds in value over time — book a call.
20 minutes. A straight answer.
We'll tell you which scheme makes sense for your business, what the implementation would look like, and what the numbers are — grant contribution and ongoing service fee. No obligation, no hard sell.
No obligation · No hard sell · Eligibility criteria apply