Founder of Cork travel company: 'Remote working and AI are key to our success'

When I went into business in 2012, remote working was rare - and few people were talking about artificial intelligence in any meaningful way.

Less than 15 years later, we are still a fully remote business; I am still based in West Cork while our team is spread across Ireland and North America, from Calgary to Texas.

Today, AI is embedded in almost everything we do. Last month, Sheenco Travel were shortlisted in the Digital Transformation & AI category at the Operational Excellence Awards - a category introduced only last year.

So, to mark the recent World Creativity and Innovation Day – a UN-recognised day linking innovation, entrepreneurship, and economic growth – we are reflecting on our experience with AI and remote working, as more and more businesses are considering integrating both into their operations.

Sheenco Travel is the premier luxury tour operator for North Americans booking bespoke travel to Ireland. We have never had an office, and never intended to - a deliberate decision in 2012, well before the pandemic, when fully remote working was still far from common.

Earlier in my career, I worked with a U.S. travel company operating a hybrid model, where even relatively basic digital tools - and early AI-style applications – made remote coordination possible. What became clear, even then, was the link between technology and remote work, and that it tended to suit highly self-motivated people; who have difficulty switching off their devices and not working every hour they can – which includes me.

That has certainly borne out over time. The more autonomy we have given our team, the more responsibility they have taken on in return – whether that’s the flexibility to put on a load of washing during the day or pop out to collect the kids from school. In turn, that trust is repaid in productivity and commitment.

There are also wider benefits. Remote work reduces commuting and thus has a positive environmental impact at a time when sustainability matters more than ever, and it can be a meaningful cost advantage for small and medium-sized businesses.

Most importantly, remote working has been central to our growth because of the global nature of our business. With guests and team members across North America, availability is essential. In that context, expecting people to be tied to a traditional office simply isn’t practical – or necessary.

We moved our sales operation to the U.S in 2022 and last year launched Sheenco Canada. While our North American team is made up of independent contractors, our sights are set on franchising in the next 12-18 months.

This growth is backed by our operations team in Ireland, led by our Dublin-based general manager, Eithne O Flaherty, a finalist in the Women in Operations category of the Operational Excellence Awards.

Ultimately, it is the rise of AI that has made this working model truly possible for us. We now automate almost every part of the process – from the moment a guest fills out a form, to the email they receive when they get home. At each stage, there is a layer of automation or AI support, helping ensure nothing is missed and reducing the risk of human error.

Where we once relied on spreadsheets, manual tracking, and individual follow-ups, key actions are now triggered automatically – for example when deposits are paid or milestones are reached. The client-facing elements remain human where it matters most, but they are increasingly supported by systems that ensure consistency, timing, and reliability.

Even where emails are personalised and written from scratch, AI helps to prompt, structure, or time their delivery.

A similar shift has occurred in onboarding. We have implemented a full learning management system (LMS) with training, playbooks, and structured courses, reducing onboarding time from weeks to hours.

At its core, this is about efficiency and scale. As businesses grow, they naturally become more complex and, without the right systems, often less efficient. Knowledge is fragmented, relying on informal, person-to-person transfer is both slow and inconsistent. It also creates risk – where critical knowledge sits with one or two individuals who may eventually move on. That risk is particularly acute in smaller and medium-sized businesses, which is why we have a rule that every function needs a minimum of two people knowing how to do it.

The LMS helps address this. Rather than simply telling people what to do, it structures learning, tests understanding, and ensures knowledge is retained. Built-in assessments and progression checks mean we can be confident people are not just exposed to information, but actually know how to apply it.

Last year, I attended a course that brought together a range of successful businesses for roundtables and workshops, and one thing stood out. Many companies built on software and efficiency were still relying heavily on people to deliver training and onboarding. There was a clear disconnect between what they were offering clients and how they were operating internally.

It brought home just how far our own processes have come at Sheenco Travel. That ultimately led to the creation of Craition – a separate business built to support companies whose growth is outpacing their systems and processes, particularly those with dispersed teams. We have a proven playbook to help them, centred on systemised onboarding and training, delivered quickly through AI-enabled workflows.

AI is brilliant and beneficial for almost anyone. These applications are improving all the time, they play a significant role in both my business and day-to-day life.

But it’s important to be clear that AI is not the best route for everything. Especially not high-value, client-facing work. Because people buy from people – and I think that will be a steep learning curve for many companies.

Travel, at its core, has always been about connection and experiencing other cultures. Removing people entirely risks losing that.

We remain fully committed to AI. But for us the balance is clear: use AI to enhance the experience, not replace it.