Ireland at epicentre of greatest trend sweeping IT industry

14 Apr 2011

The ability to recruit top talent locally was pivotal in HP’s decision to create 50 new jobs at its Galway operation, HP managing director Martin Murphy told Siliconrepublic.com. Ireland is now positioned to reap the whirlwind wrought by the cloud computing revolution.

In December, HP Galway announced 105 jobs at its Cloud Services Centre. Murphy said the company had 500 suitable candidates for the 105 positions. Yesterday, HP announced an additional 50 new jobs at the Galway operation.

“Because we were able to fill those roles so quickly we were able to go back to HP and seek 50 more positions. It’s very good news and great recognition for the Galway operation.”

In the last two years, despite the recession, HP in Ireland has been successful in attracting close to 1,000 new jobs to the country. The jobs announcement yesterday follows previous expansion announcements at its operation in Ireland with the creation of the Global Services Desk in March 2009, creating 500 jobs, and the expansion of the company’s Galway operation in September, with the creation of 50 jobs. In addition, the company announced 120 jobs at its Dublin operations in September and 105 jobs at its Galway operations in December.

“HP was impressed with the quality and the calibre of the applicants and we were confident that we could bring these people on board and get up and running as quickly as possible. It’s a really great achievement for Ireland.”

Many of the first tranche of jobs were filled by graduates, including business analysts and data architects.

“Cloud computing is at the the centre of what HP is doing in Ireland and the fact that Galway is being recognised globally is a superb achievement for the team in Galway, led by Jerry Jacobs and Mark Dempsey. It was a team effort and those guys deserve great credit.

“The fact we were able to bring on those graduates so quickly created the opportunity to bring in more. The good news for Ireland is it is at the heart of the cloud trend for the world’s biggest technology company,” Murphy said.

Selling Ireland – the cloud opportunity

“In order to sell a product, your product has to be relevant in order to sell it. What investments like this do is make Ireland relevant,” Murphy explained.

“Ireland can become the hub for developing cloud computing technologies internationally – this puts us at the epicentre of the biggest trends sweeping industry and that’s great.

“These projects are very much long term in thinking and background development and bringing it to life so quickly has worked in Ireland’s favour,” Murphy said.

Murphy said the present economic crisis in Ireland has little impact on the nation’s ability to win important technology projects.

“These are serious projects we are working on and we tend not to be distracted by what is the crisis of the day.

“That said, we have a new Government in place that has gotten off to a good start and I’m confident in their ability.

“I am focused on leadership that I can bring to try and work from HP’s perspective with the team to make sure Ireland is positioned to be a place to invest and do business.

“All industry leaders are working on this as well, and refuse to be distracted by the issues of the day. There are huge opportunities for Ireland to gain from a business perspective.”

As public sector reform gets under way, Murphy said he is positive about Ireland’s future. “The challenge is to get job creation onto everyone’s agenda. The job initiatives that will come from Government in the days and weeks ahead will create the environment to let that happen.

“Inward investment will be key, but equally indigenous multinationals, SMEs and start-ups are all part of the equation. Coming up with a pervasive strategy is the key to solving the great challenge of reducing the numbers on the live register,” Murphy said.

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com