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Cloud can deliver up to 9,000 tech and 11,000 SME jobs


Ireland has a narrow window of time – possibly only months – to capture for itself a disproportionate share of the boom- ing cloud computing industry, resulting in 8,600 technology jobs and a further 11,000 jobs in non-tech businesses, writes John Kennedy


Barry O’Leary (left), CEO, IDA Ireland and Microsoft Ireland managing director, Paul Rellis A


N economic impact study pre- pared for Microsoft by Good- body Economic Consultants re- vealed that Ireland can become a global cloud computing centre of excellence and could capture


a large share of the industry estimated to be worth 40bn worldwide by 2014. Ireland alone has a chance to build a 9.5bn


a year in revenue industry by 2014, resulting in 8,600 new jobs. Not only that, but because cloud computing lowers costs to businesses, by migrating to the cloud some 2,000 new non-IT small and medium-sized fi rms can be created, which would in turn employ 11,000 people. Early adoption of cloud computing by Irish


users will take costs of 500m a year out of Irish organisations. “There is an opportunity that is real and


clear. It is vital that we put in place a produc- tive policy to take advantage of the transfor- mative potential cloud computing has for all our organisations,” Microsoft Ireland manag- ing director Paul Rellis said. Cloud computing in time will have the same socio-economic impact as the arrival of water and electricity to premises, he continued. “Ireland can take the front foot on this.


There is a huge job creation opportunity and a chance to leverage multinationals to create a cluster of cloud computing industries and this is going to help signifi cantly with com- petitiveness. The potential is enormous.” Rellis said he intends to work with IDA Ire-


land to infl uence policy changes that will help boost cloud take-up in Ireland but also attract cloud computing organisations into the coun- try. These policy areas involve entrepreneur- ship, broadband and electricity.


‘There really is a great opportunity if people could appreciate the speed and urgency’


Specifi cally, Rellis and the CEO of IDA Ire-


land, Barry O’Leary, pointed to the creation of a major Cloud Cluster Programme to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) and provide access to new markets. They also called for the implementation of


a high-profi le Government cloud computing project to showcase Ireland’s expertise glob- ally. They said that there is a need to close the


gaps in awareness of cloud computing in both the public and private sectors, and to prior- itise the development of skills to support the cloud. In addition, an urgent task is to pro- mote cloud computing to small businesses and start-ups. “There really is a great opportunity if people appreciate the speed and urgency. We could take a disproportionate share of the cloud computing market. We need urgent policy changes in the next 100 days. We intend to work with IDA Ireland to get these policies clear,” Rellis said.


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