MANAGEMENT INNOVATION IRISH INVESTMENT
IBMhasmade two significant investment announcements in Ire- land over the last couple of years. Most recently, the company revealed its intention to create a newglobal services integration hub inMulhud- dert, Dublin,whichwill create sev- eral hundred newjobs. In 2010, the company announced the establish- ment of its firstSmarter Cities Technology Centre, also atMulhud- dert. The centre,whichwas offi- ciallyopenedlastOctober, represents anIDAIreland-supported invest- ment of up to €66mand aims to cre- ate asmany as 200 newroles. It has establishedworld-class research programmes in transportation, sus- tainable energy,watermanagement and urban informationmanage- ment. The centre is currently play- ing amajor role in the design and development of IBM’s firstSmarter Cities Solutions product line.
IBManywhere in theworld, including over 1,000 people in soft- ware development, a research lab which is currently hiring 75 PhD researchers and a major international sales and market- ing centre, in addition to international software fulfilment and services hubs.”
LONG-TERM STRATEGY O’Neill said IBMIreland hasworked hard over the last number of years to align its operationswith the long-termdirection of its parent, particularly the shift from being a hardware to a soft- ware and services company. This has obviously meant a lot change for the company and its staff. “We’ve had to close a number of different businesses,with all
the human challenges that entails. But on every occasion we’ve replaced themwith higher skilled jobs that fitmuch betterwith the strategic direction of the corporation. “Today, while we employ roughly the same number of people
in Ireland as we did 10 years ago, the profile of our employees has changed hugely over that time.Our graduate population has increased very significantly, and 15pc have advanced or post- graduate qualifications. “Themanufacturing operations thatwere the original anchor
tenants at our technology campus are gone and our software and services and research and development activities have grown dramatically.” None of this has happened by accident, he said. “The Irish
management team works hard at keeping ahead of the trends in the corporation and seeking opportunitieswherewe can play a strategic role in an increasingly global business. In contrast to the early 90s, we’ve now built up our internal networks and our reputation for successful delivery.We now have an Ireland
board that meets in ourUS headquarters every six months and includes some very senior global
executives.The board helps us keep alignedwith the corporation’s strategy and gives us the in- sights we need and a platform from which to make a case for further investment. “We choose our battles carefully andwith the help of the IDA
we compete aggressively against our sister companies in other countries. None of this would matter if Ireland didn’t have a strong value proposition as a place to do business. Thankfully it does. The corporation tax environment is key. TheGovernment is to be applauded for its continued firm stance on this issue. “One less obvious factor, but one thatwas highlighted to us by
a seniorUS executive a fewyears ago, is stability. Corporations like IBM are concentrating key global functions like treasury, procurement or cloud computing into a small number of loca- tions around the world. Those locations become strategically important to the corporation’s ability to function. You want to pick places that are stable politically, financially and in terms of energy security.” O’Neill concluded by stressing the importance of accepting
change. “There’s nothing comfortable about transformation,” he said. “It involves risk and there can be winners and losers. I’m a firmbeliever that you’re far better to embrace change and con- trol how you transform than to try and resist it and have it forced upon you. IBMin Irelandmanaged to do that. I sawsome of our sister companies in other countries take the approach of trying to protect what they held and ultimately they lost out. “Embracing and leading transformation is the key to secur-
ing better quality and highly paid jobs and to ensuring that pub- lic and private sector organisations in Ireland can continue to make a positive contribution to our economy.”
Issue 4 Spring/Summer 2012 INNOVATION IRELAND REVIEW 71
»
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80