This article was originally written by Avanade alum Graham Healy.

May Day is celebrated for different reasons around the world. It’s a public holiday. It has cultural links. It’s the start of Spring for some countries. And – for us here at 1 Grand Canal Square, Dublin – May 1st, 2018 marked the day we officially opened Avanade Ireland.

It still feels like that was only yesterday. But a year is a long time in technology – because much can (and does) change in 12 months. That’s especially the case in Ireland.

From my perspective as Country Manager, our first year has been hugely exciting. We’ve hit the ground running and at times it’s been a blur. That’s why, when I sat down to write this blog post, picking out the key trends that defined year one was really tricky. 

But when I looked back and thought about what mattered most to our clients in Ireland, a series of core themes cropped up again and again – how to grow the business, manage it efficiently, engage employees, and delight customers. 

So, here’s our first year in summary, told via the three trends that defined it.

1. Cloud consistency and coherence 
The organisations we work with in Ireland face many of the same challenges as their peers across Europe (and the rest of the world). Moving to the cloud remains one of the most prominent puzzles, along with the wider considerations that process involves. Principally, that includes wrestling with the transition from a CAPEX to an OPEX model, governance and managing consumption, and the speed of migration.

Our clients look to the cloud to address a range of business challenges – everything from reducing their real estate footprint through to unlocking growth, innovation and efficiency.

What we’ve seen in Ireland specifically is many organisations are struggling to move to the cloud coherently – with a robust business case and in a cost-effective as well as coordinated manner. Working with our colleagues in Accenture, that’s what we’ve been able to help them work through this year.

2. Enticing and engaging employees 
The second key trend I’ve seen is the war for talent and the role that technology can play in helping organisations attract and retain the best people. Some of the biggest technology, pharmaceutical and professional services firms in the world have established operations in Ireland, so competition here is fierce.

But it’s not just those world-renowned brands that are jostling for talent. Ireland’s homegrown organisations are also upping their game – seeking to create workplaces that engage their employees, which in turn helps to deliver a superior experience for customers.

By implementing modern workplace solutions and collaboration platforms, we’re helping organisations to create the type of place where both young and established Irish professionals want to work. 

3. Simplifying growth
The final theme is far from unique to Ireland, but it’s one that Irish businesses are particularly mindful of right now. And that’s the transformative power of technology to nurture growth.

Technology plays a critical role in fuelling organic business growth. Whether it’s the scale of the cloud, modernised workplaces which improve productivity and unlock innovation, or finding the right line of business applications to maximise operational efficiency – when implemented the right way, tech powers growth. 

The key is in that last detail though – "the right way". We're seeing more organisations turn to us to help them not only deploy their technology solutions but develop their digital transformation strategy and then make sure it’s executed properly too. 

And if organic growth is difficult, then mergers and acquisitions are even more testing. Many indigenous Irish companies are growing through acquisitions. These expanded organisations need to get the balance right between letting the newly acquired entity do what it does best, while also bringing it into the wider organisational fold – all without hindering business as usual or restricting growth potential. That means organisations must consider how they can manage this change, integrate users and encourage adoption, and build out a robust technology roadmap. 

Getting set for year two
With year one done, we’re now looking forward to building further momentum in our second year. We’re growing fast and evolving at an incredible pace, thanks to our great team. Year two is likely to be just as much of a whirlwind. And I can’t wait. We couldn’t have picked a better or more exciting time to be on this journey.