This article was originally written by Avanade alum Graham Healy.

It’s three years since we opened Avanade Ireland, and happily the anniversary has coincided with being named Microsoft’s Country Partner of the Year for 2021 - a huge accolade that we are honoured and thrilled to receive. We were also named the number one top employer in Ireland by The Top Employers Institute, which highlighted Avanade Ireland’s exceptional standards across six key HR areas covering 20 categories including People Strategy, Work Environment, Talent Acquisition, Learning, Well-being, and Inclusion & Diversity.

These awards come on the back of what has been a turbulent and challenging time for organisations across the globe. At the time of our inception a lot of organisations in Ireland were teetering on the cusp of digital transformation. Others had dived in but were struggling with the complexities of governance and the shift to an ‘evergreen’ approach.

The pandemic forced the issue of digital transformation for many of our clients and organisations across the country - pressing them to act quickly but also to build long term scalable solutions in a “no regrets” manner.

Our ability to step up and enable so many customers to respond to the crisis is further testament to how far we have come in just three years.

It's hard to believe we started out with five employees. Our headcount has grown exponentially and it’s not just our this that’s growing. From our first full year to our last financial year we have trebled our business and we believe there is more significant growth to come.

With ambitious plans to double our headcount and existing business, it’s time to reflect on our success and how we are going to achieve our next milestones.

Culture first
We’re very much a people first organisation and that’s enabled us to attract and retain some of the best in class talent in the industry. Our people are passionate about technology and innovation and the quality of our people is something that has really set us apart.

Diversity
We also set out to achieve a diverse workforce – with success! We have 25 nationalities represented across our team and we increased our female headcount threefold - from 12% up to 37% in three years. That is testament to the work our talent acquisition team has done to attract such diverse talent and to the wider team for retaining them, allowing them to flourish.

Empowerment
Empowerment is also key to our company culture. We ask people to become part of the fabric of the organisation and culture, and empower them to develop themselves professionally. Stewardship is extremely important. We’ve adopted an intention-based leadership style – giving the leadership team and management an opportunity to step up and grow their roles and careers. We’ve made some incredible hires in the leadership team over the last year and this will stand us in very stead as we move forward.

Looking ahead
As we continue to grow and evolve, there are exciting opportunities for us in Ireland and beyond. Within Ireland there are lots of companies on acquisition journeys where we can help make sure that IT is an enabler and not an inhibitor for future mergers.

Going forward, partnerships with specialist providers are going to become more and more important as companies recognise that the days of build and test and run forever are gone, and today’s infrastructures must evolve – so that an organisation is ready for the next big event.

With a strong, multinational and passionate team, a comprehensive set of services and our position within the EU – we are looking forward to expanding our horizons and influence, and welcoming more top talent to our team. We look forward to announcing more…watch this space!

We’re growing fast and going places. If you would like to join our team, then we’d love to hear from you. Get in touch.