Volume 39, Number 15

Business

EIRE’s Irish charm
Leading the IT Service Industry
by Rob Goss

Since being launched in Tokyo 12 years ago by Irishmen Paul Timmons and Matthew Connolly, EIRE Systems has established itself as one of Japan’s leading providers of professional IT project management, consulting, and managed services. With Timmons and Connolly still at the helm, the company can now boast a team of over 100 in Tokyo, and has successfully expanded its operations to Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, and Dublin. Want to know more about what EIRE does and why the company is a success? Read on.

“EIRE’s core services can be divided into three areas,” says EIRE’s business development and marketing manager, Ruairi Hatchell. Through its managed services, EIRE helps to manage the IT requirements of approximately 30 to 40 clients with head counts in the region of 10 to 1,500 employees. “Often these clients do not have the required budget for a full-time IT resource and therefore rely on EIRE Systems to provide daily, weekly, or monthly support to help ensure their systems are protected and running smoothly, in addition to EIRE providing IT recommendations as their IT requirements evolve,” Hatchell explains.

Beyond managed services, EIRE’s IT project management and design services cover everything from infrastructure project management and relocation management to business continuity, planning, and disaster recovery, while its IT outsourcing services can provide clients with high-quality IT professionals on short- or long-term contracts.

EIRE caters predominantly to clients in the financial sector, serving companies ranging in size from five-person hedge funds to multinational banking organizations with staff numbers in the thousands. Recently, however, Hatchell says EIRE has also been expanding its client base to other sectors. “EIRE has recently done work in the retail and hospitality sectors in Tokyo, helping to set up flagship stores in Omotesando, as well as project managing the IT set up for a major international hotel chain in Shinjuku,” he says. EIRE is also the main IT contractor on the renewal and rebuild of the Tokyo American Club.

With EIRE’s main client base in the financial sector feeling the effects of sub prime, Hatchell says there is a constant need for EIRE to evolve and improve as a company in order to meet its clients’ requirements, in the most cost-competitive way. One way EIRE continues its evolution is through its commitment to the personal development of its staff. “Making sure our employees are correctly trained is key to our success, and we encourage our employees to study new fields,” Hatchell says. “By constantly seeking the best from our employees we are able to respond and provide a high-value, efficient service across the board in order to ensure client satisfaction.”

To find out how your organization can benefit from the combined IT expertise of the people at EIRE Systems, visit www.eire.co.jp