Galway received a significant employment boost on Tuesday when Avaya announced it is creating 75 new positions at their offices in Mervue Business Park. The jobs are part of the company’s new Customer Experience Centre, which opened with a special ribbon cutting ceremony by Michael Bayer, president of Avaya’s field operations in Europe, Middle East and Africa, and Barry O’Leary, CEO of the Industrial Development Authority Ireland.
The positions, for which Avaya are already recruiting, are in engineering, finance, administration, IT, procurement, and research and development. Speaking at the launch, Michael Bayer said “the variety of roles were designed to take advantage of Galway’s intellectual capital”.
He added, “Avaya is aggressively expanding our market reach in Europe by driving our global leadership in the areas of contact centres and unified communications solutions to businesses throughout the country. We are currently recruiting new employees as quickly as possible to help Avaya as it further expands throughout Europe.”
The Customer Experience Centre is Avaya’s unique global R&D facility which offers customers direct access to developers who can create custom, customer-specific environments showcasing Avaya’s technology and allowing a view of future technologies. At the centre, customers can work directly with the R&D engineers responsible for Avaya products to experience next generation technology and develop their business and implement strategies for execution. The service allows customers real time access to the company’s experts and incorporates instant messaging, audio and video technology.
“The innovations Avaya is bringing to communications are true game-changers and will allow our customers in Ireland and throughout the world to change their conversations with their own customers” Michael Bayer said. “Our Galway Customer Experience is a unique showcase facility in which customers can see our collaboration solutions in action and in an environment that has been customised to reflect their own business use cases and challenges. At the facility, customers can work with our staff engineers to see how their environment can migrate smoothly into these solutions and how they can benefit and reinvigorate their business.”
Avaya is a global leader in enterprise communications systems. They employ 19,000 people in 54 different countries and have their headquarters at Basking Ridge in New Jersey. Each of the world’s top 20 airlines and top 10 hotels rely on Avaya technology. Ireland is described as a ‘‘major hub’’, and the company also has operations in the UK, Australia, Canada and Germany.
Onkar Singh Birk is General Manager of Avaya’s Contact Centre Solutions and he praised the “very professional” set up at the Galway offices which is regarded as one of “the company’s global research and development hubs”. He also alluded to the fact that over 30% of their R&D staff in Galway possess postgraduate qualifications as evidence that Galway possesses the ability to manage the Customer Experience Centre.
Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton also welcomed the announcement. “This is the kind of investment that I intend to champion through my department and its agencies. The Customer Experience Centre being launched today represents an innovation in collaborative technology development, and Avaya is already recruiting staff in R&D, engineering, finance, IT and administrative support.
“The jobs of the future will depend on investment in both foreign-owned and home-grown research and development. The plan I’m developing will ensure that we accelerate our support of companies like Avaya as well as nurturing the development of innovative home grown businesses in this sector”.
The CEO of IDA Ireland said the announcement was “a great occasion for Ireland”.
“It’s tremendous to hear of 75 new jobs being created in this country. It’s a reflection of our technological capability, track record and our talent pool”, said Mr O’Leary.
“This announcement demonstrates to the international community that key players in the technology industry are continuing their investment in Ireland. Eight of the world’s top ten technological companies are now located in Ireland, nine of the top ten pharmaceutical firms and 15 of the top 25 medical devices corporations. We also host each of the top five companies started on the internet.
“We are undergoing many challenges, but export driven growth is key to our recovery. Multinationals contribute 70 per cent of our exports. They spend €19 billion in the country, €7 billion of which is on payroll and they contribute two thirds of all corporation tax paid here. The IDA will continue to support future development in Ireland.”
Locating the development in Galway was “an easy decision to make” according to Jason Flynn, Avaya’s country manager who is responsible for running the companies business across Ireland. “Our commitment to Ireland is evident as we to continue invest here,” he said. Mr Flynn also feels other multinational companies could invest in the Galway area in the near future. “Galway is a great place to live and work, it’s a fun city. We have access to over 20,000 students in the area and it’s a real technology hub. Other US companies may well follow our lead and chose Galway to develop.”
