IT solutions provider Ergo is expanding into the Asia-Pacific region, with the opening of its first office in New Zealand.
The new office in Auckland, which will employ seven people initially, is part of the company’s ambitious expansion plan in the region. The office will act as a managed services hub for the company, boosting its customer services capabilities and providing more efficient services around the clock.
Dublin-headquartered Ergo plans to work with existing and new customers on cloud and infrastructure, modern work, and applications and software, along with vulnerability detection and software updates.
The move comes as Ergo aims to have 50 per cent of its business coming from outside Ireland by 2025. The company already has teams in Ireland, the UK, the US, Romania and Colombia.
Ergo chief executive Paul McCann said the opening of the office was a significant milestone for the company. He said the decision to locate in New Zealand was due to a number of factors, including similar data protection regimes to Ireland and a good talent pool.
“There’s a lot of talent in tech and IT services,” he said. “It’s also English speaking, and there is a bit of an appetite for people to go there. Our goal is to get to 20 people – over the next three to five years.”
The office will initially be led by Dublin man Damian Kelly, but Mr McCann said the plan was for him to return to the Irish office and turn over the running of the New Zealand operation to someone based there permanently.
Ergo has a number of global clients, including Primark, Uniphar and SMBC.
“For us to be credible service providers for them, we have to have a global offering,” he said. “It’s Important to our clients and therefor important to Ergo.”
The opening of the office is being supported by Enterprise Ireland.
“As two island nations with similar population sizes, the cultural and economic ties between Ireland and New Zealand are extremely strong,” said Trevor Mallard, ambassador for New Zealand in Ireland. “New Zealand provides Irish companies with a complementary time zone and good access to markets across the Asia Pacific region.”
Ergo will concentrate on expanding in Northern Ireland and Britain next year, opening an office in Belfast. It will also continue to expand its Irish business. “We are Irish and proud,” Mr McCann said. “Ireland will always be a big market for us.”
