| Irish Businesses Take On Wall Street
The Irish have historically been affiliated with professions including
construction, fire and police department service and the restaurant and
bar business. But in more recent years, the Irish have become a formidable
force on Wall Street and the technology industry. As evidenced by Irish
America’s Wall Street 50 issue, many Irish and Irish-Americans have conquered
the world of high finance.
Today, many Irish homegrown businesses are creating software for the
finance industry. The Celtic Tiger boom of the 1990s, the strengths of Irish
people in software development and the aid of the Irish Government in the
form of Enterprise Ireland, an enterprise development agency, have shepherded
in a new era in Irish industry. Here is a snapshot of successful Irish businesses
with a lot to offer the world of finance and technology. In their own words,
they explain how being an Irish company has been an advantage in this competitive
and complicated field.
Headquartered in Dublin, Norkom Technologies produces software that analyzes
behavior. That may not sound so captivating, but Norkom’s anti-money-laundering
software and fraud and risk management applications are vitally important
in the post-Enron world. Paul Kerly, Norkom Technologies CEO explained,
how its Irish employees are the backbone of the company. Said Kerly, “Norkom’s
success in the U.S. market is based on our ability to tap into Ireland’s
greatest natural resource, that of human capital. Ireland’s human capital
comes with additional advantages such as innovation, mobility and flexibility
that are firmly embedded in the Irish culture. Our international clients
in North America and Europe place great value in these characteristics.
This has allowed Norkom to become an attractive and trusted partner within
the international financial services market.”
Many customer-related businesses have call centers, but not all of them
know how well their customer agents are working. That’s where software from
Performix Technologies comes in. Performix’s aim is to help improve the
profitability of the company by running its employee performance management
software on the computers. Being an Irish company has been important for
Performix because Ireland has been one of the leading call center countries
in the whole of Europe, due in part because the Irish often speak more languages
than most other Europeans.
Irish management and technology consulting company VISION has captured
a substantial U.S. foothold. With clients including Citibank, US Bancorp,
and Warner Music Group, VISION is sharing its expertise in helping the financial
sector boost growth through technology. Billy Glennon, CEO of VISION Consulting
said, “As Irish people, we have an advantage in the U.S. Irish people are
very entrepreneurial, especially abroad, and the U.S. loves entrepreneurs.
We also naturally see business as networks of relationships. Looking at
business and technology in this way simplifies much of the complexity that
confuses and frustrates others. It’s one of the reasons we can get more
done with smaller numbers of people. You don’t need armies of people to
succeed - you need the right people networked in the right way.”
Orbiscom, an Irish security software company, may have the most practical
solution to cybertheft on the market. Orbiscom’s technology hides your credit
card number when you’re making an online transaction so cyber thieves and
fraudsters can’t get a hold of your real details. The system creates a ‘one
time use’ credit card number and expiration date that are disposed of after
the purchase of the goods, so that the customers’ real details remain a
secret. The clever idea was conceived of by Irishmen Ian Flitcroft and Graham
O’Donnell when they were waiting out a storm in a sailboat off the west
coast of Ireland in 1997. Today the technology is used by companies including
MBNA and Citibank.
Eontec is a high-tech company focused on the financial sector. It provides
Enterprise Java, one of the most important software technologies that companies
implement. For Eontec, being based in Ireland has been an advantage not
only for the highly educated workforce, but by virtue of Ireland’s geographic
location. Patrick Brazel, CEO of Eontec, explained: “Ireland offers an accelerated
business environment with full and fast access to world markets. From our
base in Dublin, we have grown Eontec into the innovative banking software
company it is today. Due in part to our rich heritage and Ireland’s vast
resources, the company has expanded into a leading provider of customer
banking solutions to top-tier financial institutions.”
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