Veltig hopes to treble local workforce

 

 

Software consultancy firm Veltig is leading the charge of pioneering digital companies exploring beyond saturated cityscapes in search of new locations to develop their businesses. Veltig will be among the first to inhabit Cavan's new Digital Hub once fully established and, as revealed to The Anglo-Celt last week, harbour high hopes of trebling their workforce locally over the coming years.

“I feel it will really change the perception of Cavan,” states Veltig CEO Donal De Paor of the impending Hub opening, now scheduled for end the of 2018.

The Cavan native sees the county as being on the cusp of a wave in its capability to attract new digital start-ups, pointing to when the ripples first appeared in 2014 when the county town was chosen for connection to the SIRO's 1Gigabit network.

He however can still hear “mocking” tones of those who doubted Veltig's ambition when opting to move from Vancouver, Canada, almost 18 months ago. In retort, Veltig now employ 27 worlwide, half of whom are located in Ireland, with the majority in situ at the Kilmore Business Park.

“I'm absolutely very proud to have played a part in encouraging the Veltig move to Cavan. Hopefully this is the start of something very material in terms of job creation. We're still very much at the start of a journey where we are right now as a company but, if we play our cards right, we should be able to double or even treble that number over the next couple of years,” says Mr De Paor.

Veltig celebrated moving to their new offices by welcoming founder and chief solutions architect, Denis Horgan, as well as Mark Reid and Gerry Kenny from Sage, one of the world's largest suppliers of enterprise resource planning software.

A focus of Veltig's business is in migrating businesses scaling to Sage's newly launched 'Sage Financials’ product. The confidence in Veltig is anchored by their decade of experience transitioning growing companies to Salesforce, the e-commerce platform 'Sage Financials’ is built on.

 

Centrality

From Cork, but now living and working in California, Mr Horgan notes that one major advantage Cavan has is its centrality. “It has turned out to be a great place to set up, being so close to Dublin. With the digital world, it really doesn't matter where a company sets up. But it shows it doesn't have to be a big city to be a success.”

Mr Reid agrees. Sage operates a customer business centre in Dublin but states having Veltig “on the doorstep” is one of several key reasons the Cavan company was chosen to help push the envelope on 'Sage Financials’.

“We want really strong partners with our financials and that's what we've got here,” Mr Reid tells the Celt, adding his belief that “satellite locations” such as Cavan will play an increasingly important role in supporting the digital industry.

Along with Sage, Veltig are working in a similar vein as software implementation partners with the likes of Krow, Conga and Salesforce, the latter being the largest of the three.

Today, Veltig boats an enviable range of highly-experienced tech talent from across the world.

Among them is Ryan Cole who says “trust” played a key factor in him moving his wife and their two kids from Vancouver to continue to work with Veltig in Cavan. “Trust in Donal and his vision, and trust in the vision of this company to be the best at what it does, and already is.”

Mr Cole adds of the move to Ireland: “This is the lifestyle people back home work in the city to try and become successful all their lives to achieve. But its right here.”

Less of a journey to relocate was that made by Veltig's Marketing Manager, Keith Bradshaw, who moved from Dublin to Bawnboy in West Cavan. “I love it up here,” declaring how a slower pace of life, Veltig’s ample ambition Veltig matched his own career choices.

Also in attendance at the office opening was newly appointed Cathaoirleach Madeleine Argue, as well as Caroline Brady, chief officer at Community and Enterprise, overseeing the roll-out Cavan County Council's Digital Strategy.

Cllr Argue praised entrepreneurs like Mssrs De Paor and Horgan for seeing the opportunities for businesses like theirs to further develop from a base in Ireland.

“It's great to see a Cavan man coming home and giving back as we see here. It's a big part of the Council's agenda to reach out to our diaspora, and that strategy dovetails with the county’s plans to develop the Digital Hub.”

Ms Brady says of the Cavan Hub that there has been growing interest in the facility since the idea was first floated in late 2016, and a location finalised earlier this year. “The new hub will attract new business. Veltig are probably one of the first companies to come to us but many more have contacted us since, particularly people making the daily commute to Dublin.

“So there are huge opportunities here, not only for the businesses who will soon realise Cavan and the Hub as their base. There are wider opportunities also, from linking in with CMETB and developing training and support as well,” she said.