Posts tagged ‘Cover story’
Cover story: Real impact on healthcare – Microsoft’s Neil Jordan
Monday, October 10th, 2011Microsoft’s General Manager of Worldwide Health, Neil Jordan, discusses the broad picture of the sector with Owen McQuade and how information technology can help improve patient outcomes in Northern Ireland. Neil Jordan has had an “incredibly exciting” journey while developing Microsoft’s health ICT work, and has seen first hand its real potential to transform services once the the technology is comprehensively rolled out. Jordan is Microsoft’s General Manager of Worldwide Health and is speaking to agendaNi from Seattle as a radical phase of health reform gathers pace in Northern...[full story]
Cover story: Delivering change for the better – Paul Terrington
Friday, September 2nd, 2011PwC sees lacklustre economic growth for 2011 in Northern Ireland. Owen McQuade met with new Regional Chairman Paul Terrington, and Chief Economist in Northern Ireland Esmond Birnie, in the midst of the recent stock market crisis to discuss how to rebalance the local economy. PwC has just marked down its Northern Ireland growth figure for 2011 to a “lacklustre” 0.8 per cent. It still forecasts a growth figure of 1.6 per cent for next year but this is more of a case of waiting to see the full extent of the recent slowdown in the global economy before revising the 2012 growth figure. “The...[full story]
Cover story: Sisk’s agile growth – Mark Barr
Thursday, March 10th, 2011Construction company Sisk has developed a thriving business in Northern Ireland despite the current economic backdrop. Mark Barr, Head of Business Development, talks to Owen McQuade about the challenges that the company has undergone in recent years. Unlike many of its competitors, avoiding turning into a property developer has given Sisk the agility to survive and thrive in the current economic downturn. Of the recession, Barr comments: “We stuck to our core business as a builder and it allowed us to react very quickly to the market and redeploy staff.” The company strategically...[full story]
Cover story: Cloudy outlook – Sentel’s Ger Connery
Friday, January 28th, 2011Sentel Managing Director Ger Connery talks to Owen McQuade about managing telecoms costs and how the telecoms software company has been a pioneer in providing cloud-based solutions for clients. Sentel started up in Gilford, County Down, back in 1998 with three employees. Ger Connery explains that it was set up as a “unique proposition in the telecoms field” as a managed service call logging company. In the early days, it won contracts with Colt Telecom and Cable & Wireless, for providing reports on telephony activity similar to the BT network reports. However, from 1999 it also...[full story]
Cover story: New economics of computing
Friday, December 3rd, 2010Barry McLean talks to Owen McQuade about Microsoft’s work in Northern Ireland, 10 years since its arrival, and cloud computing’s potential for the public sector. Microsoft started its operations in Northern Ireland 10 years ago with just one employee working out of serviced offices. The company is now based at the Science Park in Belfast’s Titanic Quarter, where it became one of its first residents, to service a wide range of clients across the province. The core Microsoft team in Belfast is focused primarily on the public sector but also working with enterprise and SME sectors....[full story]
Cover story: Success in the cloud
Tuesday, November 2nd, 2010HP Managing Director Martin Murphy sees cloud computing as “pivotal” in improving public services. He shares his thoughts on delivering IT services, education and the economy with Owen McQuade. “One of the greatest strengths of HP in Ireland is that we are an all-Ireland operation,” says Murphy. The company has five main divisions on the island: a sales and services division, which is the largest provider of IT sales and services in the Irish market, an international multi-lingual customer service centre, an international financial services division, a manufacturing plant with...[full story]
Cover story: Harnessing the power of open innovation
Wednesday, October 6th, 2010Innovation is vital to the competiveness of the Northern Ireland economy. Owen McQuade met with PA Consulting’s Charlie Henderson to discuss how local organisations can harness ‘open innovation’ in these difficult times. Charlie Henderson believes that the current high degree of uncertainty around the economy – “are we in recovery or are we in a double-dip?” – is delaying important investment decisions and that this is hurting Northern Ireland’s competitiveness. “We must avoid competing in commodity marketplaces where product and service are produced more cheaply...[full story]
Cover story: Esmond Birnie – a clean sheet for public spending
Monday, September 6th, 2010PwC’s Chief Economist, Dr Esmond Birnie, met with Owen McQuade to discuss the prospects for the local economy and what the Executive should do now. Hard questions must be asked about the purpose of government and any new jobs must create wealth. Looking at the short-term prospects for the local economy, Esmond Birnie sees the province’s economic plight as “the classic glass; half-full or half-empty”. The recovery is looking mixed but he does not see this as indicating a double-dip recession. “This year as a whole will see positive growth but it will be lacklustre,” Birnie...[full story]
