First of all, we would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very Happy New Year as we look forward to 2024 with a renewed sense of purpose, enthusiasm and optimism.
In Comit, our New Year’s resolutions list is already agreed, and we have some very exciting plans in the pipeline for the coming 12 months…watch this space for further updates!
However, before we leap into future plans, we’d like to take a moment to reflect on the many successes that our technology PR agency and industry-leading clients enjoyed throughout 2023. While it wasn’t all plain sailing for the tech sector, the prevailing mood was generally positive as most clients continued to grow, innovate and make a real difference to the customers and communities they serve.
Fantastic clients and tech PR team
We were thrilled to add some wonderful new clients to the Comit roster, while also growing our own team of tech PR and digital specialists. Having enjoyed so many highlights (and headlines) last year, it’s hard to select just a few, but we’ll do our very best to give a sense of the variety of great news stories we worked on in partnership with our clients and shared with media throughout the year.
Of course, our team also had some great fun along the way, from sumptuous meals out together at sensational restaurants, to charity runs raising funds for deserving causes to hikes in the stunning Dublin mountains. We’re looking forward to many more fun adventures and group outings in 2024!
Growth and investment
It was heartening to see so much growth and investment across our client base in 2023. Early in the year, digital transformation leader Expleo announced a €5M investment in its life sciences and engineering teams with the creation of 70 additional jobs and a new hub in Galway to further boost its nationwide footprint. From one side of the country to the other, in the South-East, Waterford-based IT security and telecoms company HCS announced 15 new technology jobs and forecasted revenue to increase by €2.5M off the back of an enhanced partnership with cybersecurity leader, Fortinet.
Meanwhile, in Dublin, Integrity360 announced an €8M investment in a world-class Security Operations Centre in Sandyford and revealed plans to create 200 jobs across the group over the next three years. Equipped with state-of-the-art technologies, the SOC will enable Integrity360 to drive further business growth and client success in an ever-evolving cyber threat landscape.
Also in Dublin, Logicalis made a €1.8M investment in a new Irish HQ in Donnybrook, providing the company with a base to further drive innovation and change, while helping it to meet its aim to be carbon neutral by 2025. While Envisage invested €1 million in its business and added 12 new jobs. The company, which was recently appointed as the first Sage Intacct partner in the Republic, plans to double revenues within three years as a result of the expansion, growing from €3 million to €6 million. Furthermore, Servecentric made a significant new investment in its cloud capacity amid increasing demand for cloud and co-location services from a growing base of Irish and international customers.
International expansion
As well as many of our clients achieving success and expanding at home in Ireland, others looked overseas to boost their international presence and growth capabilities. Auxilion, one of Ireland’s leading providers of digitally transformative IT managed services and solutions, announced the completion of phase one of its UK expansion strategy with a multi-million investment in a Managed Services Centre of Excellence in Sheffield. Another Irish technology service provider setting its sights on the UK market is Vault365, which launched its data backup and security services in the UK off the back of a very successful first year in the Irish market.
From expansion to acquisition, leading Irish and UK distributor DataSolutions marked a significant milestone after 32 years in business, having been acquired by global solutions provider Climb in October. The acquisition not only builds on DataSolutions’ goal to strengthen its business in Ireland and the UK, but bolsters Climb’s geographic footprint in Europe.
Looking further afield, Irish digital agency specialists Granite Digital acquired a majority stake in New York-based LCM 247, providing it with a strong strategic foothold in the United States and a huge market on its doorstep.
Another client which made a name for itself on the global stage in 2023 was Athlone-based Sidero, which was acquired by digital engineering leader Globallogic. The company said that Sidero’s talented and experienced design and engineering teams would allow it to boost its capabilities in the dynamic communications technology sector and build on its European presence through Ireland.
New services, innovation and sustainability
At Comit, we’re privileged to work closely with clients who are delivering truly innovative services that make a significant impact for other businesses and wider society. For instance, we helped to announce the launch of Ireland’s first National Timing Grid in association with a number of key stakeholders and our longstanding client, Data Edge. This new timing system is hugely important for the successful roll-out of critical infrastructure sectors and projects.
Another example of a client delivering essential technology platforms is Esri Ireland. It teamed up with
DBFL Consulting Engineers to deliver a new digital platform to help remove barriers to public transport use. The project, designed to deliver more sustainable public transport projects, will see Esri’s digital mapping technology used to analyse catchment areas, evaluate walking times to bus stops and train stations, and propose new access routes for pedestrians and cyclists.
One area that has captured the imaginations of technology leaders with its seemingly endless potential is quantum computing. Demonstrating its longstanding commitment to Ireland’s digital economy, digital infrastructure leader Equinix announced two separate partnerships which would enable businesses here to access quantum computers in Japan and France. This revolutionary technology is set to transform processing speeds and power for businesses and can even assist in the discovery of new products in key sectors such as MedTech and pharmaceuticals – where Ireland is already a world leader.
The year 2023 also saw a heightened focus on cybersecurity and managed protection as the threat landscape continued to evolve and grow. Fortunately, experienced providers such as Datapac were on hand to offer much more proactive 24/7 support to businesses, combining human-led expertise and AI acceleration, through the launch of its innovative Managed Threat Ops service.
Technology awards and accolades
Shifting from the threat landscape to the red carpet, a number of our clients received national recognition for their hard work and innovation in 2023 with coveted awards. After helping them with their submissions, we celebrated as CWSI, one of Europe’s most experienced modern workplace security and compliance specialists, experienced double glory with wins in two of Ireland’s most prestigious technology awards programmes. In May, it was named Company of the Year at the Tech Excellence Awards 2023. Six months later, it collected the Digital Technology Company of the Year award at the 2023 Technology Ireland Industry Awards.
Speaking of the Tech Excellence Awards, we had several winning clients on the night, with Storm Technology first to hit the stage as they took home the prize for Private Sector IT Project of the year. While most clients were entering awards, some chose to host their own, including the Ireland Chapter of Project Management Institute (PMI) which celebrated the best of innovation and talent in project management at its annual National Project Awards in November.
Research and thought leadership
If a prize had to be given to the most insightful piece of research of 2023, we would have multiple clients competing with very strong entries! That’s not to mention the high-profile coverage and thought leadership opportunities such research generated during the year.
Digital payments leader PayPal had its finger on the pulse throughout 2023, showcasing how it can support people when it comes to travel adventures and Christmas spending. The company released various pieces of research which explored how people adapt behaviours to prioritise travel and how they approach Christmas shopping through budgeting.
Meanwhile, Irish tech unicorn Workhuman was at the forefront of workplace research, providing insights into the use of AI in the workplace, gratitude and the importance of recognition among employees and employers.
From big trends to the small screen, Pure Telecom continued to lead on news about the very latest online and streaming trends as Irish consumers were revealed to spend more than €1.3 billion on streaming services such as Netflix.
On the topic of people’s home lives and off the back of the latest Census data to be released, Gamma leveraged its location intelligence software to demonstrate its analytical prowess and highlight a wide range of population patterns and sustainability trends across households. 
Swapping sustainability for cybersecurity, and to close out the year, IT.ie provided Irish businesses and consumers alike with some really valuable tips to help them avoid the 12 Scams of Christmas. From this, there was an abundance of press coverage and broadcast interviews as Irish media played their part in sharing this important information to prevent people from being caught out during the festive season.
Looking forward to 2024
This whistle-stop tour of just some of the amazing highlights of 2023 hopefully provides you with a small window into our world at Comit as we continue to provide the highest levels of technology PR and content support to our amazing base of clients.
We’re really excited about the year ahead and anticipate it to be the best yet! We hope that everyone has a fantastic 2024 and we’re really looking forward to sharing lots more positive technology and sustainability news in the months to come.
If you would like to find out more about our tech PR, content and digital services, please do get in contact with us.