E-business technology sector receives boost

The technology sector in Northern Ireland is set to receive a substantial boost with the announcement of an inward investment of nearly £1 million by BDR Consulting in Beaconsfield.

The e-business company, which is based in Buckinghamshire, announced on Wednesday September 12, that it is investing £834,00 in Northern Ireland to set up a Systems Integration Campus, creating 45 new jobs in Belfast over the next three years.

The campus, which has received backing from the Industrial Development Board, has been launched by BDR to assist other businesses in the United Kingdom and other parts of Europe to harness the latest web-focused technologies and upgrade the services they offer their customers.

Speaking about the investment, Leslie Ross, IDB Acting Chief Executive said: “The campus will build on BDR’s expertise in providing a broad range of customer relationship management (CRM) solutions including software development for a market that is projected to grow to $123 billion by 2004.

“A key aspect of this investment is the access it will provide to people here to gain new skills and experience in the application of software systems in a fast growing e-commerce services sector.”

Commenting on the investment, Andrew Wilmot, BDR’s Consulting founder and Chief Executive Officer said: “The Belfast campus is a new direction for us in that it builds on our existing services to offer clients a total solution to the customer relationship requirements particularly within the electronic framework.

“We decided to locate our first Systems Integration Campus in Belfast because our research indicated that we would be able to find a ready supply of talented and adaptable young people, including software graduates and others with good computer skills.

“We’ve also found that people in Belfast have a friendly and a ‘can do’ approach to customers and that is another essential requirement of our business.” (AMcE)