IBM and IDA Ireland today announced the opening of a state of the art European Digital Sales Centre at the IBM Technology Campus, Dublin. 

The €20 million investment enables a new digital based system of engagement and transforms the way in which IBM engages with clients and business partners.  Clients will now experience increased personalisation, innovation and efficient collaboration through digital and social platforms.

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The Centre is IBM’s largest multi language client engagement centre worldwide. It brings together a specialist IT salesforce working in 19 languages and is a focal point for clients in 21 countries across Europe.

IBM’s latest investments in Cloud, Big Data Analytics, Mobile and Social technologies are fundamentally changing how we live, work and interact.  Alongside this, the rise of digital technology has reset clients’ expectations and is requiring enterprises to rethink the end-to-end client experience.

The state of the art Centre anticipates the transformational shift in buying patterns as C-Suite clients increasingly look to engage with IT specialists online through screen sharing, video conferencing, live text chat and social media platforms.

Speaking about the launch, Bruno Di Leo, Senior Vice President IBM Sales & Distribution said, “The digital revolution is changing the way buying decisions are made and commerce is transacted. What individuals are experiencing as consumers is changing what they expect from IBM as an enterprise client. They want us to know them and understand their preferences, and get value from our expertise in new ways and on their own terms…In other words, digital is central – not secondary.”

At the Centre, IBM Digital Sales representatives are creating an integrated client experience, to engage with customers at every touch point from online or via a mobile app.  Team members will use social media and mobile technology along with IBM’s commercially available analytics software to better identify client needs and engage in a more targeted and personalised conversation rather than a primarily transactional experience.

For example, clients will be able to engage with representatives via an online webinar on IBM’s SoftLayer cloud solution and use their mobile device to continue the conversation in a text chat or a webcam discussion.  All whilst the representative is using IBM business analytics in a real-time evaluation of information from all relevant sources and expertise to support the creation of the client’s cloud solution.

With these enhanced digital engagements, social business tools and processes within the Centre, representatives will also be able to collaborate more easily with their peers and IBM industry specialists to achieve more positive results, innovation and increased client satisfaction and experience, which will lead to the creation of higher value solutions.

The Digital Sales Centre is co-located with the IBM Research and Software Development labs at IBM’s Technology Campus in Mulhuddart, allowing sales representatives to benefit from the wealth of expertise and specialist knowledge available locally. 

Welcoming today’s announcement the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection, Joan Burton TD said, “I want to congratulate IBM on its new facility in Damastown.  IBM is the longest established multinational in the country and one of our biggest employers.  I am very proud that IBM has chosen Ireland as a location to develop and push the boundaries of technological innovation over the past 60 years. I am sure this next chapter in the IBM story, with the opening of its Digital Sales Centre, will redefine how the industry interacts with its clients and partners.”

The Tánaiste also welcomed the role that IBM and other employers are playing in helping to get people back to work, particularly in ensuring that the Department of Social Protection’s employment support schemes such as JobBridge have proven to be so successful.  She added: “With Ireland continuing to attract well-known global ICT companies, we need to have people ready to take up jobs, particularly highly-skilled jobs. Nine out of the top ten global ICT companies are based here, and many have followed the trail blazed by IBM.”

Martin Shanahan, CEO IDA Ireland said, “IBM has a long history in Ireland, originally setting up here in 1956. Today’s investment by IBM reinforces Ireland’s credentials as the leading location for technology companies to invest, innovate and transform through a highly skilled and talented workforce.  A strong Irish management team has helped transform what was once a manufacturing facility into a state of the art Digital Sales centre, which strengthens the importance of the Irish operations within IBM’s global business.”

IBM has been in Ireland since 1956 and first established a European Sales Centre in Dublin in 1996.  The new Centre will apply IBM’s commercially available social business software which includes IBM Customer Experience Suite, IBM Connections enterprise social networking software and Cognos Business Intelligence analytics software to help employees more easily track projects to completion.