With 2018 just around the corner, it’s a good time to look back on the year that was, and remember some of the highlights and successes of 2017. We’d like to offer a huge thank you to all of our valued customers, partners and colleagues for making 2017 our best year yet, and we look forward to continued success in the year to come.

Datapac – HP Inc. Partner of the Year for UK and Ireland

Datapac has received recognition from a number of global technology leaders over the years, but 2017 started with a particular highlight: being named HP Inc. Partner of the Year for UK and Ireland.

The HP Partner Awards recognise and celebrate outstanding performance and accomplishments that raise the standard for business excellence, growth and customer satisfaction. In receiving this award, Datapac became HP’s first Irish partner to do so, a significant achievement for an Irish company. Datapac received the award for significantly growing revenues, new customer acquisitions and market share across all of the sectors in which we partner with HP.

35 new jobs and €2.1M investment

Another particular highlight came towards the end of the summer, when Datapac was delighted to announce the creation of 35 new jobs in Enniscorthy as part of a €2.1M investment into our ICT managed services division. As part of the announcement, we were delighted to welcome An Tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald to our office to help us officially announce the creation of the new jobs.

During her visit, the Tánaiste was given a tour of the office by Karen O’Connor, Datapac’s general manager for service delivery and Patrick Kickham, Datapac’s director. The Tánaiste also had the opportunity to view our Network Operations Centre, from where we deliver our managed service offering, and learned about Datapac’s history directly from Dan Kickham, Datapac’s founder and CEO.

The creation of these new jobs, alongside the investment of €2.1M, will contribute to the significant expansion and enhancement of Datapac’s ICT managed services. This is enabling Datapac to develop a range of exciting new managed service solutions and continue to enhance our service offering to existing customers, while also facilitating further business growth. The announcement was testament to the dedication and commitment of the Datapac team and a celebration of our success and achievements to date.

Exciting projects with Irish innovators

Throughout 2017, Datapac worked on numerous exciting projects with Irish organisations, helping them to realise their potential and enhance their business. One of the standout projects of the year was our work to design and implement a customised ERP solution for boutique whiskey distiller Walsh Whiskey .

Having experienced significant growth in recent years, Walsh Whiskey was looking for a scalable ERP solution that could unify the departments that oversee the different stages of the production and sales process, and manage everything from ordering ingredients to bottling and stock taking.

To meet Walsh’s unique requirements, Datapac designed a solution that integrates completely with Walsh’s operations, archiving all of the data from the various stages of the production process and making it easily accessible to anyone who needs it. Walsh now has a scalable ERP solution that can accommodate its continued growth, as it pursues sales opportunities around the world.

Celebrating 35 years in business and 10 years in Quarrypark

In April, we hosted a special business event to celebrate a very special double anniversary of 35 years in business and 10 years in our state-of-the-art Quarrypark offices in Enniscorthy. The event was very well received, and attended by a mix of Datapac customers and local business owners.

Datapac has been at the forefront of technology innovation since being founded in 1982, and has grown to become one of Ireland’s largest and most successful providers of ICT services and solutions. On the night, a number of speakers, including Datapac’s founder and CEO, Daniel Kickham, provided attendees with an informative look at how technology has shaped Irish business over the past 35 years. Attendees gained an insight into how we are continuing to help Irish businesses to grow and prosper while helping to protect them against emerging cyber-security threats.

Excellence in Community

CSR is close to the heart of everyone in Datapac, so we were delighted to win the Corporate Social Responsibility Award at the Wexford Business Awards 2017. We received the award in recognition of our commitment to community enhancement and empowerment, and our development of an internal culture of CSR involving all our employees.

Another highlight of the year for us was our renewed partnership with Solas Cancer Support Centre for the 2017 South East Run for Life. 2017 marked the fourth year in a row that we partnered with the Solas Centre to sponsor the Run for Life, and once again the event was a great success; 2,600 people took part, raising €156,000 in the process. These funds will help the Centre to continue to provide its much-needed services. We are delighted to be a key supporter of such an amazing event and contribute to the availability of such quality services to the South East community where so many of our colleagues work and reside.

Karen O Connor named as finalist in 2017 Women in Technology Awards

As the year drew to a close there was still some more good news in store. Karen O’Connor, Datapac’s general manager for service delivery, was shortlisted as a finalist for the Woman in Technology Award 2017. This prestigious award celebrates diversity in business and recognises women in business for their outstanding and inspiring contributions.

Karen has enjoyed many successes in her role at Datapac, driving transformation in our managed services division as well as growth and innovation for the company. Outside of Datapac, Karen is an active director and board member of the Wexford Chamber of Commerce, and also recently successfully completed her Doctorate in Business Administration. From all of us at Datapac we’d like to offer Karen our congratulations for this achievement.

Looking forward to 2018

2017 was another great year for Datapac and we’re especially excited about the opportunities that 2018 will present. We will continue to monitor and report on the latest trends in the Irish tech sector, and will continue to share our thoughts and advice throughout the year.

We’d like to once again offer a huge thank you to everyone who helped make 2017 so memorable for Datapac, and we hope that it was a special year for you. Finally, we’d like to offer everyone a merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year! See you in 2018!