Hitachi’s new Irish subsidiary will offer IoT solutions

Hitachi is hoping to tap into the digital transformation of Ireland, with the official launch of its Irish subsidiary Hitachi Vantara.

The company, which employs 15 people, consolidates three companies – Hitachi Data Systems, Pentaho and Hitachi Insight Group – combining industrial expertise, data management and analytics to offer industrial internet of things (IoT) solutions.

The company already has significant experience and expertise in the financial services sector, where there is potential for financial services providers to streamline processes, reduce support costs and capture data in real time, allowing them to respond more quickly.

Although the company plans to focus on the financial services and technology-centric sectors initially, it also intends to look beyond those markets.

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Hitachi Vantara's Irish head Gerry Murray said Hitachi has a "double bottom line".

“It’s not just a profit line, which you’d expect, but what’s good for society,” he said. “Our remit is about societal change and impact, looking at the environmental challenges we have. We’re looking at a bigger picture.”

Collaboration

Mr Murray previously worked as country manager for Dell EMC, leading the Cloud4Gov initiative to promote collaboration between public sector and Irish small- and medium-sized enterprises.

“The Hitachi group is an enormous conglomerate across all sorts of industries – trains to automobiles, power to healthcare,” he said.

“The vision is that tech and connectivity is where everything is leading to, and Hitachi Vantara is the Hitachi company that will pull all that together.”

The company is now gearing up for what it describes as an ambitious expansion plan. Mr Murray is planning to grow the business, along with its staff numbers in the coming months and years.

Brexit may also afford the company new opportunities as organisations seek to relocate their headquarters.

“There are no specific plans, but over the next three to five years we want to grow that, not just as Hitachi Vantara but also to encourage some of the other organisations within Hitachi to look at Ireland as a destination,” he said.

“We’re only at the starting point, so I see a lot of opportunity for us,” Mr Murray said.