TWO CONSULTANTS with Irish firm Bluewave Technology have been recognised by IBM as being among the top 50 experts worldwide on its collaboration technologies.
Paul Mooney, a co-founder and head of infrastructure service services at Bluewave, and Warren Elsmore, a senior architecture consultant with Bluewave’s UK operation, have been named IBM champions.
Founded in 2000, Bluewave focused initially on the Irish market for professional services but now works on projects around the world including the US, Britain, Germany, France and the Philippines.
The company employs 28 staff between offices in Ireland and Britain.
Bluewave managing director Harry Dunne says cloud technologies and harnessing smartphones are two of the main areas in which customers are investing.
Mr Mooney says take-up of cloud is at different stages in different geographies.
While Irish organisations are cautious about moving data and applications to a cloud provider, he says Bluewave is involved in a project in the US where a government agency is using the cloud to host core applications.
“There was an initial wave of people moving to the cloud but there is a much sharper focus on costs now,” says Mr Dunne. “People initially saw cloud as a way to save money but they are now looking at the medium- to long-term costs of moving to a third party.”
Bluewave’s clients are also looking at how they can use the computing power of smartphones to make them productive business tools.
“The Angry Birds culture has definitely hit business; we are on the edge of a precipice,” Mr Mooney adds.
While Bluewave is a BlackBerry partner, increasingly corporate clients want to provide applications to staff using iPhones and Android devices.
“Android is better for developers because it is more open,” says Mr Mooney. “It [Apple] is better for security and management of devices.”
He believes that the “consumerisation” of corporate technology has been driven by executives demanding support for the devices that they use in their private lives.
“If a manager walks into the IT department with an iPad and says he wants his e-mail on it, it’s going to be a career-limiting decision if you say no.”
Mr Dunne says he sees an increasing number of clients who are no longer carrying a laptop and are instead using an iPad or even an iPhone to access the information they need on the road.
Bluewave’s Irish and international clients include Axa Insurance, Cardiff University, the Central Statistics Office, Red Bull, the HSE, Louis Vuitton and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
