By Business & Finance 
Martin Shanahan, CEO, IDA Ireland; Chris Hyams, LogMeIn
LogMeIn is a software as a service (SaaS) company providing unified communications to millions of customers around the world. Business & Finance speaks to Steve Duignan, VP Corporate Marketing International and Site Lead for LogMeIn’s Dublin office.
Q.About company: LogMeIn, Inc. (Nasdaq: LOGM) simplifies how people connect with each other and the world around them to drive meaningful interactions, deepen relationships, and create better outcomes for individuals and businesses. One of the world’s top 10 public SaaS companies, and a market leader in unified communication & conferencing, identity & access, and customer engagement & support solutions, LogMeIn has millions of customers spanning virtually every country across the globe. LogMeIn is headquartered in Boston and its international HQ is based in Dublin, with additional locations in North and South America, Europe, Asia and Australia. Q. Company size: LogMeIn has approximately 4,000 employees worldwide and LogMeIn’s Irish operations currently has 180 staff and plans to more than double headcount over the next three to five years, with the creation of 200 new jobs. Q.Company turnover: $1.2 billion Q. When did company come to Ireland? LogMeIn expanded into Ireland in 2012 and Dublin is home to the International HQ. Our International business covers Europe, Middle East, Africa, India, Asia and Latin America. Q. Why did the company choose Ireland? LogMeIn chose Ireland for a number of structural reasons: The unique combination of a highly educated, diverse workforce, and a growing innovation scene made up of some the biggest names in technology. Also, the breadth of language skills available in Ireland are difficult to duplicate in other countries. Ireland’s open and business friendly economy, along with its easily accessible location and excellent connectivity, enables LogMeIn to conduct International business from Ireland and support our global operations. From a sales and marketing infrastructure perspective, we have found Dublin to have a wealth of outstanding leadership talent and deep commercial experience that we can tap into. The Dublin office is central to LogMeIn’s position at the forefront of innovation, allowing the business to expand its international footprint, and attract the highest level of talent available to be a part of our development to support our customers all over the world. Q. Did Brexit affect your decision to base the company in Ireland and/or will it affect your business moving forward? No, Brexit did not affect LogMeIn’s decision to base the company in Ireland as we’ve been present in Ireland since 2012. We are certainly cognisant of Brexit like all businesses with operations in Europe. We have data centres in the UK as in many other countries, but LogMeIn is in a position where we have planned ahead and can adapt to any situation. We see the real threat coming from macroeconomic movements. For LogMeIn, the problems associated with Brexit are the disruption it creates for our employees, who are fundamental to LogMeIn. So, planning and caring for them post-Brexit is paramount to us. Q. Tell us your experience establishing the company in Ireland? Was it an easy or difficult process? The expansion into Dublin played an integral part in the growth of the business and will continue to do so as the company continues to grow. In 2012, when we first expanded into Dublin, we were met with an economic environment that was beginning to recover from the 2008 sub-prime bust and was becoming a destination for SaaS businesses. It was easy to do business with Ireland, very accessible, and there was a talented workforce. This made the entire process easier for us. We were very fortunate to have received support from the IDA, when we expanded in Ireland – they have been nothing but helpful and supportive of our organisation’s move to Ireland. Q. Do you find it difficult or easy to attract and retain staff in or to Ireland? Having a headquarters in Ireland has helped us recruit from a large pool of tech savvy talent from across Europe. We have easy access to a European workforce with knowledge of other markets. The concentration of tech companies in Ireland has created a centre for language skills where highly qualified business and technology savvy people from inside and outside Ireland will gravitate to that. With this said, Dublin is a very attractive market, approaching effectively zero unemployment and within the tech sector, we are aware of the competition that exists for the highly talented individuals. One of our unique selling propositions for attracting talent at LogMeIn is the crossover of selling B2B and B2C, which provides opportunities for employees, regardless of their background. We also offer a working environment that has career advantages, providing employees with a good company culture, and the ability to develop their career, and this is critical to employee retention. Q. In the context of the current housing crisis are there any challenges attracting staff to your company and/or region? LogMeIn remains confident in attracting talent in Ireland, despite the difficulties around housing. While we are seeing increased competition for talent in Dublin, we believe we can set ourselves apart by offering a work environment that empowers our employees to excel in their careers and offers them constant support. Q. What are your future plans for the business in Ireland? Our gameplan is to ‘have the first and best’ product in each of the areas we operate in. We think that we now have all the elements in our portfolio to go out and implement our growth plans. Dublin will be the heartbeat of that growth outside North America. The Dublin operation has played an integral role in helping the company grow, and it will continue to play a central role as we look to growth our collaboration, security and engagement businesses. The Dublin expansion provides the groundwork to build more localised offerings and allows the business to further understand what is needed in International markets.
