By Business & Finance 
US-headquartered technology company Salesforce has opened a new office in Dublin. It is a signigicant development for the Irish tech industry which was recently shook by a contraction felt across the sector globally. Salesforce is our FDI of the Month June 2023.
New offices
Salesforce opened their new Dublin offices at the beginning of May in a move which was described as a “significant moment” by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.
Varadkar attended the official unveiling of the US company’s new Irish offices on North Wall Quay.
The ‘Salesforce Tower Dublin’ is the US company’s largest in the EMEA region and employs approximately 3000 people in Ireland. The company said they would cut 200 jobs during the tech contraction in February.
Salesforce stated their new Dublin campus is “one of the most sustainable buildings in Ireland.” It is reportedly powered by 100% renewable energy provided by solar rooftop panels. The roof will be populated with plants and 60,000 bees.
The firm has also stated they will offer space at the new facilities to not-for profits, foundations and education groups for events during weeknights and weekends at no charge.
“As one of the first global technology companies to establish here, this latest investment by Salesforce is yet another vote of confidence in Ireland as a location for global business,” said Varadkar.
Moving forward
Carolan Lennon, Country Leader, Salesforce Ireland commented on the new campus as the firm moves forward from the tech contraction.
“We are just out the other side of that now with just under 200 job cuts in Ireland but there are still nearly 3,000 people in Ireland and all of us located now in this amazing office.”
Lennon commented on Salesforce’s future in Ireland:
“We have tons of amazing customers, we continue to innovate so Salesforce is going to be in Ireland for a very long time.”
“2023 is still unpredictable for all businesses, if you look at what is going on in the world, coming out of the pandemic, political unrest,” she continued.
“I think there is still a lot of uncertainty but what we are hearing from CEOs is that it is all about digital transformation, it is all about using AI, data and automation to get more efficient and drive growth.”
“We are number one in CRM (Customer Relationship Management) for the last ten years and that is what we are good at so I think we have a long and bright future with Irish business customers helping them in their digital transformation,” she added.
Varadkar noted the value of Salesforce’s continued presence in Ireland:
“The continued commitment of Salesforce to Ireland will support our technology ecosystem to grow and thrive in the years ahead,” he added.
An Taoiseach also spoke of how context in relation to the consequences of the tech contraction is important:
“Some companies that have cut back on their staff by 10-15% still have more staff than they had three years ago so it does need to be seen in that context. There was rapid expansion of digital and tech during the pandemic and now there is a resizing or a downsizing.”
“I definitely think in the medium term there is going to be significant jobs growth in this sector.”
“Everyone knows the future is digital. Whether it is robotics, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, you name it, the future is digital and there is going to be huge job and economic opportunities in that space,” he said.
FDI of the Month
Business & Finance recognises excellence in foreign direct investment companies operating out of Ireland through the ‘FDI of the Month’ award. The FDI of the Month award recognises the company which best demonstrates longstanding commitment to Ireland, investment in facilities and R&D, and job creation, as well as business leadership on a global scale.
Recipients of the award are automatically put forward as candidates for the prestigious FDI of the Year award at the annual Business & Finance Awards.
See here for more information on the 2023 Business & Finance Awards. To get involved, please contact Brian.Kearns@businessandfinance.com
