Ireland's economy is growing surprisingly amid the struggling Eurozone. Dublin is establishing itself as a major business hub, attracting global companies with its strategic location between Europe and the US and competitive costs. Ireland also has a skilled workforce particularly in technical fields like engineering and life sciences. It is becoming a leader in cloud computing with major providers establishing data centers there. In addition, Ireland is developing a successful business process outsourcing industry leveraging its multilingual workforce and proximity to Europe.

1. Why Ireland Could Be a Hot Destination in the Frozen Euro Zone?
1.Surprisingly, Ireland's Economy Is Growing!
Where Greece 痴 economy will contract by 6 per cent of GDP this year and
the euro zone by 0.4 per cent, the IMF forecasts the Irish economy will
grow by 0.4 per cent and is credited with making a 澱 umpy recovery
----International Monetary Fund
As a non-core Euro zone country, Ireland's status has always been a
matter of debate. But an interesting fact is that despite all the
confusions that surround it, Ireland's economy is showing signs of
recovery.
Its performance in recent times looks more convincing than most parts
of the troubled economy. The country is seeing a remarkable
improvement in its manufacturing activity, whereas others still
present a grim picture. Its exports are visibly going up. Even if
these parameters are not enough to depict an overall improvement, the
possibilities of an export driven recovery looks reasonably high and
there are enough grounds for optimism.
Read more :
Ireland on the way to recovery
Less cash, more impact
The sun rises in the west

2. 2. Dublin Is Growing into a Business Hub...
Positioned in between the United States and Europe's mainland,
Dublin, the capital of Ireland, is an important business location for
various reasons. The city was ranked recently by Forbes magazine as
one of the six best global cities that are hotbeds for start-ups and
innovation.
With its low corporate tax and labor cost, it is said to be
comparatively cheaper than London. Another important factor that
attracts attention to Dublin, is its favorable geographical location.
Banking on its surging opportunities, many big businesses have
established there headquarters here. The 'Silicon Docks' area houses
business giants like Google, Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter.
Dublin has also been recognized as the top western city in the Global
Services' Top 100 Outsourcing Cities List.
3. Good At High-end Technical Skills
Known for their hospitality and kind nature, Irish people also have
some niche technical capabilities. The IMD World Competitiveness
Yearbook 2012 has ranked Ireland first for the availability of
skilled labor. The country has a rich pool of niche, specialist
talent especially in areas where cost is not the only consideration.
Testing, application development, life sciences are key areas.
“Both Galway and Leixlip are Centres of Excellence within HP and
Irish based engineers are increasingly developing new leading edge
capabilities servicing the needs of clients in the USA, China, India,
Europe and Asia.----Martin Murphy, Managing Director HP Ireland,
which added around 150 R&D jobs in Ireland recently, said in a
company press release

3. 4. Ahead In the Global 'Cloud' Race
With some leading cloud computing providers like Salesforce and
Amazon setting up operations in the country, its increasingly being
touted as an emerging leader in cloud.
The Irish prime Minister, Enda Kenny, was quoted saying, 展 e are well
on the way to establishing Ireland as one of the cloud computing
capitals of the world. Seven of the world 痴 top ten Cloud Data Center
operators are already in Ireland, including Amazon, Google and
Microsoft.
What supports the trend is the country's technological expertize and
strong infrastructure capabilities. Cloud is currently a big
opportunity that Irish businesses can capitalize on, but this would
require some rapid developments so that they are able to do it before
any other country does it. Salil Dani, Everest, adds, 迭 ole of
Ireland will emerge not just in cloud but in other high-end
technology areas as well.”
5. BPO Story Is Evolving
India and Philippines debate in the global BPO scene is heard and
discussed often. Moving away from that for a while, emerging
countries like Ireland too have got some unique ingredients for a
successful BPO story.
The country has excellent multilingual skills that are difficult to
find in most parts of the world. This gives it an edge in the contact
center outsourcing space. Along with that the country is also showing
growth potential in F&A and back office work.
Its geographical and cultural proximity and time zone similarity with
rest of Europe are some key factors that are strengthening its
position as a nearshore destination.
Indian service providers too have forayed into the scene to make use
of the opportunity. Companies like TCS and HCL present a good example
of companies that have set up their delivery centers in the country.

4. IBM too has opened a Global Services Integration Hub in Dublin, some
time back.
“Many companies are servicing almost 40 languages from their Shared
Services centers in Ireland.Google is a good example which is
actually servicing 60 languages from its center in Dublin.----
Minakshi Batra, India Director, IDA Ireland