Enterprise Ireland’s contribution in relation to knowledge-sharing, market information and access to key contacts has been invaluable to Linesight. Having built up a strong domestic presence since 1974, professional services provider to the construction industry Linesight needed to grow its business in overseas markets when the recession hit in 2008.
Linesight director, Paul Butler
The company found a series of workshops on data centres, organised by Enterprise Ireland, particularly valuable – an area which Linesight wanted to focus more on, according to director Paul Butler.
“Enterprise Ireland brought all the leading consultants and contractors together in one location to discuss the pros and cons of doing business with data centres and how to attract further data centre providers to Ireland,” he says. “All the relevant information was shared with everyone involved afterwards.”
Linesight went about sourcing and training people dedicated to providing professional services to data centre projects, which are very mechanical and technically driven. It now has a designated team which looks after a number of data centre clients in Ireland, the UK and the Netherlands.
Once Linesight decided it wanted to explore opportunities in the Netherlands five years ago, it benefited greatly from several introductions to the market, and with local providers organised by Enterprise Ireland in Amsterdam, according to Butler.
“We were very keen to get local information and find out from others who had tried the market before, the lessons they had learned,” he says.
“Enterprise Ireland put us in touch with key contacts and set up face-to-face meetings with other contractors and consultants in the sector. The support in terms of local knowledge and getting to grips with how things are done there has been excellent.”
