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EDS looks to recruit following new deal
Monday, January 14 2002
by Matthew Clark


EDS Ireland says it is looking to recruit 150 new employees, following a new
three year deal with Marrakech valued at around EUR3 million.

Under the agreement announced on Monday, EDS will offer a hosting platform along
with Web site management services to the Irish e-procurement company Marrakech.
The two companies say that they will collaborate to deploy the system, which
comprises of 16 Unix servers.



In October 2001 EDS hinted that it would increase its staff levels in Ireland
after the firm announced a 20 percent increase in third quarter earnings. Now,
according to Peter Donnelly, managing director at EDS Ireland, the company will
increase its employment levels from around 350 to around 500 over the next 12
months.  According to EDS, system engineers as well as supply chain management
employees will be sought. 



Following the October results the company said it had performed well thanks to
the decision by many firms, such as Marrakech, to outsource systems as a means of
cutting costs and since 11 September EDS says firms are interested in
implementing IT security services and disaster recovery systems.



Referring to the Marrakech deal, Donnelly said the agreement was important in the
context of the company's history in Ireland. "This is a sizable deal for us and
we're glad to have it," he said. The company has been operating its sales and
marketing division in Ireland since 1999, with year-on-year growth, culminating
to around USD20 million in business for last year, Donnelly explained. "It's
amazing when you consider three years' ago that figure was zero," he said. 



Donnelly went on to say that the corporation was "quite happy" with the
performance of the Irish division and that EDS' Irish solutions and engineering
centre was a model throughout the company worldwide.  Although Donnelly
anticipates that much of the staffing would be completed in the next 12 months,
he said recruiting for skilled and experienced employees was difficult, despite
the IT downturn.



The new deal is also an important one for Marrakech, according to Colin Lewis,
head of marketing with the e-procurement company. Lewis said the deal was in the
works for between six and nine months and that EDS was selected, in part, because
of its "guaranteed quality and 100 percent up time." He explained to
ElectricNews.Net, "It's not hard to find a supplier for these services, what is
hard is finding one that can provide the quality that our business relies on." 



Marrakech's primary line of business is a network-based solution called the
Marrakech Global Commerce Network. The e-procurement offering is an
Internet-based trading platform that allows companies to interact and trade
regardless of size or location. 



Marrakech is thought to have cut some 50 jobs in the final quarter of 2001,
bringing its employment levels down from 180 to its current level of 125. But
despite the cuts, the firm is believed to be fully funded and its investors
include RSA Security, Island Capital and Doughty Hanson & Co. In total the
business has captured around USD30 million in venture capital and it is thought
that Marrakech is now seeking an investment of USD25 million in a third round of
funding. Meanwhile, the company is able to boast a strong client base that
includes Jefferson Smurfit Group, British Sugar and JCB.