How Fujitsu’s international focus undid its Irish operation

Fujitsu talked a good game but a global strategy did not translate to local success, says Billy MacInnes

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Image: Getty via Dennis

Can you remember what you were doing in 2014? It’s only 10 years ago but a lot can happen in a decade. Just ask anyone on the other side of the Irish Sea.

Back in October 2014, Fujitsu Ireland CEO Regina Moran was remarking in an interview with Business & Finance magazine that the company was “performing well. We are in a significant growth phase”. After reeling off a few figures, she continued: “The main growth driver is international. We are providing an increasing amount of global services from across the Fujitsu family to our customers based in Ireland. Fujitsu Ireland is very important within the Fujitsu Group.”

A little later, she added that Fujitsu Ireland was “on a major growth trajectory… Fujitsu in Ireland has a vision to become the number one IT services company in the country and this year is another step to achieving that vision. We strive to innovate and bring the global might of the Fujitsu Group to assist our customer base in Ireland”.

Five years or so after that interview, Fujitsu Ireland channel manager Michael Jackson was telling TechCentral.ie readers that the company was “refocusing and reinvesting in the channel in Ireland”. He acknowledged at the time that Fujitsu had dipped in and out of the channel in Ireland over the years. “The channel hasn’t been as looked after as it should have been, but we’re here now and we want partners to look at what we’ve got to offer now we’re investing back in the channel in Ireland. We’re trying to bring a toolbox to resellers that they can take one piece from, or all of it, and we’ll help them to drive their business further.”

Here we are, five years later, and things are looking very different after Fujitsu confirmed it was planning to effectively wind down the Irish operation over time. Sadly, it doesn’t look as if Fujitsu Ireland is that important within the Fujitsu Group anymore.

According to a report in The Register, Fujitsu has decided not to “pursue new business in the Irish market” and plans to “refocus its Irish operations on the fulfilment of its existing customer contractual commitments”. The official reason given for the winddown was the failure to achieve the group-wide target profit margin of 10%.

Estimates vary but it is believed Fujitsu Ireland employs up to 200 people and most of them are unlikely to be kept on while the company sees out its remaining contracts.

Back in June 2020, Fujitsu Ireland announced that it was proud to have “met and exceeded its own pledge to greatly reduce its carbon output. Having committed to lower carbon emissions by 50% by 2030, Fujitsu has dropped its carbon output by 60%, 10 years earlier than the committed target.”

Whatever else happens, the decision to wind down operations here will ensure the company is going to be even further ahead of any targets it might have set to reduce its carbon output over the coming years.

Today, when I entered Fujitsu Ireland into the search engine, the top result was ‘Fujitsu Ireland: Moving forward for a sustainable world’. Sadly, it looks like moving forward for a sustainable world is going to be done without Fujitsu Ireland.

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