Scots IT sector on the rise as cloud computing firm puts down roots

By PETER RANSCOMBE
Published on 06/06/2012 00:45

SCOTLAND’S £4 billion IT industry will receive a boost today when a Swedish “cloud computing” company that lists BAE Systems, the Oslo stock exchange and law firm Pinsent Masons among its clients unveils plans to create 50 jobs.

Stockholm-listed Proact, which has bases in 13 countries, will open its European operations and support centre at its Bellshill sales office after receiving a regional selective assistance (RSA) grant from the Scottish Government.

The Scandinavian firm is the latest in a string of cloud computing specialists to target Scotland, with Cloudreach, EnStratus, Onyx and Pulsant all announcing investments in the country.

Proact entered the UK market last year by buying Chesterfield-based B2net for £12 million and will pump £3m into its Glasgow operation over the next three years, taking its headcount up from its current ten staff. A sales office was also recently opened in Aberdeen.

The company turned over 2.2 billion Swedish krona (£202m) last year, with about £60m coming from its UK operations, which employ 180 people.

Danny Quinn, head of managed cloud services operations at Proact, said: “Our business is growing rapidly. Receiving the RSA grant means we can take advantage of the available workforce in Scotland.”

The company, which was founded in 1994 and listed on the Swedish stock exchange in July 1999, has carried out more than 3,500 projects for its clients, including moves to “cloud computing”.

Instead of using specific individual terminals, cloud computing allows firms to store software and information on remote servers and access them from anywhere via an internet connection.

Anne MacColl, chief executive of inward investment agency Scottish Development International (SDI), said: “SDI has worked closely with Proact to offer an integrated package of support to bring this investment to Scotland.

“As one of Europe’s leading companies in its field, the fact that it’s chosen to create jobs here is real testament to what we have to offer to this growing business sector.”

She added: “Scotland has a well-established track record in IT. This means we can offer world-class infrastructure support, a large pool of highly-qualified IT staff and cost-effective benefits compared to other locations.”

News of Proact’s investment in North Lanarkshire is the latest boost for the Scottish IT sector, which employs more than 70,000 staff directly and a further 30,000 when companies’ internal IT departments are added into the mix.

In April, London-based IT firm Cloudreach opened an office in Edinburgh, creating 30 jobs. The firm – which lists Irn Bru-maker AG Barr among its clients – plans to recruit a further 20 staff here before the end of the year.

Minneapolis-based EnStratus is also recruiting 30 staff for its European head office, which will open at Edinburgh University’s Appleton Tower later this year thanks to a £240,000 RSA grant. European IT giant MTI also opened an office in Edinburgh in December.

At the turn of the year, Teeside-based Onyx revealed that it had its sights set on acquiring more Scottish IT companies after building a £15m war chest.

Home-grown outfits are also leading the charge into cloud computing, with Angus MacSween’s Glasgow-based Iomart, Inchinnan’s Amor Group and Pulsant, the Edinburgh-based technology firm that emerged from Scottish internet service provider Ednet, all winning work as firms head for the cloud.