Irish IT managed services and digital transformation company HCS has announced a €1.45 million investment in the launch of its 24/7 managed support capability for Irish and international customers. HCS, owned by Centric360, an investment vehicle owned jointly by CEO Pamela Farrell and Brian Larkin, operates from offices in Dublin, Waterford and Cork, serving customers across financial services, healthcare, hospitality, pharmaceutical and manufacturing sectors.

New Zealand has been selected as the first location for HCS's international support capability due to its favourable time zone alignment with Ireland, strong technology talent pool and cultural alignment. The service represents the next step in HCS's managed services strategy, moving beyond traditional support to an always-on model through a follow-the-sun arrangement, with staff in Ireland and New Zealand handing over work across time zones to maintain continuity without relying on overnight coverage from a single location.

The launch marks the first part of a multi-phase strategy to strengthen HCS's customer support and service delivery model. As well as 24/7 monitoring, triage and escalation, the capability will provide critical services including data protection and cyber resilience, aimed at mid-market and larger customers seeking continuous oversight of business-critical IT systems.

Pamela Farrell, CEO of HCS, said: "When technology disruption occurs, the impact can be financial, operational and reputational. At HCS, this investment is about helping customers reduce that risk." Finn Grant, Head of Service Delivery at HCS, added: "The launch of HCS's new follow-the-sun service is a fundamental shift in how the company supports its customers."

The structural driver is the shift among mid-market and enterprise customers from scheduled support windows to continuous coverage expectations, pushing managed service providers to build multi-region delivery models rather than scale single-location teams into overnight shifts.

For the sector, this reflects growing pressure on Irish managed service providers to match the always-on resilience standards of larger global competitors, using distributed follow-the-sun teams as a lower-cost route to round-the-clock coverage.

Source: irishtechnews.ie / techcentral.ie / syncni.com