IN THE HOT SEAT

Tell us a bit about yourselves

Lloyd

I grew up in Clane and attended secondary school at Naas CBS, and I still live in Clane to this day. It’s quite fortunate that our offices are located in Millennium Park, as it gives me the luxury of a quick 10-minute commute. Sports have always been a big part of my life, especially football and hurling. I played for Clane GAA for many years and have cherished memories from those days. Another passion of mine is golf, and I’ve been a member of Naas golf club for as long as I can remember. Although I may not be playing as actively as before, I remain connected to the sports community through coaching the youth sections of both Clane GAA and Naas golf club. It’s a wonderful way for me to give back and stay engaged in the sports I love. On top of that, my family and I are enthusiastic supporters of Kildare GAA. We make it a point to attend as many matches as possible, and I was particularly thrilled to see the U20s triumph in the All Ireland this year. Living and working in Kildare is truly a pleasure. It offers the best of both worlds for me. On one hand, there’s a fantastic workfamily life balance that allows me to enjoy quality time with my loved ones. On the other hand, Kildare boasts wonderful amenities and a thriving business community that keeps me engaged and motivated professionally. While my work does require some travel, which I enjoy, coming back to Kildare always feels like returning home. We have the opportunity to attend various events worldwide, like the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, and regularly meet clients and partners across Europe and the US.

Conor

I’m from Galway and live just outside Galway city. In my younger days I played soccer for Galway United in the league of Ireland, NUIG and my local club Salthill Devon. I now channel all of that soccer energy into managing the Under 13/14 girls Salthill Devon soccer teams. They are a fantastic bunch and we have enjoyed lots of success recently with the teams winning local league and cup doubles. Many of the girls are part of the Galway league team, which VEI Global sponsored, that recently won the Interleague National Cup final and that’s up there for me with memorable moments. With our offices based in Naas, I make the most of the new hybrid working environment we all find ourselves in. Like so many of the clients we support with connectivity solutions, I work remotely for some of the week and work at HQ for the remainder. We were recently the 500k premises to install SIRO broadband and this connectivity will play a pivotal role in expanding our business and, more importantly, in elevating the level of service we deliver to our valued customers in Ireland and around the world. Travelling with Lloyd and the senior management team is always an adventure and we try to fit in some time to see the cities we visit whenever we can.

When did you set up VEI Global Lloyd

We set-up VEI Global in 2010, when we were working for Siemens in Dublin. We both always wanted to work for ourselves and had been thinking of setting up an IT business together for quite some time. We had secure jobs and careers and it was a huge step into the unknown but one we were eager to make. Starting off was very exciting and exhilarating and also more than a little nerve wracking. We thrived on the adrenaline of starting up, in those early days. We were lucky in that we managed to bring together a talented team of people and many of them are still with the company today. This really is the best job I’ve ever had and I genuinely enjoy coming to work every day. Each day brings a whole new challenge and I like the variety of what we do. Getting to work with the global organisations and international brands has been hugely rewarding.

Conor

As Lloyd says, setting up VEI 13 years ago was pretty exhilarating. There were sleepless nights and lots of bumps in the road along with way but the journey has been so rewarding and to see the company grow from just an idea in 2010 to where we are today, operating all across the globe has been personally and professionally fulfilling. What’s keeping us really engaged now is the growth potential. We have built up a stellar set of partners and clients across all sectors, from health and education to retail, construction, transport and logistics. The future looks bright and we have the skillset and experience to deliver multisite IT deployment projects across all sectors around the globe.

Can you tell me a bit about the day to day work within VEI?

Lloyd

We specialise in the delivery of IT and Telecoms solutions including; Wi-Fi, Networks, Security, Contact Centre, MS Teams & VoIP, Circuit Connectivity and 5G solutions. Our clients include some of the largest companies and service providers operating in Ireland and across the globe. We have completed digital transformation and network upgrade projects for some of the most recognised brands in the world. Network and connectivity security is core to what we do and we work with some of the largest global carriers in the world delivering projects all over the EU and North America.

No two days in the office are the same and our team of project managers, engineers and support staff are focused on providing the best helpdesk and support service capabilities for our global clients, where all requests are managed day or night. We offer a multi-lingual expert services desk and integration centre for staging, testing and shipping network equipment at our HQ in Naas so that’s always a busy place.

Recruitment is very competitive how do you retain and attract employees?

Conor

As the global recruitment market is highly competitive at the moment, retaining employees and recruiting new team members is more important than ever. From the start, we have always tried to be an employeefocused company. As employees ourselves, in our previous lives, we know how important it is for people to feel valued and supported. Our clients can only be happy and served well if our team are, so the culture of the company is essential. Most of our employees live locally in the Naas and Kildare areas. We have employed a great pool of local talent that don’t necessarily want to commute to Dublin. We work with third level colleges such as the School of Engineering in Tallaght to employ Telecommunications and Data Network Engineering apprentices. We have tried to create a fun working environment, focused on building strong relationships, working hard and a determination to inspire the best in ourselves and our team.

We offer flexible working hours and remote working options. We do like to get the whole team together as much as possible, so we can see one another face to face and connect. Thankfully, we have managed to retain many of our existing team who started with us 13 years ago and have expanded in all key areas over the last number of years. We are currently in another recruitment drive with a variety of open positions.

Any interesting projects coming up?

Lloyd

We are very excited about our current project with The European Parliament. This is a project our team worked hard to win, continue to work hard to deliver and one we are very proud of. The project involves implementing a WAAS (Wi-Fi as a Service) solution covering an extensive network across 27 countries and 50 sites. We have experience working on large multi-site project rollouts across the globe and this helped us in our bid with the European Parliament. We also work with county councils across Ireland and with state bodies such as the Health and Safety Authority. Rolling our several key WiFi4Eu projects in recent years, was particularly rewarding especially when it came to connecting the remote islands off the coast of Ireland.

In November, last year we announced we had achieved 5G for Enterprise Branch Specialisation from Cradlepoint, the global leader in cloud-delivered LTE and 5G wireless network edge solutions. We are exceptionally proud to be Cradlepoint’s first certified 5G partner in Ireland, which showcases our commitment to using the best-of-breed technology as part of our service stack, as well as laying the path to 5G for businesses.

How long have you been a member of the chamber and has it helped with your growth?

Conor

The Kildare Chamber has been truly pivotal for VEI since we joined back in 2010. Working with the Chamber and its members and participating in all it offers has brought many benefits to our business. In the early days, some of our first key contracts were awarded from contacts we had developed through membership of the Chamber. It has helped us to develop connections across a diverse network of businesses and the regular networking events, annual awards and the trip to Boston have all been so important to us and helped us to grow our business to where we find ourselves today.

This year we are delighted to be sponsoring the Chamber’s Summer Social Evening at Naas Racecourse in June which is set to be a sellout and we look forward to the annual awards ceremony later this year.