Its safe to say that no one predicted what 2020 would bring and now that have landed in 2021 we can reflect positively on a difficult but interesting year. As we entered 2020 we were excited for a busy year in GCS Consulting working on a number of interesting projects.
However by St Patricks day (17th March) all bets were off as Covid struck.
Wave 1 came and went. We all had our Summer holidays at home and it was great!
Wave 2 came bringing another lockdown followed by pre Christmas easing of restrictions. Wave 3 arrived before the end of the year and it looks like we will continue to face further restrictions until April.
Covid aside, on reflection 2020 was a fantastic year for us and we hope 2021 will bring new opportunities as we look to build on the successes of 2020.
Roll on 2021..............
2020 Highs
Host in Ireland Pro Bono Partnership.
We were delighted to be chosen for one of 2 Pro Bono Partnerships with Host in Ireland.
As a small Consultancy with big ambitions this partnership is a huge opportunity for us to connect and learn from some of the biggest players in the Data Centre industry in Ireland.
Host in Ireland is an industry-led initiative specifically developed to generate awareness and recognition of Ireland’s benefits as an optimum location to host digital assets.
By providing. timely and accurate information regarding Ireland’s hosting landscape with the help of partner companies, Host in Ireland is redefining industry perceptions.
Host in Ireland produces a Biannual Report that covers all aspects of Ireland Data Hosting Industry.
Its well worth a look - Host in Ireland Biannual report: Here
Host in Ireland Bits, Bytes and Banter Podcast: Here
Our favorite Episode - Here
In this excellent episode Garry interviews David Connolly (CEO - Irish Wind Energy Association) and discusses the exciting future of wind Energy in Ireland. Garry also speaks with David McAuley, Founder & CEO of Bitpower to bust the myth that Data Centres are using renewable energy that could be used elsewhere and will account for 30% of Irelands carbon by 2030.
Working with Exyte on the Intel Ireland Project
We continued our partnership with Exyte through 2020 delivering deliver Cost Engineering and Project Cost Control services on the Intel project in Leixlip. Our team work collaboratively with Exyte to focus primarily on Client Cost reporting.
With any project there are multiple challenges when controlling costs and this project is no different. Given the scale of this project the complexity, coordination and data management required to manage costs is immense. The main focus of our work on this project in 2020 has been forecasting the Estimated Cost at completion for the project. This involves careful management and coordination of Client change, Design development and Communication across multiple stakeholders to generate an estimate of the final total cost of this phenomenal project. One of our other main achievement with Exyte was supporting the delivery of a new Project Cost Control system, defining workflows and processes needed to successfully deliver the technology.
Want to hear how you can implement learnings on your project: Click Here
Takeda/MSD/GCS Consulting a new partnership in 2020
We started working with Takeda and MSD as part of the divestment of the Dunboyne site. On this project we are supporting the Accounting and Finance team as the 2 companies integrate all business functions. The focus of our work here has been to act in a Finance business partner capacity working across various functions supporting process creation, process implementation, and Financial Planning and Analysis activities required as part of this exciting project. As MSD take the reigns in Dunboyne it looks like exciting times lie ahead.
Read more here: MSD and Takeda Conclude Acquisition
2021 The Year ahead
We move into 2021 with huge excitement and are hoping to continue to grow the company despite the uncertainty associated with Covid 19. As a company we frame ourselves around the three pillars of People, Process and Technology. We have an amazing team of people which we hope to continue to add to in 2021. We will continue to implement robust and efficient processes on every project we support to enable Client success.
We believe that the future of Project Cost Controls lies in digital solutions and seek to maximise the efficiency of the Technology we use.
Some of the main systems we are currently working with:
Hexagon Ecosys
Autodesk - Cost Management
+AddJust (An exciting Irish Company)
SAP CPM
SAP HANA
Power BI
Excel - Advanced modelling and Analytics.
Microsoft Sharepoint
In H1 2021 we hope to introduce a technology offering to our Portfolio of service so that we can offer an end to end Project Cost Control solution for our clients. We are working on a number of technology options at the moment looking for the best Project Cost Control solution for our clients. We are excited to find new ways to help our clients deliver projects successfully.
Want to hear more about our systems experience or our new technology offering: Click Here
Want to hear more?
Feel free to get in touch if you have any questions or comments.
We are always happy to have an informal chat about our experience working on some very exciting projects with some amazing clients.
Contact
Ireland Director - Paul Kirwan
086 356 8369