Dancing to an ever-changing beat at Microsoft Ireland

For Microsoft Ireland's managing director Cathriona Hallahan, 2015 is a landmark year. Not only does it mark the 30th anniversary of the Irish subsidiary, but it will also mark a new chapter as the company prepares to move ahead with plans for a new Irish headquarters.

It’s an exciting time for the company, which has seen significant growth since it first came to Ireland.

It’s something Hallahan has been able to witness first-hand; she is the longest-serving Microsoft Ireland employee, having joined the company 29 years ago as an accounting technician.

When she first began, there were only 24 employees at the firm; that number has since grown to more than 1,200.

Likewise, the focus of the company has changed, with Microsoft Ireland no longer simply a manufacturing operation. These days, the company locates its Europe, Middle East and Africa operations centre in Dublin, which Hallahan previously headed up, along with a development centre that does core engineering and R&D for some products such as Windows and Office. Sales and marketing services for the island of Ireland are also located here.

To date, the company’s single biggest investment has been its data centre, which has seen it sink €750 million in the Dublin-based building. That rounded off the Irish offering.

“We are the only place outside the US – in fact, in the world – that has that unique footprint for Microsoft, with all the different pieces in the food chain connected together in one site,” explains Hallahan.

“Microsoft at the moment is transforming from a traditional product, engineering, technology type company into a mobile-first, cloud-first world where we need to react to customer demand quite quickly. We need to be engineering in a different way and be much closer connected to customers.

“For example, 10 years ago, we would have produced a product and [be] working in engineering for three years for the next release. Now we have releases coming out every eight weeks, 12 weeks, enhancing the products and giving the customers continued value in the products they buy from us.

“Having a team that is connected, that can listen to customers, bring in requirements and needs, help the engineering team react to the changing environment, help the ops team understand the supply chain changes that need to happen to align to that, it gives us the agility and nimbleness to move much faster.”

Initiatives

It’s been a little over two years since Hallahan took on the top role in Microsoft Ireland, but it’s been a busy time for her.

Since she started in February 2013, she has introduced a number of initiatives. The Youth 2 Work programme aims to get 10,000 young people skilled in the Irish marketplace over a three-year period. By the end of the second year, more than 5,000 people had been through the programme. About 25 per cent were in full-time employment, with more than 60 per cent in full-time education. Hallahan says the programme is on track to meet its 10,000 target.

It’s not just about initiatives that affect those outside the company, however. Development of the leadership team at Microsoft Ireland was designed to create a culture and environment to become one Microsoft. The Fuel Your Energy programme for employees, meanwhile, was intended to pinpoint what is important to individuals – whether it was fitness, diet, spirituality – and help them to develop it.

“If you come to the end of your term and you look back on life, will you be proud of what you’ve achieved, and [will you have] done all the things you wanted to? If you haven’t, now is the time to make those changes. Encouraging people to take the time and space to even think about those things, we’ve done that with the leadership team and it’s been hugely valuable.”

The move to the new building in Leopardstown Business Park, a €130 million investment, will be a significant change for the company. It will be the first time that all Microsoft’s divisions in Ireland have been under the same roof, and the building will be designed to use technology to its fullest.

Although the plans are yet to be finalised, Hallahan explains that technology will be part of the development.

“You’ll basically see technology just embedded into everything. It will flow through the building, it won’t be an addition to the workplace – it’s just how we work,” she says.

That could mean visitors to the building are sent their entry passes in advance, which can be scanned from their mobile phone. The traditional reception is likely to be a thing of the past, with a more flexible, mobile staff member on hand to aid visitors when necessary.

“The whole idea of the building is that you work in the environment that best suits what you need to get done that day. If you want quiet space, you get it; if you need collaborative space, or customer spaces, they’re there,” she says.

“It’s a fluid feeling rather than going into your office every day with all your stuff around you. Technology will enable us to do that so you don’t have to be in a fixed area to access what you need to do your job.

Part of the reasoning behind this is the current generation of teenagers who have grown up with technology – the digital natives – will be entering the workforce. As part of its 30th anniversary celebrations, the company brought in an 18-year-old and a primary school student to explain how they use technology in their everyday lives. This way of working closely with technology will be normal to them.

Fluid workspace

Microsoft has already implemented a version of this fluid workspace for some time, with many employees hotdesking on a regular basis. That includes Hallahan herself, who, like her predecessor

Paul Rellis

, does not have the standard corporate executive office.

“We’re going to expand that with other groups. Not every group in Microsoft in Ireland has had the opportunity to have that type of working environment but we’re going to take it to the next level in the technology and also in the culture of collaboration.”

However, with technology also comes challenges. Microsoft Ireland has been at the forefront of these challenges when it comes to data privacy.

The firm has found itself having to defend a ruling in the US compelling it to hand over emails from an MSN.com account held on its servers in relation to a drug-trafficking investigation; the server in question is located in the Irish data centre. Months of work resulted in the Government filing a supporting brief for Microsoft in December.

Hallahan says the case is important to Microsoft, and she is proud of the stance the company has taken on the matter. Customers need to have clarity on the matter, she adds.

“This case is for us key evidence to our customers to show that we take this very seriously and that we’re going to defend the fact that we believe data held in a jurisdiction like Ireland should follow the laws and protocols that exist for Ireland,” she says.

Due process

“We want to collaborate with other countries where there are criminal issues but we want to do it in a way that is following due process. We want to protect people’s data the same way we would protect physical data. Where law enforcement would need to get information from a customer, a physical file, they would need a warrant to do that; we want digital data to be respected in the same way.”

With so much going on, it would be easy to imagine that the managing director’s life is dominated by work. However, like with her employees, Hallahan has tried to strike the appropriate work/life balance.

“From a work ethic perspective, I try to make sure I switch off at weekends if I can. Obviously there’s always circumstances that, if you’re fronting the company, you have to be involved in things. I tend to try to not go on email and work weekends, and make sure that it’s family time,” she says.

Likewise, there are decisions to be made about networking and socialising, Hallahan is a regular speaker at business events in Ireland, including, most recently, the British Irish Chamber of Commerce annual conference.

While these events are crucial to business, “in a role like this, you could be out every night, and at every breakfast in the city, but I try to make choices about what areas are important to me to be involved in and when can I take the downtime”, she says.

Outside of work, de-stressing can involve the gym, or her involvement with dance. That came about as a result of her daughter.

“I’m a very hands on person, I like driving the practical things, and sometimes in a company like Microsoft [where] you’re delegating a lot and in the leadership position, you don’t get to do all the hands-on shifting,” she says. “I get my energy from different things. I love the leadership role I play in Microsoft but I also like to be involved in making an impact in the community and in my daughter’s life. DanceSport [Federation of] Ireland gives me that chance. I get involved in competitions and working at competitions. It’s a release of stress because it’s a very different environment to the company.”

Hallahan is also a member of the board of Solas – formerly Fás – and the National Children’s Hospital, both of which are also undergoing major change. The experience of Microsoft and its current transformation could be brought to bear in both situations.

The immediate future for Microsoft Ireland is looking bright. Although the firm globally has cut back on employees in the wake of its acquisition of Nokia’s smartphone unit, the Irish subsidiary appears to have emerged relatively unscathed.

Connecting pieces

“We’ve gone from developing products in life cycles of months to week. That will continue,” Hallahan says. “I think the Irish site has a really unique role in connecting those pieces together, and we’re so much closer to the market.

“Staying relevant in Ireland, making sure that we have the right skills and capabilities in the team here to ensure we are ready for the next wave of innovation is something we’re focused on.”

Any advice for aspiring executives?

“Be authentic, live your own values and be true to yourself,” she says. “If I didn’t get up every day and love what I did, I’m in the wrong place. People often don’t reflect on that. It makes for a much happier life, doing what I love and really enjoying and getting energy from it.”

CV Name: Cathriona Hallahan Position: Managing director, Microsoft Ireland Lives: Wicklow Age: 50 Family: Husband Tim, daughter Molly. Something you might expect: She enjoys public speaking, and communications is considered one of her strong points. Something that might surprise: She is secretary and treasurer of Dance Sport Federation of Ireland, and can often be found helping out at competitions.