Established in 2010, Tandem provides project management and solutions across the full lifecycle of a project including design, procurement, construction, commissioning, qualification and operational readiness.

Tandem specialises in the life science sector and also successfully applies its skill-set to others sectors including hi-tech, food, commercial and public works.

Based in Mahon, the company employs more than 80 people.

Tandem operate in a highly competitive market where indigenous engineering consultancies must compete against multinational organisations such as the PM Group, DPS Group Global and Jacobs.

The Cork pharma industry is strong and Tandem also helps companies secure foreign direct investment which has a positive ripple effect across the county They have secured significant repeat business, a clear indicator of customer satisfaction.

Tandem has achieved a 96% repeat business rate with clients and achieve between 87%-90% success rates on tender proposals submitted.

The company’s strategy is to add a minimum of 10 new clients in 2021 and retain business with 31 of our current clients.

The firm continues to innovate recently embarking on a digitisation programme.

Last year, they also developed a programme that involves completing engineering design using intelligent cloud-based 3D software supported by Enterprise Ireland.

This year, six members of Tandem’s management team have achieved Lean Six Sigma Green Belt certification after reviewing existing procedures to identify and remove inefficiencies and wastage in the processes.

In 2018 and 2019, Tandem invested significantly by growing the Cork-based project team by 25%, introducing a depth of experience across a range of sectors and disciplines.

Tandem has also integrated supply chain sustainability criteria into its procurement process.

The company conducts regular audits of suppliers to identify the most significant environmental, social and economic challenges in the supply chain and to set targets to drive continual improvement among suppliers.

It is Tandem’s policy to award repeat business to suppliers with stronger sustainability performance in order to incentivise and drive improvement.

Managing director Tim Mulhall said they were delighted to be shortlisted as a finalist in the Cork Chamber Company of the Year Awards.

“Cork Chamber contributes hugely to the successful and vibrant business environment in Cork.

“To receive this recognition from the chamber is a great honour for Tandem and our team and we feel privileged to be counted amongst the finalists this year,” he said.

Mackin Group supporting businesses globally from Cork 

Supporting businesses small and large across the globe is a challenging task but more so when a global pandemic has put an end to global travel.

Headquartered in Cork the Mackin Group has demonstrated amazing resilience in the face of Covid with plans for significant growth over the coming years.

The company was founded in 2004 by Andrew Mackin, who had retired from the Navy after 22 years. He then branched into the recruitment and staffing industry in 2014 and has since grown the business to where it is today.

The Mackin Group has two distinct business offerings through Mackin EHS and Mackin Talent.

Mackin EHS provides environmental health & safety services, across Ireland primarily, and is managed through its headquarters in Cork City. These services are provided to a range of industries and sectors including construction, financial, tech and hospitality with their clients ranging from multinational enterprises to sole traders.

Mackin Talent provides recruitment solutions along with talent management consulting specialising in workforce planning, talent retention, succession planning and employer brand management.

Mackin Talent is also headquartered in Cork and manages all their Irish and UK clients directly, as well as clients in the broader regions of EMEA and APAC.

The Cork base also acts as the communications and finance hub for the Mackin Talent offices in North America.

They describe their reach flexibility as their unique selling point, offering clients support across their one business or one location but also offering a global solution or an agreement for multisite locations.

Mackin operates in a very competitive landscape both in Cork and broadly in Ireland. This applies to both the health & safety industry and the talent/recruiting industry. Within the H&S market in Cork/Ireland, Mackin EHS would be well known and highly regarded, and the brand would be well established. Within the talent/recruiting industry in Cork/Ireland, the Mackin Talent brand is quite new still, in Ireland.

Despite the Covid challenges, the group grew by 25% last year and is expected to grow further this year targeting 30% to 40% growth.

This will include a minimum growth of 50 to 60 positions globally with a minimum of 12 of those positions to be filled in Cork. Further growth is projected for 2022.

The global travel restrictions have been an impediment to growth and had an impact in terms of relationship-building but the firm has dived right into the digital world of networking and has brought a lot of its services to life through those online means. Their remote ergonomic assessment is one example; and Mackin’s online training programmes are another.

CEO Andrew Mackin said he was thrilled they had reached the final of the Large Cork Company of the Year award.

“Cork is so dear to all of us at Mackin and to get that recognition in our hometown, is wonderful.”

Data obsessed Zyte helps you make sense of the growing web 

The growing tech company Zyte provides businesses with a simple way to gather and collate web data, allowing them to make sense of it and to act swiftly upon and make a real difference to your business.

So focused on the area of information gathering, Zyte is now the largest web data extraction company in the world with a team of more than 100 developers and a comprehensive suite of products and services.

Web data extraction and scraping is a rapidly growing market and sits within the ecosystem of big data and data and analytics where the total addressable market is estimated to be $103bn (€85bn) by 2027. Within this ecosystem is alternative data where the TAM is projected to be $17.3bn by 2027 and Proxy Solutions at $1.02bn by 2025. These projections are supported by Zyte’s growth and the continued demand for its services.

Zyte is poised to increase market share and position itself as the dominant player in the market. Additionally, the number of websites continues to grow rapidly and is estimated at two billion, 190% growth in the last seven years, further adding to the need for reliable web data extraction services at scale.

The market Zyte operates in is fragmented with a lot of small players offering single solutions.

The industry has seen some consolidation and this trend is expected to continue over the next three to five years. Demand for access to web data is increasing and on top of this, web data extraction getting more difficult. The companies that can add automation to their solutions are poised to dominate the market.

Zyte is primed to take a leadership position in the market with its full-service offerings and industry-leading patented technology plus established services capabilities. The smaller competitors with single-point solutions will not be able to compete or scale up to the offering Zyte has built up over the last 10 years.

The company’s current growth rate is 30% year on year, the vast majority of Zyte’s revenues comes from the international market.

Zyte employs more than 50 people in Ireland and has several more hires planned for this year., adding to the local economy through employment. Globally the company employs 200 people with this headcount expected to double by 2023. This growth will take place across a multitude of countries including, Ireland, Spain, and the US.

While offering services across various sectors, Zyte did witness the impact of the pandemic, particularly last year, however, they were able to recover and grow revenues through focusing on sectors not as greatly affected by Covid.

Zyte also launched a free service for research institutions and non-profit organisations that were providing Covid-19 aid helping them obtain the data they needed at no cost, including researchers and philanthropists such as Feed the Heros, University of Glasgow, and Covidsnap.org.

CEO Shane Evans said he is always amazed at the great companies that operate in Cork. “Zyte is honoured to be nominated for such a prestigious award and proud to be among such a high calibre of finalists. Zyte’s growth, vision and innovation represent everything that embodies this great award,” he said.