The plumbers are here: IT firm Auxilion keeps clients safe with expansion on the horizon

Auxilion is what happens when the people running a business realise that it needs to change. Founded in 2012, the business grew out of the IT Alliance group which started in 1997.

While technically part of the same broad business, Auxilion was essentially a fresh start for the company, which is based in Park West, Co Dublin. The entire IT Alliance group has 310 full-time staff with a further 170 contract staff, the vast bulk of whom work under the Auxilion brand.

“Essentially what we do is plumbing,” Philip Maguire, chief executive and founder of Auxilion, told the Business Post with a laugh.

That’s his explanation for the broad range of IT services Auxilion provides.

The business is split into three pillars. First there’s consulting, where the company maps out the customer journey to work out what digital enablement the client is working on. Then comes governance and programme management, keeping clients safe as they implement IT changes. The third is providing support before, during and after implementation of those projects.

“We do everything from operating systems to hybrid cloud and network, all the way up to the apps layer and some robotic process automation. Everything in that plumbing layer, we keep you safe,” Maguire said.

In addition to its Dublin headquarters, the business has offices in Belfast, as well as Sheffield, Telford and Warrington in Britain.

Auxilion grew out of changes in the market that IT Alliance, a white label IT services reseller, faced which led to Maguire focusing more on the SME market.

“I found a lot of the big brands I was working with weren’t looking at the cloud approach I was looking at. I sat down with the team to build out a model that would provide enterprise capabilities for SMEs based on cloud with no on-premise technology,” he said.

“We’re working with pretty big clients now, doing their whole end-to-end managed services.”

Maguire took part in the leadership for growth programme through Enterprise Ireland in 2011 in order to work out exactly what he wanted to do with Auxilion.

“It helped me put the strategies together. I went from a white label business to a direct business. It helped me to build out the management team and work out the research and design element of the product,” he said.

“Enterprise Ireland were really helpful from the start and we’ve been back and forth with them over the years. Anyone looking to scale a business should look at the Leadership 4 Growth programme.”

Auxilion grew revenue by over 20 per cent last year and Maguire aims to either match or surpass that in 2023. He also wants to expand the company’s operations in Britain via acquisition and develop into new markets.

“We’ve already landed a number of big clients this year. It’s a long sales cycle with a number of clients and very much a partnership model. We’re building out a journey with clients and that approach has been very successful,” Maguire said.

“At the moment the trajectory is very positive. By this time next year, we want to be in the throes of integrating a new business in the UK into Auxilion and looking at a new market to enter.”

This Making it Work article is produced in partnership with Enterprise Ireland