Microland Case Study
Headquartered in Bengaluru, India, in 2020 the firm opened a new state-of-the-art European Shared Services headquarters in Birmingham, West Midlands, to serve its growing client base across the continent.
The facility marked the company’s second investment in the region in two years; in 2018, Microland created a digital hub in Longbridge – also in Birmingham – that has since transitioned into a Customer Experience Centre.
The company currently employs around 80 people in the region, with plans to accommodate up to 200 employees as part of potential further expansion. The new centre has expertise to deliver the full stack of services Microland has to offer its clients in IT infrastructure transformation and management, and will also have a state-of-the-art Digital Operations Centre.
Across the globe, Microland has offices and delivery centres throughout Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East and North America.
Why the West Midlands?
The West Midlands is home to the largest Tech and Digital hub outside of London, with over 12,500 companies based in the region.
A diverse cluster of expertise spanning Software and Computer Services, Games, FinTech, MedTech and Transport Technologies, its growth is fuelled by a pipeline of ambitious, home-grown tech talent.
The region’s 12 universities contain 50 tech-related centres of excellence and turn out over 66,000 graduates each year, many of whom join the 72,000-strong pool of talent already employed in the region’s sector.
Bolstering this supply of emerging talent is a robust ecosystem of training facilities dedicated to digital skills. Major initiatives include Birmingham’s School of Code – a tech skills centre offering free bootcamp courses in coding – and The Code Academy, led by French Artificial Intelligence (AI) firm SideTrade, which helps aspiring tech professionals in the region kick-start their careers in data and software engineering.
Nagaraja Kini, Associate Vice President at Microland, said:
“Setting up Microland’s offices in the West Midlands has facilitated a virtuous cycle of growth for our organisation. The success of our initial investment in 2018 cultivated the demand for a new Microland European operational centre, driven by the region’s thriving technology ecosystem and high-skilled talent pipeline.
“We are proud to be part of the region’s growing community of technology specialists and are looking forward to building on our accomplishments here. The West Midlands has a number of exclusive opportunities on the horizon that will give us a uniquely competitive edge, such as the region’s status as the UK’s primary multi-city 5G testbed. This facility will allow unprecedented access to trial and test new technologies and products at scale, putting us at the epicentre of the next digital revolution.”
As well as its prominent role in the deployment of 5G infrastructure and technologies across the UK, the West Midlands is also supporting national efforts to strengthen trade and investment relationships with key overseas territories, such as India.
June 2020 saw the launch of a new West Midlands India Partnership (WMIP) to enhance UK-India relations and foster industry collaboration across mutual high-growth sectors, including Tech and Digital.
Business support in the West Midlands
Helping Microland settle into the region, the West Midlands Growth Company (WMGC) linked the company with local recruitment partners and provided information on the UK’s apprenticeship scheme to help them find and secure the region’s best up-and-coming tech talent.
At the official launch event of the new Microland office, WMGC organised attendance from local government officials, including the Leader of Birmingham City Council, who inaugurated the new digital hub with a ribbon-cutting service.
Support was also given through a comprehensive, free-of-charge PR and marketing campaign around the launch and announcement of the investment.
Coverage of the launch reached business audiences in the West Midlands and across the globe, including in India, Spain, Austria, South Korea, France and Germany.
Since this initial press activity, WMGC has secured a range of additional opportunities to raise the profile of Microland and its services in the region.