Andrew Tobin pictured in Leighlinbridge, County Carlow
With an extensive background in the technology industry, Andrew Tobin is currently CEO of vCloud (previously T2), a leading provider of private Cloud solutions, and CEO of Stryve.
“I founded T2, a leading Irish digital agency in 2003,” says Andrew. “Having spotted a gap in the market for secure private cloud, in 2018, T2 merged with vCloud.ie to offer something unique to the market. We embarked on an acquisitions journey and quickly added several complementary companies to our portfolio, including Stryve. Today, the group boasts six companies across seven countries and over 100 people employed with a turnover upwards of €10 million.
“Stryve is an ISO 27001 accredited company that employs a global team of 100 professionals delivering cutting-edge multi-cloud solutions to clients around the world. From its head office in Carlow, Stryve provides secure and reliable cybersecurity solutions to scaling SMEs in everything from healthcare and legal to distribution and retail, plus EU Government contracts.”
Balanced lifestyle
Both companies are headquartered in County Carlow and follow a hybrid model of working, which works well for Andrew’s busy work schedule.
“Stryve has always had a hybrid model of working from home and in the office,” says Andrew. “But obviously during the pandemic, we had to work fully remotely. With a few tweaks during the pandemic, the company adapted well to the lockdown internally. Working in the private cloud space, we were well-placed to adapt to remote working. The transition was smooth.”
Today, Andrew says the company has set office days, but employees can choose to work both at the office and remotely, which encourages balance.
“Work-life balance is a core value at Stryve. Our employees value the flexibility to work either remotely or from the office. It is beneficial to meet in-person periodically. Once it was safe, we introduced set office days, which allows the team to connect in person. We also schedule social mixers to nurture the company culture.
“We also operate corporate wellness programmes. For example, Amella Nutrition Coaching and Consulting and Spectrum Health, which are available to all employees, offer health, financial, diet and exercise and talk therapy to our employees. We check in with each other regularly and facilitate social events to keep the team connected as we expand, and while working remotely.”
Andrew strongly feels that living and working in Carlow is an excellent way to achieve a healthy work-life balance. “The town is small enough to feel welcoming, but large enough to facilitate a range of interests and activities. There is also a strong sense of community, with plenty of local events and activities to get involved in. A good school structure for families, with the beautiful Carlow countryside on your doorstep.”
Andrew adds that while Stryve has office locations around the globe, being located in Carlow means it is extremely well-connected to the rest of the country, with easy access to the major cities. “We can attract top talent from all over Ireland. However, many of our employees are located here in Carlow. It offers a superb quality of life, sports and outdoor pursuits, shopping, heritage and dining plus one of my passions, a great GAA club.
“We can enjoy a relaxed rural location, yet we’re a stone’s throw from major cities. And whilst many multinational tech companies choose Dublin, we prefer to be a big fish in a smaller pond in one of Ireland’s tech hubs in County Carlow.”
Global and local ambitions
Being a cybersecurity company, Andrew says they go above-and-beyond to ensure the protection of their employee and client data while working remotely.
“It’s our day-to-day job to ensure our people and data are safe. We follow a very simple protocol of people, process, and tools. We train our people and do regular simulations to ensure they are very clued into cyber attacks. We adopt good processes such as the ISO 27001 security standards amongst many other less onerous protocols in the business and we implement an appropriate tool set to protect and prevent cyber-attacks. We also do this for our clients in turn on a daily basis to ensure they too are protected.”
While Andrew says the company’s exponential growth in a short amount of time is one of their greatest achievements, they are also proud to have been recognised as Security Company of the Year and won the InBusiness Recognition Award last year. “Our Chief Security Officer was also named Security Leader of the Year in 2023. We are also very proud to be a Carbon Neutral Certified company,” says Andrew.
Andrew says the company credits Carlow County Council – Local Enterprise Office for being “extremely supportive with providing grants” at the beginning of their journey. “Carlow LEO also facilitates excellent networking events and incredible mentoring programmes, such as the management development programme with Blaise Brosnan. These types of events are very important for those working remotely to maintain professional connections. T2 was also propelled onto the national scene back in 2008 by the local LEO, by winning the Carlow Enterprise Award for that year and finishing runner-up at the national finals.”
Whilst Stryve has global ambitions, Andrew says it is important to stay local to Carlow, “Our goal is to become a dominant player in the global multi-cloud space. Strategically, our focus remains on organic growth and targeted acquisitions in our ambition to become a leading provider of multi-cloud solutions and cybersecurity across the globe.
“However, we will always be firmly rooted in Carlow as our headquarters. A key value of the company is a focus on relationships. We leverage this with a ‘boots-on-the-ground’ approach, whether that’s in Carlow, the US or Europe.
“We focus on growing a local team, with local connections and knowledge, and contacts within the local business community. Stryve clients have come to expect a people[1]focused personal approach. Maintaining deep local roots is essential to achieving this.”
To find out more about Stryve, visit stryvesecure.com or join their LinkedIn community – linkedin.com/company/stryvesecure
