COMPUTER recycling company AMI in Belfast says it is targeting £9 million-plus revenues in next two years as demand for its services grows across Ireland, Britain and the EU.
The company, established in 2001 to securely manage so-called IT 'retirement', has more than doubled sales to £6.6 million since 2017, with its clients including more than a third of Ireland’s top 200 ICT user companies.
It says it has signed up 96 new customers so far this year, which will generate an additional £910,000 in 2020.
And it has also recruited 15 new staff this year and is on track to employ 90 by 2021,and it is currently hiring for roles in marketing, sales, compliance and business development.
Earlier this year AMI also agreed a three year outsourcing agreement with charity Camara Education, which saw the company take on an additional 122 new customers.
The introduction of GDPR has helped to drive demand for AMI’s services, as organisations realise that IT hardware recycling and data destruction specialists can help with data compliance by eliminating all residual data from unwanted IT equipment when disposing of these devices.
The company's chief executive Philip McMichael said: “Businesses are more aware than ever that failing to cleanse their old desktops, laptops and hard drives of all data can lead to a breach of sensitive customer and company information.
“We are experiencing a corresponding surge in demand for our secure services, especially given the high rate of return we can offer customers through the resale of their equipment. Last year we returned £2.2 million to our customers.”
The uncertainty of Brexit has brought about new opportunities as well as challenges for the IT recycling company.
Since launching last December, AMI’s deployment and relocation support service visited 140 sites across Ireland to help them instal new IT systems and manage office moves. In its first year, the service is up 300 per cent on expected revenue - benefitting from the closure and relocation of businesses affected by Brexit.
Mr McMichael added: “While we've seen some short term benefits of Brexit through our deployment and relocation service, we are also examining new income streams to maintain our position in the market long-term.
“The Republic of Ireland has become a major hub for data centres and Brexit has seemingly accelerated this growth. Processing high volumes of data and with a high equipment turnover, this market represents an obvious and lucrative opportunity for AMI and is one we are actively pursuing.”
