Birmingham IT giant completes latest phase of global expansion
One of Europe’s biggest privately-owned IT services companies, Birmingham-based SCC has marked the latest phase of its international expansion.
SCC, founded by businessman Sir Peter Rigby, has opened a new office in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Attending the opening alongside Sir Peter and current CEO James Rigby was International Trade Secretary Liam Fox.
The office is intended to act as the company’s second Global Delivery Centre (GDC) following Romania, which is now home to more than 1,000 employees.
Also attending the opening event were Giles Lever, British Ambassador to Vietnam, Ian Gibbons, Consul General Ho Chi Minh City and Director for the Department for International Trade Vietnam as well as Peter Rimmer, Executive Director, British Business Group Vietnam (BBGV). All the organisations have supported SCC’s expansion plans in the region.
SCC is headquartered in Birmingham and part of the family-owned Rigby Group which encompasses interests in technology, airports, hotels, real estate, financial services and aviation. It has targeted expansion in Vietnam to build on its already successful operations in the UK, France, Romania and Spain.
The idea is that the business in Vietnam, which starts with 45 people, will specifically support SCC customers in two areas. Firstly, it will provide Level 3 and 4 infrastructure technical support to customers’ server, storage and network environments. Additionally, it will be home to a Software Development Centre allowing SCC to accelerate the development of owned applications.
The time difference between Vietnam and SCC’s European offices is also critical and will allow greater capacity for 24/7 customer support.
James Rigby said: “The opening of our second Global Delivery Centre is another important strategic milestone for the business and underlines our credentials as an international company with scale.
“Vietnam is an ideal location for our customer services due to its high quality education system, over 300 IT-only universities and a high standard of English. We have selected local Vietnamese people for all our management positions and trained them all in the UK.”
Mr Fox said: “We know there’s global demand for British expertise and skills and my department wants to do all it can to help UK companies grow and build their presence abroad. Vietnam is a fast-growing region with great trade and investment potential for UK businesses and SCC is a great example of a business taking advantage of the opportunities to put in place ambitious expansion plans.”
Sir Peter Rigby said he was grateful to the International Trade Secretary for his endorsement, as well as the support from the other trade organisations.
