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Andy Colhoun
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Last week marked a milestone moment for First Derivative – our very first official event in our new Belfast office. Hosted against the stunning backdrop of the city skyline, the evening brought together clients, partners, colleagues, and friends to celebrate not just a new space, but a new era for FD as part of the EPAM family.
From my perspective the evening was a perfect snapshot of where we’ve come from, and more importantly, where we’re heading.
Liz Toner, our Head of Marketing, set the scene to open our event – capturing the excitement of FD’s next chapter as “an EPAM company.” With global scale and cutting-edge innovation now at our fingertips, this opens many new doors and will allow us to push boundaries in ways that simply weren’t possible before.
Victoria Shanks, our MD of Sales, reminded us of the incredible journey FD has taken to this point, reflecting on the unique relationship with KX. No one can tell stories like Victoria. The message was clear: while we may have evolved and even reshaped as part of EPAM, the core principles of the company and the partnerships with both clients and vendors, such as KX, remain as strong as ever.
Innovation was a running theme throughout the evening. We gave guests a glimpse into some of the incredible AI capabilities now being developed within FD — technologies that are already transforming the way we deliver for clients. Mark Barr our Chief Engineer gave the audience some great examples of how we are weaving AI into our everyday working life now in FD, and how it’s making a real impact right now.
The night closed with an engaging demo from Gordon Shields of KX, showcasing live AI projects that underline just how powerful the FD + KX partnership continues to be.
For me, the real takeaway was in the attendees and how many clients, partners, industry bodies and even competitors are genuinely committed to growing the market locally. There has been plenty of exciting news in the press over the past few weeks with Bank of America, TP ICAP, AWS, Google and Symphony all making major announcements on investment in the region. Through our work within the industry body, Software N.I we are collaborating with Kainos, Liberty, Aflac, Options IT, Allstate, Version 1, Citibank etc and all for the benefit of the wider software and technology industry locally. Working with universities, schools and government to allow us all jointly to benefit from the inward investment.
We are also in the working with Invest N.I to seek support in open a world leading R&D centre in Newry. This project plays particularly strongly in supporting government objectives in growing high quality jobs in the regions outside of Belfast.
As such our Belfast office opening was more than just celebrating a workspace – it’s a launchpad. A place where our people can access world-class opportunities, contribute to groundbreaking programmes, and work on exciting projects with global impact, while staying rooted in Belfast, Newry, and beyond.
This event was just the beginning. With the energy, innovation, and partnerships on display, it’s clear that the future is incredibly bright for First Derivative, our people, and our clients.
