Single voice benefits NI tech sector, Allstate principal says

Jim Bannon, Principal Engineer in Allstate’s Technology Solutions group, has been an instrumental figure in the development of Software NI, the industry’s representative body. The group has a stated goal of supporting growth to 50,000 employees in the software sector by 2035 – more than double the current number. Bannon says that the key to achieving this lofty ambition is in empowering all software companies in Northern Ireland to speak with one voice.

Bannon runs a team of around 200 engineers at Allstate who power the global insurance provider’s policy administration platform for over 20 million customer policies.

“We have always been driving a lot of the initiative to support NI’s growing tech scene, but for many years there were different pockets where this was happening,” says Bannon. “We can be more impactful, be better organized and efficient, and have more influence, by operating as a joint force in this region. In SoftwareNI, we each put our company missions at the door and think about what’s best for NI’s software sector as a whole; not what is best for any individual company.”

Bannon has been a leader in committing to Software NI’s mission to see ￡5 billion in gross value added (GVA) in the sector by the year 2035.

“Ensuring this future growth relies entirely on great collaboration between industry, government and education. But trying to engage with key stakeholders doesn’t work well when you have 50 voices talking to them at the same time. It works better for all when we have one clear voice.”

Bannon cites the collaboration between software industry leaders and education leaders as one example of this. He points out the success of using Software NI’s common platform as more effective than multiple companies going to multiple schools with similar messages and opportunities – the previous approach was scattered.

“To ensure a bright future, we want to engage the people who really?matter when it comes to the career advice that young people are hearing. We’d like careers advisors to discuss with young people the benefits of employment in software: the interesting problems they’ll be solving; the variety of roles; the better than average salaries and benefits; the chance to have fun while investing in their future; the travel opportunities; and the focus on diversity and team work.”

Bannon says he believes that for many reasons, young people in Northern Ireland might not fully understand the excellent potential of a career in software.

“This is an energizing, exciting industry – there are so many opportunities to travel, do exciting work and excel in creative ways – and I feel that we need to communicate that more broadly, so young people are hearing this message.”

He goes on, “There’s also a great culture and diversity in this sector and it’s accessible to people with so many different skillsets. When it comes to cyber, AI, machine learning – these are all incredibly interesting spaces and NI is well positioned to be a leader in these areas.”

He says, “The opportunities are just phenomenal.”

Bannon points out that the technologies of the future – such as more deeply enabled AI, and quantum computing, are offering even more choices and opportunities for technology workers to drive value across individual businesses, and the economy as a whole. He points out that innovation is needed in ways of thinking, as well as how we practice software engineering.

“At Allstate we’re turning our thought patterns upside down about how we work. We’re modeling our culture against the best companies in the world, with a product-centric?talent model. This means that roles are being reshaped, so I feel there’s never been a more exciting time for people to foray into this sector.”

In terms of the specific ways in which AI is being used across Northern Irish software sector workers, Bannon notes that AI isn’t just a tool that we use in our solutions but that various coding assistants or co-pilots have become critical tools for making software engineering a more precise, productive and rewarding discipline.

Does Bannon feel that Northern Ireland is already a leader in this space?

He says, “I think it's about building skillsets?quickly enough for Northern Ireland to be a leader. We’ve always been early adopters of innovation and that means being strategic and building new skills early on. If you can focus on where you want to be in five or 10 years, while keeping the current needs of today in mind – that’s the balance you want to strike.”

He concludes, “I call it ‘Team Northern Ireland’ – that alignment between government, academia and business all working together to push innovation. We have the advantage of NI being a smaller region and we can therefore get the key stakeholders to point in the same direction.”

About Software NI

Established as The Software Alliance in 2022, and rebranded to Software NI in 2024, by a group of independent companies in the industry, we are the only representative body for software engineering companies in Northern Ireland.

The support from founding member companies has underwritten the organisation for its first three years of operation as it works towards an independent, fully sustainable industry funded model. The founding member companies are:

-Allstate Northern Ireland

-GCD Technologies

-Instil

-Kainos

-Liberty IT

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A not-for-profit organisation, we exist to champion the local software sector, which contributes ￡1.7 billion annually and employs 23,000 people across approximately 2,200 businesses, as a world leader in innovation. We work to support policy development to ensure that Government and other key stakeholders engage with and understand the needs of the sector in relation to labour, skills, R&D, and investments.