23 October, Author Laurentiu Cotu
Daniel Metz, one of the pioneers of IT in Romania, who built a company in Cluj with more than 1,700 employees and businesses approaching 80 Mil. EUR, plans to expand NTT DATA Romania (formerly EBS Romania), part of the Japanese concern NTT DATA, beyond the Black Sea basin.
The company, headquartered in Cluj-Napoca, with offices in Bucharest, Sibiu, Timisoara, Brasov and Iasi, founded two years ago its first subsidiary outside the country borders, in Novi Sad, the capital of the province of Vojvodina in Serbia, which will reach 80 employees this year.
"We are currently analyzing the expansion of NTT DATA Romania beyond the Black Sea Basin, and the discussions we had so far are encouraging. Unlike our locations in Romania, in Novi Sad we are able to find colleagues with extensive experience in various industries. Although our Novi Sad subsidiary is currently operating on the cost-center model, due to very good results achieved, we will soon transform it into a stand-alone country company that will operate in the future Romanian cluster, "said Daniel Metz, CEO NTT DATA Romania.
Metz also said that the excellent results achieved by NTT DATA Romania over the past two years have led to an important decision at the group level, becoming a "first tier country" starting next year, reporting directly to NTT DATA EMEA.
Consequently, NTT DATA Romania will no longer be part of the cluster Germany and NTT DATA Serbia will become the first member of the new Romanian cluster.
NTT DATA Romania achieved in the first eight months of this year a turnover of 43 million euros, up 27% over the same period of the previous calendar year. For the end of the current fiscal year, ending March 31, 2019, the company estimates a turnover of about 77 million euros, up 32% over the previous fiscal year.
NTT DATA Romania achieved this year in the first eight months a turnover of 43 million euros, up 27% compared to the same period last year. For the end of the current fiscal year, ending March 31, 2019, the company estimates a turnover of about 77 Mil. EUR, up 32% over the previous fiscal year.
The share of the local market business registered a significant increase of over 46% in the first eight months this year, reaching 28% of total turnover. The domestic market growth was mainly driven by projects in Embedded and IoT technologies, SAP, as well as sales from its own ERP system, Clarvision.
The company recently inaugurated a new office space in Bucharest, with an area of 4,000 sqm, in Unirii View building. NTT DATA’s subsidiaries in Bucharest and Novi Sad had the fastest increase in the number of employees the first 8 months, of 22% according to the company.
"In Bucharest we have strategic plans; we intend to acquire companies focused on technology and niche solutions. Our intention is to be even closer to our strategic customers. Over the past 12 months, we have succeeded in gaining a large number of new customers in all markets” says Daniel Metz. On the external market, increases come from the banking, manufacturing and Embedded and IoT technologies. Among the customers gained by NTT DATA Romania in the last 12 months on the external market are Quickline AG, Dürr Systems AG, Trimetis AG, SWIETELSKY Baugesellschaft m.b.H, Eramon GmbH, CAXperts, Optware GmbH, KSB Pumpen, etc.
"A core business sector of NTT DATA Romania is the automotive industry. There we find a tense field generated by the pressure of speedy implementation of technological innovation - autonomous driving of the car, ecology, etc. – and at the same time the massive pressure on costs generated by fierce competition, but especially by doubling the development of new models, some on classic combustion and others on renewable resources.
2018 is a year in which we do not yet have a clear picture for the next few years on all markets where we operate, "said Daniel Metz.
The company provides various services such as development and integration of standard and individualized software solutions, application management and support, testing, quality assurance, IT and business consulting, information security and infrastructure, etc.
A team of 1,700 employees and external collaborators operate current projects in NTT DATA Romania. The company has over 100 jobs available in all business and technology areas, estimating 1,800 people by the end of the year.
"We are in a constant battle of attracting and retaining the most talented specialists in the market, and the expectations we have from candidates are getting higher. Our entry in the premium projects area that bring value and results generated greater involvement of experienced colleagues. This makes it more and more difficult to involve young graduates, as projects and tasks with low added value, specific to young graduates, are migrating more and more to Asia, "says the NTT DATA Romania CEO.
Metz believes that the trend of young people leaving the country should be reversed, because a large number of those leaving the country are graduates of higher education and Romania is losing its attractiveness annually due to the lack of active labor force.
"The vast majority of IT companies in Romania have in their portfolio various segments of the value-added production chain - nearshoring or offshoring companies. The big challenge for these companies is to implement an optimized cost management regime.
We need to learn to permanently optimize processes and structures, identify processes and redundant resources and significantly optimize operating and sales costs.
We also need to have the courage to leave low-margin business areas, but also those unattractive to our employees, "Metz said.
He believes that the rapid growth of some IT companies implacably brings the situation in which many of the small projects in the portfolio will keep the company's rapid evolution.
"IT companies in Romania need to invest urgently in strengthening their identity and brand. The strategy of companies focusing on nearshoring and offshoring needs to grow at a rapid pace, because only this way they will be able to control the pressure of ever-increasing operating costs, "Metz said.
Source: ZF Corporate