The software market in 2014
Teamnet: Cloud, international and mobile
The software industry is a globalized industry, highlights in a Wall-street.ro interview Bogdan Padiu, CEO of Teamnet, a company with a turnover of over 70 million in the last year. The opportunities are great regardless of region and the companies can access the latest software solutions whether in Romania or in other parts of the world. Technology as a whole has no borders. “Teamnet, for example, has offices in five countries in the region and provides products and services in other 10 countries and our future plans aim at expanding into new markets. By 2018, over 40% of our turnover will be made of operations outside the country,” Bogdan says.
The software industry is growing from one year to another, but this evolution can be accelerated by a series of support measures for the industry, as the eligibility of cloud-based software solution projects for European funds, but also by aligning to European strategy provided in Digital Agenda 2020. In 2014, the industry was characterized by a higher visibility in Europe and recorded an important advance in the fields of business process outsourcing and cloud. “Also, we observed a transition in the industry, from the development of on-demand business software solutions to custom software development, a trend that will significantly contribute to the future growth of the industry”.
The CEO of Teamnet wouldn’t say it was something that didn’t clearly work well, but rather that the evolution was slower than the market potential, and also that we can still observe a high level migration of specialists in this field to other countries in Europe and in the world, generating a continuous lack of highly trained resources in relation to the existing demand in the market. “I believe the industry could be evolving faster if it had a wider range of well trained, specialized and highly competent human resources in the field. Thus, Romania needs a strategy and coherent policies to develop and train the next generation of experts in the field.”
The software industry registered a moderate evolution in 2014, of a few percent, estimated at about 600 million euros, a figure that includes both the software solutions developed on demand, which is the most important component, as well as the software licenses and R&D activities in the field, developed in Romania, says Padiu. The evolution was influenced by many factors, including the overall economic developments, the access to financing programs or the public sector investment strategy in software solutions. For 2015, I expect a similar evolution of the industry.
“We notice a trend increasingly important in Romania regarding complex solutions tailored to the specific needs the market has. Teamnet is recognized in Romania and in the region for solutions that integrate innovative technologies and software solutions such as GIS (Geographic Information System), Cloud, UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle), SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition). Our group is specialized in various software technologies which are integrated in major projects, impacting the whole society.”
The most important trend is represented by cloud technology. “Companies in Romania understand the benefits of cloud software solutions and are becoming increasingly open to integrate the cloud into their operations. At the same time, we see a growing concern for the export of software products and solutions and overall, of Romanian intelligence, a very important resource that stood out regionally in recent years. Last but not least, in the constant interaction with our clients, we see an increasing demand for niche solutions, complex and tailored to specific business needs.”
“The group plans to expand the team which currently has over 800 people. We intend to continue hiring also in 2015 and we will invest in the professional growth of our experts and in the development of their skills,” Bogdan Padiu concludes.