Romanian Business Services Gala Awards celebrated its FINALISTS and WINNERS of 2023’s Edition

On May 24, the business services industry in Romania awarded its FINALISTS & WINNERS for their performances registered in the past business year, within the 9th edition of ROMANIAN BUSINESS SERVICES GALA AWARDS 2023 at JW Marriott Grad Hotel in Bucharest.

THE BUSINESS SERVICES AWARDS GALA, now in its 9th edition, is an elite event and a platform to recognize, reward and celebrate the success of the most prominent companies, projects and individuals acting in the business shared services field in Romania. Based on rigorously researched information and a Judging Panel formed of prominent names in business, the Gala Awards established itself as a must-attend in your Romanian Gala Awards event calendar.

The event benefited from the support of:

DIAMOND PARTNER: WIPRO

PLATINUM PARTNER: BOSCH

GOLD PARTNERS: MAJOREL, SCC, STEFANINI, SOCIETE GENERALE GSC, WEBHELP, TELEPERFORMANCE

PARTNERS: EUCOM, TOTALSOFT, CGS ROMANIA, LOVERING & PARTNERS BUSINESS CONSULTANTS

SUPPORTING INSTITUTIONS: INVEST ROMANIA, BRCC – British Romanian Chamber of Commerce, ANIS Romania

MEDIA PARTNERS: THE DIPLOMAT-BUCHAREST, SUSTAINABILITY-TODAY, FINANCIAL INTELLIGENCE, BURSA, ROMANIA DURABILA, ECONOMISTUL, CLUB ECONOMIC

THE WINNERS & FINALISTS OF 2023 Edition are:

BUSINESS SERVICES COMPANY OF THE YEAR (over 800 employees)  

This award recognizes all aspects of business management excellence, such as financial and operational performance, depth of services, client and employee growth, company leadership and CSR.          

• BOSCH SERVICE SOLUTIONS
• STEFANINI
• CGS ROMANIA
• LUXOFT ROMANIA

WINNER:  BOSCH SERVICE SOLUTIONS

The winner of this category is a leading provider of BPO services delivered to customers from a wide range of industries. The company has a 35-year track record in providing customer experience with technology-based services to clients in the automotive, logistics, transport, energy and telecommunications. Present in Romania since 2007, the company operates in two fields, in Business Services and Service Solutions. The Romanian location’s strength lies in its multilingual environment, with services delivered in 18 languages and strong technical and financial expertise

BUSINESS SERVICES COMPANY OF THE YEAR (less than 800 employees) 

This award recognizes all aspects of business management excellence, such as financial and operational performance, depth and breadth of services, client and employee growth, company leadership, as well as social responsibility          

• ALLIANZ PARTNERS BUCHAREST – GLOBAL COMPETENCE CENTER
• ASCENTCORE
• TOTALSOFT
• ZITEC
• ACCACE ROMANIA
• DEUTSCHE TELEKOM SERVICES EUROPE ROMANIA

WINNER:  ZITEC

The winner of this category is one of the few Romanian companies certified as Google Cloud Premier Partner, along with other specialized certifications from Microsoft, Amazon or Adobe, among others. The winning company is also partner of the European Community through the European projects finalized or currently under implementation through the Ambient Assisted Living and Erasmus programs. It has offices at Brasov and Bucharest and is a leader of the IT & Digital Marketing sector in Romania.

EMPLOYER OF THE YEAR (over 800 employees) 

This award seeks to recognize the industry company with more than 800 employees which has achieved excellence in the provision of internationally recognized training to its employees, an employer who promotes the value of quality environment at the workplace          

• GENPACT ROMANIA
• SOCIETE GENERALE GLOBAL SOLUTION CENTRE
• CGS ROMANIA
• BOSCH SERVICE SOLUTIONS
• STEFANINI
• MAJOREL ROMANIA
• WIPRO TECHNOLOGIES

WINNER:  WIPRO TECHNOLOGIES

The winner of this category is a leading technology services and consulting company focused on building innovative solutions. With over 250,000 employees and business partners across 66 countries, out of which almost 2000 employees in Romania, the company fosters a positive and inclusive work culture that values diversity, equity, and inclusion, and encourages open communication and collaboration. This company is all for a hybrid model  and they manage to attract their employees to offices. Survey conducted by country-lead revealed that they are a “sensing organization”, always updated with the needs of employees want and refining the strategy to accommodate them.

EMPLOYER OF THE YEAR (less than 800 employees)

This award recognizes the industry company which has achieved excellence in the provision of internationally recognized training to its employees, an employer who promotes the value of quality environment at the workplace     

• ALLIANZ PARTNERS BUCHAREST – GLOBAL COMPETENCE CENTER
• DEUTSCHE TELEKOM SERVICES EUROPE ROMANIA
• VALORIS CENTER

WINNER: ALLIANZ PARTNERS BUCHAREST – GLOBAL COMPETENCE CENTER

The company winning this category is a global leader in the field of insurance and assistance services. Their Global Competence Center (GCC) in Romania provides services to more than 26 countries, across multiple Business Partners and various Business Units. The center in Romania is focused on creating an antifraud program meant to protect the interests of both the insurance company and its policyholders, by reducing fraud-related losses, maintaining the integrity of the insurance system, and ensuring that legitimate claims are paid out in a timely manner.

MOST TRANSFORMED WORKPLACE

This award provides recognition for innovation in delivering the best essentials of a workplace, functionality and excellence, either on-site premises or remote.  

• COGNIZANT SOFTVISION
• STEFANINI
• DEUTSCHE TELEKOM SERVICES EUROPE ROMANIA

WINNER: COGNIZANT SOFTVISION

Companies that want to win the war for talent need to embrace optionality by creating an environment that supports both heads-up and heads-down work, whether in the office or remotely. For the winner of this category, focusing on the employee and client experience was central to their strategy in the designing of their human centric, hybrid approach to work and ran several main projects in 2022:

•           Studio Experience 2.0 – Iasi Campus Collaboration Hub;

•           #bettertogether initiative: a series of events meant to bring our Talent together, recreate and strengthen the sense of belonging and pride

•           #Frontrunner: a two-hour global livestream & conference of ideas around the future of technology.

NEW ENTRY ON THE MARKET AWARD

This award acknowledges the performance and kick off of a new company that started the operations on the Romanian market       

• THE ACCESS GROUP
• SOFTSERVE
• SPYROSOFT SOLUTIONS 

WINNER: THE ACCESS GROUP

This award goes to a company that marked the launch of a new Centre in Romania and a new office in Ireland, as the latest phase of the Group’s global expansion, following the company striking a  9.2 billion Pounds investment deal from shareholders and Associates last year. The company saw significant year-on-year pro forma revenue growth of 43% for its fiscal year to the end of June 2022 and a track record of more than 40% revenue growth in each of the previous four fiscal years. The center in Romania is developed to deliver excellence in product engineering, customer support, customer success, marketing and operations, mirroring the physical representations of their ambition, brand and culture.

HR MANAGER OF THE YEAR

This award recognizes the HR Manager who has made a substantial contribution to the success of their team and the company he/she works in  

• GENPACT ROMANIA,  Alina Vlăgea, People and Engagement Lead
• GENPACT ROMANIA, Simona Smochina, Europe Learning & Development Manager
• SG GLOBAL SOLUTION CENTRE,  Catalina Magui SG GSC Romania Human Resources Director
• COGNIZANT SOFTVISION, Raluca Dolan, HR Manager
• MAJOREL ROMANIA, Denisa Popescu, HR Manager
• ZITEC,  Florentina Greger, Chief Talent Experience Officer
• BOOKING HOLDINGS, Corina Făurescu, Senior HR Manager

WINNER: SG GLOBAL SOLUTION CENTRE,  Catalina Magui SG GSC Romania Human Resources Director

The HR Manager awarded today has a leadership approach consists in a mix of collaborative and supportive leadership. On one hand, this manager values teamwork and collaboration among colleagues, encourages open communication, fosters a culture of trust, and facilitates teamwork to achieve the HR team and the company’s objectives. On the other hand, the manager continuously embraces the people centric culture, putting the employees’ needs first.  This manager took over the role of HR Director beginning of 2022, in a period when the company  wanted to better understand the employees’ new needs, driven by the changes that the pandemic brought into people lives.

TEAM LEADER OF THE YEAR

This award recognizes the activity of a team leader that inspires and performes through its leadership and management capabilities in empowering his team and creates a role-model and success story across the business environment.

• GENPACT ROMANIA, Casandra Ighisan, Senior Operations Manager – Genpact
• GENPACT ROMANIA,  Livia Badea Software Development Team for Genpact in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA)
• SOCIETE GENERALE GLOBAL SOLUTION CENTRE, Liviu Rachisanu, Business LineManager
• BOSCH SERVICE SOLUTIONS, Denisa Abrudan, Team Lead
• MAJOREL ROMANIA, Ana Orbocea, Team Manager
• BOOKING HOLDINGS, Marius Comănceanu (24/7 Cyber Security Incident Response Manager, Booking Holdings Center of Excellence in Bucharest)
• DEUTSCHE TELEKOM SERVICES EUROPE ROMANIA, Maria Dutu, Team Lead
• WEBHELP ROMANIA,  Ioana Alexandra Ionascut, Team Lead
• VALORIS CENTER,  Bianca Neagu, Team Lead

WINNER: BOOKING HOLDINGS, Marius Comănceanu (24/7 Cyber Security Incident Response Manager, Booking Holdings Center of Excellence in Bucharest)

The  winner of this award has been an outstanding performer in 2022. He has excelled in leading the building of CYBER DETECTION & RESPONSE services, displaying exceptional ownership and a proactive, can-do attitude. He consistently demonstrated passion and determination in overcoming the numerous complex challenges that arose, and his commitment to timely delivery was instrumental in the overall success of the services and in building internal customer confidence in the newly set-up Center of Excellence in Bucharest of the company where he works.

CSR INITIATIVE OF THE YEAR CSR is increasingly important to the competitiveness of enterprises. This award honors the business organization demonstrating the most significant social impact.

• SOCIETE GENERALE GLOBAL SOLUTION CENTRE | “WE CARE TOGETHER”: an annual initiative designed to positively impact society through all our initiatives (helping disadvantaged people, investing in education/ professional integration, supporting PWD persons, environmental protection).
• WIPRO TECHNOLOGIES |  SUSTAIN SOHATU SCHOOL COMMUNITY on the long term to enhance learning and future employment possibilities for children in local rural communities.
• STEFANINI | “COOKING FOR CHILDREN” (“CAMARA COPIILOR”), AN INITIATIVE OF “ANA SI COPIII ASSOCIATION” supported by Stefanini Romania
• ZITEC|  „CEI 1024” INITIATIVE, an ongoing blood donation campaign aimed at companies from Bucharest and from other Romanian cities, as well.
• ACCENTURE | PARTNESHIP WITH SPECIAL OLYMPICS to raise awareness about the skills of people with mental disabilities. We sponsored the Special Olympics National Swimming Championship
• VALORIS CENTER | “SMALL STEPS TOWARDS A BETTER FUTURE”, our goal at Valoris is to inspire and motivate individuals at in our organization to make positive contributions, regardless of the scope or duration of their efforts.

WINNER: SOCIETE GENERALE GLOBAL SOLUTION CENTRE “We Care Together” Initiative

The winning CSR initiative of 2022 goes to an annual initiative designed to positively impact society through all the comprised initiatives. In 2022, through this program, the company supported 15 NGOs educational and inclusion programs.  The specs of the program in 202 were:

    • +150.000 beneficiaries, disadvantaged children, adults, PWD persons, mainly from rural and small urban areas, were helped to stay in school, acquire new soft or digital/ programming or life skills essential for an independent life. This surpassing 3 times the planned objective of the project.

    • +1.100 colleagues (almost 3 times their annual objective) got actively involved in becoming mentors and in teaching sessions specially designed, together with the NGOs, for the beneficiaries attending each project.

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION INITIATIVE OF THE YEAR 

This Award goes to the organization that best demonstrates that it has substantially improved its operational performance in terms of workflow effectiveness, customer experience management, increased turnover and improved margins or cost control through an innovation in their use and application of digital technologies either developed in house or sourced from an external supplier

• SCC ROMANIA SERVICES | DYNAMIC KPI DASHBOARDS that tracks the impact of various people KPIs on business KPIs in real-time, To improve decision-making and service performance, we have
• GENPACT ROMANIA | MEET KONNECT – GENPACT’S VIRTUAL ASSISTANT for hybrid workforce management.
• BOSCH SERVICE SOLUTIONS | THE IMPLEMENTATION OF A DIGITAL VERSION OF THE CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT PROCESS BOARD (ECIP)
• SOCIETE GENERALE GLOBAL SOLUTION CENTRE | HIGH-LEVEL CONCEPT: A PLUG & PLAY APP STORE FOR REGULATORY REPORTING PRODUCTION USING THE LOW CODE ALTERYX SOLUTION.
• ACCENTURE | ACUTE is Accenture’s cutting-edge solution, an innovative program that revolutionized daily task management for operations teams

WINNER: SCC ROMANIA SERVICES, The KPI Dashboards

The winning project of this category goes to a company that emphasizes the importance of both business and people KPIs, as they are interdependent. To improve decision-making and service performance, the company developed dynamic dashboards that track the impact of various people KPIs on business KPIs in real-time. Shortly, it enabled managers to have access to objective data, that they could utilize to adapt their leadership style to people needs, identify and address challenges in a proactive manner.

L&D INITIATIVE OF THE YEAR 

This award recognizes the best educational project implemented by a company    

• TELUS INTERNATIONAL | EXPLORE – Future leaders development program
• WIPRO TECHNOLOGIES | TASK FORCE TEAM was created targeting over 70k employees, dedicated for the DOP (Digital Operations & Platforms) unit
• STEFANINI | THE WIRED LEADER training program
• BOSCH SERVICE SOLUTIONS | ESSENTIAL MANAGERIAL TOOLKIT for onboardig new mansagers
• ACCACE ROMANIA | YoDA powered by Accace
• ACCENTURE | LEADER’S TOOLBOX is Accenture’s 6-month blended solution for managers’ growth
• WEBHELP ROMANIA | WOW START Manager Program

WINNER: WIPRO TECHNOLOGIES, The Task Force team

Targeting over 70k employees, dedicated for the DOP (Digital Operations & Platforms) unit across the globe, a TASK FORCE TEAM was created and worked along with various relevant stakeholders. Together they have developed and implemented a program for a selected group of top 5k employees, considered top talents basis performance and potential, as key employees and top-rated professionals, to be groomed and further upskilled in their most relevant capabilities, for self as well as for the expectations and need of the business. The intent was to upskill our high performers in growth domains of the business and help them mobilize to more complex/niche roles. Through a robust skill mapping exercise and gap analysis, the company designed customized learning journeys for 5000 top talents within the organization.

BEST WELLBEING INITIATIVE 

This award is dedicated to wellbeing and safety initiative conducted by a company in the benefits of employees   

• SOCIETE GENERALE GLOBAL SOLUTION CENTRE
• MAJOREL ROMANIA
• ACCENTURE

WINNER: ACCENTURE “What’s Your No-Go?” Program

This award goes to a program in which the employees in Romania were invited to reflect upon and a program that developed around it with the goal of normalizing conversations about boundaries at work and making well-being part of the new way of working. The program started with an awareness campaign that brought in the spotlight moments when one must say no, such as: work outside working hours, tight deadlines, meetings during lunch break. The campaign reached 3400 (85%) of the employees.  Awareness was followed by equipping our people with the skills and knowledge to turn these behaviors into habits. The extra mile the company took was to acknowledge and be transparent about the emotional impact of the past years on the employees and to do more than provide resources.

BEST CUSTOMER CENTRIC INITIATIVE

This award acknowledge the performance of a customer-centric project or initiative with effective results in optimizing the client experience.        

• SCC ROMANIA SERVICES | Customer Excelent hub
• GENPACT ROMANIA | The Mystery Case Study methodology
• WIPRO TECHNOLOGIES | Delivery, Transition and Quality procedures
• STEFANINI | Global Modern Service Desk service, harnessing A.I. proficiency
• MAJOREL ROMANIA | Taskforce team, with the scope of 100% readiness to intervene on delicate topics
• VALORIS CENTER | CSAT enhancement to create a welcoming environment for end-users
• WEBHELP ROMANIA | Webhelp Anywhere model to enhance flexible and on point scalable response to customers

WINNER: STEFANINI, The Global Modern Service Desk Service

The winning initiative had the challenging task of driving Digital Transformation by co-creating a next level Modern Service Desk service with global availability, harnessing A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) proficiency and trigger the collaborative building of a long-term solution. With more than 18.000 users supported in 10 languages, 5 different channels and 45 team members managed from Romania to the rest of the globe, a new voice to IT was given. The main need was to revolutionize the way global enterprises operate outsourcing by leveraging innovative technologies to streamline their processes, enhance collaboration, and optimize costs while keeping an eye on the customer satisfaction factor

TOP DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION SERVICES PROVIDER

 This award appreciated the bespoke and effective digital solutions

created and commercial by a company that had a significant impact in digital transformation of a company and/ or industry.

• GENPACT ROMANIA | MULTIFUNCTIONAL TRANSFORMATION PROGRAM with one of the largest & most innovative enterprises in Cloud Computing, Data Centers, and Networks
• DEVHD | PREMIER SERVICE NOW PARTNERS | ServiceNow platform, to driving successful digital transformation journeys for customers using the Now Value methodology
• STEFANINI | DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION enhance employee experience, expand the digital footprint, optimize costs within the client organization while increasing service availability for multiple languages
• ZITEC | LEADING FUNDAMENTAL DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION for Sameday courier
• VALORIS CENTER | AUTOMATED LEAD MANAGEMENT WORKFLOW for our customer Toyota Romania
• WEBHELP ROMANIA | POLYGLOT, the ultimate tool for breaking down language barriers and unlocking global opportunities.

WINNER: GENPACT ROMANIA The Multifunctional Transformation Program with one of the largest & most innovative enterprises in Cloud Computing, Data Centers, and Networks

At the end of 2021, the winning company embarked on a MULTIFUNCTIONAL TRANSFORMATION PROGRAM with one of the largest & most innovative enterprises in Cloud Computing, Data Centers, and Networks. The two-dimensional management team of the program is unique due to the horizontal regional leadership team catering to cultural nuances & enabling stakeholder connects; vertically, providing deep domain & service line expertise & delivering globally standardized transformation objectives & digital deployments. The project was also recognized by the Global Sourcing Association as team and program of the year and at the company’s Annual Leadership Summit, it received the Business Excellence Award.

BRAND OF THE YEAR IN BUSINESS SERVICES

The winner of this category is a company that established its first site in June 2010 in Brasov and a team of 28 people. At present, they have grown exponentially to over 2200 employees with a strong footprint in four cities: Brasov, Bucharest, Sibiu, and Cluj-Napoca. By combining talent, data and technology we deliver real impact for their partners. Their vision is to be their clients’ most trusted long-term partner for customer engagement in a constantly changing world. Creativity, Excellence and Respect drive everything they do and they act as one team.

More than 3000 votes entrusted MAJOREL ROMANIA  with THE BRAND OF THE YEAR IN BUSINESS SERVICES

CEO OF THE YEAR

The CEO awarded today and his strategy helped the company he leads to record one of its best years in its entire history, supporting more customers than ever and providing a great work environment for the organization team to grow. For the company, 2022 was a record year from several points of view: it posted the biggest revenue in its history in the EMEA region and also had the best profitability; the company’s Net Promoter Score was above 60 for a second year in a row, much higher than its competitors’.

CEO OF THE YEAR is FARLEI KOTHE, CEO OF STEFANINI EMEA

SPECIAL CATEGORIES:

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION PROVIDER FOR THE FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY: TOTALSOFT

The winner of this category has been enabled by the valuable experience and industry knowledge in the Financial Services market of the solutions provider. Over the years, its flagship solutions had increased company’s footprint on external markets, being used around the clock, across the globe. Specifically, the company stands out through great results in digital transformation, aimed to achieve three business objectives for its clients: smart leasing, self-service and paperless.

The results in figures and facts are:

• 50% increase in the First-Time-Right indicator through a high degree of compliance with all processes in a lending company;
• 30% reduced manual intervention;
• 50% decrease in operational costs;
• 75% higher traceability of the financing approval process. 

WORK FROM ANYWHERE EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE OPTIMIZATION PLATFORM: WEBHELP ROMANIA

The winning project of this category responds to the need of implementing one of the most forward-looking strategies to attract and retain talent while ensuring consistent delivery, anywhere and anyhow. The goal was to deliver instant flexible, scalable services to customers and allowing clients to “experience” the operations both at home and on site. A customer-centric initiative that led to a vibrant working environment WFH and in a vibrant environment at home.

EFFECTIVE DIGITAL TOOL IMPLEMENTATION IN BPO INDUSTRY: CGS ROMANIA

This award is offered to a company leader of the local business process outsourcing (BPO) market in Romania that is taking important steps in the technology and digitization process. They have implemented an intelligent automation solution for call analysis through speech analytics. Speech analytics uses AI technology to listen and analyze conversations made by agents during voice calls. In this way, large amounts of unstructured data can be analyzed effortlessly. This automation can recognize words and analyze audio patterns to detect emotions, monitor agent performance and evaluate call quality. Made in real time, it improves the customer experience, while also evaluating the performance of employees.

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE SOLUTION AWARD: VALORIS CENTER

The winner of this category is for a customer solution implemented for a large company in automotive industry and its dealership network, that had a direct positive impact on the financial performance of the dealers. The substantial improvements in lead quality, higher delivery rate, and more effective communication provided concrete evidence of the project’s success. Positive client feedback and statistics showcasing growth in the conversion rate and financial performance validate the project’s effectiveness in meeting client needs and generating significant benefits. Significant progress stood out in various areas, from  digital order share Increase, improved user experience and convenience, to increased customer base, enhanced order accuracy and of course, financial gains for dealers.

The full recording of ROMANIAN BUSINESS SERVICES CEO FORUM & AWARDS GALA can be found at: https://youtube.com/live/A4RfytxtPeY

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