Several major Romanian technology and business process outsourcing (BPO) companies say they are expanding during the lockdown imposed in the country over the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. 

The technology and BPO sectors have generated the highest number of jobs since the lockdown was imposed, simply because this sector can cope best with working from home. Separately, the demand for digital products has increased significantly since a large part of the world is experiencing the same lockdown and has to adjust working and living to online instruments.

Biggest Romanian online store hires 1,000

Regional online retailer eMAG plans to hire 1,000 people in response to the sharp increase in online sales determined by the social restrictions imposed to limit the spreading of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Stanciu’s company is thus hiring at a time when one-fifth of the country’s workforce has been sent home with their labour contracts either suspended or terminated. eMag is hiring in the technology sector, but also in the logistics sector, and not for a short time but under permanent contracts. 

“We plan to employ 1,000 people in the coming period in warehouses, traditional courier, fast courier. These are permanent jobs. We want to invest,” said eMag CEO Iulian Stanciu in an interview with Ziarul Financiar daily.

eMag boasts a 30% rise in direct sales, while sales on the marketplace operated by eMag (sales of other retailers using eMag’s platform) soared by 40%, Stanciu said.

"Laptop sales have exploded — they are double from a normal period. This IT market had been numb for about 10 years, was going slightly down, and all of a sudden everyone was discovering productivity," eMag’s CEO explained.

eMag will launch a new line of products, food goods, starting next week.

Romania’s largest BPO firm seeks to employ 450

"CGS Romania will continue hiring as the demand for support services is growing,” said Vladimir Sterescu, country manager at CGS Romania, the biggest outsourcing firm in Romania.

CGS will implement from the very beginning a teleworking system, starting with the recruitment process, then with the training, and then during the actual work period, he explained.

Sterescu added that the company is hiring in particular to address the new contracts signed during this period, but also as a result of the existing customers needing more services.

The fact that many businesses have moved online, and many companies have support centres in Asia, which is strongly affected by the pandemic situation, has pushed up the demand for outsourcing services.

As a result, CGS Romania is involved in various customer support, technical support, but also back-office projects.

Israeli software producer boosts its Romanian office

DriveNets, an Israeli software producer specialised in software for networks, will double the number of employees in Bucharest, to 100 people by the end of 2020, the company has announced.

The Center of Excellence in Bucharest is developed by DriveNets and by its local partner Tellence Technologies.

During this period, the company estimates that the need for large-scale low-cost network solutions is increasing, with the COVID-19 pandemic, which creates an unprecedented increase in traffic.

DriveNets managers said that they are impressed by the very talented Romanian engineers who have quickly adapted and have learned the business model becoming part of the team.

“Tellence is a valuable partner for us and we are confident that our international team is now leveraging technology that will support how service providers build their networks on a larger scale and with higher profitability,” said Ido Susan, CEO and co-founder, DriveNets. 

Looking past the crisis 

The Romanian authorities should gradually lift the general lockdown that has blocked activity in several business sectors, in order to allow economy to restart, while of course focusing on the health crisis, argued Stanciu in the interview with Ziarul Financiar.

He added that, in order to prepare the post-crisis recovery, the sectors worst hit by the crisis should be identified and properly supported. Also, looking ahead, he advocated for supporting the sectors that can grow locally and can also expand abroad. Everything that is related to the digital economy — software, productivity tools, online commerce — all these sectors can grow a lot, he argued. Tourism and agriculture are other sectors that hold potential for growth he added.

"I think we should gradually replace this lockdown with measures to restart the economy. The priority should be the health crisis, but it must be seen very carefully what measures should be taken and where should be relaxed, in what areas, so that things restart,” said Stanciu.

The IT industry can be the starting point for a revival of the economy, by digitising processes or projects from other sectors affected by the crisis, where digitisation plays an important role, said Daniel Ilinca, CEO Softbinator Technologies, a company specialised in blockchain R&D and artificial intelligence, in an interview with Economica.net.

But he warned that the biggest problem will be human resources.

"To succeed, it takes people. If before the crisis tech companies had problems finding specialists, now, as the pressure on digitisation increases, the need for good people in IT will be even greater. It remains to be seen if the methods to recruit used so far will work or we need to diversify them, reinvent the wheel," commented Ilinca.