The Beginning
Every end of the year brings summons the need of a retrospective. Thus, Gabriel Tataru, Managing Director of Integration Data Systems, helped us to satisfy our curiosity, telling us how the year 2022 ended and what plans the company has for this year.
Curious to find out what’s next? Stay tuned!
“Our team consists of over 100 consultants, some of whom joined the team in 2022. And in 2023 we will continue the recruitment process.”
GABRIEL TATARU
The context
The international layoffs of IT specialists in international markets, especially in the USA, will not be as aggressive in the national market and may represent an opportunity for players in the profile industry in Romania, who can attract professionals in the field to increase their teams.
“I don’t think that the trend will reach in Romania the magnitude overseas, but I think it is an opportunity for us and an overall chance to make the delivery method more efficient. Recruitment on the Romanian market will probably experience a decrease this year, but the general trend is one of investment in digitization, process optimization, data management and AI (artificial itelligence). So, I would consider this trend, rather, an opportunity to strengthen our team and attract new colleagues”, said Gabriel Tătaru, managing director of Integration Data Systems (IDS).
He explained that the massive layoff decisions were a measure by the big players in the IT&C industry to “pacify” their investors and optimize cash flow.
“I wouldn’t consider it a global trend. For a correct analysis, one should also see the number of hires made by the respective companies in recent years, whether or not they are listed on the stock exchange, whether they are product or service companies. Certainly the trend in recent years has been the expansion and increase in the number of employees, with analysts and investors following the indicators related to the increase in the number of employees at every announcement of financial results.
“It was normal to reach a plateau at some point, and it was reached faster because of the global economic situation.”
Currently, Integrations Data Systems has a team of 100 IT specialists who work both remotely and from the office. For the current year, the company’s representatives aim to increase the team.
“In 2022 we managed to considerably increase the team. Most of the IDS team works in a hybrid mode, and to facilitate access, we moved to the center of the Capital, but we still have colleagues who prefer the comfort of their own homes, and the efficiency of some has visibly increased.”
What is next
“And in 2023, we will continue the process of expanding the team with a focus on: data engineers, data scientists, data modelers, developers on various technologies, business and functional analysts, reporting analysts, BI specialists, DevOps, cloud engineers.”
Gabriel Tătaru added that, taking into account inflation, the geopolitical and economic context, but also technological developments – AI and automation, the labor market in Romania is at its most volatile and effervescent level so far.
Also, the IDS representative believes that the digitization trend is unstoppable, considering that in a competitive market, the digital advantage can be the factor that makes the difference. Thus, digital transformation projects and the needs to optimize processes within companies, recently accentuated by the economic context, will continue to be on the agenda of many organizations.
“Of course, how much budget will be allocated depends on the priorities of each company, on the field of activity and the impact it brings to their business. December 2022 put AI on the world map with the popularization of OpenAI, ChatGPT, Dall-e, MidJourney. The message is clear – in 2023 there will be even more room for automation, the cloud and more and more artificial intelligence”, pointed out Gabriel Tătaru.
Integration Data Systems closed the year 2022 with business of approximately 7 million euros, registering a 55% increase compared to the previous year.
“We aim to have the same increase in turnover in 2023 as the previous year, perhaps even more ambitious.”
Regarding the client portfolio, during the past year, IDS focused on growth not only at the local level, but also at the European level. Thus, currently, IDS collaborates with 15 clients from Romania, Austria, Switzerland, Germany and Poland, the client portfolio growing by almost 50% in 2022 compared to 2021.
“As goals for the new year we want to develop existing relationships, to become the first option for our clients when it comes to implementation in the area of data governance, but also to identify new growth opportunities both on the local and international markets. “
For the year 2023, the IDS representatives also proposed investments in cloud and automation and the opening of a new office in Romania, in Cluj.
“We want to have as many projects as possible to implement and, thus, we want to open another point of work in the country, more precisely in Cluj. We haven’t made a decision yet, but as regional growth is a priority, and Cluj has become an important pole from an IT point of view, the step is a natural one. We also want to create a regional business intelligence (BI) and data warehousing community. Being a niche field, it is important to be able to bring together top specialists, to collaborate with each other for technological advancement. Internally, we started the development of new products to meet the market’s requirements”, Gabriel Tătaru also said.
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