Connections enters the Asian market, aims EUR 3 M revenues

Connections, a software company operating on the digital transformation market in Romania, Bulgaria and Serbia is reaching the Asian market, with services of Robotic Process Automation and software development.

”ASEAN area has a strong appetite for fintech start-ups, the market is strictly regulated, there is a specific manner of local networking, who has to be undertaken and learnt, as well as a preference for the top-down approach, respectively the selection of useful relations and adequate resources, before actually starting the activity. ASEAN area is an important world financial hub, an area with powerful manufacturing, transport and logistical industries; therefore the potential is enormous on the automation of business processes. Over the next four years we foresee to have approximately EUR 3 million sales from RPA (Robotic Process Automation) and software development”, as the decision is explained by Bogdan Florea, founder of Connections and Vice-President of ANIS.

Connections will start its work with a sales office in Taipei (Taiwan), lead by the Canadian Grant Caldwell, the CEO designated by the company for managing the regional operations.

“We are confident in this expansion. Of course, there will be challenges, starting with the language and continuing with the business approach, but technology binds into our global world in which we live. Furthermore, we are well positioned in the ecosystem of intelligent automation, we have proven experience in Romania, CEE and Middle East, we intend to enter new markets and we are motivated to do so. We will focus in our Asian office on projects for operations in industries such as finance, logistics, production and transportation”, Bogdan Florea also mentioned.

Connections has 300 employees, offices in Bulgaria, Serbia as well as expansion plans at global level. The company is specialized in Intelligent Automation, IT Infrastructure Support, Digital Business Process Management and Software Development On Demand. Connections clients are global companies and medium size Romanian companies from industries such as Banking, FMCG, Oil & Gas, Telecom and Retail. Since July 2018 Connections has signed a partnership with UiPath, the platform of Enterprise Robotic Process Automation (RPA) with the fastest degree of adoption at global level, for which the company has a strong portfolio of implementations across key industries.

At the same time Connections has invested over EUR 200,000 in developing an open banking fintech platform aimed at integrating the APIs made available by the banks in Romania, once the Revised Payment Service Directive (PSD2) is implemented, which requires banks to provide access to information related to bank accounts of payments accessible online, to third parties that may develop information services, payments and other financial services for the banks’ clients. By the end of 2018, Connections reported a EUR 5.5 million turnover.