Bucharest, November 16th 2017. ABSL (the Association of Business Service Leaders in Romania) debated during its annual conference the future of the business service industry in our country and AI’s influence in this sector’s performances. The event, at its fifth edition, took place on Tuesday, November 14th, and gathered over 500 of the most important leaders and representatives of prestigious companies in the field.
The theme of the conference, “Shifting Perspectives. Envisioning the New World”, focused on the rapid changes happening in technology, which cause irreversible changes in industries and markets worldwide.
“The ABSL conference and its debates showed that we are on a rising trend. Right now, there are many things going on in Romania. There are 120,000 employees and the industry’s potential can reach 300,000. This is because our country is growing much faster than other big destinations in Europe: it is multifunctional and the complexity of services is improving, all this thanks to AI and the digitalization of the involved processes which improve the client’s experience. Using Artificial Intelligence and technology does not destroy jobs, but it increases efficiency and offers people the chance to be creative in much more complex jobs, which will result because of these changes”, said Cosmin Pătlăgeanu, President of ABSL.
The event’s special guest, the famous speaker Dr. Max McKeown, one of the most appreciated mentors in innovation, talked about the personal strategies which we can develop in order to better shape our future, about people’s abilities to learn and to connect to a future through changes they can start applying right away, reminding everyone the fact that the future is built by taking action right now.
Leaders of the Romanian business services industry have pointed out that technology and the introduction of artificial intelligence are tools that can help give more meaning and value to human beings by resolving the routine, repetitive activities.
Therefore, implementing AI does not diminish the importance of human capital in any way, but it repositions it, as traditional values such as responsibility, attention and respect for others, verticality and transparency, are all essential in the future.
Technology is always changing and improving, making investing in education a top priority, so that in the years to come there will be more mentors than bosses or hierarchical superiors.
The conference featured gadgets, practical robotics applications, and technological innovations designed to enhance customer relationships and experience. In addition, those present could look in the future for tomorrow’s specialists, specifically a group of students from the “Spiru Haret” National College in Bucharest, who presented a robot and a demo game created by them, within the program “FIRST Tech Challenge Romania”.
The conclusion of the discussions at the ABSL conference is that the Romanian industry is in the process of maturing, integrating the changes in technology, increasing efficiency and performance, and adapting to the current labor market specificity.
The sponsors of the 5th ABSL Annual Conference were Eucom Business Language, Accenture, Societe Generale European Business Services, Stefanini and TELUS International.
The partners of the event were: Bookster, BRD – First Tech Challenge Romania, MOOD Media and Samsung.
Radio Partner: Radio Guerilla.
About ABSL
Association of Business Service Leaders în România (ABSL) is the most important organisation representing the bussiness services sector, bringing together the most important market companies operating in areas such as Shared Services Center (SSC), Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), Information Technology Outsourcing (ITO) Research and Development (R & D).
The role of ABSL Romania is to support the expansion of the Business Service sector and its transformation into an important vector of Romania’s economic growth. The association achieves its goals by facilitating the collaboration of the main players, engaging authorities and interest groups in developing the key operational aspects of the industry.
The ABSL Romania includes both local and multinational companies, regional and global leaders such as: Accenture Services, Allianz Worldwide Partners, APT Resources & Services, Arvato Services Romania, Be Think Solve Execute, Capgemini, Central Europe Technologies, Connections Consult, CRH Ciment Romania, DB Schenker, Deloitte Audit, DXC Technology, Ernst & Young, Eucom Business Language, Genpact Romania, Global Remote Services, Goodyear Dunlop Tires Operations Romania, HP Enterprise, HP Inc Romania, Luxoft Professional Romania, Mazars Consulting, Microfocus, Microsoft Romania, Mood Media, Office Depot Service Center, OMV Petrom Global Solutions, Optima Solutions Services, PricewaterhouseCoopers Romania, Process Solutions, Procter & Gamble Marketing Romania, Renault Business Services, Samsung SSC, SCC Services Romania, SELIR, Societe Generale European Business Services, Stefanini Romania, TELUS International, TMF/UCMS Group Romania, UniCredit Business Integrated Solutions, Valoris Center, Vauban IT, Veeam Software, Vodafone Shared Services Romania, Webhelp, Wipro Technologies și WNS Global Services Romania.
ACCA, COS, Fine Law, HAYS, I Future, JLL, KPMG and SKANSKA also support ABSL as strategic partners of the association.
More details about ABSL can be found at www.absl.ro