If I had to describe 2018 in one word, it would certainly be “spectacular”.
Eighteen years after its establishment, Webhelp has become a European leader and one of the top 10 BPO service providers with 140 operations sites in 35 countries and over 50,000 employees.
Keeping its accelerated development pace, the company has opened 11 new operations sites (Berlin and Hamm – Germany, Braga – Portugal, Rotterdam and Heerlen – Netherlands, Tourcoing – France, Ange – Sweden, Glasgow Hope Street and Larbert, Italy), merged and acquired six new companies: IQ-to-Link, Runway, OEE, Technofix, Meddomed & Meded (Direct Medica) and Sellbytel, and gained through its expertise the confidence of over 600 companies that entrusted it with managing their customer relationships.
Webhelp Romania confirms the Group’s global growth trend, registering a turnover increase of 2 million euros, compared to 2017, generated by organic development and streamlining processes through digitization.
Approaching a new business model has allowed us to expand our local market portfolio by 10% and to support the business efficiency of two of our historical clients by approaching customer service from an exclusively digital perspective.
The mergers and acquisitions carried out by the Group in the last 12 months allow us to now reposition Romania on the Webhelp footprint.
The Romanian branch will retain the digital and multilingual complex services, with high added value: Market Data Research, Invoice & Credit Control, Knowledge & Risk Management, Business Transformation, Digital, Client Expectation Management, Invoice & Credit Management, Analytics and Business Controlling, while the purely transactional activities will be gradually transferred to the Group’s low-cost destinations.
As such, launching a 100 FTEs project for the world’s largest low-cost airline, confirms our development strategy and contributes to the consolidation of our site in Iasi.
This year, Webhelp Romania aims to increase its revenue by 10 million euros.
If in previous years, the revenue of the subsidiary was achieved exclusively through organic development, in 2019, Webhelp Romania will focus equally on acquiring a company that will complement the range of services currently offered.
Our goal is to partner with our customers, through a complete offer that serves all departments, from marketing, finance to customer service, etc.
This business expansion will generate 500 new jobs and new employment opportunities for the communities where we are present.
The main challenges for 2019 relate to the economic and legislative environments.
Last year’s changes regarding fiscal law have strongly influenced investors’ perceptions of Romania’s economic development. If we add the high rate of attrition of our industry, it is obvious that business models will undergo significant changes, in order to sustain a growth in revenue by focusing on high added value services as opposed to directly depending on the number of employees.
The message to our customers is that in partnering with us, they can focus on developing their core business. Webhelp has a proven international expertise, a digital infrastructure developed and tailored to our clients’ requirements, as well as an intimate knowledge of the markets and of their consumers’ needs.
With over 100 universities providing qualified candidates, speaking at least one foreign language, with good technical skills, we have the advantage of being the second largest talent pool in the CEE. Retaining our employees and making them adhere to the values we represent is crucial to our business and it falls on us as industry leaders.
Raluca Leonte
CEO
Webhelp Romania