Fast-forward 7 successful and constantly growing editions of Techsylvania, here we are in 2021, where technology is a big part of our lives now. This aspect energizes us and confirms once again that by investing in our tech ecosystem, we can befriend technology and use it for a better world.
What’s next? This has always been on our minds when creating each edition of Techsylvania. The next in tech, the next in business, the next in the social contexts that determine us to bring to life the best ideas and innovations.
Ioana Popa — General Manager, Betfair Romania Development.
The challenging times we are living now have transformed our contemplative what’s next into a vital one, and we’re still eager to go in search of answers while adapting to the new reality. We’re honored to have interviewed one of the successful entrepreneurs with a special sense of identifying needs in the market and providing just perfect-fitting solutions for them, Ioana Popa — General Manager, Betfair Romania Development.
1) As you are a software company, how do you perceive the Romanian tech hub ecosystem in recent years, through the lens of your company?
To be honest I am always amazed by how quickly things change when it comes to the Romanian Technology field. I believe it to be the most rapidly changing ecosystem in the country. I remember fondly of the early Betfair years when we were amongst the first companies in Cluj who had Product Owners and Product Management capabilities built locally. That was more than 10 years ago.
Now, those skill sets and many others are common on the market with brilliant people specialized in various fields. As the software development industry evolved quickly, so did the demand from Tech companies. We found ourselves in a situation where the competition for talent basically grew overnight, so we needed to ensure our thinking is progressive, to be able to attract and retain the best talent. We invested massively in developing and upskilling our people and we partnered with Universities to shape their curricula.
Being an industry with a 0% unemployment rate and with more companies opening offices in Romania it’s only a testimony of the great Tech talent we have in our country. I believe Tech companies need to work together more with Universities to create a higher pool of specialists and build a curriculum reflective of the latest technologies and trends the industry is taking. By doing that we can help ensure the future of the Romanian Tech industry is a sustainable and growing one, with a higher contribution to the Romanian overall budget, and which will maintain our position on the world map of countries that invest in the software industry.
2) How did you adapt as a business to the Covid-19 pandemic?
The past year and a half have given all of us a lesson about what really matters in life and in doing business. We’ve learned about flexibility and how to trust one another again. Working hours received a whole new meaning and timeframe, as each of us had to deal with working from home perks and at the same time share our home office with children or other working family members.
As a company, we took a „people first” approach. That meant being kind to one another, appreciating personal circumstances, understanding when a colleague is having a hard time, and ensuring safety comes first. In addition, forcing people to come into the office if they don’t feel comfortable doing so was never an option for us. This approach is still valid now, 18 months later. We discovered the Covid-19 pandemic did not affect productivity, however, our colleagues did miss having coffees together.
The Tech industry was probably one of the least affected by the Covid-19 context, as it was easy to resume working from home. We had to adapt as new trends started to appear — words like ”zoom fatigue” or „burnout” were often mentioned. We took this very seriously and placed a lot of emphasis on individual well-being through our „No Zoom Afternoon” initiative, well-being days off, regular sessions on emotional resilience, and how to cope with burnout — we did everything we could to ensure our people feel supported through such unprecedented times. And I think we are still in a learning mode, as things seem to slowly go back to normal. The old normal will no longer exist. Companies will need to adapt to the new reality and be extremely agile, otherwise, they will be left behind. The Tech industry has the chance of being a trailblazer when it comes to the future ways of working.
3) Can you tell us more about your company’s history and how your Romanian team developed over the years?
Betfair Romania Development opened their first office in Cluj-Napoca in 2007 via Xoomworks. As they found great talent on the market and the first project was successful, we continued to invest here. Three years later our team grew to 120 people.
We continued to deliver quality work and in 2013 we proudly got to the point of having a Full Development lifecycle in place. That meant that besides developers, testers, and managers we also had roles such as Product Owners and Product Managers done by our Romanian colleagues. We continued to grow the team and deliver more value to the Group, as we moved offices 3 times and became a Center of Excellence for Gaming, Data, and Customer Management. This was due to our brilliant colleagues having an increased understanding of our products and we ensured they were given the proper training to do their jobs. Our focus was not only on technical development, as we put a high emphasis on our soft skills as well.
Starting 2017, we widened our areas of expertise, and set up a Sports Operations team in Cluj, providing operational excellence to Europe and Australia. That was only the beginning of the journey for setting up other Commercial areas such as Gaming Operations, Marketing, VIP management, Insights and Analytics, and much more. At that point, our team was about 800 people. Now we are close to hitting the 1.000 people mark and we are a true Global Center of Excellence, with development and commercial teams working with our colleagues from Europe, the USA, and Australia and providing services to 5 Divisions within the Flutter Group.
This is a true testimony to all the passionate people who work and have worked together with us along the way and to our management teams who were relentless in getting us where we are right now. I am really excited about what will be next as the future unfolds.