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Nearshoring to Romania andWhy Work With Us

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1. Geography & Culture● Historical influences

● National Economy

● Safety and Security

● Markets served; Travel and Time zones

● European Union and GDPR

2. Talent● Talent base and growth

● Ability to attract and recruit

● Employee development & satisfaction

3. Partner or Supplier

● Organisational culture match

● Management strength and staying power

● Scale of competences

● Contract flexibility and engagement models

4. One Page Assessment Guide

● We believe these are the most important

elements to consider when selecting a

provider.

Table of Contents

We continuously strive towards excellence in adapting today’s IT to your mindset,

organisation and business.

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Foreword

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We’ve prepared this guide for you in order to better understand both the overall context of doing business in Romania and specifically leveraging what we can help you with in order to achieve your business objectives.

We acknowledge that it can be a difficult task to identify a nearshore provider or a technological partner that can work together with you as One Team. This is why we believe that this document, while clearly not exhaustive, can be a solid first stepping stone.

Of course, in order to get all the information you need to take a decision, we’d need to discuss your specific context and understand what you want to achieve. Until then, I hope you’ll find useful the information included here.

After you’ve finished reading it, we’d love to hear your feedback and tell us what else should we include in future versions.

Best regards,

Marcel

Today's IT market is moving at a faster rate than ever - pushed by increasingly complex buyer journeys and demands.

At Qubiz we understand this.

Being able to cover the whole lifecycle of your products and projects, we support you in both maintaining your current infrastructure and speeding up on your path towards digital transformation - properly responding to your customers' needs.

Marcel AnghelCEO

1. Geography & Culture

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Modern Romania was formed in 1859 through the unification of the two principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. Following World War I, Transylvania joined Romania in 1918 by the support of the Deputies of the Romanians and Saxons from Transylvania.

Being located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe, each of the former principalities have been influenced by the empires that existed in the three areas.

Qubiz is located in the former province of Transylvania where Austro-Hungarian influence can still be seen today and is still home to large minorities of both Hungarians and Germans.

This can be seen most easily by the fact that cities still have names in all three languages. People in this region are slightly closer culturally to Western Europe due to this influence.

1.1. Historical Influences

Romania is one of the fastest growing economies in the EU with an annual economic growth rate of 4.1% in 2018.

It's the world's 46th largest economy by nominal GDP according to the International Monetary Fund (2018).

It's number 52 out of 190 on the ease of doing business ranking made by the World Bank, using aggregate scores on 10 topics consisting of several indicators such as starting a business, getting credit, enforcing contracts or paying taxes.

IT companies account for more the 6% of the country's GDP. Furthermore, the startup sector has increased considerably in the last years, signaling the increased maturity with which IT professionals are able to solve clients' complex challenges.

At Qubiz we've always encouraged a spirit of entrepreneurship in order to offer added-value to the clients and partners we work with.

1.2. National Economy

The US Overseas Security Advisory Council has labelled Romania as a Level 1, meaning Exercise Normal Precautions. The Foreign Travel Advice section of the UK government's website recommends to maintain at least the same level of personal security awareness as in the UK.

Regarding personal security you are quite safe. In a SafeAround ranking, Romania is on the 29th place, well above the UK (35), Belgium (48), USA (49), France (56) and Portugal (68).

Nevertheless, it's important to exercise precautions especially regarding potential scams and petty theft (in crowded areas, exchange shops and around hotels).

Road safety is a concern as the underdeveloped infrastructure and risky traffic behaviours have lead to a higher number of road deaths (9.9 per 100000 of population, compared to 2.8 per 100000 of population in the UK).

1.3. Safety & Security

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Qubiz was started by working on projects from the Netherlands. Since we've done a great job in helping businesses achieve their technological goals, we've been recommended consistently by our clients, solving increasingly more complex challenges.

Over time, the recommendations we were given reached across the English Channel and thus increasingly more clients from the UK started working with us.

In the last couple of years, we've seen a big opportunity in helping companies from the DACH region and decided it was time to start actively building relationships with companies from this region.

Nevertheless, we've been contracted by clients from other markets as well, such as the Nordics, the US and Australia.

1.4. Markets Served

If you're from a European Union member country, travel is as easy as travelling inside your own country, you only need your national ID card.

Citizens from most non-EU countries can get a visa on arrival at the airport (e.g. Canada, USA, Australia). For more information regarding entry you should check the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs website.

From anywhere in Europe flights are very frequent, with a low travel-time and are quite cheap. Thus, visiting each other's offices is quick and easy.

Regarding time zones, assuming you're located in Europe, there's only a maximum of +2 hours difference (for the UK and Portugal), with most of the rest having just 1 hour difference.

This also takes into account daylight savings time which we observe as well.

1.5. Travel & Time Zones

Since 2007, Romania is a European Union member country. This means that a high number of legal and financial aspects are conducive to a great partnership with zero surprises down the road.

Most of the contracts with our clients and partners run under Romanian jurisdiction.

However we’re open to take into consideration and analyse the option to apply jurisdiction in our partners' country.

1.7. GDPRWorking under the General Data Protection Regulation, we have in place all the necessary processes and understanding required in order to ensure proper data management for all of your projects involving personal data.

1.6. European Union

2. Talent

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The IT sector in Romania counts over 120000 specialists and every year there are around 8500 IT graduates joining the workforce.

Most Universities, even in smaller cities, offer undergraduate and graduate degrees helping to cover an increasing need for knowledgeable employees. Thus, most IT companies have opened offices in these locations, enabling them to offer services at a better value for money ratio.

In terms of growth, we should also take into account that the IT sector has become very attractive for a large number of people from other fields, making the switch to specialised IT roles, further increasing these numbers. Adding to this, expats from both Western and other Eastern European countries have found in Romania a good place to live and work.

2.1. Base & Growth

At Qubiz we’ve consistently nurtured a strong brand on the highly competitive labor markets where we are present.

We have a strong ability to recruit based on two main levels of action.

On a broader scale, we’ve consistently invested in marketing initiatives aimed at potential employees in order to differentiate and attract the best talent.

On a direct approach level, our HR department has developed both a database of potential hires and recruitment processes that quickly identify the right fit for new projects.

Having played the long game in terms of employer branding, we’ve ensured that speed in assembling teams is a strong benefit that we are able offer to our new clients.

This, correlated with a high retention rate that’s been above 95% for the past 5 years, ensures great stability and continuity for our clients.

2.2. Ability to Recruit

Centered around employee satisfaction, our long-term strategy has been recognised by the European Business Awards. Two years in a row, we’ve won the best workplace in Romania.

We conduct yearly surveys measuring a large number of indicators related to work satisfaction at Qubiz. We’ve consistently hit over 95% overall work satisfaction.

In terms of working conditions and benefits, employees expressed a level of satisfaction above 95%.

We ensure proper education aimed at increasing seniority over time and enable staff to change projects to avoid boredom on long-term ones while still retaining their know-how.

Company culture has been consistently named as a big differentiator from other companies and the reason people stay. In fact, in relation with colleagues, people expressed a 98% appreciation rating.

2.3. Satisfaction

3. Partner or Supplier

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We are a company that is 100% focused on people - both clients and employees. We’ve been in business for enough time to understand that putting people first is the thing that matters most in order to succeed in any undertaking.

As mentioned in previous sections, we go beyond statements and actually get down to action, proactively encouraging our colleagues to be part of this culture we’ve built over the years. We’re really happy that we’ve managed to grow while keeping it as vibrant as always.

Our values are at the core of this culture: Client Centricity, Excellence, Teamwork, Trust and Respect, Fun and Entrepreneurship.

We consistently measure ourselves by these values. By breaking them down into concrete behaviours, we are able to create a roadmap for each employee and, using 360° feedback, they know what are their strengths and where to focus on growth in the future.

We believe that having a good cultural match with our clients is the single most important thing that can ensure a high-value collaboration towards reaching business objectives.

3.1. Organisational Culture Match

The Founder and CEO of Qubiz, over the course of more than 20 years, has become a serial entrepreneur with a number of companies he’s built from scratch and others where he’s an investor.

The other Managing Partners have decades of experience managing both complex software projects and leading organisations of hundreds of people. This vast experience has ensured that our clients’ trust is well placed and has lead to continued business relations and organic business growth through referrals from happy clients.

We believe that one of the best indicators of staying power is the fact that new clients consistently come from referrals from current or past ones. Since 2008, we’ve continuously grown through doing excellent work.

Furthermore, as we’ve built a values-based company, our employees really love working here. In terms of numbers, the employee turnover rate has always been well below 5% - which is something we’re really proud of.

Lastly, we’ve built a number of strategic partnerships, both locally and internationally, that enable us to deliver long-term value to many types of companies with very specific and evolving needs.

3.2. Staying Power and Management

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Having worked with countless companies over time, we’ve been able to retain a very diverse set of competences in-house and take on increasingly complex challenges. Thus, we are able to offer a high degree of flexibility in accordance with your evolving business’ needs over time.

Furthermore, we’re able to both quickly acquire new competences from the diverse local ecosystem and also train new people.

After an incoming request, we give a reaction within 12 hours and after we clarify the needs with you, we’ll agree on clear next steps. Usually, depending on the situation, team scaling requires 4 to 6 weeks.

We offer the possibility to test the cooperation and build the relationship step by step. This could consist of 4 to 8 weeks where we agree on very specific deliverables and collaboration expectations and at the end have an in-depth analysis to decide if we’re the right fit.

As we’re able to help at any stage of the application lifecycle we offer our clients a one-stop-shop approach, where we’re able to work as One Team to reach the set objectives.

3.3. Scale of Competences

As previously mentioned, we operate within a European Union member country and most of our contracts run under Romanian jurisdiction since it offers a very similar level of coverage as any other member country. Of course, we can discuss the option to run under our partner’s jurisdiction.

Depending on your needs, we can collaborate in different ways, best suited for your particular context and long-term plans.

Team Augmentation means we integrate our best-fit roles into your pre-existing team in order to help you further reach your goals.

Project-Based means that you provide the direction and requirements needed and we take care of everything else.

Technological Partnership means we use a continuous development and support approach, working incrementally to innovate and help you as your business grows and encounters new challenges.

As the collaboration develops, most of our newer clients decide that it makes more sense long-term to switch to a Technological Partnership model.

3.4. Contract and Engagement Models

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Location Assessment

Culture

Technological Culture 5

Business Culture 4

International Focus 4

Language understanding 4

Stability

Geopolitical 4

Nature stability 5

Crime rate and personal security 4

National economic situation

Salary level 4

Salary Increase (speed) 4

Talent pool

Employee transportation time 5

Talent production 4

Talent base 5

Geography and access

Timezone 5

Travel time 5

Visa regulations 5

Supplier Assessment

Match

Staying power 5

References 5

Ability to work Onshore 4

Contract - law and jurisdiction 5

Cost & Flexibility

Exchange rate risk 4

Contract flexibility 4

Value for money 5

People management

Ability to attract 5

Ability to recruit 5

Employee development 5

Employee satisfaction 5

Employee turn 5

Data protection (GDPR) 5

Partner or Supplier

Scale of competences 4

Management strength 5

Cultural understanding 4

4. One Page Assessment Guide

We recommend printing this out and using a scale from 1 (Not good) to 5 (Very good) make an assessment for each of the potential suppliers or partners. We took the liberty of pre-filling out the numbers for Romania and Qubiz. They’re grayed out so you can easily write over them. Otherwise, you can simply build your own document using this as a starting point.

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www.qubiz.com

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