Piotr Ciski, CEO Symfonia - Softeh Plus: Romania has an incredible pool of IT talent

In an engaging dialogue with Business Review, Piotr Ciski, CEO of Symfonia – Softeh Plus, shared his expert insights on the integration of Softeh Plus into the Symfonia group. The interview delves into the strategic approach and vision Ciski holds for the future of digital solutions and healthcare technology. Ciski offers a unique perspective on the combined market strategies of Symfonia and Softeh Plus, the challenges and opportunities in the Romanian and Polish markets, and Symfonia’s distinctive position in the highly competitive software solutions market.

How do you envision the integration of Softeh Plus into the Symfonia group?

Softeh Plus’ operations on an operational level will continue as before, and the company will also retain its brand and headquarters. We want to develop Softeh’s ongoing projects, with a particular focus on solutions for the Healthcare & Pharmacy sector. We see great potential in this segment, as it is characterised by high growth rates throughout Europe.

We will achieve these goals by supporting sales and marketing at Softeh Plus, including in digital and user experience formats.

In the longer term, we plan to leverage the support of Accel KKR, our main investor, whose portfolio companies specialise in solutions for small and medium-sized enterprises. This will allow us to accelerate innovation in the cloud and expand the use of machine learning, Artificial Intelligence in products. The highest quality of solutions is paramount for our business. The aforementioned innovations will help us improve User Experience, which we see as a key indicator in assessing the quality of our products.

In summary – both Symfonia and Softeh Plus will focus on their home markets. However, in order to increase the reach of the business, we also want to map out joint major projects for both markets in the near future with outreach to customers outside of Romania and Poland.

What unique strengths does Softeh Plus bring to Symfonia, especially in the ERP market?

Softeh Plus is positioned as a leading provider of business support solutions in the healthtech sector in Romania. The industry is growing extremely rapidly in Europe. The total value of European healthtech companies increased more than sixfold between 2016 and 2021 – from as much as USD 8 billion to USD 41 billion. At the forefront of this change was mainly telemedicine.

Softeh Plus has excellent ERP software for hospitals and pharmacies. The company’s solutions for medical facilities are used here by key players such as Regina Maria, Sanador, Gral, Medicover, also well-known on the Polish market. The agile technologies and functionalities they use have proven themselves in practice – as evidenced by their extensive base of loyal and satisfied customers. Such world-class ‘state of art’ solutions gives us the opportunity to expand beyond the Romanian market.

In addition, Softeh and Symfonia share a common vision of development. The Softeh team is committed, has been building the company’s strength for years and has an appetite for expansion. We fit together; we have a very similar business culture.

What are the key challenges and opportunities you foresee in the Romanian market following this acquisition?

We see many similarities between the Romanian and Polish markets. Both countries are pioneers in our part of Europe in the introduction of solutions digitalising the tax area. In Romania, e-invoicing has been introduced since January this year; in Poland, the KSeF(Polish e-invoicing system) was due to take effect on 1 July 2024, which has been put on hold for some time as the system still needs to be audited. SAFT, the European standard for the electronic exchange of accounting data between tax authorities and taxpayers, which Poland started to introduce in 2016, is in place here from 2020. In addition, Romania has an incredible pool of IT talent, which is one of the reasons why large companies are launching IT support from your country. As in Poland, there are many software centres operating here.

Of course, it is not just the healthtech sector that is digitising heavily. The whole economy is becoming digital, we know the directions – these are our opportunities – so we are focusing on cloud, machine learning, AI and user experience. It is in these areas that the economy and Symfonia Group will innovate. Softeh’s growth potential here is huge.

That is why we will be exchanging knowledge in the coming months. We plan to work closely together on jointly selected key projects in which we are strong. This will open up new opportunities for us in our home markets and in CEE.

The Romanian IT market is attractive to us, so we are considering further acquisitions and are constantly scanning the market for interesting companies and business partners. Regardless of the organic growth of Softeh Plus, we want to continue to grow as a Group, so we are inviting Romanian companies that are doing a review of strategic options for talks.

Certainly, complex administrative processes and bureaucracy can be a challenge, which can slow down the implementation of new ideas and solutions.

We also constantly need to assess how rising prices, cost of living and inflation – the most frequently cited challenges in the Romanian market, as in the Polish market – will affect our business.

How does Symfonia differentiate itself in the highly competitive software solutions market?

Above all, we specialise in heavily regulated areas such as accounting. We pride ourselves on our specialist knowledge, including knowledge of regulations, laws and government policy. This has enabled us to establish ourselves as a ‘trusted adviser’ with our clients.

We are also close to our clients. Their opinion matters to us, and we adapt our innovations and develop products according to our clients’ needs.

We work in partnership with well-known, independent industry organisations, such as, for example, the Association of Accountants in Poland, which further strengthens our position as a Trusted Advisor.

Furthermore, as an ERP provider, we hold a strong leadership position in many industries in Poland: automotive, construction, manufacturing, retail and service sectors – especially financial and HR services. We therefore have in-depth, specialist knowledge of these industries. We invest in digital expertise and implement digital ‘routes to market’ – such as e-commerce.

How does Symfonia maintain its commitment to customer satisfaction and quality service?

We regularly measure our NPS (Net Promoter Score) and monitor areas where customers are satisfied or not. This gives us an overview of what needs our special attention.

Customer Experience is an important part of our business – continuously improving the customer experience at all touchpoints, from product search, implementation, use of our solutions to opportunities to find out more.

We are just about to create and launch a project called ‘Customer Lab’. It is a holistic and comprehensive methodology for working, co-creating and building innovation with customers and using their feedback to improve existing solutions.

Could you shed light on Symfonia’s approach to sustainability and corporate responsibility?

We are a revenue-generating, growing organisation. However, profit is not our only goal. One of the most fundamental values at Symfonia is to share our success with others – society, communities or those in need. We want real change, improvements for people and the environment. Today, our understanding of sustainability and corporate social responsibility is based on the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Based on this, the ‘Symfonia Foundation’ has decided to focus on 5 of these goals: Zero hunger, Good health and well-being, Quality education, Gender equality, Life on Land. This foundation, importantly, is a fully separate organisation with its own board and management. It was created by our employees. We allocate a percentage of our profits to the operation of the foundation and to the implementation of its chosen key projects.

It is our employees, involved in the Symfonia Foundation, who decide which projects we want to focus on and which external charities to support. Employees are able to take additional paid leave during which they get involved in the foundation’s campaigns.

We take part, for example, in the “Clean Up the Earth” campaign, but we also get involved in projects bordering on UN goals – such as the education and equality project “Girls in IT”. I would also like to take this opportunity to add that 41% of our board of directors are women, while the global average according to Forbes is 30%.

DMCA

PROTECTED