Money Buzz! Europa

Category: Technology

  • KPMG and UiPath to develop and deliver intelligent automation solutions

    KPMG and UiPath to develop and deliver intelligent automation solutions

    KPMG Romania has partnered with UiPath to jointly develop and deliver intelligent automation solutions to clients.

    Together, these companies will enable organizations to achieve business-wide digital transformation, leveraging emerging technologies to transform operating models, to innovate to remain competitive, and to reimagine the customer experience.

    The partnership represents the next stage in RPA collaboration between both firms, with a focus on implementing and managing large-scale, transformational digital programs.

    KPMG in Romania’s expertise in consulting and implementation will build on the capability, agility, and scalability advantages inherent in UiPath’s robust end-to-end automation platform. 

  • Cosmote launched the first 5G network in Greece

    Cosmote launched the first 5G network in Greece

    Cosmote launched its 5G network in Athens, Thessaloniki and other Greek cities. In certain areas, the maximum network speeds exceed 1Gbps.

    Cosmote is the first Greek operator to offer its subscribers 5th generation services, creating new prospects for the country’s digital development.

    The first video call via 5G network in the country took place at Maximos Mansion, between the Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and the Minister of State and Digital Governance Kyriakos Pierrakakis.

    Cosmote intends to reach a population coverage over 50% by the end of 2021 and 100% 5G coverage of highways until 2023.

  • Bulgarian software company Ablera and IBM co-created ”Beth” Virtual Assistant

    Bulgarian software company Ablera and IBM co-created ”Beth” Virtual Assistant

    IBM announced that Ablera, a Bulgarian company specialized in developing AI/ML powered digital services for businesses, chose IBM Garage to co-create ”Beth”, an intelligent multilingual and multichannel virtual assistant for insurers, powered by IBM Watson on IBM Cloud.

    A Minimum viable product (MVP) of a virtual assistant has been developed in two weeks.

    Further built on this base, Ablera’s Intelligent Virtual Assistant Beth supports insurance companies’ interactions with their customers, agents and employees and assists them in processing quickly and easily general and specific tasks such as quotations, the first notices of loss (FNOL), automatic claim processing in real time 24/7/365, emulating human communication with the end user.

    Beth will walk customers through the insurance process to complete their requests and tasks within minutes, eliminating points of friction in the customer experience.

    The customers can instantly chat with Beth in their native languages and obtain support via different channels (messaging platforms, web, apps) from any device.

    Beth is trained to understand various kinds of questions asked in different ways, to recognize intentions and to provide personalized and customized answers and advices, extracting the necessary information from various sources with which it is integrated (insurer’s core system, financial system, Customer Relationship Management, etc.).

    Beth is trained and can be already used for all personal non-life insurance business lines (Motor, Home, Travel) while Health and Commercial insurance is in Ablera’s roadmap for the next year.

  • Euro zone: Four out of ten card transactions were made using contactless technology

    Euro zone: Four out of ten card transactions were made using contactless technology

    Euro area consumers are gradually shifting towards cards for in-person retail payments, although cash remained the most used instrument at the end of 2019, data published by the European Central Bank (ECB) show.

    Last year euro area adult consumers used cash for 73% of their point-of-sale and person-to-person retail transactions (48% in value terms).

    In a previous ECB study conducted in 2016, the figure was 79% of these transactions (54% in value terms).

    The use of cards for in-person retail payments increased by 5 percentage points over the same three years, from 19% to 24% (41% in value terms).

    Almost four out of ten card transactions were made using contactless technology in 2019.

    For their online shopping, euro area adult consumers paid mainly by card (49% of transactions) and one out of four online transactions was made using e-payment solutions.

    Four out of ten bill payments were made using direct debit and two out of ten by credit transfer.

    How Covid-19 pandemic changed payment behavior

    Four out of ten respondents replied that they had used cash less often since the start of the pandemic. While most of those who fell into this category expected to continue to do so after the pandemic, the long-term impact on payment behaviour is still uncertain.

  • Ericsson brings 5G to Greece with WIND Hellas

    Ericsson brings 5G to Greece with WIND Hellas

    Ericsson has been selected by WIND Hellas as its mobile core network vendor for standalone and non-standalone 5G, as well as its BSS partner.

    Ericsson dual-mode 5G Core will allow WIND Hellas to meet customer’s increasing demand for data as well as pursue new opportunities in emerging enterprise segments supported by enhanced capabilities such as network slicing.

    Nassos Zarkalis, Chairman and CEO of WIND Hellas, says: ”We are excited about the collaboration with Ericsson for the country’s 5G network modernization. Our ambitious undertaking is to build a state of the art, secure 5G core network that will create new possibilities for Greece and create value to society at large, businesses, and our customers, by delivering enhanced high-speed services and compelling experiences”.

  • More than 1 billion people will have access to 5G coverage this year

    More than 1 billion people will have access to 5G coverage this year

    Ericsson Mobility Report estimates that by the end of this year, more than 1 billion people, 15 percent of the world’s population, will live in an area that has 5G coverage.

    In 2026, 60 percent of the world’s population will have access to 5G coverage, with 5G subscriptions forecast to reach 3.5 billion.

    Ericsson has raised its year-end 2020 estimate for global 5G subscriptions to 220 million, as service providers continue to build out their networks.

    The increase is largely due to rapid uptake in China, reaching 11 percent of its mobile subscription base. This is driven by a national strategic focus, intense competition between service providers, as well as increasingly affordable 5G smartphones from several vendors.

    North America is expected to end the year with about 4 percent of its mobile subscriptions being 5G. Commercialization is now moving at a rapid pace and by 2026, Ericsson forecasts that 80 percent of North American mobile subscriptions will be 5G, the highest level of any region in the world.

    Europe will end the year with about 1 percent 5G subscriptions in the region. During the year, some countries delayed auctions of the radio spectrum needed to support 5G deployment.

  • LeoVegas, first in the gaming industry to offer open banking

    LeoVegas, first in the gaming industry to offer open banking

    LeoVegas will be first out in the gaming industry to allow open banking transactions under PSD2 via the company’s proprietary technical platform.

    This will result in more secure and faster payments for customers directly from their own bank accounts as well as lower transaction costs and a reduced dependence on other payment service providers for LeoVegas.

    The UK is the first market in which LeoVegas has already launched payments via open banking.

    Customer data from the initial weeks show that 10% of all new customers already are choosing to initiate their payments via open banking.

    The solution will be successively rolled out across several of the company’s core markets in Europe.

    What is PSD2

    PSD2 stands for the EU’s Second Payment Services Directive, which aims to develop the market for electronic payments and thereby create better conditions for secure and effective payments.

    Open banking is one aspect of PSD2 and entails that actors open up and share information with each other.

  • Instagram content creators in Romania: mostly female, aged between 18 and 34

    Instagram content creators in Romania: mostly female, aged between 18 and 34

    According to a survey, 47% of the Romanian influencers active on Instagram have built their communities using flawed practices (such as follow/unfollow, inauthentic comments, growth anomalies, etc.), including content creators in the category of mega-influencers, where the percentage reaches 55.21 %.

    “The level of fraud we found in Romania is similar to other European countries both in terms of growth anomalies, and in terms of the fraud level. In the USA, for example, the growth anomalies are even higher, 22.25%, while the level of fraud rises to 54% “, says Nikita Baklanov, HypeAuditor marketing specialist. 

    The landscape of Instagram influencers in Romania

    The number of users is 4,539,000 people, representing 23.5% of the entire population.

    Content creators (18,716 analyzed in the HyperAuditor report) are mostly female (60.40%), most aged between 18 and 34, while male influencers (39.60%) are mostly between 25 and 34 years old.

    Overall, the average appreciation of Romanian influencers amounts to 2.86%, slightly lower than in other countries, users in Romania being less involved in the content created by them.

    On the other hand, the Romanian nano-influencers have communities with higher engagement (6.23) compared to the international average in this category (5.71).

    Mega – influencers and celebrities (over 1 million followers)

    They often have a very mixed audience, with various topics of interest. Their relationships with them are colder compared to other groups of influencers.

    They have the highest coverage, but the lowest level of trust.

    Macro – influencers (100,000 – 1 million followers)

    They are famous in a local community, a kind of “mini-celebrity”. Their content is usually of high quality and is based on a certain hobby or theme.

    Micro-influencers (5 thousand – 20 thousand followers) and medium-influencers (20 thousand – 100 thousand followers)

    They have a niche audience that appreciates more deeply the connection.

    Micro-influencers are present in almost every field: health and fitness, nutrition, entrepreneurship, fashion and beauty are some of the best represented categories.

    Nano-influencers (1 thousand – 5 thousand followers)

    They are regular consumers, passionate and willing to share; influence a smaller number of people, but have the highest rate of appreciation from their community.

    Countries with the highest engagement rate (ER) in 2020

    1. Finland: 5.51%
    2. Greece: 5%
    3. Croatia: 4.12%
    4. Japan: 4.07%
    5. Austria: 4.04%
    6. Germany: 3.91%
    7. Poland: 3.87%
    8. Hungary: 3.82%
    9. Belgium: 3.79%
    10. Latvia: 3.77%


  • Serbia to digitalize schools with €65 million from EIB

    Serbia to digitalize schools with €65 million from EIB

    The European Investment Bank (EIB) will invest €65 million in the modernisation of primary and secondary schools in Serbia to provide new digital equipment, connectivity, and capacity building training for 50,000 school teachers.

    Schools across Serbia will benefit from modern computer classroom equipment and wireless local area networks, and teachers will be trained to improve their digital skills.

    The project is expected to create up to 700 new jobs.

    The EIB will provide a significant level of technical support in aid of project preparation and implementation.

    To date, the EIB has invested €50 million in the modernisation of Serbian schools, improving the quality of learning conditions for around 28,000 primary and secondary school children in over 200 education facilities in Serbia.

    €200 million has been invested in reviving Serbia’s research and development sector, creating a long-term platform for scientific development in all major areas.

  • Geek+ delivered 13.19 million orders within 36 h

    Geek+ delivered 13.19 million orders within 36 h

    Geek+ has broken a new record and successfully delivered 13.19 million orders within 36 h during this year’s 11.11 Singles’ Day shopping holiday.

    Through the deployment of nearly 5,500 AMRs on more than 300,000 square meters of warehouse space, Geek+ has created the world’s largest robot warehouse group operation for Singles’ Day.

    With a 60% year on year increase and a 36h delivery rate of 97%, double that of manually operated 3PL warehouses, Geek+ large-scale robotics network is one step closer to creating an intelligent and agile supply chain in China.

    Geek+ cloud brain, the company’s proprietary software, key component to success

    The peak capacity of the entire system for order taking, processing, single-point feedback, pre-processing, and interface feedback processing reached 200,000 single orders/per minute.

    The system operated smoothly, with zero interruption and zero accidents.

    Yong Zheng, founder and CEO of Geek + said: ”We are very proud that our solutions help hundreds of brands successfully navigate peak order seasons. With RaaS, we make smart warehousing accessible to businesses of all sizes.”

  • EdisonRisolve, the platform that solves domestic needs, available in Milan

    EdisonRisolve, the platform that solves domestic needs, available in Milan

    EdisonRisolve, an Italian platform that aggregates all services you may need for your home is available in Milan.

    The platform offers services like housecleaning, washing or ironing, small repairs, virtual wardrobe or house renovation services.

    EdisonRisolve subscription costs €1.99/month (€23.88 per year, billed once a year for one solution).

    Once you activate the subscription you can request the services you want by calling a dedicated number, available 24 hours/24, 7 days/7.

    At the moment the service is active only in the municipality of Milan.

    As part of Eddison Energia, this is the first on-demand platform of an energy operator that easily aggregates all home services.

  • Amazon is the biggest online shop in Austria. Zalando and Universal follow

    Amazon is the biggest online shop in Austria. Zalando and Universal follow

    Online giant Amazon secures first place in the ranking with an annual turnover of 834,3 million euros in 2019, Heute reports.

    In addition, Zalando.at (EUR 346,8 million turnover in 2019) and Universal.at (EUR 111,9 million turnover in 2019) complete the first three places.

    Top five is completed by Shop Apotheke (EUR 93,7 million turnover in 2019), Otto (EUR 84,4 million) and Media Markt (EUR 71,9 million).

    Above all, the ten largest online shops in Austria accounted for almost half of the total sales of the top 250 online shops in the country.

    E-commerce is expected to account for 11 percent of total retail sales in Austria, by the end of this year.

    Last year, the online retail market in Austria grew by 13.5 percent to around 3.6 billion euros.