Money Buzz! Europa

Category: Technology

  • VIG to launch a completely digital insurance processes in Poland

    VIG to launch a completely digital insurance processes in Poland

    Vienna Insurance Group will introduce a motor insurance offer with fully digital distribution and claims settlement on the Polish market by the end of this year.

    The company has launched the ”Beesafe” start-up together with the Polish VIG company Compensa, which focuses on creating completely digital insurance processes and incorporating all digital customer touchpoints.

    Motor insurance policies that can be easily selected and concluded online form the basis.

    Moreover, the customer will have the opportunity to select additional services via the online platform.

    If the pilot project is successful, an expansion to other VIG countries is planned.

  • Digip is digitizing the traditional intellectual property market

    Digip is digitizing the traditional intellectual property market

    The Swedish legal tech company digip launches a SaaS solution that simplifies and streamlines the management of trademark protection and domain management.

    The need for trademark protection is ever increasing as 85 percent of all brands have experience of infringement.

    By digitizing trademark protection processes into an intuitive SaaS solution, entrepreneurs and established businesses are provided the opportunity to register, protect and monitor their trademark rights worldwide. 

    In the first version companies will be given the opportunity to free of charge search if their trademark can be registered in Europe, and then for a small fee, get professional help to get the trademark registered.

    To proactively protect the trademark, trademark monitoring is included, and it is possible to register domain names and manage technical services to proactively protect the digital assets of the brand.

    digip was founded in 2019 with the aim of simplifying and challenging an industry that has not kept up with the pace of digital innovation.

    digip development and operations have so far been financed by the VC company Antler, the business angels Pop Invest, Niklas Alm and OVM Invest as technical co-founder. 

  • McDreams to optimize revenue management with Infor solution

    McDreams to optimize revenue management with Infor solution

    Infor, a global leader in business cloud software specialized by industry, announced that it is equipping the family-owned McDreams hotel group with Infor EzRMS solution.

    Infor EzRMS uses deep learning AI to provide enhanced revenue management functionalities and helps to improve guest service.

    With Infor EzRMS, McDreams is able to automate its revenue management, optimize its room occupancy and independently analyze market data.

    The solution identifies the special wishes of guests by their behavior. As a result, hoteliers can address individual needs and provide a highly personalized experience.

    McDreams already uses other Infor solutions.

    Founded in 2009, the McDreams group offers low-budget designer rooms in a compact space with a high level of comfort.

    The hotel group thus appeals in particular to guests who are looking for overnight accommodation for only a short time – such as business people, tradesmen and fitters, as well as vacationers on a stopover.

  • Organizations spend less than 5% of revenues on technology

    Organizations spend less than 5% of revenues on technology

    Organizations around the world spend less than 5% of their revenues on technology, even so-called tech vanguards – companies with a well-defined vision and strategy and a mature tech function, according to the 2020 Deloitte Global Technology Leadership Study.

    The study was conducted on 1.300 technology and business leaders across 69 countries, including Romania.

    The study also reveals that only 11% of organizations are tech vanguards and that almost a third of leaders in such companies (29%) are likely to play a visionary role, twice more than leaders in baseline organizations (14%).

    The similarities between the two types of organizations are also visible when it comes to the budgets allocated to innovation, as 20% of vanguards invest in this field, only slightly above the percentage of baseline organizations (15%). 

    These organizations focus on innovation (66%) and customers (60%) and their technology departments are more engaged across the entire innovation life cycle, from sensing (52%), to prototyping (56%) and to deploying (47%).

    Also, the technology functions of vanguard organizations are nearly 2.5 times more likely to be considered extremely or very effective (66%) in shaping customer experiences and engagement than those in baseline organizations (27%), a capability they expect to increase over time.

    Two thirds of technology leaders (67%) at tech vanguard organizations expect the tech function to deliver transformational customer centricity in the near future, compared to only 43% of baseline organizations.

    The survey respondents believe that the kinetic leader is the most effective profile for the technology leader, a change-oriented and future-focused visionary.

    To describe the defining characteristics of successful technology leaders over the next three years, 69% of respondents used words such as change, vision, innovation and agile, while 46% concluded that strategic business and tech acumen are highly appreciated attributes.

  • Garanti BBVA, awarded as the ”Best Consumer Digital Bank in Romania”

    Garanti BBVA, awarded as the ”Best Consumer Digital Bank in Romania”

    Garanti BBVA has been awarded, once again, by the Global Finance magazine as ”Best Consumer Digital Bank in Romania”.

    This is the 13th award received by the bank from this magazine and confirms the success of its digitalization efforts.

    The bank`s performance was evaluated by a world-class panel of judges at Infosys, a global leader in consulting, technology, and outsourcing.

    The judges evaluated the strength of strategy for attracting and servicing digital customers, success in getting clients to use digital offerings, growth of digital customers, and web/mobile site design and functionality.

    ”With Garanti BBVA Mobile and Garanti BBVA Online, we strive to put the clients in center of our activity and offer them better and personalized products”, said Ufuk Tandoğan – CEO, Garanti BBVA Romania.

    In the first half of 2020, Garanti BBVA recorded over 47% increase in volume and number of transactions by its mobile retail customers over the same period of 2019.

    In developing the digital channels, Garanti BBVA Romania is benefiting from the support and know-how of its shareholders.

    Garanti BBVA Turkey (TGB) has over 8.9 million active digital customers, while Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) reached 34 million digital clients.

    BBVA was recognized last year by Forrester Research as the global mobile banking leader, within the review of the mobile apps of 54 retail banks across the world.

  • Telekom MyAccount registered a 77% increase in the number of installations

    Telekom MyAccount registered a 77% increase in the number of installations

    Telekom Romania registered a 77% increase in the number of installations of the MyAccount management application in the second quarter of this year, compared to Q1 2020.

    This result was driven by the global trend of migration of customer interactions in the digital area, in the context of Covid-19, and by the implementation of new features in the MyAccount Telekom application.

    Main Telekom MyAccount reuslts

    • the number of electronic payments doubled in the second quarter of 2020 yoy;
    • the number of active users increased 2.5 times;
    • the number of new accounts doubled compared to the same period last year.

    The application enjoys the appreciation of users in Google Play and App Store. MyAccount Telekom has the highest rating (4.7 out of 5) among mobile applications of similar utilities providers.

    More than 80% of them awarded 5-star reviews in the second quarter of this year.

  • Deloitte launches SmarTax app for corporate income tax compliance process

    Deloitte launches SmarTax app for corporate income tax compliance process

    Deloitte Romania launches SmarTax application, a digital tool that allows companies to calculate and prepare the quarterly and annual corporate income tax (CIT) computation based on accounting documents.

    The application incorporates the entire fiscal legislation in force, while also remaining flexible to adjust to any future changes in the corporate tax area.

    The tool addresses any Romanian company, regardless of its size and field of activity, except financial services industry, whose particularities are to be implemented in a future version.

    The SmarTax app ensures a high level of automation and control and thus considerably reduces human errors and the time allocated by tax and accounting professionals for this process.

    The new tool allows users to reduce the time spent with the calculations, thanks to the automation of repetitive processes, to replicate tax treatments from a quarter or year to another for the new transactions.

    It also improves the archiving process of supporting documentation for transactions and provides better control over the entire CIT compliance process throughout the years.

    Thus, the application, functional through a simple internet connection, archives the information necessary for completing the corporate tax returns, establishes the applicable tax treatment, based on the type o transaction or tax treatment previously applied and automates calculations on limited deductibility in cases specifically provided by the tax legislation, such as the legal reserve, interest expenses, sponsorships etc.

    Finally, with a single click, the application automatically generates the corporate income tax return to be signed and submitted to the tax authority.

  • Spotify launches in Russia and 12 additional European Markets

    Spotify launches in Russia and 12 additional European Markets

    Spotify launched its service in 13 new markets across Europe including Russia, one of the world’s top 20 largest streaming markets. Spotify now reaches a current total of 92 markets worldwide.

    This 13 new markets include: Albania, Belarus, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia, Ukraine.

    According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), Russia is the 17th-biggest streaming market in the world and on pace to be the 10th-biggest streaming market by 2030.

    More than 87 percent of fans in Russia now access music through streaming, compared to 61 percent adoption globally, and 68 percent adoption in the U.S., according to IFPI.

    Spotify is offering both its Free and Premium services in each of its 13 new markets.

  • Cosomote Missing Alert App is free for download in Google Play

    Cosomote Missing Alert App is free for download in Google Play

    The Missing Alert App, a new mobile app that helps locate missing people faster in Greece, is available for free download.

    The app, designed and developed by Cosmote for The Smile of the Child organisation, gives all citizens the chance to contribute in the search to locate fellow citizens in real time, but also protect their loved ones.

    Users may download the mobile app -initially at Google Play store- and:

    • Receive information in real time about children and adults currently missing, while finding out how the search is going.
    • Assist in the efforts of The Smile of the Child by providing information on a case at any time, wherever they are, via chat or phone.
    • Carry out a missing person case search based on different criteria (e.g. date of missing case, distance from their location).
    • Share missing person cases on their personal social media accounts, therefore, mobilising other volunteers.
    • Protect people close to them who belong to vulnerable groups and run a high risk of disappearing (e.g. due to dementia, intellectual disability), by proactively declaring their personal details through the app, so that the missing persons’ alert and search operation are expedited if the need arises.

    The app is being exclusively managed by a special team of The Smile of the Child, which channels all user information to the Hellenic Police, as well as other institutional bodies responsible for managing missing people cases in Greece.

  • Tremend and TypingDNA release an app for online exam proctoring

    Tremend and TypingDNA release an app for online exam proctoring

    Tremend released the observED platform, a modern solution dedicated to examination centers, assessment providers, and universities, enabling them to supervise students taking remote exams and prevent cheating.

    The solution leverages AI-enabled typing biometrics, a proprietary technology of TypingDNA, a behavioral-biometrics SaaS company offering innovative typing-based authentication.

    The observED app is a digital instrument that successfully replaces a supervisor during a written exam, being integrated into the Moodle plugin.

    Moodle is one of the most popular open-source systems for managing the learning process (LMS – Learning Management System), featuring over 100 million users all across the globe. This LMS is backed by a strong community of partners and is continually adapted to the most stringent learning requirements.

    This solution is aimed at colleges, universities, eLearning platforms, examination centers, assessment providers, and other service providers that need a fully digital approach towards both the learning mechanism and the examination process.

    The observED app integrates high-end technologies for validating the user’s identity. The onboarding is done by scanning the security elements of the identity document, using the webcam of the device on which the exam is taken.

    By using keystroke events, mobile sensory data, and proprietary Artificial Intelligence algorithms developed by TypingDNA, observED application captures users’ unique typing pattern, establishing a user-behavior biometric profile for each of them.

    Based on the software solutions created by Tremend, observED creates a complete analysis of the user’s browsing history to check if other websites were accessed during the exam. Periodically, the application uses the embedded video camera of the computer/laptop to take snapshots, to avoid fraud by impersonation, when someone else is performing the test. Users are thus verified and monitored continually during the course of the testing. In case suspicious behavior is triggered, the platform sends alerts to the examiner.

    ObservED is a multimodal solution, featuring emerging technologies that offer the same level of security and safety as a face-to-face examination. Due to the advanced programs used, this app is extremely dependable and is impossible to be tricked by the human user.

    Through automatizing the examining process, companies and institutions can ensure they keep full control, reduce costs, and minimize the time spent with planning, organizing, and supervising the students. Additionally, they benefit from a personalized report that details each interaction with the student.

  • Czech Simplebeez becomes OneStream Software implementation partner

    Czech Simplebeez becomes OneStream Software implementation partner

    OneStream Software and Simplebeez announced a strategic partnership to transform Corporate Performance Management (CPM) processes for sophisticated organizations around the globe.

    This new partnership will provide industry-leading software and implementation expertise while driving efficiency in the Office of Finance.

    OneStream provides a unified, SmartCPMTM platform, that simplifies and aligns financial consolidation, planning, reporting, analytics and financial data quality.

    OneStream eliminates the risk and complexity of data integration, validation and reconciliation between multiple products, applications or modules, and makes non-integrated CPM suites a thing of the past.â

    Simplebeez is a Czech based consulting company with a focus on finance transformations.

  • 54% of people aged 16-74 in EU are using social media

    54% of people aged 16-74 in EU are using social media

    54% of people aged 16-74 participated in social networks in 2019 in the last 3 months prior to Eurostat survey in EU.

    The EU’s social network participation rate has steadily increased since the beginning of the data collection (36% in 2011).

    Social network participation includes activities such as creating a user profile, posting messages or other contributions to social networks.

    Among EU Member States, the social network participation rate was highest in Denmark (81%), ahead of Belgium (76%), Cyprus and Sweden (both 72%) and Malta (71%).

    At the opposite end of the scale, this share was below 50% in two Member States: France and Italy (both 42%).  

    Among younger people in the EU aged 16 to 24 years, almost 9 in every 10 participated in social networks (86%). This share ranged from 73% in Italy and 74% in France to 98% in Cyprus. 

    Among older people aged 65 to 74 years, almost one fifth (18%) participated in social networks. This share ranged from 9% in Bulgaria to 51% in Denmark.