All these things could help the French giant, with revenue of EUR20 billion, develop its business in Romania. Schneider Electric, which specializes in supplying equipment and services for the energy industry, has hired 47 people in a support center for its IT division and is considering opening several local support centers for the other units of the group.
“Clearly the education level is the biggest competitive edge of the local market. We hired 47 people for a service center for our IT division clients, which serves 13 countries,” says Spaolanse. “We started with 10 people, then got to 17 and are now in talks to open such service centers in Romania for the other divisions of Schneider.”
Schneider’s plan is in line with the strategy of other corporations that are relocating their service centers to Romania.
A recent announcement revealed IBM might hire up to 3,000 employees for a new office. The same goes for Oracle, while Ericsson wants to increase the number of employees in the center it has in Romania by up to 500 people from the current 800.
Beyond this potential line of development for Schneider in Romania, its core business in the country remains services aimed at improving energy efficiency, which most often translates into lower electricity consumption.
Such services were hit by the decline of the real estate market over the last few years, when large residential and shopping projects were put on hold because of the crisis. This showed in Schneider Electric’s turnover, which fell to EUR36.5 million last year, much lower than the EUR53.4 million of 2008.
Although he says energy efficiency services will continue to generate most of Schneider Electric’s business in Romania in the long run, Spaolanse believes green energy will become increasingly important over the coming years.
Another avenue for development, albeit one to be pursued in the long run, is electric cars. Schneider Electric was one of the companies that Renault Romania signed a partnership with in mid this year to develop the necessary infrastructure for electric vehicles. The other two companies were Electrica and Siemens. The first recharging station for electric cars in Romania was launched this summer.
As for Schneider Electric’s business in Romania, Spaolanse says the company has so far exceeded the yearly growth target, mainly because of the rebound of the industrial segment.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu; Editing by Radu Bostan)