(From March 2026)

Equans, a Bouygues Group company with 83,000 employees operating in 20 countries, announced the opening of a new IT hub in Romania aimed at supporting the group’s global operations. The company also appointed Irina Ciucioi-Badea as director of the new facility.

The hub will serve as a capability center providing IT services to Equans businesses in multiple countries, including areas such as identity management, enterprise resource planning (ERP), artificial intelligence, and data protection.
“We are delighted to establish our new IT Hub in Romania. This initiative reinforces Equans’ dedication to the performance of our IT ecosystem, enabling us to better control our IT operations in an increasingly complex digital landscape. Romania’s place in the European Union, combined with its vibrant tech ecosystem and deep talent pool, makes it an ideal location for this next phase of transformation,” said Emmanuel Gachet, Group CIO Equans.
For its new IT Hub in Romania, Equans has appointed Irina Ciucioi-Badea as director. She brings over 20 years of international leadership experience across Europe and Asia, with a strong background in Shared Services, Finance, Procurement, and large-scale Digital Transformation. Throughout her career, she has led large organisations of more than 500 people across the EMEA region, the company said.

“The IT hub in Romania will enable us to leverage strong local expertise across multiple IT domains while serving global needs,” stated Irina Ciucioi-Badea, IT Hub Director, Equans Romania.
She will oversee the setup and development of the hub and coordinate cross-functional teams delivering IT services across the group.
The Equans IT Hub Romania is expected to begin operations in March 2026, with recruitment and onboarding underway.
A subsidiary of the Bouygues group, Equans is a global leader in the energy and services sector, operating in 20 countries, with 83,000 employees across five continents, and EUR 18.7 billion in revenue in 2025. It is a market leader across European markets such as France, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, and the UK, and also has a strong presence in the United States and Latin America.
Source: Romania Insider

• Vodafone’s shared services division, VOIS, has transitioned from an internal cost-centre into an outward-looking commercial entity targeting external enterprise and telco customers.
• CEO Gary Adey and CCO Chris Meads reflect on evolving the sector’s largest shared services organisation, with VOIS becoming an ‘active part of Vodafone Group strategy’.
• Equity partner Accenture has been pivotal in bridging commercial capability.
• The unit’s structural reorganisation allows VOIS to take on commercial risk, manage its own profit and loss, and offer flexible ‘as-a-Service’ propositions.
• MWC26 was used to talk up contract wins as evidence of the service provider moving from ‘order-takers to problem-solvers’.
• Pioneering Egyptian delivery centre, alongside hubs in India and Europe, provides high quality/value talent supporting operational prowess and driving VOIS into new MENA markets.
• Strategic partnerships with major technology players, including SAP, Microsoft, Google Cloud, and AWS, are fundamental to VOIS’s open ecosystem strategy.
• VOIS leadership is actively calling for an industry-wide shift away from siloed operations towards a highly collaborative, shared services model that drives efficient growth.
  

“We stopped playing defence in 2023”, says Gary Adey, Chief Executive of VOIS.In the years since, Vodafone’s shared operations organisation has been reinventing itself as a groundbreaking, outward-looking commercial venture intended to change the direction of telco operations delivery not just for its parent company, but for the entire industry.
Speaking to TelcoTitans in 2025, one particular change was at the forefront of Adey’s mind. “I’ve got customers again”, he said with delight, “I’ve got telco customers, I’ve got B2B customers and we’re transforming a business”. At the time, VOIS (an acronym for Vodafone Intelligent Solutions) was at the start of this reinvention: the brand was launched; Accenture had made a €150m (£130m) investment to take a minority stake and enter into a strategic collaborative agreement; and the organisation was being built.
A year later, showcased at Mobile World Congress 2026, VOIS has a growing list of commercial wins — internal to Vodafone Group and external — that management considers proof of a successful shared services strategy.

Full Story at Telco Titans

Announced in late March 2026, German premium car maker BMW is expanding its presence in Hungary with a new business service center.

The EUR 4.3 million investment, supported by the HIPA Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency, creates a new unit in Debrecen, the location of BMW’s Hungarian plant, producing the iX3 model of the Neue Klasse series since October 2025.
The Debrecen BMW Service Hub will support the Bavarian car maker’s production network in the fields of logistics and finance. The project is expected to create 50 new high value-added jobs.

Debrecen secured the investment in strong international competition, outperforming locations including BMW’s Munich headquarters, Salzburg, as well as sites in Romania and India.

The new service center will provide logistics support for BMW’s European plants, focusing on quality assurance, container management and material inspection. In the financial domain, experts in Debrecen will contribute to the development of accounting and customs processes.

The project further strengthens Debrecen’s position within BMW’s global network of more than 30 production sites, while also deepening cooperation between BMW and the University of Debrecen. As part of this partnership, new training programs with a focus on customs will be launched.

Iceland’s flag carrier Icelandair is establishing a technical services centre in Vilnius. Opening in May 2026, the new division will employ 15 specialists in its first year across roles including CAMO engineers, planning engineers, technical records specialists, and maintenance coordinators. 
As Icelandair’s first dedicated technical aviation operation in the region, the Lithuanian team will take responsibility for the airline’s third-party technical services. The expansion builds on the carrier’s existing presence in the Baltics through Icelandair Business Services, its long-standing subsidiary in Tallinn, which has provided accounting, ticketing, and back-office services for Icelandair since 2002. 

Lithuania has a strong aviation culture and a depth of technical knowledge that is hard to find elsewhere in the region. We see excellent potential here to support Icelandair and its customers worldwide, and to grow our third-party services further without disrupting our core airline operations.
Edvinas Geležinis, Manager at Icelandair Third Party Technical Services

OAG, the essential intelligence partner transforming global travel, is expanding its technology and data teams in Lithuania, with plans to hire up to 25 new employees in 2026. The company will be recruiting data engineers, software engineers, as well as infrastructure and operations specialists across its offices in Vilnius and Kaunas. 
Lithuania has been central to OAG’s global operations for nearly a decade. The company first established a development centre in Kaunas in 2018, and significantly grew its Lithuanian footprint in 2023 with the acquisition of airfare data provider Infare, which had been operating from Vilnius for over ten years. Today, OAG’s Lithuanian teams are responsible for the bulk of the company’s global technology and data operations, playing a key role in developing and maintaining the platforms and data products that power aviation insights worldwide. 

“Lithuania continues to play a central role in OAG’s global operations, particularly in technology and data. The strong local talent pool in data engineering, software development, and analytics, combined with excellent technical universities and a vibrant technology ecosystem, make Lithuania an outstanding environment for building high-performing teams. It is why the country remains a key location for our future growth.”
Jo Mills, VP of People & Culture at OAG

The company will be looking for data engineers with experience in designing and implementing data pipelines and building reliable data models, as well as software engineers with backend systems expertise. OAG also collaborates with local talent development initiatives, including Turing College and Women Go Tech. 
With teams in both Vilnius and Kaunas, Lithuania now hosts over a third of OAG’s worldwide workforce. The company employs several hundred people globally, with headquarters in the UK and offices in the USA, Denmark, France, Germany, Singapore, China, and Lithuania. 
OAG works with a wide range of organisations across the global aviation and travel ecosystem, from airlines and airports to travel technology companies and financial institutions, with particularly strong demand across Europe, Middle East and Africa, North America, and Asia-Pacific. The company is now investing in expanding its data platform capabilities and exploring how artificial intelligence can unlock deeper insights from aviation data – work that will be supported by its Lithuanian teams. 

IBA Group successfully delivered an Identity and Access Management (IAM) solution for the insurance sector in Croatia. The solution complies with the requirements of the EU Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA).


Based on a detailed assessment of regulatory, security, and operational requirements, IBA Group implemented an IAM platform that follows modern IAM best practices and ensures strong authorization controls, high security standards, and readiness for regulatory compliance in highly regulated industries such as insurance.


The solution is built on an open source architecture, which enables flexibility, scalability, and long-term sustainability without vendor lock-in. The solution’s design allows for seamless integration with existing enterprise systems and supports future expansion as regulatory and business needs evolve.


IBA Group implemented IAM solutions in financial, insurance, and public institutions in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and now in Croatia.


Ales Hojka, Managing Director at IBA CZ & IBA Slovakia:
”IDM is a fundamental security and operational platform that protects the organization, accelerates its processes, and enables regulatory compliance — and without it, a modern IT environment grows in an unsustainable way. Without IDM, it is practically impossible to meet NIS2, DORA, or ISO 27001 requirements in the area of access management. IDM provides an audit trail, automated controls, and clear rules. Organizations must address transparency and oversight, reduce security risks, and above all save time and costs — and our IAM solution delivers exactly that by covering all these challenges.”


Miloš Surla, Managing Director at IBA Croatia:
“As cybersecurity becomes increasingly critical, the importance of working with a reliable and trusted IT partner continues to grow. We are pleased that Allianz Croatia has entrusted IBA with the implementation of its IAM solution.”


With extensive experience in IAM implementation, IBA Group continues to support financial and insurance institutions in strengthening their digital operational resilience, improving security governance, and meeting evolving EU regulatory requirements.


About Allianz Croatia
Allianz Croatia (Allianz Zagreb) is a prominent insurer based in Zagreb and operating as part of the global Allianz Group. The company offers a wide range of insurance and asset management products. Allianz Group is one of the world's leading insurers and asset managers with private and corporate customers in almost 70 countries. The solidarity, service, and competence of Allianz is based on the commitment of more than 156,000 employees worldwide.


About IBA Group
IBA Group is a leading IT service provider, performing software development, migration, maintenance, support, and IT consulting services with 2,000 IT and business professionals. Headquartered in Prague, Czech Republic, IBA Group has offices and development centers across Eastern Europe, North America, and Central Asia. IAOP recognizes IBA Group as one of The Global Outsourcing 100 in the Leaders category. IBA Group is a winner of IT Europa Channel Awards, of CEE Business Services Awards by the European Business Services Association, and of GSA Awards by the Global Sourcing Association. For more information, visit http://ibagroupit.com

American industrial automation giant Emerson is expanding its operations in Hungary through a new research and development investment.
Implemented with the support of the HIPA Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency, the EUR 1.9 million project will be carried out in Debrecen (eastern Hungary). It focuses on the development of next-generation testing solutions aimed at reducing measurement time and improving diagnostic accuracy, ultimately enhancing manufacturing efficiency.
The investment will be implemented by NI Hungary Kft., one of the largest employers in Debrecen, and is set to create 14 new jobs. This marks the second R&D project launched by NI in Debrecen within a year. In 2025, the company initiated an automotive-focused software and hardware development program, creating 16 new positions.
NI – formerly known as National Instruments Corporation – develops and manufactures test equipment and software. Since 2023, it has been part of Emerson, one of the world’s leading industrial automation groups, where it operates as a dedicated business unit under the name Test & Measurement.
Both Emerson and NI have a strong presence in Hungary, with operations in multiple locations.

key standpoints and perspectives of Radu Pinzaru, Endava European Head of Data & AI
Core values: Open, Thoughtful, AdaptableThe AI-based technologies changing the company’s competitive edge in 2026
The AI era found us in a strong position, built on over 20 years of experience in Data Science and Machine Learning as a client services company working across many industries. When the hype accelerated, we already had the right expertise to guide clients effectively and form meaningful partnerships with major players in the market. Examples include Microsoft, Amazon and Google from a large cloud provider perspective as well as more AI specific partnerships with Open AI over 2 years ago and more recently what we announced with Miro and Cognition.
This allowed us to separate real value from noise early on. We proactively transitioned all of our workforce including our technical Endavans – developers, data engineers, testers – toward becoming more AI-native. After several years of sustained effort, we now have specialized capabilities across most relevant AI technologies, seamlessly integrated with software engineering. Another important thing to mention is how we have developed and now leverage our native AI methodology Dava.Flow to deliver for clients in this fast paced AI led world, more info on Flow can be found at www.endava.com/dava-flow . This combination gives us a significant competitive advantage: we can both advise strategically and deliver efficient, production-ready AI solutions.
Misconceptions about AI
One of the most common misconceptions is treating AI as a self-sufficient entity.
In reality, AI is part of a broader ecosystem that heavily depends on data. While AI receives most of the attention, there’s comparatively little discussion about data platforms, engineering practices, company readiness and governance.
How an organization manages its data is often the strongest predictor of AI success. That’s why any serious AI conversation must be anchored in the underlying data ecosystem.
AI-led business decisions this year
Today, most data informing our decisions is supported by using AI systems, always under the supervision of experienced engineers.
Over the past year, a growing share of decisions has been supported by supervised AI agents that continuously learn through feedback loops. However, final accountability remains with our people. We see AI as very much human in the loop (HITL) with our people working alongside AI to deliver business value.
Key examples include workforce allocation and RFP (Request for Proposal) handling – areas where AI enhances speed, consistency, and insight quality.
AI changing customers’ expectations
Initially, expectations centered around cost reduction and faster time to market. These perspectives have matured. Clients now seek a balanced approach – optimizing cost and speed while ensuring safety, ethical use, reliability, and trust. Our strong foundation in data, our partnerships and cloud technologies, combined with early AI adoption, enables us to meet these evolving expectations and deliver solutions that are both effective and responsible.
Staying differentiated in the market, leveraging tools and competitive advantages
Our key differentiator is efficiency – both in decision-making and delivery. Alongside that as referenced above is key partnerships and our own native AI delivery methodology Dava.Flow.
We combine deep expertise in cloud, data, and AI infrastructure with the ability to evaluate and select the right solution for each client’s context. This means not just delivering end-to-end systems, but delivering the right systems – optimized for cost, performance, and scalability that solve the well understood pain points for our clients
In addition, our strategic partnerships with major technology providers give us early access to new capabilities. By the time these tools reach the broader market, our teams are already experienced in applying them effectively.
Balancing rapid innovation with responsible and ethical AI use
Responsible AI is embedded in our foundation, not added as an afterthought.
We invested early in ethics training and governance, supported by colleagues with advanced academic expertise in the field. Our practices align with frameworks such as the EU AI Act, and we’ve established clear processes and guardrails for AI development and deployment. We have a company wide AI Policy alongside training for our teams. In addition we have a centralised AI Committee that has a strong focus on responsible and ethical AI.
This strong ethical baseline allows us to innovate rapidly and confidently, knowing that responsibility is already built into how we operate.
Technology trends emerging this year
While AI continues to dominate, its progress is accelerating adjacent fields. One area to watch closely is quantum computing. The momentum generated by AI could significantly speed up breakthroughs in this space, potentially triggering the next major technological shift.

In the near term, I would also highlight the rapid evolution of data platforms. We’re already seeing major advancements from partners like Databricks and Snowflake. This layer will be critical in enabling scalable, enterprise-grade AI.

See Full Interview Here.

mindit.io, a leading Swiss-Romanian data engineering and AI transformation organization, announced a formal partnership with SAP to deliver next-generation data solutions leveraging SAP Business Data Cloud (SAP BDC).


Through this partnership, mindit.io will be among the first in Romania and Europe to interact with SAP’s cutting-edge BDC ecosystem, allowing clients in the DACH area to accelerate data-driven transformation with dependability, governance, and AI readiness.
In an era where scattered data landscapes and siloed analytics limit business agility, SAP BDC provides a unified, semantically-rich foundation that harmonizes enterprise data and unlocks the full potential of analytics and AI across operations, finance, supply chain, and customer experience. By integrating SAP’s vision for contextualized business data with its own deep expertise, mindit.io helps organizations enable faster insights, greater data automation, and more actionable AI outcomes.
“We are delighted to welcome mindit.io into our SAP partner ecosystem” said Nicoleta Teodorovici, SAP Partner Office CEE. “Their strong expertise in data‑driven technologies and AI‑powered solutions brings exactly the kind of innovation our customers are looking for. By combining their engineering capabilities with SAP’s intelligent enterprise portfolio, we can accelerate adoption, unlock new business value, and help organizations move faster on their digital transformation journeys. We look forward to building impactful outcomes together.”
As companies move towards data transformation, combining SAP BDC’s managed data cloud features with mindit.io’s advanced engineering skills helps clients overcome data silos and make the most out of their AI investments.
mindit.io’s team has strong technical knowledge and deep experience in the retail and banking sectors, where real-time analytics, customer insights, and AI-driven changes are essential competitive differentiators.
 “Working with SAP BDC is a direct extension of how we help enterprises become AI-native,” said Roxana Staneiu, Partnerships Director at mindit.io. “An AI-native organization runs on clean, governed, connected data. SAP BDC gives our clients in the DACH region exactly that foundation; the kind you can actually build autonomous agents and real AI workflows on, not just dashboards.”
The partnership enhances mindit.io’s ability to support clients in designing, implementing, and optimizing data-centric platforms that span from foundational engineering to operational intelligence.
mindit.io’s services help organizations transition legacy data systems into strong, scalable architectures that support real-time decision-making and foster long-term competitive advantages.
“Data is what makes an AI-native organization actually work,” said Irina Arsene, Chair of the Board and CEO of mindit.io. “Our collaboration with SAP BDC is a concrete step in how we help enterprises get there — not by declaring AI-readiness, but by building the data infrastructure that makes it real. Unified, governed, ready for agents. That is the foundation every enterprise needs before AI can deliver anything meaningful.”

Cognizant, one of the world’s largest IT companies, announces its Great Place To Work Certification in Romania, part of a global recognition granted across 31 countries, representing approximately 98% of the company’s total employee population worldwide. The Great Place To Work Certification is based entirely on direct employee feedback regarding their workplace experience and the trust they place in their employer. This distinction, recognised globally by employees and employers alike, represents the international benchmark for identifying and acknowledging outstanding professional experiences.

“The Great Place To Work Certification means a great deal to us precisely because it comes directly from our people. We are proud that our 2,500+ colleagues in Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Iași, Timișoara and Baia Mare confirm, in their own words, that Cognizant Romania is a place where it is worth working and growing. Romania is one of Cognizant’s most important centres in Eastern Europe, and this certification reflects the maturity and strength of our local professional community. Being part of the 31 countries recognized globally confirms that we are on the right path, building a workplace where Romanian talent can excel in technology projects of global scale,” said Raluca Dolan, HR Director, Cognizant Romania.