The new offices were opened by Vice Mayor, Ruben Latcau, at a launch event also attended by Ovidiu Megan, Executive Director of Timisoara - European Capital of Culture 2023 and representatives from the County Council and from the Polytechnic University of Timisoara.
The Access Group, which has its headquarters in Loughborough, Leicestershire, is one of the foremost leaders in business software. It is widely respected for its commitment to delivering customer success, motivational leadership and high performance. It supports more than 75,000 customers around the world.
Access welcomes hundreds of employees to its new purpose-built Global Operations Centre (GO Centre) in Timisoara, which will allow the company to facilitate the expansion of its teams in Romania from 375 people to more than 700 by the end of 2023.
The progressive city of Timisoara was chosen for the expansion due to its fast becoming the primary business hub in Romania and has been named the European Capital of Culture 2023. The new Timisoara office forms part of a complex of services in the area, including retail, restaurants and coffee shops, the largest fitness centre in Romania, a cinema and a five-hectare park.
The launch of a new GO Centre in Romania marks the latest phase of the Group’s global expansion, following the company striking a £ 9.2 billion investment deal from shareholders Hg and TA Associates last year. Access saw significant year-on-year pro forma revenue growth of 43% for its fiscal year to the end of June 2022 and a track record of more than 40% revenue growth in each of the previous four fiscal years.
With further expansion into the APAC region planned for later in 2023, the launch of the Access GO Centres will support the transition from a multi-territory business to a scalable global company.
Terry Taylor, Access chief operating officer and leading the GO Centre programme, said: “Our ambition is to create a ‘backbone’ of Access GO Centres which will provide international management, access to diverse talent and regional infrastructure to execute the Group’s sustainable growth more easily.
The centres will deliver excellence in product engineering, customer support, customer success, sales, marketing and operations and will be the physical representations of our ambition, brand and culture.
At each location, we create world-class facilities for our staff and customers. Each new office has been carefully considered and aligned with local talent pools to make deep connections with local universities.
The GO Centres are also designed to support our early careers programme and develop the skills of our young people. They will offer specialist training and a clear progression path for various roles, including technical, support, sales, and people management.
Each centre will have its own executive management team, managing director, recruitment provision and multi-lingual team. Our ambition is to develop an awe-inspiring proposition for our employees which will support their careers and enhance skillsets through early years programmes, employee success academy programmes and leadership programmes.”
Access MD for Romania, Radu Giju, said: “This new office proves the potential that Access sees within the skilled labour market in Romania, especially within software engineering and customer services. We have been able to build a strong brand here and with these new facilities, we want to expand our teams further and become an employer of choice for people in Timisoara.
The Access Group began its Romanian journey in 2018 when it aligned with Intelligent Software Systems (ISS), which at the time had just seven employees. Since then, the teams have continued developing ground-breaking solutions such as Access EarlyPay and Access Workspace and have a vibrant office in Arad and remote workers nationwide.
Chris Bayne, CEO of The Access Group, said: “Access has grown substantially in recent years and created a culture in which our people love to work. Having this brand-new office keeps that momentum going and gives our teams in Romania a workplace they can genuinely be proud of.
“We know that this state-of-the-art office inspires our people to strive for excellence every day and is reflective of the innovative solutions and high quality we aim to deliver to our thousands of dedicated customers around the world.
We will also be working alongside our Foundation in each of the new sites to support local community projects and offer financial aid to the charities that mean the most to our employees.”
Founded in 1991, The Access Group employs more than 6,300 people globally and provides business management software to small and mid-sized organisations in the UK, Ireland, Europe, the US and Asia Pacific. It is on a mission to serve five million users by the end of 2025.
For more information visit www.theaccessgroup.com
VIPs - Florin Dragan, Rector Polytechnic University of Timisoara, Dan Diaconu Consilier Presidente Consiliu Judetean, Cerasela Bociu -Moisil High School of Timisoara, Ovidiu Megan, Timisoara European City of Culture and Ruben Latcau, Vice Mayor with our Access team.