Iasi-based Radix, providing software and hardware services, doubled H1 turnover against the year-ago period, reaching some 2 million dollars.
The company estimates 5-6 million dollars in turnover this year, with the increase mainly derived from important ongoing contracts.
Radix Iasi posted 218,000 dollars in gross profit over the first six months of the year. Some 18.8% of the company’s financial needs were covered by its own capitals over the first semester of this year, against a share of 1.05% in 2000.
“The success of our business comes from our activity to sell intelligence, which is more expensive than the computers themselves,” says the director of the Iasi-based company, Gabriel Mardarasevici.
Beside the standard IT equipment (computers, parts, terminals and software) Radix provides solutions to large companies in Romania, such as Nederlanden Asigurari SA Romania, Antibiotice, Coca-Cola, Electrica SA, Mobifon, Citibank and Eximbank.
Radix is also a partner of world-renown producers such as Microsoft, IBM, DTK and Hewlett Packard. According to the company’s owner, the partnership with Microsoft is “excellent”, as Radix, together with Compaq and NetConsulting, is one of Microsoft’s important partners on the domestic market.
The Iasi-based company also collaborates with Oracle, the largest database supplier in the world and opened an Oracle Centre within its Iasi-based head office. On the other hand, Radix offers state-of-the-art communication and data processing technology to its clients.
The company has 57 employees, whose salaries are between 300 and 1,500 dollars monthly, depending on their education. “We have highly-skilled specialists and some 10% go to work abroad every year. It is an important loss for us and for the Romanian State. Starting with this year, we have introduced new provisions stipulating that the employee is not allowed to go abroad five years from the moment he signs the contract,” Mardarasevici says.
The company also introduced some incentive packages aimed to retain the employees. One employee who wants to buy a flat will pay between 80 and 100 dollars monthly to the company. The money is deposited into an account and, five years later, he receives back all his money, namely some 5,000 dollars, while the flat is transferred into his ownership.
Gabriel Mardarasevici admits that the workforce in Iasi is cheaper than in other areas, such as Bucharest or Timisoara, therefore he had to resort to a trick.
“Some 80% of the IT expenses are made in Bucharest, where we are also present, so we cannot afford to remain anchored only in Iasi area. We employ people here and send them to our Bucharest-based subsidiary, where the conditions are excellent. Even I have to spend half of the week in Bucharest,” the director of the IT company says.