UP Romania: Keeping the business promises and building trust to brand

In September this year, Up Romania announced that Elena Pap was appointed regional manager for SEE region for the French group, the former Chèque Déjeuner. In the new position, the manager currently coordinates the company’s operations in Romania, Bulgaria, Republic of Moldova, Serbia and Greece.

Experienced in management for different roles within financial departments of large companies, Elena Pap currently coordinates the development of services and solutions for Up group in Eastern and Southern Europe and will contribute to the strategic development of Up project in the assigned region.

Commitment to Social Values for 17 Years

“This year we celebrate 17 years of active presence on the Romanian market. We had a long and exciting journey marked by acquisitions, the launch of new products and services, but if I have to choose an essential approach, I would say that what defines our 17 years activity is the commitment to our social values. The company is deeply rooted in the cooperative tradition of France, Up Group emerging as a company that belongs to its employees and all our solutions and projects are meant to create or increase the life quality of employees. Thus, I believe that our development is defined by the empathy that we place in all our relations, with the clients, commercial partners and the final beneficiaries, the employees,” Elena Pap tells The Diplomat – Bucharest.

According to the manager, 2019 was a very dynamic year with the launch of a new motivation solution for employees, Up Culture  – a pre-paid card that gives access to cultural activities and products –, the launch of a new mobile app – Up Mobil –  for a better experience and management of our electronic solutions and the imminent integration NFC payments. In the same time, a long-time wish of the meal vouchers and card users is about to be accomplished. The nominal value increase of meal vouchers will improve the way employees are eating during lunch break as the current value of 15,18 lei is below the real value of a lunch.

Up Achizitii is another accomplishment of the consumer-orientated Up subsidiary in Romania: a new e-commerce platform dedicated to small and medium companies (SMEs) where they can find discounted products and services for which they can apply for tailored quotes and packages.

The Technology Race Changes Habits, Needs and Behaviours of Consumers

For 2020, Elena Pap stated that the company plans to continue the digitalization process of their solutions so that the number of cards exceeds those of vouchers issued on paper, for each category: meal, gift and holiday vouchers. For the meal vouchers, this is already happening, but the company plans to speed up the process and have the same conversion rate for the rest of solutions. “On the other hand, we will continue the efforts to provide flexibility and easiness of our services, accompanied by an additional interest in diversifying our portfolio of solutions,” Elena Pap states.

The manager underlines that the accelerated pace of technology is changing habits, needs and behaviors and their industry is impacted to the same extent as other sectors. “Our mission is to provide our solutions with quick and easy access to goods and services, so that the final beneficiaries and our clients feel that we have saved them time and resources. Anyway, the process speed is amazing due to a huge appetite for technology and what technology brings with: simplicity, time efficiency, freedom, higher control,” Elena Pap says and adds: “It is a fact that the way we communicate with our clients and beneficiaries changed a lot. We face a new paradigm where the dialogue is quasi permanent, so you have to be always prepared with the best answers and solutions.   Not the least, new technologies allow us to develop new services and solutions, new connections between clients and partners, beneficiaries and partners, which slowly transform our industry.”

The business environment wants as always stability and predictability. 2020 announces to be a challenging year amid the two round of elections and we only hope for responsible public policies.

The technological innovation embraced by the industry in which Up Romania operates has evolved to cards but also the fiscal incentives offered by the law to companies that want to motivate their employees have set a growth trend for our industry. “We are facing a labor market hit by workforce scarcity and intense competition between companies to attract qualified employees. For all those companies concerned with the better retention and productivity of their teams, we are a trusted and long-term partner. According to our studies, the majority of employers say that the meal and gift vouchers have become a must have of any salary offer and that they would find extremely useful to provide cultural or sports vouchers. In addition, more than half of the Romanian employees say they would appreciate to have service vouchers for the remuneration of the domestic benefits – child or elderly care. It is therefore a market that can grow not only as a volume but also as a type of ticket,” Elena Pap says.

Growing on Solid Base

According to Elena Pap, the industry is very solid, dynamic and with a good path of development based on the country economic premises, the favorable legislative framework and the market development towards innovation and digitalization, which makes our solutions more attractive and easier to use.  “What matters is to back-up your business promises with action and built trust in your brand. In a changing world with the traditional landmarks falling apart, I believe that brands and businesses will build trust if they prove care and concern about people’s needs and problems. As much as they connect with the community’s reality, they will have real impact and have a say in this changing world,” Elena Pap concludes.

(From the print edition)