Robert Maftei, Arval: Keeping the momentum strong, pushing towards growth

With over 16 years’ experience in the banking and leasing industry, Robert Maftei joined the full-service operational leasing company Arval Romania as Commercial Director in November this year. The manager talked to The Diplomat-Bucharest and offered several insights on the current business expectations and the anticipated growth of the company, along with the opportunities offered by the market.

Robert Maftei is a graduate of the Executive MBA program at the Vienna University of Business and Economics and holds a PhD in Economics from the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest. In the new position, Robert will contribute to the company’s development strategy and fulfilling the growth potential within a competitive market.

Reaching the true potential in the interconnected business world

For the last several years Arval managed to grow alongside its market and clients but in terms of true potential, there is still enough space for our business managers to reach out, according to Robert Maftei. “Every new beginning is a challenge on both professional and personal levels. This mix, aligned with Arval’s global strategy, can only lead to greatness. This is translated into a strong desire to keep the momentum strong on the fleet build-up and be within or even over the business KPIs,” says Robert Maftei. The manager plans to place a great deal of focus on developing the assigned team. “Every leader is as strong as the combined force of the people that drive the daily business. Therefore, I can only hope for enough will and drive to help them improve and develop themselves on both their career and personal journeys,” says Arval’s commercial director.

The automated environment is both a new and an old concept. As Robert Maftei states, even back in 1962 when Marshall McLuhan published The Gutenberg Galaxy, concepts like “the global village” described the phenomenon of the world becoming more interconnected as the result of the propagation of technology. “Therefore, automation, even if we’re talking about the invention of the printing press that skyrocketed the information era or today’s big data, the baseline is the same – we strive to increase productivity through ways that can sustain it. In today’s business environment, the main challenge is not to automate everything but to do it better, faster and with deeper impact in the client’s turnover. The one who does this best is the one on top of its competitors,” says Robert Maftei.

According to the commercial director, Arval understood this trend quite a while ago and has since been relentless in developing and applying innovative solutions that support and help their clients grow. From the vast array of reporting tools that cover the entire fleet management process and towards the total IoT integration of our entire product line-up, everything is connected, automated and placed at the company clients’ fingertips.

In the age of 1 and 0, speed is king

In the digital environment, each company is seeking to reach its customers and feed them with solutions as fast as it can be. And digital supports one major element – speed, as Robert Maftei says:

“Talking from a business flow perspective, we already own the qualitative aspect of all our products and therefore, we strive for the digitalization of our reporting tools. And since we dedicate enormous amounts of time and attention towards products like My Arval (fully integrated, digital reporting tool) and Arval Active Link (connected cars solution), most of our projects are built on our capability to integrate these and place them as soon as possible in our clients’ hands”

Getting ready for an electrified future

The key word for 2020 is “electrified”. As Arval’s commercial director states, “the macroeconomic scene has been dwelling with this concept for quite some time now and even if we’re lacking a proper infrastructure, this hasn’t stopped the flow of EV’s on our market. Hence, the next logical step for us is to go out there and meet the rising demand by helping our prospects and customers go through this transition.” According to the manager, Arval’s biggest expectations for 2020 business scene considers sustainable macroeconomic growth, stable and efficient public institutions and predictable fiscal policies. “We believe these to be the key ingredients of a viable business environment in which all our customers would continue their development we hope for,” Robert Maftei says. According to him, the main challenge of the company is to evangelize the market about the real advantages of operational leasing for SME sector. “This means being near the clients, even outside of big cities. The product itself is shifting towards a fully integrated mobility concept relying more on technology and big data processing for a better life,” Robert Maftei concludes.

The operational leasing company Arval has been present on the Romanian market for more than 10 years and has managed to gain the trust of recognized local companies, which have chosen Arval for many reasons: for the accessible offers, for the flexibility, openness and dedication.  They also trust that Arval will be there for their company today and tomorrow and every day until the conclusion of the operational lease.

Find out more about Arval and the company’s operational leasing offers for companies here.