At a first analysis, in 2020 we have a 15% increase in turnover and about 60% of the activity was carried out online. We did not hope for these results in March, when quarantined. However, the pandemic generated an increase of interest in technology, as more and more companies faced the need to digitise operational activities and standardise business processes. For many entrepreneurs, shaping an economic crisis has put pressure on workflow automation and activity diversification, by moving online or expanding into other markets.
For us, this situation has led to an increase in the size of SAP Business One implementation projects, with additional investments in AddOns for business verticals, mobility, business analytics functionalities, SAP HANA databases, etc. The best indicator from this perspective is the average number of users of an SAP Business One ERP system, which in 2020 reached 24, double compared to 2017, for example. Another breath of fresh air came from the direction of areas with accelerated evolution this year: food delivery, telecom, service and loan of medical devices, construction and project management, animal feed production, etc., for which we developed specific applications or developed various integrations and optimizations.
One aspect that I did not suspect is that in 2020 we had projects that were implemented exclusively online for the first time, from signing the contract to putting the solution into production. However, large projects cannot be managed exclusively online, and the online-offline ratio is about 60-40. The conclusion after a year is that an online implementation requires more effort, but compensates by the time gained by eliminating travel. Another advantage was the possibility to balance the load of consultants between the teams from Bucharest and Cluj-Napoca.
Other news from 2020 were: the launch of hAI, the first software robot developed by us (already working at AFI Cotroceni) and One WMS, a mobile application for warehouse management. The team has consolidated and specialized both in technological areas (SAP HANA, mobility) and in verticals: telecom, equipment distribution and service, fashion.
Stay with us and in 2021, an equally interesting year is announced.