March 2016 – Allevo

Change, whether related to the life of a person or evolution of a company, is perceived as a transformation that takes place that is visible and can be acknowledged by others as well. For Allevo, 2016 brought a lot of change, both good and bad and both foreseen and unforeseen.

Sorin

Sorin Guiman This article has a lot of potential to become personal, so I will start with Sorin, even though this may not be the correct chronological order of events. Sorin’s departure to a hopefully better place came as a shock to everyone. To us, the family he so much treasured and encouraged to always stick together for better and worse. A shock to the Allevo team which he always treated like his second family. A shock to his dear friends who he had shared so many fun times with and last, but not least, to everyone he had met and to everyone who he had worked with. The world now lacks an amazing person and he will be forever missed. Those who knew him or have been influenced by him I consider lucky. The only consolation anyone can have is that he left peacefully in his sleep without feeling a thing, just the way he always wished this would happen.

Allevo

Maybe Allevo is one of Sorin’s most outstanding achievements. Looking back, he created this company from scratch in 1994 together with 5 other lunatics (this is how he often used to refer to them). In 1998 he brought in a couple of other very close trusted friends whose professionalism and loyalty he valued. These were the founders of BIS, which later became Allevo. A company that grew on its own to about 55. It grew from no social capital to half a million euros, from no products or customers to qPayIntegrator and FinTP. The company gained a good portfolio of clients: banks, corporations, microfinance institutions, the State Treasury, insurance companies both in Romania and abroad, all on its own strength.

Allevo logo dual

He was never alone in this adventure, he always kept close by his side his most trusted persons and he created an amazing team that shares the same set of values he invested in this initiative. This team has proven many times around to be capable of overcoming difficult times. It is a team that acts responsibly and fully in line with the business culture implemented at Allevo.

The succession plan

Several years ago, Sorin started the so-called “succession plan”. Not many people took him seriously at the time, but, stubborn as he was, he managed to convince managers it is a good idea to form people able to replace them in a couple of years’ time. He walked the talk and lead by example, choosing three persons to incubate and prepare to take over the role of Allevo CEO. His plan was to retire and spend more time at Poiana Marului, reading books on the porch, enjoying the crisp air the mountains were to offer.

New board, new CEO

A big change for Allevo was naming a new board of directors, led by a new CEO, Corina Mihalache, a new supervisory structure where Sorin took the seat of the President. The supervisors would focus on strategic projects, would advise the board on key matters, and would be responsible for attracting investment in FinTP and other Allevo projects. This was a big move, as it was the first step in proving Allevo functions perfectly well without Sorin’s presence in every administrative task.

The next CEO

As of March 1^st 2016 Sorina Bera, one of the three people involved in the succession plan, was named Allevo CEO and she started this mission with a lot of enthusiasm and dedication. Although her start is not as easy as it could have been if Sorin were still around, we know she is perfectly capable of sticking to the plan and of keeping Allevo on course for further growth and good customer service.

Plans for the future

Although this post is darkened by Sorin’s departure, all other changes mentioned above are proven to have been wisely chosen, almost as if this was the entire plan all along. It is very weird when looking back to see how right he was about the need to make the company independent of him. And to make sure that each individual department can carry out their part of the mission, without having the main shareholder and founder of Allevo push them from behind. He knew and trusted this team not only to survive, but to be able to work in such a way that it can adapt, produce, be efficient, scale and grow no matter what. This is Allevo and his most important legacy.

Plans for now remain the ones already set at the beginning of 2016, but I feel the need to outline a couple of these:

Keep the management structure intact.
Deliver projects to our customers on time and with a deep focus on quality.
Continue to train the team to maintain and grow the level of expertise in the company by certifying both people and products on several tracks with our main partners: SWIFT, Microsoft, IBM and ORACLE. The first planned competence is SWIFT Technical Specialist.
Continue to participate at relevant industry events: Money 2020 Copenhagen, Oxygen Events – Digital Banking, EBAday Milan, Sibos Geneva, SWIFT Business Forum Romania etc.
Strengthen business partnerships with Microsoft, Oracle, IBM, SWIFT and build new ones.
Obtain financing for Allevo strategic projects, BOOST and TOSS.
Continue focusing on the succession plan adopted by the current board.
Plan new developments for FinTP.
Organize Allevo events, starting with the 28^th FinTP User Group meeting – mid or end of May.

That being said, I have deep feelings for all those who are standing by us in these difficult times. I ask you to believe in us and our capability to continue Allevo’s activity as planned. On behalf of the Guiman family and of the entire Allevo team, I address a very warm thank you note to all of you who have been close in these last couple of difficult weeks.

We will not let you down.

Author: Ioana Guiman

Sorin Guiman a trecut in nefiinta cu aceeasi discretie cu care a traversat mediul de afaceri in toti anii in care a fondat si pastorit Allevo, fosta Business Information System (BIS). La 62 de ani, si-a luat zborul spre stele in somn, fara cazne. A fost un coleg si un sef nepereche, un tata, un sot fericit sa aduca lumina in familie, un mare pasionat de IT, un razbatator si un foarte indragostit de Romania.

“Sunt un catar care conduce o echipa de catari!”, spunea Sorin Guiman despre sine si colegi, insistand pe determinarea si ambitia de a face performanta in conditii oricat de vitrege. Dupa facultate, a lucrat 13 ani in cadrul Institutului pentru Tehnica de Calcul (ITC) din Bucuresti, apoi, alaturi de alti colegi, a pus bazele propriului business. Ce povestea acum 7 ani intr-un interviu acordat pentru eFinance, editia 100?

„BIS a fost fondat de un grup de oameni care se cunosteau si care aveau experienta in proiectare. Bazele companiei au fost puse in 1994, insa abia din 1998 asociatii s-au concentrat pe demararea coerenta a afacerii. Evolutia ulterioara a fost cel putin interesanta. Îmi amintesc cu nostalgie ca la inceputul anilor 90, a fost o mare efervescenta generata de promovarea mediatica a succeselor unor oameni de afaceri care au pornit la drum valorificandu-si televizorul, frigiderul si Dacia, dupa care a fost o chestiune numai de inspiratie si talent sa multiplice ca-n basme acest capital. Ascultand povestile acestora, ne-am gandit ca, daca ei au reusit, trebuie sa reusim si noi, oamenii cu scoala. Nu am prea reusit, intrucat nefiind fiinte mitice si nevanzand-ne la timp frigiderele, constructia pe care am realizat-o este numai o afacere onorabila si de inalt profesionalism, bine perceputa in plan international, dar cam atat”. De parca n-ar fi fost suficient!

Modest, hatru, cu simt critic, dar si cu umor sanatos, Sorin Guiman s-a dedicat cu intreaga sa fiinta solutiilor pentru plati, produselor proprii. Nu a facut outsourcing, nici solutii de securitate sau contabilitate, in mare voga la inceputuri. A deschis drumuri si a lasat in urma, dupa un mandat de peste 17 ani la carma Allevo, ca director general, si alti mai bine de 2 ani ca presedinte al aceleiasi companii, o entitate respectata in lumea afacerilor, o companie ce ofera solutii de plati destinate bancilor, continuitate operationala, recuperare din dezastru, management de date, e-business, dezvoltare de software, consultanta, parteneriat cu SWIFT si pionierat in open source.

Nu a abandonat niciodata calea spre propria stea, nu s-a dat batut si nu s-a simtit vreodata iesit din circuit. Cel mai bine a spus-o el insusi in acelasi interviu: „Obisnuiesc sa-mi incarc bateriile dand cate o fuga la Poiana Marului, locul unde este casa bunicilor mei, la vreo 20 km de Branul lui Dracula, in judetul Brasov. Acolo ma refac, respir alt aer, ascult jazz, muzica clasica, citesc beletristica si foarte, foarte rar carti de specialitate, imi revad prietenii si copiii. Acolo imi confirm ca-i bine sa insistam in mania de a urmari steaua noastra si ca nu-i asa de grav daca pari dinozaur intre contemporani, atata timp cat de fapt este o buna sansa sa nu fii”.

Sorin Guiman a plecat in stele, via Poiana Marului. E acolo, spiritul lui umple livada cu ramuri nervoase, cu flori si cu fructe.

Source: Cristian Pavel, eFinance.ro

Allevo makes a management change as of March 1st 2016, by naming Mrs Sorina Bera as CEO, thus replacing Ms Corina Mihalache.

After two years of fulfilling her CEO mandate, Corina presented her resignation from this position to Allevo’s shareholders due to personal reasons. Shortly after, she also informed of the desire focus on personal development within another company. Corina has been part of the Allevo team as of 2006 and in the past 3.5 years has been one of the designated Administrators of the company.

Sorina joined the Allevo team beginning of 2003, has coordinated the services team as of 2006 and became one of the designated Administrators of the company 3.5 years ago. Sorina, with the support of Allevo’s Administration Council, will continue consolidating the new distribution model of Allevo, guaranteed distribution of FinTP, the software application for processing financial transactions available under GPL v3 open source license. Until recently, Sorina has also been managing the relationships with Allevo’s customers and business partners.

Allevo’s shareholders are convinced that Sorina’s role as CEO will lead to enriching the quality of partnerships and will expand the product distribution footprint of the company.

Change

Month: March 2016

Open Source