Telekom Romania

Telekom Romania: Client of the Year and the highest performance at the Effie 2021
The Effie 2021 Gala is the most important competition in the Romanian advertising industry. Telekom Romania gained eight awards in recognition of the efficiency and impact of the campaigns on the business and brand results. Most importantly, the company won a Grand Effie for the “Online Park” project. Telekom Romania received two Gold Awards for the Online Park campaign in the Timely Opportunity and Social Good Brands categories. It earned three Silver Effie Awards for the campaigns Ghiță ported to Telekom and Smart TV Stick in the Telecommunications category, along with FanAfaceriMici in the Business-to-Business category. One Bronze Award was granted for FanAfaceriMici in the Timely Opportunity category. Furthermore, the Online Park campaign also received the grand award of the gala, the Grand Effie 2021, and Telekom Romania received the title Client of the Year for the fourth consecutive year as the brand with the highest communication performance in Romania.

Leo Burnett Bucharest and Telekom Romania won Gold at the ANDY Awards 2021
Romania’s advertising agency – the Publicis Groupe – is the only agency and Telekom Romania the only company from CEE to be accoladed at the prestigious global awards this year. Leo Burnett Bucharest’s “The Online Park” campaign created for Telekom Romania was awarded a Gold by the International ANDY Awards 2021. This prestigious accolade represents the only award won by an agency and a company in Romania and the Central Eastern Europe (CEE) region at ANDY this year.

Bronze at Cannes Lions International Festival 2021
Telekom Mobile won a Bronze Lion at the Cannes Lions International Festival in the Media/Use of Stunts category for the “Online Park” Project.

Silver and Bronze at Eurobest 2021
Telekom Mobile won a Silver and a Bronze at Eurobest for the “Online Park” Project in the Outdoor and Media categories.

Bronze at Euro Effie 2021
Telekom Mobile won a Bronze at Euro Effie 2021 for the “Online Park” Project, in the category Best of Europe: Internet & Telecom. 

2 IAB MIXX AWARDS in 2021
Telekom Mobile won 2 IAB Mixx Awards for the best video and best integrated campaign for the “Online Park” Project.

Gold and Silver at Internetics 2021
Telekom Mobile won Gold and Silver at Internetics 2021 for the Online Branded Content and Services Category respectively.

Telekom Romania at the Top of Sustainability in Romania – Gold Winner in the Category CSR Index  2021
Telekom Romania Mobile has once again demonstrated its commitment in the field of sustainability with a position at the top for the fifth consecutive year in the CST Index 2021.

CSR Awards 2021
Telekom Romania received the Silver Prize for Digital Innovation in the CSR category at the CSR Awards 2021 for the “We keep Romania Connected” campaign.

PR Awards 2021
Telekom Romania was nominated an Award for Excellence in the Corporate Communication category – for the campaign: Operations Separation. 

Organizations:

• United Nations Global Compact – Global Compact Network Romania (partner since 2015)
• Romanian Advertising Council (member since 2015)
• Romanian Mobile Operators’ Association (partner since 2008)
• International Telecommunication Union (partner since 2015)
• Full rights member of the GSM  Association

The fight against the cyberbullying
Telekom Romania and the Child’s Phone Association continued the campaign against cyberbullying with messages adapted to the context of the pandemic. This project facilitates the reporting of child abuse cases, including online grooming and physical abuse. The campaign platform www.116111.ro is an educational platform that gathers useful information on how cases of child abuse can be reported, as well as ways to seek specialized counselling for such cases. HappyGraff is a mobile application that works like a diary in which teenagers can record their emotions whenever they feel the need and have access to useful tips on how to manage different situations with difficult emotional conditions. The mobile application can be accessed on phones equipped with an Android operating system and is available for free download in GooglePlay. The application can also be downloaded from the campaign website.

Children’s security in the online environment 
Telekom Mobile ensures that through its services it offers content suitable for all age groups. In order to make access to this content as easy to manage and secure as possible, we have taken steps to ensure that the information provided by third parties is based on and in accordance with Romanian law. An important aspect that we take into account is that, in many cases, children adapt much faster than their parents to technology. Because of this, their parents need to be very well informed about the services facilitated by technological progress (such as voice calls and SMS, image sharing, internet access and browsing on social networks). The need is urgent, especially since, according to statistics, the vast majority of children surf the internet unattended, and many of them disseminate vulnerable personal data. By accepting and being aware of these threats, parents could apply technological measures and educate their children about the responsible use of technology. 

Executive Coalition for Children 
Telekom Mobile is a member of the OTE-COSMOTE Group, and the Deutsche Telekom Group is part of the “Coalition at CEO level (CEO) to make the Internet a better place for children.” This self-regulatory platform was launched by the European Commission in December 2011 and aims to make the internet a safer place for children. 

In January 2013, Deutsche Telekom committed to a set of 25 measures to further increase the online safety of children. These apply to each company within the Deutsche Telekom Group, including Telekom Mobile. 

Any help begins with an initiative 
Learn more about how you can prevent online abuse by contacting 116 111, the European children's telephone line, managed by the Romanian Children's Phone Association. Through 116 111, you can also report digital abuse such as online harassment, exposing children to illegal content on the internet, or online exploitation of children. You can also seek free legal advice from the organization's specialists. The information can also be sent to the e-mail address: telefonulcopilului@telefonulcopilului.ro. Visit www.116111.ro for relevant information about aggression / intimidation. 

You can also find information on the OradeNet portal, a portal related to a European program that promotes the use of the Internet by children and adolescents in a creative, useful and safe way in Romania. 

HEALTHY ME was an important campaign carried out in Telekom Romania, representing a virtual community of people who want to maintain or improve all aspects of their health. The program was created at the instigation of our employees because they helped us to identify points of suffering during isolation, aspects of uncertainty and issues in the pandemic context. We offered a common virtual space where we invited them to participate in sports, training or learning events, to browse articles, recommendations and other resources designed to help us achieve or maintain our wellbeing in the company, and to deal with a variety of personal challenges. The program had five strands: healthy body, healthy mind, healthy learning, healthy community, and healthy leadership.

The Telekom Romania Foundation is the link between Telekom Romania and the communities where the company operates. The aim is to support people in special situations, social causes, children and adults diagnosed with serious illnesses, talented young students, and campaigns requesting humanitarian aid when natural disasters occur. 

Telekom Romania and the Telekom Romania Foundation supported young programmers through a new edition of the CoderDojo Workshops
CoderDojo is an international movement, launched in Ireland in 2011, whose main goal is to create an informal space for kids who are interested in discovering the world of programming, through regular sessions outside school. At CoderDojo, children learn to code, develop websites, applications, programs, games, and much more. The specialists trained like this will be able to integrate more easily in the labor market, while at the same time responding to the growing demand for labor in the field of IT services. CoderDojo Bucharest, supported by Telekom Romania and Telekom Romania Foundation, is one of the first CoderDojo concepts organized in Romania. 

In the 2020–2021 school year, more than 300 children aged between 8 and 17 learned about programming during the CoderDojo workshops. They are free of charge and now run online due to the restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic. The students were able to choose one of three categories: “Explorer,” “Adventurer” and “Master,” depending on their age and level of education. Based on the level of difficulty a series of workshops with different programming languages and technologies was offered. Due to the great demand for introductory workshops in Algorithmics, Java Script and Python, the organizers have expanded the capacity to accommodate more students. The curriculum has been developed by volunteer mentors, specialists in programming, robotics and the latest technologies.

Telekom Romania Foundation and Telekom Fixed organized a free course for young people who want a career in the digital environment
The course of introductory digital skills and improvement of skills in the field “How to step properly into a digital career?” took place online in July 2021. The course was free and aimed at young people who want to learn the secrets of the profession directly from experienced and passionate professionals who work to build the digital future every day. The applicants were between 20 and 30 years old taking part in higher-education courses or graduates. They had to send in a letter demonstrating their motivation and showing their commitment to the course, and highlighting the advantages they would gain from it. The course was held by experts from Telekom Fixed: a Lead Agile coach, a UX writer and product owner, a UX designer, a senior financial analyst and two digital marketing specialists.

Telekom Scholarships
Telekom Mobile supports and encourages young people in education through the social responsibility program “Telekom Scholarships.” Since the scholarships were launched in 2010, over 2 500 students with notable performances have entered the competition, and 125 of them have benefited from scholarships conferred by Telekom. The company offered more than 440 000 euros in financial support to the winners of the eleven editions of the program. Please refer to the Internet for more information about the “Telekom Scholarships” program.

The company offered scholarships to the ten winners of the eleventh edition of the social responsibility program “Telekom Scholarships.” Ten students received a monthly scholarship worth 2 230 lei between January and June and October and December in 2021. They had achieved exceptional academic results in key subjects and they stood out by virtue of their extracurricular projects and volunteering activities.

The jury of the “Telekom Scholarships” 2020 to 2021 edition was composed of professionals in the field of communication and academics: Emil Cazacu – Professor of Engineering, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Polytechnic University of Bucharest, Mihaela Perianu – founder and managing partner, AIMS Executive Search & Consulting, Sorin Psatta – lecturer, Faculty of Journalism and Communication Sciences, University of Bucharest and Integrated Communication Director, Graffiti BBDO Romania, and Ruxandra Vodă – Corporate Communications Director, Telekom Mobile.

Telekom Skating Arena
In 2021, Telekom Romania continued to support the Telekom Skating Arena operated by the Ion Tiriac Foundation. The company supported the only existing rink in the Bucharest Ilfov district with the aim of encouraging sports among children, young people, and support for sports teams.

Telekom Romania has developed numerous initiatives in order to digitalize its activities and reduce its environmental footprint:

• Online pay slip for employees
• Water dispensers at all locations
• Digitalized travel expense reports
• Printers set to automatic printing on both sides of the paper and only black cartridge
• Rental models (routers, modems and other equipment are leased through rental contracts). At the end of the contract, they are recovered for reuse, or recycled if necessary.
• “Push Online Customer Bills”: permanent awareness campaigns were carried out to migrate customers to electronic invoicing by alerting them to this option in the MyAccount application. 
• SIM card reduction (50 percent plastic savings by reducing the size of SIM cards)
• Take back phones and other small items of equipment sold in shops (at every location we have recipients for WEEE and WB&A, and periodic collections are carried out by our recycling partners); flyers with information on management of these types of waste are available to customers at the point of sale.
• Regular training of employees on the e-learning platform for selective waste collection; selective collection receptacles are available at each location in order to increase the recycling rate for the generated waste. Responsibilities for electronic equipment, batteries, and packaging are transferred to authorized commercial operators in order to achieve recycling targets.
• Hazardous wooden poles collected as waste are handed over for incineration with energy recovery.
• Replacement of energy-intensive thermal power plants with more efficient facilities.

Telekom Romania organized the first digital conference on “User Experience during COVID-19: changes, challenges, and a new perspective on the user”
The event took place on 27 January and was addressed to professionals in User Experience Design and to people passionate about digital, and to businesses who want to adapt to the new reality. The conference was broadcast live on Facebook. This initiative is a premiere for the Romanian market and was created as part of the Telekom Digital Lab platform.

The previous year has changed customer behavior, as a result, businesses have had to respond to new challenges and adapt quickly. The new atypical context put the component of User Experience Design, or simpler UX design, even more at the focus of attention, but it also brought multiple challenges. The objective of the conference was to provide other companies and all interested parties with information about the latest ideas and trends in UX design, including both the expertise of Telekom Romania and the perspective and solutions of specialists with national and international experience.

During the conference, nine professionals, recognized for their expertise in the field in Romania, approached the theme from different perspectives. Topics discussed included Design Thinking, UX Pandemic Research, UX Consulting, UX Writing, and Copywriting. At the same time, the participants had an opportunity to discover the latest information about the evolution, opportunities, and challenges of the industry, in extensive and intensive sessions with the invited specialists.

Telekom Romania organized the online conference “Agility in the organization – what does it mean and how does it help us to organize in the new reality”
Telekom Romania continues its mission to keep Romania connected and organized the second digital online conference of 2021 under the Digital Labs umbrella. The conference entitled “Agility in the organization – what does it mean and how does it help us organize in the new reality” took place on 11 May 2021 during a live broadcast on the Telekom Romania Facebook page. Participation in the event was free.

The five special guests were local and international mentors, experts in agile transformation and promoters of the principles of agility in business responsible for successful local and international transformations as follows:

• Arie Van BENNEKUM – Co-Autor Agile Manifesto, Thought Leader at Wemanity and IFAAI 
• Andrei GAVRILĂ – Agile Trainer & Coach, VP Engineering, Head of Product Development at Pentalog
• Mihai OLARU și Andreea IONICĂ – Agile Trainers & Coaches at PM ACCESS
• Roxana CEIALÂCU – Lead Agile Coach at Telekom Romania

The speakers used the topics of their presentations to analyze the efforts of organizations to embrace an agility-based culture and transparently present the benefits and challenges of adopting agile principles at both the individual and organizational levels. Experts clarified the roles that employees and team members must play in order to operate according to agile principles and they highlighted the relationship between agile organizations and their stakeholders. Speakers make use of the event to share their knowledge with the audience, but also presented good practices based on work experiences in agile culture.

First green space in Romania with solar benches and free WiFi
Telekom Mobile supports the first green space in Romania with solar benches and free WiFi , since 2019, this has been an area in the Bucharest Botanical Gardens where nature and technology come together. The space offers visitors the wonders of botany, along with two benches with solar panels that allow phones to be charged with USB and contact ports, together with free WiFi Internet access. This is the first facility of its kind to be installed in a green space in Romania.

The benches allow visitors to charge their phone using USB ports on the side or by direct contact, using a special surface. Anybody who wants to upload pictures from the Botanical Gardens on social networks or simply wants to be online can do this by accessing the free WiFi network provided by Telekom Mobile (WifiBotanicabyTelekom). The benches can also be used during cloudy periods since they have the capacity to store solar energy on days when the weather is sunny. The project was developed in collaboration with Asociatia TeamWork and the Bucharest Botanical Gardens. 

Donations by text message – Telekom Mobile helped vulnerable people by supporting Romanian NGOs in their fundraising, opening text message lines where customers can send text messages and contribute financially to various humanitarian causes. Every year, the company provides operational services for good causes and facilitates help for thousands of people. Organizations interested in applying for a text message donation line can access the website, which is managed by Asociatia pentru Relatii Comunitare.

Tech premiere: Telekom Romania announced an application that prevents identity theft in the online environment
In March 2021, Telekom Romania introduced a new measure to protect customers in the digital environment and prevent fraud through identity theft, an absolute first in the Romanian telecoms market, but also in the Deutsche Telekom Group.

This measure is enabling Telekom Romania to prevent one of the most widespread frauds in the online environment. This involves the conclusion of subscriptions in real names, but using stolen photos and identities. The new application used by Telekom means that it is impossible to upload an image from the phone in the subscription form because the photo is obtained live, online. The user does not have to download any application to use this feature.

The procedure recently implemented by Telekom Romania for online purchases on telekom.ro is described here. If customers want to purchase a subscription with or without a phone by accessing telekom.ro from a cellphone, they are asked to take a selfie and a picture of their ID card. The application does not support uploading any documents.

If the purchase is made from a computer, the users receive a link by text to access the online application and follow the procedure described above.

Over 100 000 Romanians from Generation Z tested the Futureproof vocational platform launched by Telekom
The Futureproof project was launched by Telekom in mid-May 2021. The Futureproof support platform was developed to demonstrate the huge potential of Generation Z and to inspire young people to identify opportunities for future careers, and to discover skills they have not yet exploited.

The platform was launched in the ten European countries where the Deutsche Telekom Group is present, and Romania gathered the second largest number of unique visitors, after Germany. 

At the heart of project Futureproof is a free-to-access digital tool that helps Generation Z to better understand their abilities and how these are connected to future career opportunities. 

The tool helps Generation Z to see how their passions, skills, talents and personality are fundamental to support them shape their future journey and how they can best use these personal attributes as part of future careers. Moreover, the cumulated results present a uniquely Gen Z perspective, identifying key trends and changes in the world of work, delivering insights through a personalized, gamified experience.

Over 117 000 individual profiles have been created in the application, cumulatively, in the ten countries in which Deutsche Telekom operates. 36 percent of respondents have an educator profile – they have communication and knowledge sharing skills. 21 percent showed skills of leaders and managers, and 14 percent showed artistic and creative inclinations. In Romania, an estimated number of 28 000 profiles were created. 

Project Futureproof has been developed in collaboration with both Generation Z contributors and a diverse group of professional skills and employability experts. It aims to connect users to peer-to-peer inspiration, support and to provide easy access to a range of inspirational materials and tools to discover the skills needed to shape a future career. It has been endorsed by the seven-time GRAMMY award winner Billie Eilish.

Telekom Romania unveiled how it puts software robots to work for customer excellence
At the end of the second quarter of 2021, Telekom Romania was operating more than 200 software robots under the umbrella of digitization, streamlining internal processes and customer interaction, which represents a doubling compared to the numbers in the previous year. More than 220 processes had been automated with software bots by 30 June 2021. This yielded multiple benefits, including: a 39 percent increase in the number of customers receiving digital invoices and a 24 percent increase in the number of active customers in the MyAccount application, compared to the same period last year.

RPA is a software technology aimed at automating business processes and managing software robots that replicate the actions of humans interacting with digital and software systems. Many of the repetitive tasks previously performed by humans have been transferred to software robots. A pioneer in this direction, Telekom Romania now has a wealth of experience in business optimization using RPA, which it shares with those interested in learning how they can enhance business performance and improve their customers’ experience. Telekom Romania organized an open access online conference on 21 September 2021 under the title “RPA @Telekom – Putting robots at work for customer excellence,” which was streamed live on Telekom Romania's LinkedIn and Facebook platforms. The conference highlighted the company’s commitment to a long-term transformation process based on digitization and process automation, with excellent results in internal operations and customer satisfaction. The speakers were Nicolas Mahler, CFO Telekom Romania, Robert Iosu, RPA and Financial Systems Center of Excellence Manager Telekom Romania, Mihaela Moisa, Co-founder Future WorkForce, Ion Clapa, Executive Partner Rex Software & Cloud-Soft, and Alexander Jenbar, CTO Telekom Romania Mobile Communications. 

Essentially, RPA technology is one of the most advanced digital transformation technologies that can be deployed by organizations to reduce costs, increase efficiency and security by automating repetitive tasks and ensure business continuity in difficult times.

Telekom Romania launched the chatbot ANA, to offer HR support to employees
In May 2021, Telekom Romania launched the chatbot ANA, a virtual assistant that has the role of automating the management flows of activities related to internal human resources and providing “self-service” support for employees. The chatbot was implemented by Future WorkForce, a company specialized in business process automation. It is based on DRUID technology for developing virtual assistants (chatbots) for Enterprise organizations. 

ANA is developed and trained on DRUID conversational technology. It’s accessible through the company’s Intranet platform and integrates with the internal human resources applications but also with operational software robots developed using the UiPath end-to-end automation platform. The chatbot helps to approve leave requests and takes specific HR requests from Telekom Romania employees, for example medical or employee certificates, displays the available leave days and updates their personal data using optical character recognition (OCR) technology. At the same time, managers have access to a set of standard reports through the connection between ANA and the robots developed with UiPath technology. This allows them to obtain centralized information about employees and the team.

ANA also includes an FAQ-type functionality for automated answers in response to general questions relating to human resources. The answers will be perfected and expanded over time, as the chatbot learns from its direct interactions with users.

As one of the technology leaders in the local market, we wanted to offer the same modern digital experience to our employees, which we make available to customers through the virtual assistant Tim. Collaborating with Future WorkForce has allowed us to simplify and, at the same time, streamline the interaction process with the Human Resources department. ANA continues the promise of digitization and helps us to significantly reduce the processes that involve routine activity.