Bbj 2416

11

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Budapest Business Journal

SPECIAL REPORT:

| September 3 – September

15, 2016

rt 3Special Repo

EXPERT OPINION

contracts Pitfalls of software development the software you How can you ensure that have paid for is really yours?

BBJ

Systems and software

on verge of Integrated ICT services The spread of sophisticated cloudbased services has opened up a vast array of premium ICT services for the SME sector, which can now enjoy them as if they were big budget corporate behemoths themselves. And they are increasingly doing so by picking one single provider to satisfy their ICT needs.

LEVENTE HÖRÖMPÖLI-TÓTH

Partner, Head of TMT SÁR AND PARTNERS ATTORNEYS AT LAW

“The key to success will be addressing the uniqueness of the SMB market and not treating it like a larger version of the consumer market or a smaller version of the large enterprise market.” with appropriate needs, providing them it in a costtechnology and operating effective and reliable manner.” provider leading Magyar Telekom, the has gathered of integrated IT services, are often the experience that customers own need to not even aware of their a single provider; get everything from raise needs however, their expectationsprovider that with regards to a quality under a package can be offered only allows SMEs to plan. Telekom’s strategy would normally access ICT solutions that only, such corporations big by used be tools as teamwork or videoconference Such integrated and security packages. package, which services then form a deal mobile internet, includes cell phone, phone and fixed line internet, landline all related IT solutions. to keep the SimplexIT Kft. aims rivals. It has pace with its heavyweight of integrated detected the vast potential Dániel Filep ICT services, but as COO SMEs are still said to the BBJ, many that a thirdfact suspicious about the corporate data party firm would handle Yet, things and confidential information. for the better. are expected to change enterprises will “I believe more such top aim is Their services. use integrated their core activity to be able to pursue Therefore, our with utmost attention. objective is to treat infocommunications is it should be as a ‘public utilityʼ, that and it serves self-evident that it works order to make clients,” Filep said. In continuously this happen, SimplexIT personalized trains its staff and offers SME sector can services. “This way the at all times by use top-notch technology is bound to which its competitiveness grow,” he added.

dispute about the There is not much to SOHO (small fact that the so-called holds great office, home office) segment companies. telco promise for growth for up to those The problem with living has typically ambitious expectations on the part been the lack of resourcescontinuously and of SMEs to invest in equipment and upgrade their infotech subscriptions. to couple it with costly of cloudHowever, the emergence monthly based services and affordablelandscape the fee plans has changed budgets can dramatically and smaller solutions more now buy cutting-edge easily than ever before. hearts and Still, conquering the medium-sized minds of small- and stated in the As firms can be tricky. in Small Business report “Big Business

by McKinsey, Cloud Services for SMBs” providers service consultancy a need to couple Kft. must realize that they decision- Dániel Filep, COO of SimplexIT flexibility with non-standard to success key a making processes. “The same Treating ICT services as uniqueness of the is available from the will be addressing the it like a everything efforts public utility treating not The extent to which SMB market and market or provider. is perfectly spending 40% of total yearly larger version of the consumer enterprise are focused in this regard firms Growing cloud-service large at Invitel, the “Whilst services stems from a smaller version of the segmentation shown by developments domestic on cloud larger entities portfolios serve exploding biggest player of the market. Building on SMB employing 1-99 workers, up models will make second telco and ICT market. than 500 people make needs and piloting new sales a holistic cloud integratedIT services generated only a with more spending,” Invitech said in teleworking goes hand-in-hand it possible to create joining the Whereas until a few 28% of that Business Competitiveness to a journey for SMB customers few percent of its revenues up nearly a a statement to the Budapest mobile working. According applications are with survey by the British Chamber ago, now they make cloud,” the paper says. growth Journal. “Cloud-based next recent local market years Business, 19% of of them. That fast-paced Accordingly, major to grow by 34% in the of Commerce and BT to split up expected every stone to quarter than half of pushed Invitel Group players are turning years, which also demonstrates SMEs claimed that more from the SME also this summer: five rather complex services their employees already do teleworking, two separate entities attract as many clients with that SMEs need the bulletproof into dealing agreed that The solution for Solutions pool as possible. And and not products. and 53% of respondents is based Invitech of critical and wholesale activities, them is a professional partner that is method to do so, apparently, enterprises work arrangements are range small possible their business such focusing on retail and on offering the widest capable of understanding services and Invitel infocommunications of where businesses. as a sort of one-stop-shop

either. transfer? You can choose always Rights transfer is almostunlimited for perpetuity, ensures is complete. rights of use and it be granted Contrarily, a license can fixed term or with restrictions, for a some rights limited territory, and can be excluded.

Katalin Horváth

an explosion

of title – are Warranty and chain can you sure the developer provide them? don’t check Customers usually company whether the developing rights has lawful and proper with its transfer agreements They private person developers. of title chain should, as the lack of obtain the could mean they can’t because copyright of the software is able the developing company that it rights to transfer only those The obtained from the developers. clause solution is to put a warranty developer into the contract: the is free of warrants that the software parties and any claims of any third the software. that it has all rights of is crucial.

Written agreement Copy– are in the copyright law According to the Hungarian development 6. Pitfalls you obtained all rights? right Act, software you sure put in writing, be sure that agreements must be If you would like to shows that you need but court practice you acquire all rights, in the contract via this doesn’t include to reckon with the pitfallsis highly Hungarian It e-mail. However, the Hungarian copyright act. rights one or two Supreme Court passed advised to add the following accept oral judgments where they into the list of rights granted: right – too. In order modification or implicit contracts adaptation, • is advised to to avoid uncertainty, it only if it is explicitly stipulated What it is explicitly conclude a written agreement. The • import right – only if if you have an oral agreement? stipulated to you! it is explicitly rights won’t be transferred • exclusivity – only if 5.

software and Every company uses software many firms need customized to their according developed individually company belongs special needs. If your had to deal to this group, you certainly agreements. with software development you with Developers usually provide but are you sure their contract template, your rights that those templates protect development and interests? Software templates – can contracts – especially serious be full of pitfalls with potentially We legal and business consequences. pitfalls in order note the most common surprises: to help you avoid unexpected 1.

The Cloud is increasingly

providing solutions for

SMEs, and not just MNCs.

out to the As Invitech pointed were initially stipulated BBJ, applications that platform not copies on covered by the “Cloud-based applications are developed on a cloud in a mobile 2. What is to be • right for making all you need explicitly agreement? First of computer – only if it is only provide flexibility also allow expected to grow by 34% in is for: to state what the agreement Then stipulated environment, but they territory the next five years, which also corporate applications to consistently the software to be developed. most • territory – without will be regardless The the same functionality is valid you need a clear order. of rights definition the license list “This territory of demonstrates that SMEs need offer important part is the restricted within the of device or platform. including a enterprise, but it you would like to obtain Hungary not only within the rather complex services and between rights owner – if the clear statement that the also goes for the relationship • duration of the license about rights. And its clients and not products. The solution transfers or licenses the contract does not speak it is the enterprise and emphasized not forget of course you should the most the duration of the licence, partners.” Invitech further experience If for them is a professional the fee and deadlines. for restricted term the importance of customer which can list of rights, of only if it is environment, capable is digital important element, the in a • source code – partner that agreement is extent with the is missing, then the expressly granted. be enhanced to a large Invitech is not a rights understanding their business just a simple order, help of cloud applications. at all. expanding its protects transfer or license agreement therefore working on Copyright law usually needs, providing them with intensively. yours. not cloud-service portfolio approach; in a professional authors’ interests the contracting Filep agrees with this 3. Do you have appropriate technology and during Finally, mobile working specification? his view, seamless always keep in cloudexpectations process, you should operating it in a cost-effective cannot take place without slick You have to set out your interpretation rule of it’s getting the software very carefully. mind the main systems. “Nowadays regarding if the based act: manner.” copyright any employee bullet points, the Hungarian and reliable It can be a long list of ever more important that platform specification. content of your software development be able to log into a so put it into a separate that you, agreement cannot be defined exactly, Their Hungarian should e-mail account and password, importance for them.

The court practice says for way to go in via their were sitting at their office favours the counterparts have a long the interpretation that if they the customer, is responsible they If you are but providers are as apply! And that regardless of the device this regard for sure, preparing the specification. solution software developer shall them go down computer, given time. Tech support – best where you should consider doing their best to help not familiar with IT, the Telekom, use at any from the is the point must here,” lawyer. the same road smoothly. deals for available 24/7 – is another is to order the specification turning to a copyright grow, special for that matter, has pointed out. “As companies and software developer. as part of its Filep tasks the number of their devices and gadgets should mobile phones, so do like to obtain: staff, and ICT support package deals whereby 4. What would you partners be bought for a their pace in parallel. Our laptops or tablets can license or rights transfer? free anti-virus keep what you reduced price. Telekom’s not to look for technology-related The next step is to decide – usually Business Version need the most ideal find restricted a will we prefer: www.sarandpartners.hu service and the Basic would legal software solutions; them. All they have to do is a full rights of Office 365 offering cheaper – license or further options for and business correspondence to choose from them.” encourages mobile working.

ICT SERVICES

BUSINESS JOURNAL BUDAPEST

VOL. 24. NUMBER 16

SEPTEMBER 2, 2016 – SEPTEMBER 15, 2016

HUNGARY’S PRACTICAL BUSINESS BI-WEEKLY SINCE 1992 | WWW.BBJ.HU

HUF 1,250 | €5 | $6 | £3.5

Seek and retain

SOCIALITE

Bowling a Hungarian maiden over National association is spreading the gospel of cricket in Hungary among children and adults alike, while offering refugees familiar with the sport an opportunity to integrate into the country. 21

BUSINESS

Home of the young entrepreneur Debrecen Mayor László Papp says it is important to attract local and international firms from the technology sector, and to encourage a young, capable workforce to staff those companies. 8

NEWS

GDP up, investments down

Photo: Mátyás Pödőr

The world of work has changed forever, says, Kata Illés, CEO of Indivizo, and her company has a cutting-edge method to help accelerate your recruitment.12 SOCIALITE

BBJ_2416_news.indd 1

BUSINESS

Although second quarter growth data saw a reassuring uptick, investments continue to contract, hit by a lack of funding from the EU and, perhaps more surprisingly, the private sector. 3

SPECIAL REPORT

The golden years of vinyl

Labor shortage hits many sectors

Integrated ICT services booming

Celebrating “the great adventure of album cover photography” at Capa Központ’s Total Records exhibition, and indulging in a little Budapest crate-digging. 20

Recruitment experts warn that Hungary’s labor shortage now affects whole parts of the country, and not just certain sectors within the economy. 15

The spread of sophisticated cloudbased services has opened up a vast array of premium ICT services for the SME sector, which increasingly opts for a single service provider. 10

2016. 08. 31. 20:53

www.bbj.hu

Budapest Business Journal | September 2 – September 15, 2016

3 www.bbj.hu

Budapest Business Journal

SPECIAL REPORT:

| September 3 – September

Systems and software

on verge of Integrated ICT services The spread of sophisticated cloudbased services has opened up a vast array of premium ICT services for the SME sector, which can now enjoy them as if they were big budget corporate behemoths themselves. And they are increasingly doing so by picking one single provider to satisfy their

SUBSCRIPTIONS

11

15, 2016

EXPERT OPINION

contracts Pitfalls of software development the software you How can you ensure that have paid for is really yours?

3Special Report

BBJ

an explosion

“The key to success will be addressing the uniqueness of the SMB market and not treating it like a larger version of the consumer market or a smaller version of the large enterprise market.”

with appropriate needs, providing them it in a costtechnology and operating effective and reliable manner.” provider leading Magyar Telekom, the has gathered of integrated IT services, are often the experience that customers own need to not even aware of their a single provider; get everything from raise needs however, their expectationsprovider that with regards to a quality under a package can be offered only allows SMEs to plan. Telekom’s strategy would normally access ICT solutions that only, such be used by big corporations tools as teamwork or videoconference LEVENTE HÖRÖMPÖLI-TÓTH Such integrated and security packages. package, which services then form a deal dispute about the mobile internet, There is not much to includes cell phone, SOHO (small phone and fact that the so-called fixed line internet, landline holds great office, home office) segment companies. all related IT solutions. telco to keep the promise for growth for SimplexIT Kft. aims up to those rivals. It has The problem with living has typically pace with its heavyweight of integrated ambitious expectations detected the vast potential Dániel Filep on the part been the lack of resourcescontinuously ICT services, but as COO and SMEs are still of SMEs to invest in said to the BBJ, many that a thirdequipment and fact upgrade their infotech subscriptions. suspicious about the corporate data to couple it with costly party firm would handle of cloudYet, things However, the emergence and confidential information. monthly for the better. based services and affordablelandscape are expected to change the enterprises will fee plans has changed budgets can “I believe more such Their top aim is dramatically and smaller use integrated services. solutions more their core activity now buy cutting-edge to be able to pursue Therefore, our easily than ever before. with utmost attention. hearts and Still, conquering the objective is to treat infocommunications medium-sized is it should be minds of small- and stated in the as a ‘public utilityʼ, that and it serves As firms can be tricky. self-evident that it works in Small Business In order to make report “Big Business clients,” Filep said.

by McKinsey, continuously Cloud Services for SMBs” this happen, SimplexIT personalized providers service consultancy a trains its staff and offers need to couple SME sector can Kft. must realize that they services. “This way the at all times by decision- Dániel Filep, COO of SimplexIT flexibility with non-standard to success use top-notch technology is bound to key a making processes. “The which its competitiveness same Treating ICT services as uniqueness of the is available from the will be addressing the grow,” he added. treating it like a everythingThe extent to which efforts public utility SMB market and not market or provider. is perfectly spending 40% of total yearly larger version of the consumer enterprise are focused in this regard firms Growing cloud-service large at Invitel, the “Whilst services stems from a smaller version of the segmentation shown by developments domestic on cloud larger entities portfolios serve exploding biggest player of the market. Building on SMB employing 1-99 workers, up models will make second telco and ICT market. than 500 people make needs and piloting new sales a holistic cloud integratedIT services generated only a with more spending,” Invitech said in teleworking goes hand-in-hand it possible to create joining the Whereas until a few 28% of that Business Competitiveness to a journey for SMB customers few percent of its revenues up nearly a a statement to the Budapest mobile working. According applications are with survey by the British Chamber ago, now they make cloud,” the paper says. growth Journal. “Cloud-based next recent local market years Business, 19% of of them. That fast-paced Accordingly, major to grow by 34% in the of Commerce and BT to split up expected every stone to quarter than half of pushed Invitel Group players are turning years, which also demonstrates SMEs claimed that more from the SME also this summer: five rather complex services their employees already do teleworking, two separate entities attract as many clients with that SMEs need the bulletproof into that dealing The solution for Solutions respondents agreed pool as possible. And and not products. is based Invitech that is and 53% of of critical and wholesale activities, a professional partner method to do so, apparently, work arrangements are possible range enterprises focusing on retail and small them is their business such on offering the widest capable of understanding services and Invitel infocommunications of where businesses. as a sort of one-stop-shop

ICT needs.

either. transfer? You can choose always Rights transfer is almostunlimited Katalin for perpetuity, ensures is complete. rights of use and it Horváth be granted Contrarily, a license can fixed term or Partner, with restrictions, for a some rights limited territory, and Head of TMT can be excluded.

SÁR AND PARTNERS ATTORNEYS AT LAW of title – are 5. Warranty and chain can you sure the developer provide them? software and don’t check Every company uses Customers usually software company many firms need customized to their whether the developing rights according developed individually has lawful and proper with its company belongs special needs. If your transfer agreements They had to deal to this group, you certainly agreements. private person developers. of title chain with software development should, as the lack of you with obtain the Developers usually provide could mean they can’t because but are you sure their contract template, copyright of the software is able your rights that those templates protect the developing company that it development rights and interests? Software to transfer only those The templates – can contracts – especially obtained from the developers. serious clause be full of pitfalls with potentially solution is to put a warranty We developer legal and business consequences. into the contract: the is free of pitfalls in order note the most common warrants that the software surprises: parties and to help you avoid unexpected any claims of any third the software. that it has all rights of is crucial.

1. Written agreement Copy– are in the copyright law According to the Hungarian development 6. Pitfalls you obtained all rights? right Act, software you sure put in writing, be sure that agreements must be If you would like to shows that you need but court practice you acquire all rights, in the contract via this doesn’t include to reckon with the pitfallsis highly Hungarian It e-mail. However, the Hungarian copyright act. rights one or two Supreme Court passed advised to add the following accept oral judgments where they into the list of rights granted: right – too. In order or implicit contracts • adaptation, modification is advised to to avoid uncertainty, it only if it is explicitly stipulated SMEs, and not just MNCs. What providing solutions for it is explicitly conclude a written agreement. The • import right – only if if you have an oral agreement? stipulated to you! out to the it is explicitly As Invitech pointed rights won’t be transferred • exclusivity – only if were initially stipulated BBJ, applications that platform not copies on covered by the developed on a cloud in a mobile 2. What is to be • right for making all you need explicitly agreement? First of computer – only if it is only provide flexibility also allow is for: to state what the agreement Then stipulated environment, but they consistently territory to the software to be developed. most corporate applications • territory – without will be regardless The you need a clear order. of rights definition the license offer the same functionality is valid list “This territory of important part is the restricted within the of device or platform. including a enterprise, but it you would like to obtain Hungary not only within the between rights owner – if the clear statement that the also goes for the relationship • duration of the license about rights. And its clients and transfers or licenses the contract does not speak it is the enterprise and not forget emphasized of course you should the most the duration of the licence, partners.” Invitech further experience If the fee and deadlines. for restricted term the importance of customer which can list of rights, only if it is important element, the in a digital environment, • source code – agreement is extent with the is missing, then the expressly granted. be enhanced to a large Invitech is not a rights just a simple order, help of cloud applications. at all. expanding its protects transfer or license agreement therefore working on Copyright law usually intensively. not yours. cloud-service portfolio approach; in a professional authors’ interests the contracting Filep agrees with this 3. Do you have during Finally, mobile working specification? always keep in his view, seamless slick cloudexpectations process, you should rule of You have to set out your cannot take place without it’s getting very carefully. mind the main interpretation if the regarding the software based systems. “Nowadays employee any bullet points, the Hungarian copyright act: It can be a long list of ever more important that platform specification. content of your software development be able to log into a so put it into a separate that you, agreement cannot be defined exactly, Their Hungarian should e-mail account and password, importance for them.

The court practice says for way to go in via their were sitting at their office favours the counterparts have a long the interpretation that if they the customer, is responsible they If you are but providers are as apply! And that regardless of the device this regard for sure, preparing the specification. solution software developer shall them go down computer, given time. Tech support – best where you should consider doing their best to help not familiar with IT, the Telekom, use at any from the is the point must here,” lawyer. the same road smoothly. deals for available 24/7 – is another is to order the specification turning to a copyright grow, special for that matter, has pointed out. “As companies and software developer. as part of its Filep tasks the number of their devices and gadgets should mobile phones, so do like to obtain: staff, and ICT support package deals whereby 4. What would you partners be bought for a their pace in parallel. Our laptops or tablets can license or rights transfer? free anti-virus keep what you reduced price. Telekom’s not to look for technology-related The next step is to decide – usually ideal Business Version need we will find the most www.sarandpartners.hu service and the Basic would prefer: a restricted legal software solutions; them. All they have to do is a full rights of Office 365 offering cheaper – license or further options for and business correspondence to choose from them.” encourages mobile working.

The Cloud is increasingly

ICT SERVICES

“Cloud-based applications are expected to grow by 34% in the next five years, which also demonstrates that SMEs need rather complex services and not products. The solution for them is a professional partner that is capable of understanding their business needs, providing them with appropriate technology and operating it in a cost-effective and reliable manner.”

BUSINESS JOURNAL BUDAPEST

VOL. 24. NUMBER 16

SEPTEMBER 2, 2016 – SEPTEMBER 15, 2016

HUNGARY’S PRACTICAL BUSINESS BI-WEEKLY SINCE 1992 | WWW.BBJ.HU

HUF 1,250 | €5 | $6 | £3.5

Seek and retain

SOCIALITE

Bowling a Hungarian maiden over National association is spreading the gospel of cricket in Hungary among children and adults alike, while offering refugees familiar with the sport an opportunity to integrate into the country. 21

Call +36 1 398-0344, or email circulation@bbj.hu Budapest Business Journal 1 year HUF 27,500+VAT 6 months HUF 13,750+VAT 3 months HUF 6,875+VAT

BUSINESS

Home of the young entrepreneur Debrecen Mayor László Papp says it is important to attract local and international firms from the technology sector, and to encourage a young, capable workforce to staff those companies. 8

NEWS

GDP up, investments down

Photo: Mátyás Pödőr

The world has changed forever, says, Kata Illés, CEO of Indivizo, and her company has a cuttingedge method to accelerate your recruitment 12 SOCIALITE

BUSINESS

Although second quarter growth data saw a reassuring uptick, investments continue to contract, hit by a lack of funding from the EU and, perhaps more surprisingly, the private sector. 3

SPECIAL REPORT

The golden years of vinyl

Labor shortage hits many sectors

Integrated ICT services booming

Celebrating “the great adventure of album cover photography” at Capa Központ’s Total Records exhibition, and indulging in a little Budapest crate-digging. 20

Recruitment experts warn that Hungary’s labor shortage now affects whole parts of the country, and not just certain sectors within the economy. 15

The spread of sophisticated cloudbased services has opened up a vast array of premium ICT services for the SME sector, which increasingly opts for a single service provider. 10

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ACTING EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Robin Marshall NEWS EDITOR: Christian Keszthelyi EDITORIAL STAFF:

Zsófia Czifra, David Holzer, Levente Hörömpöli-Tóth, Nóra Krokovay, Steve Leboeuf, Maxim LeFleur, Gary J. Morrell, Claudia Patricolo, Mátyás Pödőr, Diana Sefton, Rob Smyth, Zsuzsa Szabó LISTS: BBJ Research (research@bbj.hu) NEWS AND PRESS RELEASES:

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THE EDITOR SAYS

Back to school There is a moment in the 1993 film Jurassic Park where Jeff Goldblum’s character, Dr. Ian Malcolm, tries to warn the scientists behind the dinosaur park that they cannot possibly hope to control their creation. “I’m simply saying that life, uh... finds a way,” he says.

It is a lesson (in this, the week that Hungary’s children return to school, doubtless to the relief of parents everywhere) that lawmakers of all stripes and nationalities should keep in mind. As for life, so the markets.

It should come as no surprise that a business publication maintains that government has one role in business: set a transparent framework, ensure a level playing field, and then step back and let the markets operate. Governments everywhere have tried to bring more influence to bear, as this part of the world knows all too well, but it rarely, if ever, ends well. Our advice is not to bother trying.

It was reported this week that German supermarkets are increasingly taking over from Hungarian chains in Budapest and around Lake Balaton. Both CBA and Coop have been vacating premises, often replaced by the likes of Aldi, Penny Market, or SPAR. This is significant because when the government originally introduced its “plaza stop” ban on new shopping centers above a certain size, it was widely interpreted that the move was aimed at limiting the expansion of foreign chains. An unlevel playing field was being created in order to favor local Hungarian chains. But it seems the market has found a way, and if anything the legislation has achieved the opposite of what it set out to do (retail publication Blokkk.

com says that between 2013 and 2015 CBA has shuttered 271 stores, COOP 220).

An interesting snippet that may have been overlooked was news that the inhabitants of that magnificent 19th century building that is Hungary’s Parliament have embraced the 21st century with the launch of a mobile app across the three main operating systems: Android, iOS and Windows Phone.

While the cynical might note that a technology can only be truly described as ubiquitous once a national assembly has adopted it, this should be welcomed.

The app, available for download now, makes it possible to stream the plenary sessions of the Parliament online, see a detailed calendar for sessions and committee meetings and download documents and other data, such as lawmakers’ wealth declarations.

You might quibble at the price of the app’s development – HUF 9.9 million through a public procurement tender called in 2015 and won by Konzorcia Kft., according to HVG. hu – but any step that makes the workings of Parliament more open and accessible to the general public should be applauded. It is a criticism often leveled at legislators that they too often and too easily forget they are put in place by the people to act on behalf of the people. The knowledge that any citizen, not just journalists and policy wonks with a professional interest, can scrutinize the goings-on at the House of the Nation from their own phone might help keep that connection in mind.

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The Budapest Business Journal, HU ISSN 1216-7304, is published bi-weekly on Friday, registration No. 0109069462. It is distributed by HungaroPress. Reproduction or use without permission of editorial or graphic content in any manner is prohibited. ©2011 BUSINESS MEDIA SERVICES LLC with all rights reserved.

Then and now

The Hungarian government has decided to allocate HUF 23.2 billion for the renovation of the Hungarian State Opera House between 2016-2018. The neo-Renaissance building on Andrássy út, in central Budapest, was designed by architect Miklós Ybl. Construction began in 1875 and the Opera House opened to the public on September 27, 1884.

The black and white photo above was taken in 1900, the colored one at left in 2010.

2016. 08. 31. 20:53

1 News BBJ

macroscope

NEWS

Construction sector to turn around in 2017

4

NEWS

GDP to grow around 2% this year  5

Improving growth data overshadowed by further declining investment figures GDP growth improves, but investments continue to contract, hit by a lack of funding from the EU and the private sector

some large investments relating to sport, as was also the case in Q1. Developments in manufacturing, representing more than a third of investments in the national economy, were 11% higher than a year earlier. The volume of investments was up by 1.8% in real estate activities.

The growth of investments in electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply was 4.9%.

Investment to pick up next year

ZSÓFIA CZIFRA

It’s official: if there is no European Union funding, there are basically no investments in Hungary. Although the second quarter growth data might seem to prove right those saying that the slump at the beginning of the year was only temporary, fresh investment data is really disappointing. The government and analysts expect the tendency turn around next year.

After the poor GDP figures of the first three months of the year, an upturn followed in the second quarter. The gross domestic product of Hungary was up by 2.6% in Q2 when compared to the same period of last year. In the main it was market services, industry and agriculture that contributed to the growth, while the output of the construction sector continued to be a drag.

The second half of the year is likely to see further acceleration in the economy, Economy Minister Mihály Varga said in reaction to the raw data of the Central Statistics Office. He also said there was a good chance that the growth would meet the government’s 2.5% forecast for this year. Final and detailed figures for the second quarter will only come out on September 6. Varga, however, emphasized that the automotive industry remained the main driver of the national economy, with the manufacturing sector also living up to expectations.

Agriculture, too, is expected to increase its contribution to the growth. Varga said that the service sectorʼs performance was impressive in Q2, thanks to increased outflow of wages. However, the construction industry statistics were a disappointment, seeing that a change for the better seems even further down the road for the sector, the economy minister noted.

Growth rate might meet predictions The 2.6% growth rate was much higher than the 2.1% analysts had predicted and somewhat higher than the 2.5% growth rate the economic research institute Századvég Gazdaságkutató Zrt. forecast.

Although a more accurate forecast for

BBJ_2416_news.indd 3

Percentage change in Hungary’s GDP compared to previous quarter. Data has been adjusted and reconciled for seasonal and calendar effects. Latest figures, for Q2 2016, are based on an estimate. (Source: Central Statistical Office) the second half of the year requires more detailed data, Századvég’s researchers think that GDP growth for the entire year might exceed 2%.

K&H Bank analyst Dávid Németh puts this year’s growth rate at between 2% and 2.5%, and pointed out that the government is about to launch an economic stimulus program. Given that the details of that are, as yet, unknown its likely effects cannot be evaluated for the time being.

Sándor Jobbágy of CIB Bank drew attention to the fact that the difference between raw data and calendar- and workday-adjusted data was bigger than usual, which should make predictions a bit more cautious. Based on second quarter data, he expects a growth rate of very close to 2%, though final figures might exceed it slightly, the analyst added.

Péter Virovácz of ING Bank said that, in order to reach the government’s 2.5% growth rate prediction for the whole year, Hungary must produce a 3.2% growth rate in the second half year of 2016.

Business sector saw falling investment volume too The improving economic performance in the second quarter gave hope that investment activities, also in a dreadful state in the first quarter, would pick up again too. Fresh investment data, however, showed that contraction hasn’t yet stopped.

The volume of investments was 20% lower in the second quarter of the year than in the same period a year earlier.

When looking at the first six months, investment output was 17% down from a year earlier. The decrease is due to the completion of investments financed from European Union funds.

There was a 53.5% contraction in investment volume in the public sector, which is caused by the ebbing EU funds.

Perhaps a more worrying sign this time was that the business sector also contracted: investment performance of enterprises employing at least 50 persons fell back 18.3% from the same period of last year.

Looking into the details, investment activity decreased in the majority of sectors, to the highest extent (71%) – similarly to Q1– in water supply, sewerage and waste management. The volume of investments in transportation and storage – primarily due to the completion of road construction and road rehabilitation projects financed from EU funds – decreased by 65%.

Investments fell substantially – primarily due to the completion of public procurement financed from EU funds – in public administration and defense and compulsory social security (37%), education (13%) and human health and social work activities (50%).

An increase was reported in investments in arts, entertainment and recreation. The 26% increase was due to

In spite of the poor figures, the government is confident that investment activity will be back on track in the following period. Investments totaling more than HUF 1.8 trillion were completed in the first six months of the year in Hungary, the National Economy Ministry emphasized in a note released after the KSH published its Q2 investment data. The ministry also noted that large companies had recently announced investments worth nearly HUF 1 tln, which makes approximately 3% of the GDP. Takarékbank analyst Gergely Suppan agrees that the decline in investments will gradually fade in the remaining of the year, partially due to increasing state investments and investment activity financed from EU funds. He expects that investment performance will significantly liven up next year.

The low base data of this year, plus the acceleration of EU fund absorption, an upturn in home building construction and new automotive investments will also contribute to the improvement.

Due to base effects, investment activity might speed up in the first part of next year, Suppan concluded.

NUMBERS TO WATCH IN THE UPCOMING WEEKS The Central Statistics Office will publish its first estimate of July retail trade on September 5. Only a day later, all eyes will be on the KSH again when the detailed figures of the second quarter GDP will come out, and on the very same day, the July industry output (first estimate) will also be released. Consumer prices for August will be out on September 8. A few days later, on September 14, the second estimate of July industrial output will be published. A day later, the KSH will shed light on the performance of the construction sector in July.

2016. 08. 31. 20:53

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04 News

Budapest Business Journal | September 2 – September 15, 2016

Construction sector expected to turn around in 2017 Despite a drop in H1, more private construction, including new homes, should help boost the sector, and so should increased spending of EU funding, experts said.

BBJ STAFF

With Hungary’s spending of European Union funds this year well below the level of 2015, the construction industry is still suffering, but improvements are anticipated by 2017, analysts said, following the release of disappointing figures in mid-August.

“It is true that the building industry is very much influenced by the availability of European Union funds, but as new funds are expected to be opened soon, an increase is expected to follow,” Zsófia Antal, news editor of Hungarian professional portal magyarepitok.hu, told the Budapest Business Journal.

“The volume of new contracts was higher than in the corresponding period of the previous year, which signals a further growth in output.”

Industry observers said they were not surprised when the Central Statistical Office (KSH) reported on August 11 that construction activity was down 25.3% in the first half of the year. Output in June of this year reportedly dropped 16.2% compared to June 2015.

Analysts maintained that a turnaround would come next year, as building construction picks up the slack of civil engineering projects.

Furthermore, they said, as the state readies additional infrastructure spending and calls down

Volume indices of construction output in Hungary. Corresponding period of previous year = 100. (Source: Central Statistical Office) more EU funds, there should also be more of the civil engineering work that had propped up construction over the last couple of years. And there is also hope for a boom in housing development to help the sector bounce back.

László Balogh, an analyst for real estate broker ingatlan.com, told the BBJ that a pickup in home construction could improve output in the second half of the year, though he added that the sector would not start expanding until next year.

On July 29, the KSH published data showing that the number of new dwellings built in the first half of the year was 3,420, up 11% from last year, and the number

of dwelling permits and declarations on the construction of residential buildings was 13,236, or twice as many as in the first half of the last year. Balogh said this growth in home building was fueled by the government’s CSOK program, which gives qualifying families subsidies of up to HUF 10 million, as well as low-interest loans of as much as a further HUF 10 mln, for the purchase or construction of a new home.

The CSOK program was simplified in February, and since then applications have increased, Balogh said.

Whether or not people are taking advantage of CSOK loan subsidies, they have been taking out mortgages at a

Sluggish prices seen set to rise Despite a drop in July, an analysis by CIB Bank sees CPI edging upward by the end of the year.

Even though Hungary’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) has been negative every month except one in the first seven months of 2016, economists for CIB Bank said in August that they expect inflation will be positive by year’s end.

The CPI was down by 0.3% on average in July, compared to the same month a year earlier, the Central Statistical Office said in a release of preliminary data on August 9.

Nonetheless, “annual average CPI may come close to 0.5%, showing that the

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Consumer Price Index in Hungary. Corresponding period of previous year = 100.

(Source: Central Statistical Office) July figure should not reshuffle inflation expectations”, according to an analysis published by CIB. “Core inflation (1.3%

year-on-year) matched the JanuaryJuly average of this year. According to our forecast, July’s -0.3% year-on-year

faster rate this year. Banks gave out HUF 213 billion in home loans in Hungary in the first half of this year, a significant increase over the HUF 134 bln loaned in the same period last year, Hungarian National Bank director Gergely Fabian said on M1 TV on August 2, according to state news agency MTI. Home loans were especially brisk in the second quarter of this year, when HUF 129 bln was lent, MTI reported. The total stock of home loans held by Hungarian households at the end of the first half of the year was HUF 2.970 trillion, which was still HUF 40 bln lower than the figure for the end of 2015, MTI said.

was the lowest point of this year’s CPI path, to be followed by a modest rise in August and year-on-year rates close to 1% in the autumn months.”

Given that prices seem to be behaving as anticipated, the analysts added that they do not expect the Hungarian National Bank (MNB) to change course on monetary policy. Indeed, the MNB stood pat in its latest rate-setting meeting on August 23, deciding to keep the base-lending rate at a record low of 0.9%, where it has been since May. CIB’s analysis noted that fuel prices contributed to the drop through a 2.2% month-on-month decrease this time, versus a rise in the preceding month, while in annual comparison they stood 13% lower.

CIB maintained that, considering month-on-month changes, food and clothes prices also contributed to lower CPI, in tandem with seasonal price swings.

Service prices accelerated to the highest month-on-month of this year (+0.6%), reflecting stronger domestic demand. This impact, however, failed to boost the price level of durable goods, CIB said.

2016. 08. 31. 20:53

News 05

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Budapest Business Journal | September 2 – September 15, 2016

Analysts: GDP to grow around 2% this year After growth rebounded in the second quarter, economists say they expect Hungary to finish ahead of the EU average but behind some of our neighbors when it comes to GDP for 2016.

CHRISTIAN KESZTHELYI

When the final GDP numbers come out on September 6, analysts said they should confirm estimates that growth this year will be slightly above 2%.

While that may be a slower rate than last year, it is an improvement on the opening quarter of 2016, which was the first quarter with negative GDP growth in four years.

The analysts cautioned that the preliminary GDP data published on August 12 by the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH) showed surprising variation between raw and workday figures, so that they would not be confident of the actual GDP growth rate in the first half until the final number comes out. Still, there seemed to be consensus on a rate of just above 2% in 2016. That growth rate will probably surpass the European average, but be lower

than that some of our Central European neighbors “It is probably still too early to analyze the figures published today, as detailed figures will be published on September 6, but it can clearly be seen that it was chiefly market services, industry and the agriculture sector that contributed to growth,” Mónika Kiss, Head of Research at Equilor Investment, told the Budapest Business Journal on August 12. “The picking up of services could be felt earlier through price increases in the sector, while the German economy is expected to lift exports,” she added.

Like most analysts, she suggested growth for this year would probably be slightly above 2%.

“To reach 2.5% GDP growth by the end of the year would require really strong momentum in the second half, and caution

arises due to the fact that calendar-effect and seasonally adjusted data is lagging unusually behind the raw, unadjusted data,” Kiss commented.

In the second quarter, GDP was up 2.6% according to year-on-year unadjusted data, while working day-adjusted (WDA) data shows 2.2% growth, said a CIB flash that came out after the August 12 publication of the new figures. Seasonally and working day-adjusted (SWDA) data show only 1.7% growth in y.o.y. terms, while the same data reveals only 1.1% growth compared to the first quarter, according to CIB. “Q2 GDP posted a y.o.y. growth rate above the market consensus of 1.9%-2%, but both the WDA and SWDA figures warrant a cautious view of the growth data as they show a larger than usual deviation from the raw (unadjusted) figure,” the CIB

“It can clearly be seen that it was chiefly market services, industry and the agriculture sector that contributed to growth.” flash noted. “The quarter-on-quarter figure (+1.1%) shows that Q2 2016 was the second strongest quarter of the last three years, but the y.o.y. figure consistent with this calculation shows only 1.7% growth,” the CIB flash added.

The CIB analysis confirms that services, industry and agriculture delivered support to the relatively rapid growth. However, the construction sector continued to be a drag on the overall growth rate, following an already extremely weak first quarter with double-digit drops. “At the same time, industrial production showed significant improvement versus the first quarter […] the service sector was supported further by strengthening domestic demand. In tandem with the stronger industrial performance, net exports were also seen as a strong driver of growth, with moderate dynamics on the import side,” the CIB flash said.

“We are going to adjust our annual GDP forecast based on the detailed official figures. Based on the preliminary Q2 figure, we foresee an annual GDP growth rate close to or slightly above 2% in 2016,” the CIB flash concluded, which is in line with the market consensus of Hungary’s GDP to be around 2%-2.3% by the end of the year.

PROMOTION

SPAR and Budapest Wine Festival celebrate together

Buda Castle, the gem of our capital, is welcoming a busy crowd for the 25th time this year, portraying the best drops of wines from Hungary and the international field alike, as this year the castle is once again hosting the Budapest Wine Festival in September 8-11. can learn about each others’ jobs, and with the help of visualizing the products of Hungarian vintners, sales can also improve. The nine young designers who will be selected through the tenders will be able to prepare the design for three SPAR Selection wines.

It is not only the festival that celebrates its 25 anniversary in the country but also supermarket chain SPAR Hungary.

The chief aim of the festival to provide ground for Hungarian vintners and wine traders to present their wines to the great public. The main sponsor of the event is SPAR, which is joining the event with enthusiasm, as the chain in Hungary committed to the popularization of domestic wines.

We spoke to Márk Maczelka, SPAR’s communication chief, about the venue and wine in general.

What does wine mean for SPAR? Wine in the Hungarian and Austrian culture is a traditional national value,

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therefore, naturally, wines in our stores are presented with emphasis and care, especially the products of Hungarian winemakers.

Primarily, we sell Hungarian wines in our stores, and the elements of our wide range of products are chiefly supplied directly from vintners. Obviously, when designing the range of wines on offer we pay special attention to the price-quality ratio, as well as the distribution of the different wine areas of Hungary.

Why are you sponsoring the Budapest Wine Festival?

For SPAR, wine is not just a product on the shelves of the stores, but a drink representing serious value and cultural

significance, for the making of which one needs extensive professional knowledge. As I have already mentioned, the corporation is committed to domestic wines, therefore it is obvious for us that we pay a special attention to Hungary’s biggest wine event.

How did the idea for your Cast Iron Sign Tender conceive? What is SPAR’s aim with that?

Together with the Hibryd Art Management we called for a special tender entitled “Cast Iron Sign for the good wine! Draw wine!”, which aims at making design and gastronomy meet in a special way. Thanks to the tender, young designers and vintners

What are you preparing for this year’s festival?

This year again we will be presenting our SPAR Selection wines at our stand in the festival. The elements of our exclusive selection have been chosen or wine experts and renowned vintners, and they are not only available at the festival for tasting, but can be purchased in our stores. These wines represent the bests of Hungary’s wine regions. They are being prepared with professionalism, care, and the mixture of traditional and modern methods, and we also offer a guarantee for them. With the help of domestic vintners, we will be holding professional exhibitions several times during a day, including tastings of our unique products.

2016. 08. 31. 20:53

2Business BBJ

COMPANY NEWS

Tesco rejects report it is closing Hungarian HQ

U.K.-based supermarket chain Tesco rejected an August 19 report by Hungarian government-friendly daily Magyar Idők that it was planning to shut down its headquarters in Budaörs within a year. “There are no plans to close the Budaörs head office,” Tesco’s press office said in a statement sent to the Budapest Business Journal. “We confirmed back in October that the portfolio review of our retail businesses, announced earlier in 2015, was complete. Our Group CEO has reconfirmed again in June that Tesco would remain committed to developing our businesses in Central Europe, including Hungary for the future.” Magyar Idők reported, based on an unnamed source, that Tesco would be closing its headquarters. The retail chain announced a year ago that it had put its businesses in Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Czech Republic under the aegis of Tesco Europa to rationalize operations, the paper noted.

Favorable developments lift Erste Hungary’s bottom line

Erste Bank Hungary said “favorable impairment and risk provision developments” led to a first-half net income of HUF 31.6 billion, a big improvement on the HUF 10.8 bln loss in the prior period, in a consolidated earnings report released on August 18, according to Hungarian news agency MTI. Erste Bank Hungary put a HUF 40.5 bln figure on the impairment and risk provision improvement, just under the overall HUF 42.4 bln improvement in profits. Net interest income fell by 20% to HUF 27.9 bln and net revenues from commissions and fees were flat at HUF 21.5 bln. Total assets stood at HUF 1.829 trillion at the end of June, down 5% from the end of December. Stocks of client loans and deposits were both flat at HUF 1 tln and HUF 1.264 tln, respectively. The Hungarian State recently acquired a 15% stake in Erste Bank Hungary.

Foxpost acquires peer Webox Hungary Automated parcel terminal operator Foxpost has acquired 100% of Hungarian peer Webox Hungary, Foxpost announced without disclosing the transaction price.

After the deal has been finalized, the number of Foxpost terminals will rise by 80 to 142. Webox Hungary created

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revenues of just under HUF 17 million last year, while Foxpostʼs revenue also reached almost HUF 17 mln, Hungarian news agency MTI reported.

Taxify launches in Hungary, replacing Uber

Transportation network company Taxify launched operations on August 19, offering a mobile phone application and aiming to fill the hole left by U.S.-based ride-sharing company Uber’s exit from the Hungarian market. Estonia-based Taxify offers the possibility of calling taxis through an app based on GPS coordinates, as well as GPS tracking of the journey, and an easy and automatized payment system. Taxify said it believes the experience of traveling by taxi can be redefined, something the company promised would be immediately apparent on the first day after the launch. Taxify added that it is committed to continuously training and educating participating drivers. Thousands of people have already downloaded the application in Hungary, and Taxify expects demand to boom for its services.

MTel entirely carbon-free last year

Magyar Telekom (MTel), the Hungarian unit of German telco giant Deutsche Telekom, operated entirely carbon-free last year, according to a sustainability report MTel published on August 18.

Over the last year, sales of products and services aiming to increase sustainability were up by 21% compared to the previous year, while MTel was also able to complete the establishment of sustainable logistics management. The report was carried out at the “Comprehensive” level of the Global Reporting Initiative’s fourth-generation principles (GRI G4), MTel noted. The Hungarian unit of PwC certified the report following the international ISAE 3000 standard. “The biggest sustainability achievement of 2015, I believe, is that the whole group’s operations became entirely carbon-free,” MTel CEO Christopher Mattheisen said. “We are the first such enterprise in Hungary to reach this, and we are among the few such enterprises around the world,” the CEO added. The Hungarian unit’s electricity usage is covered 100% from renewable sources, while the company’s fossil fuel energy emissions were neutralized by the support of green projects, the report says.

EvoBus, ITK sign deal for bus frames The Hungarian unit of EvoBus, the bus manufacturing unit of Germany’s Daimler, has signed a declaration of intent with Hungarian-owned ITK Holding under which EvoBus is expected to deliver bus frames to ITK. A bus prototype is due to be finished in the spring by ITK, which is set to produce the buses at its base in Debrecen, Hungarian news agency MTI reported. The company is investing €50 million on developing the bus, as well as the production infrastructure necessary to make it, ITK chairman-CEO György Kossa said. The 12-meter frames, fitted with Euro 6 engines, will be delivered from EvoBusʼs plant in Sámano, Spain, MTI quoted EvoBus Hungária managing director Jorg Schmidt as saying.

Debrecen Mayor László Papp said the project would create 350 jobs in the city.

Speaking after the signing, Minister for National Economy Mihály Varga said the government aims to spend about HUF 35 billion in the next three years on a program to boost bus production in the country, MTI reported. If targeted growth in the sector is achieved, annual tax revenue from bus manufacturers could rise by HUF 30-35 bln, he added.

Waberer’s elects board, management unchanged

Hungarian logistics firm Waberer’s International Zrt. elected a new board of directors at its first annual general meeting following the transformation of its shareholding structure, but left its management intact, according to a press release issued on August 15. Private equity investment fund Mid Europa Partners (MEP) further increased its shareholding in the company in June, and currently holds 97.1% of the total share capital. The competition authorities in Hungary and other countries concerned recently approved the latest transaction, the press release recalled. The AGM decided to revert to the original form of operation, converting the public limited company (Nyrt.) into a private limited one (Zrt.), and elected a new board of directors. The newly appointed chairman of the five-member board is Miklós Bethlen, partner and head of the Budapest office of MEP. The two new members of the board are Dr. Péter Lakatos, partner of Lakatos, Köves and Partners, a law firm which also managed the transaction, and Dutchman Gerard van Kesteren, former CFO of Kuehne + Nagel, one of the leading global logistics companies. Two additional members of the board, delegated earlier, are Csanád Dániel, investment executive of MEP, and Stefan Delacher, who has served on the company’s board since 2011. The July 29 AGM confirmed Ferenc Lajkó as CEO, who had been designated for this role since the transaction, having

previously served as deputy CEO. Lajkó gained leadership experience at what was then Hungarocamion in the field of international road transportation, according to the press statement. Following the acquisition of Hungarocamion by Waberer’s, he served in senior positions as managing director; head of the international division and as deputy CEO. Barna Erdélyi, CFO of Waberer’s since 2014, has been promoted to the position of general deputy CEO of the company. Erdélyi previously worked in various senior positions in public transport companies in Hungary. He was also a senior financial advisor at PwC, accumulating more than 12 years of experience in the financial and freight management sectors. The resolutions of the AGM regarding the senior leadership of the company highlight the continuity of Waberer’s operations, the press release said. The majority shareholder has confirmed its support of the management team in achieving its business objectives: further accelerating the Hungary-based company’s growth and developing it into a major European brand in international FTL transport and a regional leader in warehousing and logistics, the statement added.

Firm formerly set to take over Zsolnay goes on sale

Ledina Kerámia, a company the municipal council of Pécs established to take over the operations of Hungarian porcelain maker Zsolnay in the case of liquidation, is now available for sale after Zsolnay was spared liquidation by a Hungarian court, according to a report

by Hungarian news agency MTI. Pécs Deputy Mayor János Girán told the news agency a more detailed announcement on the matter would be made at a later date. The municipal council of Pécs is the minority owner of Zsolnay, and was planning to take over operations had the company gone into liquidation due to a debt majority owner Bachar Najari initially owed to MKB Bank, and then to a construction company, which had purchased the debt. After the debt was repaid, a court last week declared the liquidation procedure against Zsolnay terminated. Zsolnay’s legal counsel said that although the decision could be appealed, it was difficult to refute.

Around 130 employees departed Zsolnay en masse to work at Ledina Kerámia in early June, amidst concerns over the firm’s potential liquidation. Governmentfriendly daily Magyar Idők reported at the end of June that staff left the company due to “psychological pressure and ruined morale”. Zsolnay’s majority owner, Syrian businessman Najari, said the court’s decision to terminate the liquidation procedure “puts an end to the organized theft of the factory with the involvement of politicians and businessmen,” Zsolnayʼs statement added, according to the news agency.

2016. 08. 31. 20:44

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2 Business

Budapest Business Journal | September 2 – September 15, 2016

WHO'S NEWS Apollo Vredestein names head of sales

Matthias Urban was appointed head of sales at the Hungarian subsidiary of tire manufacturer Apollo Vredestein, according to a press release issued on July 28. His appointment follows the decision of the previous sales head, Jaap van Wessum, to move on to a new challenge after more than two decades in various functions at Apollo Vredestein. Urban (pictured) started at Apollo Vredestein on July 1.

Earlier, he was product and business unit marketing director of consumer tires, Middle East and Africa, for Goodyear Dunlop. Urban has 22 years of experience in automotive industry marketing, sales and management functions. “I am very happy to join such a dynamic and very customer focused company as Apollo Vredestein, and to be part of such an excellent management team,” Urban said. Predecessor van Wessum will remain with the company to ensure a smooth transition until the end of the year. Apollo Vredestein said it was delighted that Urban had joined.

“With his wealth of knowledge and experience within the tire industry, he is sure to become a driving force in the development of our business in Europe,” said Mathias Heimann, the company’s president for Europe & the Americas.

ConvergenCE strengthens asset management team

ConvergenCE has announced the appointment of Bernadett Zádori to the position of asset manager. Zádori is responsible for managing ConvergenCE’s prime office buildings, including Eiffel Square, Kálvin Square, CityZen and B52, working with the director of asset management, Csaba Zeley. Prior to joining ConvergenCE, she worked for global property advisor CBRE for more than eight years where she was responsible for office leasing as well as property and office management. Alan Vincent, CEO of ConvergenCE commented: “We are happy to welcome such an experienced real estate expert as Bernadett to ConvergenCE. She will further strengthen our asset management team as our portfolio of buildings under management increases.”

Cushman & Wakefield promotes associate

07

Do you know someone on the move?

Send information to news@bbj.hu include Logicor’s Hungarian portfolio, CA Immo’s Europolis portfolio, Lone Star’s M7 Distribution Center in Székesfehérvár, Avon, DPD, MediaSaturn and the Valad portfolio, to mention a few. “I am happy to announce Gábor’s promotion. This is a well-deserved acknowledgement, as Gábor has proven his competence in the past years,” said Gergely Padas, partner and head of Hungary at C&W Budapest. “I am excited and happy about this promotion and am pleased to have gained the support and trust to advance my career at Cushman & Wakefield,” said Halász-Csatári. “As the industrial market is significantly picking up in Hungary, I am looking forward to managing my team well and to keep on providing best-of-class services to our clients,” he added.

business network, door-to-door distributor network and telesales team.“It’s an honor and also a responsible challenge,” Majzik said about his promotion. He said his aim is to establish a stable team that is hungry for success, professionally prepared and sees its future secured

by Invitel.

Schneider Electric welcomes HR director

Invitel appoints sales director

Ferenc Majzik was appointed residential and small business director at Hungarian telco Invitel, as of midsummer, the company announced on August 4 in a press release. Majzik has spent almost two decades in the domestic telecommunications sector, gaining experience in management positions with several organizations.

He has been involved in both residential and small business fields, learning about customer demands and issues. At Invitel, he will be responsible for leading the company’s

Zoltán Lerch (pictured) has been appointed HR director by Schneider Electric Hungary, succeeding Áron Berkes, who is moving on to lead the HR department of the company responsible for the NCEE region, according to a press release issued on August 16. Previously Lerch, who has 20 years’ experience in the field, spent four years at Grand Vision Hungary Kft. as regional HR director, overseeing a total of 1,350 employees in Hungary, Slovakia and Czech Republic. “As the HR leader of Schneider Electric, I would like to act on the experience I have gathered in my previous positions, both in the professional sense and from a personal point of view,” Lerch said.

Berkes joined the company in 2007, and took up the position he is now leaving in 2010. “In the current situation, the most important task for me is to harmonize the different organizations and cultural differences,” Berkes said.

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Magyar Posta replaces CEO A shareholders’ meeting of stateowned postal services company Magyar Posta elected Zoltán Illés chairman-CEO on August 12, Hungarian news agency MTI reported. Illés replaces Zsolt Szarka, who resigned by mutual consent. The management board also resigned, and was replaced by newly elected officials. Illés started his career at ABN AMRO Bank in 1995. From 2006, he has worked for OTP Bank, first managing its retail business, and then its unit in Russia. The government recently transferred coordination of government activities on the oversight of postal affairs from the Prime Minister’s Office to the Ministry of National Development.

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Real estate consultant Cushman & Wakefield (C&W) has promoted Gábor Halász-Csatári, head of its industrial department, to associate in recognition of his accomplishments as the leader of the Hungarian industrial team for more than a year, according to a press release issued on August 15. HalászCsatári joined Cushman & Wakefield in 2012 as a graduate and became head of department in 2015. He manages a team of three professionals and is involved in transactions both on the tenant and the landlord side, said C&W. Notable mandates that the professional is currently working on

2016. 08. 31. 20:44

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2 Business

Budapest Business Journal | September 2 – September 15, 2016

Making Debrecen youthful and entrepreneurial

Elected mayor of Debrecen in 2014, László Papp, 43, replaced outgoing mayor and fellow Fidesz party member Lajos Kósa. Papp is a tireless promoter of his city as a center for innovation and technology. He has made it clear he believes it is important for Debrecen to attract both local and international firms in the technology sector, and to encourage a young, capable workforce to staff those firms. With a population of roughly 200,000, Debrecen is Hungary’s second-largest city after Budapest and is already home to a host of innovative firms. In this exclusive interview with the Budapest Business Journal, Papp explains how he wants to build Debrecen’s reputation as an innovation, technology and economic center, and to encourage the growth of foreign and local businesses there.

CLAUDIA PATRICOLO

Q

Do you feel that Debrecen has the kind of environment that encourages entrepreneurship and development?

A: In Debrecen there are many international companies, but even national ones also occupy a good market position. There are many entrepreneurial success stories, including small family factories that have become important, even on a national level. For example Tranzit-group, which was founded in 1990 and operates in the food sector [specializing in duck, goose, fruit and nuts], started as a small family business and is now the third-largest such firm in Europe. Electronics and construction are other sectors that are already welldeveloped here.

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INNOVATION

in order to encourage foreigners and other successful entrepreneurs to settle in Debrecen permanently with their families.

Q

László Papp, Mayor of Debrecen.

Q

Debrecen Regional and Innovation Industrial Park has brought a lot of business to the city. What has been its impact on Debrecen?

A: Debrecen Regional and Innovation Industrial Park definitely represents a concerted effort by the Municipality of Debrecen to encourage innovation. The first tenant was National Instruments Hungary [the U.S.-based electronics and software firm] and one of the latest to enter was Flexi Force [a multinational making overhead door hardware]. The park’s industrial area is really important for the city’s economy, having created 5,000 jobs.

Q

Hungary has one of the lowest rates of youth unemployment in Europe.

Can you tell me why young people here in Debrecen are doing well on the labor market?

A: Even while still in school, our young population comes into contact with the world of work. In the city’s technical schools, for example, the Municipality of Debrecen facilitates a lot of training.

We are trying to implement a dual education model between city schools and entrepreneurs, through practical internships. Debrecen’s schools have much collaboration with computer companies, electronics firms and companies in the automotive sector. We also have a very important collaboration with the University of Debrecen, especially the Faculty of Engineering.

A good example of cooperation is a Debrecen technical school that started a partnership with [multinational automotive and ball-bearing manufacturer] FAG, which has a training center for affiliated students. Through collaboration between company training programs and schools we will create more jobs. This school year, we will start a new trilateral project that involves the Municipality of Debrecen, local schools, universities and businesses.

Q

You seem to have a focus on young people as an important element for development. Why do young people like Debrecen, and what do you think they can do for the city?

A: In Debrecen there are more than 70,000 students, and the education system offers great potential for this city.

Creativity and culture are fundamental attractions for them. Young people are the engine behind our city’s increasing number of inhabitants – the population is expected to reach 250,000 by 2050. The Municipality of Debrecen puts its faith and hope in young people, trying to show them that it is worth staying here.

Q

Recently, you participated in the inauguration of the Debrecen Chapter of Singularity University, which provides educational programs, innovative partnerships and a startup accelerator in an effort to encourage innovative new enterprises. What do you think will be the significance of this organization for Debrecen?

A: Singularity University (SU) is definitely important for the city because it puts us in touch with innovators in the United States. The most important brand in Debrecen is its innovative economy, and our dream is to become the most innovative center at the national level. SU certainly helps in this direction. National Instruments has already created an information research center in Debrecen, promoting innovation and giving a boost to the economy of the city. SU can help keep innovative energy in our city.

Q

You mentioned the benefits of a connection with the United States. How important are foreign enterprises to Debrecen?

A: International companies have a very important role in Debrecen’s economy.

The bigger companies are 100% foreign firms. We definitely have good relations with foreign administrators, and we have created an urban and economic center, named EDC Debrecen, in order to improve our contact with them. Recently, Flowserve, a company that deals in energy and oil equipment, opened a branch in the city, and was added to the already high number of multinational companies here.

The Municipality of Debrecen is now seeking to create an international school that will offer an international diploma,

Why do you think there is so much interest in this part of Hungary? Why are so many foreign enterprises opening branches right here in Debrecen?

A: Debrecen has a very positive view of the future. The economy’s foundation is on a high level, and the infrastructure is the best in all of Hungary. And don’t forget the city’s ease of accessibility, thanks to a modern railway, a good highway system and the presence of an international airport. The atmosphere here is also very youthful, and enterprises are more hopeful of finding the workers they need.

Q

What developments are you undertaking to encourage more enterprises to come to

the city?

A: Among future plans, there is the creation of an industrial area both to the north and south of the airport area.

In the northern area, we are starting the construction of an industrial innovation park of 40 hectares, where offices and administrative services will be established. In the southern area, in 200 hectares made available by City Hall itself, there will be a production area.

Q

How do you think the presence of large foreign enterprises helps fuel local entrepreneurship?

A: We still have a lot to do on this point, as innovative technology businesses make up only a minority of small- and medium-sized enterprises, while in Debrecen it is precisely the technology sector that is growing fastest. It is therefore hard for local firms to give real competition. Still, there are some encouraging exceptions: FAG has itself become a supplier for smaller companies. Another local success story is represented by EMD, which deals with medical implants, and has achieved a good position in the national market.

Q

What can we expect for the next semester and the next year?

A: We will definitely be busy. During the first quarter, we were already seeking HUF 38 billion in appropriations for projects. In the near future, among the ongoing projects, there are definite plans to redevelop the railway station, to respond to requests from potential new business and to better promote tourism in cities with which we are linked by direct flights.

2016. 08. 31. 20:44

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2 Business

Budapest Business Journal | September 2 – September 15, 2016

CEU BUSINESS SCHOOL

What does Nils Holgersson have to do with the emerging technologies of the new era?

György Bőgel Professor of Management CEU BUSINESS SCHOOL

In the previous century, every major technology evolution had a huge impact on the business world, an impact that lasted for several decades. Nowadays, we are facing something similar; we have moved into a new technology era, the so-called cognitive era, and we cannot even guess yet what its impact will be on the future of our business environment.

Today we cannot be sure about the skills and competencies that could help us in the near future, or what jobs will become obsolete in the upcoming years.

Only one thing is certain: the emerging technologies will reshape every segment of the business world and data will become the new driving force.

“In my opinion, we are now facing a huge change in how we run our businesses. Simple evolution will not be enough; we need to initiate revolutions in how we use technology.” of today, most organizations are only imitating the use of emerging technologies, and have at most implemented them in a satellite mode around existing core system.

Unfortunately, because of this riskaverse approach, companies are not able to exploit the synergies of the technologies and cannot leverage the combined impact to the business of something that could accelerate their future results exponentially.

The pioneers of the future, the so-called Generation D enterprises, will operate in a data and analytically driven mode. They will still need to record facts in their records in order to keep evidence of business results, but new systems will ensure the analytical and cognitive capabilities in order to better understand results and, by having better insights, companies will be able to react quicker and even predict the impact of their decisions.

Yet there is no need to be afraid that these driving forces are continuously changing: a knight in the 14th century experienced less data in his whole life than we do now in a single day. What was the main driving force during the Hundred Years’ War (1337 to 1453)? The answer is very simple: goose feathers. To Future strategic decisions will not be be more precise, the six flight feathers of taken based only on stored data, but each bird were the most valuable assets based on information coming from for any king. By having lots of feathers, multiple internal and external sources, they could make lots of arrows, and in using structured and unstructured data, having lots of arrows they could win and by running complex analytics with battles and ultimately wars. Back then, the help of systems that can learn. The the goose feather was also introduced companies of the future will not be afraid as a tax element; no matter how much to run their complex analytics in the gold a king had, he could buy no more cloud and engage with their customers feathers with it since arrows were limited by using social media channels and by the number of geese. mobile technology, asking them for their opinion and immediately reacting to According to Stephen Tempest, a their exact needs. member of Quora who has done some research into this topic, centralized Many people believe that taking small state-controlled manufacturing was an steps now will be enough to keep pace important innovation of the 14th century. with innovation. In my opinion, we are The Tower of London was used as a main now facing a huge change in how we run warehouse for arrows; in 1360 more than our businesses. Simple evolution will not 500,000 of them were stored here. As a be enough; we need to initiate revolutions consequence new jobs appeared: apart in how we use technology, and this is the from the thousands of Nils Holgerssons easiest part of the digital transformation. (the 1900s fictional naughty Swedish boy Every change will require a cultural who befriended geese), many people were change as well; we need to develop new responsible for salvaging arrows from skills and competencies and be ready to the battlefields, to name one example. sacrifice some of our existing ones, but it is very hard to tell who will be the Nils Every era has its own driving force and Holgerssons of the future. there is no doubt that data drives the cognitive era. Emerging technologies This column is part of a continuing series like cloud computing, social and of opinion pieces from experts at the mobile technologies and analytical CEU Business School in Budapest. The and cognitive abilities will force opinions stated here do not necessarily the revitalization of the enterprise reflect those of the Budapest Business architecture and its IT systems. As Journal.

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INNOVATION

09

sponsored by

Insight

Coworking space: Flexible, inspiring

With a name that translates as hive, KAPTÁR is a coworking space and a community office in the heart of Budapest, near St. Stephen’s Basilica. It’s a place where freelancers and companies with small teams can overcome the need to rent an office at high costs. According to co-founder Dóra Pekár KAPTÁR is the place where people come for the space, facilities and services, and stay because of the people. They are now attracting big, innovative clients, like Telenor’s accelerator program. Dóra explains more: Who do you offer services for? What are your target groups?

We offer office services to many who cannot or do not want to have their own office, because they want to save money, they need to work alone, or they appreciate being exposed to their creative neighbors. Our customers are open to work in a space that regarding its functionality is an office, but in its ideology it is rather a coffee house with top-notch technology, where you do not have to consume to use the internet connection.

Many of our clients have been working in cafés, while the majority are abandoning a home office to work in our space.

During the summer the majority of our clients are foreigners, who travel around like digital nomads. Basically our target groups is those who only need a laptop and a wifi internet connection to work.

Where did the idea come from?

It is rooted in our own personal demand.

Three of us, the founders, were working in a small company and we realized that we spent most of our time out of office with our clients, so it was not costefficient to pay for an office space. Still, we truly needed a base where we could meet, plan and put together projects, which were realized with and at our clients. We started thinking about what to do and we thought others must be in the same situation as us. So we created this

space, which is not only an office space, but provides possibilities for organizing events.

How unique is your idea in Hungary?

In terms of having community in the center, we are absolutely unique. This is what differentiates us from others, and this is the main strength in our business model.

You have one space at this time. Are you planning to expand?

Yes. Currently we are located in Budapest’s Révay köz 4., near the St. Stephen’s Basilica, but we are planning to open up more spaces. This May we expanded our space here by adding another floor. Downstairs we have the “Flexie” space, where you can sit at any table and work there. Upstairs we have the “Fixie” space, where you can rent tables, and leave your computer there to return and find everything untouched.

Upstairs we also have a space for events, presentations and lectures, while downstairs we have soundproof meeting-rooms. Downstairs it is like a hive, upstairs you have a bit quieter and calmer atmosphere. We are actively working on expansions, and we should soon announce a new Budapest location.

In the long-term, we are also planning to open spaces abroad, in Vienna.

Who are your partners? What partnership possibilities do you offer?

Many of our partners have signed up for our headquarters services, which means they do not have to have operations here, but they can use this address as headquarters. We can even scan their mail and send it to them digitally.

We are fortunate to have a good group of contributing partners, like Telenor, who are bringing their accelerator program here as of this fall. Their whole startup team will be working from here, as well. Telenor realized that sending their employees from the headquarters in Törökbálint to a space like this can have positive impressions on them.

2016. 08. 31. 20:44

3Special Report BBJ

Systems and software

Integrated ICT services on verge of an explosion

The spread of sophisticated cloudbased services has opened up a vast array of premium ICT services for the SME sector, which can now enjoy them as if they were big budget corporate behemoths themselves. And they are increasingly doing so by picking one single provider to satisfy their ICT needs.

“The key to success will be addressing the uniqueness of the SMB market and not treating it like a larger version of the consumer market or a smaller version of the large enterprise market.”

LEVENTE HÖRÖMPÖLI-TÓTH

There is not much to dispute about the fact that the so-called SOHO (small office, home office) segment holds great promise for growth for telco companies.

The problem with living up to those ambitious expectations has typically been the lack of resources on the part of SMEs to invest in and continuously upgrade their infotech equipment and to couple it with costly subscriptions.

However, the emergence of cloudbased services and affordable monthly fee plans has changed the landscape dramatically and smaller budgets can now buy cutting-edge solutions more easily than ever before.

Still, conquering the hearts and minds of small- and medium-sized firms can be tricky. As stated in the report “Big Business in Small Business Cloud Services for SMBs” by McKinsey, a consultancy service providers must realize that they need to couple flexibility with non-standard decisionmaking processes. “The key to success will be addressing the uniqueness of the SMB market and not treating it like a larger version of the consumer market or a smaller version of the large enterprise market. Building on SMB segmentation and piloting new sales models will make it possible to create a holistic cloud journey for SMB customers joining the cloud,” the paper says.

Accordingly, major local market players are turning every stone to attract as many clients from the SME pool as possible. And the bulletproof method to do so, apparently, is based on offering the widest possible range of infocommunications services as a sort of one-stop-shop where

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Dániel Filep, COO of SimplexIT Kft. everything is available from the same provider. The extent to which efforts are focused in this regard is perfectly shown by developments at Invitel, the second biggest player of the domestic integrated telco and ICT market.

Whereas IT services generated only a few percent of its revenues until a few years ago, now they make up nearly a quarter of them. That fast-paced growth also pushed Invitel Group to split up into two separate entities this summer: Invitech Solutions dealing with enterprises and wholesale activities, and Invitel focusing on retail and small businesses.

Treating ICT services as a public utility “Whilst 40% of total yearly spending on cloud services stems from firms employing 1-99 workers, larger entities with more than 500 people make up 28% of that spending,” Invitech said in a statement to the Budapest Business Journal. “Cloud-based applications are expected to grow by 34% in the next five years, which also demonstrates that SMEs need rather complex services and not products. The solution for them is a professional partner that is capable of understanding their business

needs, providing them with appropriate technology and operating it in a costeffective and reliable manner.”

Magyar Telekom, the leading provider of integrated IT services, has gathered the experience that customers are often not even aware of their own need to get everything from a single provider; however, their expectations raise needs with regards to a quality provider that can be offered only under a package plan. Telekom’s strategy allows SMEs to access ICT solutions that would normally be used by big corporations only, such as teamwork or videoconference tools and security packages. Such integrated services then form a deal package, which includes cell phone, mobile internet, fixed line internet, landline phone and all related IT solutions.

SimplexIT Kft. aims to keep the pace with its heavyweight rivals. It has detected the vast potential of integrated ICT services, but as COO Dániel Filep said to the BBJ, many SMEs are still suspicious about the fact that a thirdparty firm would handle corporate data and confidential information. Yet, things are expected to change for the better.

“I believe more such enterprises will use integrated services. Their top aim is to be able to pursue their core activity with utmost attention. Therefore, our objective is to treat infocommunications as a ‘public utilityʼ, that is it should be self-evident that it works and it serves clients,” Filep said. In order to make this happen, SimplexIT continuously trains its staff and offers personalized services. “This way the SME sector can use top-notch technology at all times by which its competitiveness is bound to grow,” he added.

Growing cloud-service portfolios serve exploding teleworking needs

Competitiveness goes hand-in-hand with mobile working. According to a recent survey by the British Chamber of Commerce and BT Business, 19% of SMEs claimed that more than half of their employees already do teleworking, and 53% of respondents agreed that such work arrangements are of critical

2016. 08. 31. 20:49

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Budapest Business Journal | September 2 – September 15, 2016

EXPERT OPINION

Pitfalls of software development contracts How can you ensure that the software you have paid for is really yours?

Katalin Horváth Partner, Head of TMT SÁR AND PARTNERS ATTORNEYS AT LAW

Every company uses software and many firms need customized software developed individually according to their special needs. If your company belongs to this group, you certainly had to deal with software development agreements.

Developers usually provide you with their contract template, but are you sure that those templates protect your rights and interests? Software development contracts – especially templates – can be full of pitfalls with potentially serious legal and business consequences. We note the most common pitfalls in order to help you avoid unexpected surprises:

The Cloud is increasingly providing solutions for SMEs, and not just MNCs.

“Cloud-based applications are expected to grow by 34% in the next five years, which also demonstrates that SMEs need rather complex services and not products. The solution for them is a professional partner that is capable of understanding their business needs, providing them with appropriate technology and operating it in a cost-effective and reliable manner.” importance for them. Their Hungarian counterparts have a long way to go in this regard for sure, but providers are doing their best to help them go down the same road smoothly. Telekom, for that matter, has special deals for devices and gadgets as part of its package deals whereby mobile phones, laptops or tablets can be bought for a reduced price. Telekom’s free anti-virus service and the Basic Business Version of Office 365 offering legal software and business correspondence further encourages mobile working.

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As Invitech pointed out to the BBJ, applications that were initially developed on a cloud platform not only provide flexibility in a mobile environment, but they also allow corporate applications to consistently offer the same functionality regardless of device or platform. “This is valid not only within the enterprise, but it also goes for the relationship between the enterprise and its clients and partners.” Invitech further emphasized the importance of customer experience in a digital environment, which can be enhanced to a large extent with the help of cloud applications. Invitech is therefore working on expanding its cloud-service portfolio intensively.

Filep agrees with this approach; in his view, seamless mobile working cannot take place without slick cloudbased systems. “Nowadays it’s getting ever more important that any employee should be able to log into a platform via their e-mail account and password, as if they were sitting at their office computer, regardless of the device they use at any given time. Tech support – available 24/7 – is another must here,” Filep pointed out. “As companies grow, so do the number of their tasks and their staff, and ICT support should keep pace in parallel. Our partners need not to look for technology-related solutions; we will find the most ideal options for them. All they have to do is to choose from them.”

transfer? You can choose either.

Rights transfer is almost always for perpetuity, ensures unlimited rights of use and it is complete.

Contrarily, a license can be granted with restrictions, for a fixed term or limited territory, and some rights can be excluded.

5. Warranty and chain of title – are you sure the developer can provide them?

Customers usually don’t check whether the developing company has lawful and proper rights transfer agreements with its private person developers. They should, as the lack of chain of title could mean they can’t obtain the copyright of the software because the developing company is able to transfer only those rights that it obtained from the developers. The solution is to put a warranty clause into the contract: the developer warrants that the software is free of any claims of any third parties and that it has all rights of the software.

1. Written agreement is crucial.

According to the Hungarian Copyright Act, software development 6. Pitfalls in the copyright law – are agreements must be put in writing, you sure you obtained all rights? but court practice shows that If you would like to be sure that this doesn’t include contract via you acquire all rights, you need e-mail. However, the Hungarian to reckon with the pitfalls in the Supreme Court passed one or two Hungarian copyright act. It is highly judgments where they accept oral advised to add the following rights or implicit contracts too. In order into the list of rights granted: • adaptation, modification right – to avoid uncertainty, it is advised to conclude a written agreement. What only if it is explicitly stipulated • import right – only if it is explicitly if you have an oral agreement? The rights won’t be transferred to you! stipulated • exclusivity – only if it is explicitly stipulated 2. What is to be covered by the • right for making copies on agreement? First of all you need to state what the agreement is for: computer – only if it is explicitly the software to be developed. Then stipulated • territory – without territory you need a clear order. The most important part is the list of rights definition the license will be you would like to obtain including a restricted within the territory of clear statement that the rights owner Hungary • duration of the license – if the transfers or licenses the rights. And of course you should not forget contract does not speak about the fee and deadlines. If the most the duration of the licence, it is important element, the list of rights, for restricted term is missing, then the agreement is • source code – only if it is just a simple order, not a rights expressly granted. transfer or license agreement at all.

Copyright law usually protects 3. Do you have a professional authors’ interests not yours. specification?

Finally, during the contracting You have to set out your expectations process, you should always keep in regarding the software very carefully. mind the main interpretation rule of It can be a long list of bullet points, the Hungarian copyright act: if the so put it into a separate specification.

The court practice says that you, content of your software development the customer, is responsible for agreement cannot be defined exactly, preparing the specification. If you are the interpretation that favours the not familiar with IT, the best solution software developer shall apply! And that is to order the specification from the is the point where you should consider software developer. turning to a copyright lawyer.

4. What would you like to obtain: license or rights transfer?

The next step is to decide what you would prefer: a restricted – usually cheaper – license or a full rights

www.sarandpartners.hu

2016. 08. 31. 20:49

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Budapest Business Journal | September 2 – September 15, 2016

Recruitment and corporate teambuilding interpreted in cyber age fashion

Hunting down and retaining talent is elevated to a whole new level by two Hungarian solutions. Indivizo and Battlejungle are ready to change the landscape of HR for good.

LEVENTE HÖRÖMPÖLI-TÓTH

Polls conducted nowadays about what pundits associate with the Hungarian economy would probably rank “labor shortage” as number one. According to the Q1 data of the Hungarian Central Statistical Office, firms employing more than five workers have some 36,000 vacancies to fill nationwide, with no relief in sight any time soon.

In times like these, the capability to find and then retain talent has become more important than ever. “The world has changed for good. People used to spend seven years at a single workplace on average, now it is down to two years,” Kata Illés, CEO of Indivizo notes to the Budapest Business Journal.

Indivizo offers a cutting-edge method to accelerate – and broaden the scope of – the recruitment process, and thereby help companies hunt down the right candidates.

The core of the invention is that applicants are invited to use Indivizoʼs automated video interview scheme, whereby the interview phase of recruiting can be radically cut.

“The HR department has assumed the role of ‘opening the gates’ so far and has been restricted to letting you in or shutting you out. Now, by contrast, it’s got to serve as a magnet: it must generate enough interest in order to attract the best. We are witnessing the era of awakening,” Illés says. And that is where innovative solutions kick in. It’s not that

KEEP THE SPIRIT A Hungarian startup prescribes innovative teambuilding to fight the disease of workplace fluctuation.

Welcome to the world of Battlejungle!

Finding the right person for the right position is one thing. Keeping them for the longer run is a whole different issue, and of even more critical significance. Previous methods focused on recruitment only, as the theory went that a thorough selection procedure should automatically lead to wholehearted and permanent commitment on part of the carefully selected. However, fluctuation has become a huge problem for firms, one that needs to be addressed with cyber age-proof methods.

What innovative companies have realized is that the only way to engage and bond with people is by creating an environment where they can ultimately have a good time. In the U.S., it’s Google

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Kata Illés, CEO of Indivizo. there hasn’t been some sort of automation around in the industry, but professionals have always treated SAP and different HR modules of different big ERP systems with frustration – and even anger – as they were never easy to use. Therefore, as a last resort, it was routinely good old excel sheets that were relied upon.

Filtering the best quickly Indivizo brings in simple, user-friendly technology that enables those in charge of selecting new co-workers to spend their time on what really matters; that is drawing up meaningful questions and making a shortlist of top candidates as fast as possible. “In terms of administration, that serves as a role model; in Hungary, Prezi is leading the pack.

“They are the flagship of this new approach and they set the bar high. They have deliberately built a brand that is associated with endless opportunities for professional development and an innovative atmosphere,” Gergő Ambrusz, CEO of Battlejungle points out to the BBJ. With more graduates entering the job market, this corporate approach will gain in significance, he adds.

“A Generation Z candidate, let alone a Generation Y candidate, would be appalled by the idea of working for a Budapest law firm located in the Buda Castle district just because it’s not accessible by bike,” Ambrusz says as an example of how priorities have changed over time.

Once, however, an applicant gets accepted, the company should do its best to keep them and Ambrusz’s firm, Battlejungle bets on the power of sport.

HR departments will be relieved like never before thanks to our tool. They can make, say, 50 people do the automated interview per day where the same questions are asked. No more hassle about setting appointments to start with and by setting two K.O. questions right at the beginning the best applicants can be filtered a lot more quickly. No need to watch their interview any further,” Illés explains some of the key assets of the method.

Acceptance varies Another advantage is flexibility, as panelists have the liberty to use a competencybased question bank or add their own questions to it. The process can be further The scheme allows anyone to organize in-house tournaments of the game of their choosing. Features like keeping track of your standing, earning awards or sharing achievements add to the fun.

The result is a healthier staff where members get to know each other better and where higher ranked personnel gain informal face-to-face time with their subordinates.

“This employer engagement is something that is hard to measure and, of course, there is no immediate benefit to be quantified. Decreased fluctuation, an improved corporate image and a shortened time span to find new colleagues top the pro argument list,” Ambrusz says.

Battlejungleʼs tool kit typically suits large entities like Tataʼs local shared service center, whose target is to employ 800 new staff soon. The only way to do so is to project an innovative image.

The idea of Battlejungleʼs disruptive

personalized by pre-screening CVs so that only a fraction of applicants enter the video interview phase in the first place. And in the end, only the truly best two or three are invited to an in-person meeting. “The whole system encourages flexibility. Once we heard that 17 decision makers watched a single interview, made their comments and cast their votes on whether the candidate should be admitted to the next round. Experience shows that a deep level of engagement in the recruitment process boosts readiness to support the selected person at work,” Illés says. Acceptance of the method still varies, though. Telenor’s parent company in Norway, for instance, signed up for the free basic cloud-based version, got back to Indivizo with a couple of questions and placed their order right afterwards. Hungarian subsidiaries of multinational giants or local firms take their time. A freemium model gives them the chance to try at no risk. “We have a paying clientele already: Erste, Generali, and MOL have started using our beta version, and 70+ registered customers are testing the system as we speak with an option to subscribe,” Illés reports.

The bigger the entity, the more likely it is that decision makers will adopt the method in the end. This is a chance for them to treat candidates with the utmost care and, due to the built-in templates, at no extra effort. This even goes as far as the feedback that can be provided at any milestone in the selection process.

That may be informing a candidate they have been accepted into the next round, or a rejection, but template messages may be also personalized by including praising words in spite of an overall negative outcome. “This will ultimately be a part of brand building,” Illés says.

“Just because you reject someone, they may still be of value to you later on. If not for anything else but because of the fact that they got a ‘No’ in a way they would nowhere else.” teambuilding fell on fertile ground here.

“SSCs have not realized that their biggest asset is accumulated knowledge. As long as it doesn’t matter if somebody leaves, there will be continuous trouble,” Ambrusz says. He also points out how different the approach of firms in Hungary is compared to abroad. “In the United States, the FOMO [fear of missing out] effect trumps everything. What if my rival embraces an innovative tool before us? Here it’s the other way around: ‘Oh, so our competitors have this mumbo-jumbo new stuff, why don’t we take a look too?’ they say,” he explains. “We have given up on educating Hungarian market players as to why innovative teambuilding will matter ever more. Hungary serves as a springboard, at best, where user experience track records will be gathered. Our priority is to keep a global focus.”

2016. 08. 31. 20:49

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More than just a game

Although tastes differ in terms of design from continent to continent, game developing as such has become a truly global business, where super-detailed artistic work is trumped by efficiency and quickness.

László Molnár, Director of Development of PalmStorm, says that the talent is out there, but more mentorship programs are needed in order to hunt it down.

LEVENTE HÖRÖMPÖLI-TÓTH

Q

How significant is the visibility of Hungarian game developers in the global industry?

A: Not quite “significant”, but this is not necessarily a bad thing. Since the games industry is a huge global market, developers create internationally accessible games, regardless of their nationality. The business is clearly defined by the demands of big world territories, rather than by traditional national expectations. For instance, Asia adores cartoony, cute games, America prefers realistic and straight-to-thepoint content, while Europe still embraces experimental, unique efforts. As such, the end product often lacks the kind of signature national quirk weʼve come to expect from the developer’s country.

Remember when fashion was just Italy IN NEED OF MORE NETWORKING POWER TO BOOST GLOBAL PRESENCE It would be a grave overstatement to claim that Hungary counts as a global game developer powerhouse.

Zen Studios, the most renowned player around here, prides itself on publishing and producing interactive entertainment software for all the major digital platforms. Its strength is partly based on the focus of its business, since it specializes on one particular product line, namely pinball. Zenʼs track record includes cooperation with Marvel Entertainment, South Park, LucasArts and TellTale Games, where the trick is to reinterpret highly branded content for pinball games.

A more recent entry on the local landscape is Zadbox Entertainment, a tiny company launched by four Hungarian university students. Its creation, Quern, proved hot enough to generate the buzz for a Kickstarter

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educational grades is not very effective.

Ideally, a mentorship program would be much more useful for game developers, as many of the good talents are selfeducated, fuelled by their own passion, but lacking in direction. There are lots of geniuses in Hungary; we just need to find them.

and France? Those days are long gone, now fashion is fully global. Even the term “French touch” used to exist referring to the extremely detailed visual design the French game artists insisted on using in the past; however, this is rarely found in games nowadays.

Q

two elements were equally relied upon in order to get the most satisfying result.

What types of games are hyped most and what trends do you see coming?

A: Pokemon Go is a hot topic nowadays.

Although waning somewhat since its release, similar games based on a real-life treasure hunt and social interaction will surely follow. VR is a huge question mark.

It has potential, but no one has found the perfect game style for it yet. Since VR is so dependent on hardware development, it is likely to stay for a while. Long-term hardware development can surely push the software business forward. Mobile gaming is also a huge trend, and we expect this platform will continue be the leader for all upcoming trends. For instance, the “hardcore” console games will slowly but surely merge with the mobile platform’s social trends and accessibility, resulting in a new and unique entertainment form, that has both mobile and console gaming in its DNA.

Q

Q

Q

So what are the current key features that rule the industry?

A: Forget tricks, it’s all about efficiency and speed and the exact identification of what the client needs. We always spend an exceptionally long time on assessing customer needs, because this is a very subjective business. What makes a good game? Nobody knows, except for the client. But it takes a lot of time to conceive what they mean by “good”.

Q

How did your company manage to build its strong track record?

A: Well, having spent 20+ years in the business certainly helps! We are a very forward-looking company, yet we maintain a certain business conservativeness. We are in sync with the current trends and favor projects that are either “hot”’ or “progressive”.

This is immensely helpful when talking with a client, because we can flesh out the details of a work for hire (WFH) project together. Also, due to our downto-earth approach, we manage things realistically, and clients definitely like reliable partners. Because of our very positive reputation, doors could open to such prestigious projects as our newly completed educational game for the Rio Olympics.

Q

What special approach was required to prepare something for the Olympics?

A: We have experience both in terms of casual gaming, that is games meant for people who are not much of a gamer type, and in terms of gamification. These campaign last year. As a result, GBP 25,000 was raised to finance development and, apparently, fans seem happy to stick with their new favorite.

Nemesys, on the other hand, has been around for around a decade now, but its real breakthrough didn’t come until after the recession. Its game, Fortix 2, was voted among the top six PC games globally and in the Indie Game Challenge at Las Vegas it made it to the finals, where it was the single representative of the CEE region. It took the company three years to gain official game developer status for Sony, while Microsoft made Nemesys wait five years before it was allowed to buy a costly device necessary to make development for consoles possible in the first place. Others have got such gear much faster and for free. This shows that a lot more networking will be needed in order to push Hungarian players into the worldwide bloodstream of the industry.

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Budapest Business Journal | September 2 – September 15, 2016

László Molnár, Director of Development of PalmStorm.

So where is PalmStorm on the local developer map now?

A: We mainly work for export, on a WFH basis. Hence, we position ourselves on the global market instead of the local one. You need to compete against the world, because if you think in terms of producing for the local market only, you are doomed. Also, due to our experience, we have successfully avoided the lethal pitfalls in this ever-changing industry, so we are one of the few survivors of the golden era of Hungarian game development.

Q

What do you mean by “lethal pitfalls”?

A: There are bombastic and super-costly projects out there where you need to deal with the same product for two or three years. This heavily increases the risk of burnout and you become exposed to a business risk as well, since it’s very hard to predict whether your audience would still be there for your product after it is finished.

Therefore, we embraced an aggressive development style with lots of preassignment consultation with the client.

And we built our network, without which you don’t stand a chance in today’s saturated market. We didn’t get stuck with one genre, either, and we made sure we kept extending our portfolio.

Q

Is this a difficult industry for which to attract talent?

A: Attracting new talent is always a challenge. There are practical problems due to certain economical and political tendencies that hinder recruitment; however, I think the biggest problem is much more theoretical: game development is not an exact craft. It is more akin to art − a deeply personal, highly uncertain, downright frustrating, yet extremely satisfying experience. Game development requires a certain mindset that cannot be learnt in the usual way; therefore a standard HR recruitment campaign based on

Speaking of VR, how do you prepare for its breakthrough, which looks inevitable in the near future?

A: The “true era” of VR is still miles ahead of us. To reach it, the hardware must be much more consumerfriendly, both as regards ergonomics and price, and the software must offer believable interaction in the virtual world, namely interaction between the player and the world, and interaction with other players. This is not news to us. Fortunately, we have quite a lot of ideas for VR software. A few of them are quite radical so we will definitely wait for hardware developments and market breakthrough before moving forward.

In the meantime, our less radical ideas are being added to running projects so that we can test the theory in practice.

Once we enter the true era of VR, we believe we’ll have the edge, because we have already started solving VR’s most obvious problems, such as comfort or social interaction.

Q

How tough is it to remain competitive with local and global rivals?

A: Being primarily a WFH company, efficiency and reliability are very important. As the games industry evolves at a breakneck pace, developers must adapt themselves to new trends very quickly. We are experienced and firmly rooted to the ground, so costly missteps can be avoided and client relationships can be fortified.

We are also very much a think-ahead company. Simply following the trend is not enough: European development companies cannot compete with huge Asian software houses in this field.

Therefore, we have to solve things by using our “good olʼ cranium”.

Understanding WHAT happens and WHY is much more important than simply following the trend. This way we can maintain a certain innovative edge. The future lies ahead, not behind us.”

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Budapest Business Journal | September 2 – September 15, 2016

Some in the SSC sector forgoing the cloud

How are large enterprises in Budapest reacting to the technological developments and opportunities offered by cloud computing?

Perhaps not always in ways you might think.

CLAUDIA PATRICOLO

In recent years we have heard a lot about shared service centers (SSCs), which have proved a great success in Hungary since they are able to provide a lot of career opportunities, especially to fresh graduates who can speak more than one foreign language. A SSC allows a company to centralize various functions into just one unit, offering efficiency and faster solutions. The most common services in SSCs are finance and accounting, human resources, logistic, IT, and business administration.

How is cloud computing driving the development of SSCs, fuelling an already busy market here in Budapest?

We asked Viktor Rózsa, transition and transformation manager of TCS (TATA Consultancy Services). “First of all we

have to define what cloud computing is,” he said, pointing out that each company has its own definition. According to Rózsa, we should consider cloud computing as “an application for the web”.

“Using cloud services is a risk, but a risk that you take if it’s worth it,” he explained.

It is all a matter of security. Would clients accept putting all their data into the cloud?

TCS does not use any cloud services thus far, despite being one of the biggest companies here in Budapest, leading the market of IT services guaranteeing a high level of facilities. “Smaller companies will benefit more from using cloud services because, for them, it would be cheaper,” he said. According to TATA’s website, the company collectively employs more than 660,000 people all over the world. “A big company like this can surely afford to pay more than one hosting server, so it is not mandatory for us to use cloud. Instead, for a smaller firm, cloud computing is better; cheap and useful.”

Of course, cloud services have their own advantages. Cloud computing facilitates speed, innovation and cost cutting, and needs fewer people. Considering that IT is one of the biggest growing sectors in Hungary, could using cloud services slow down the growth of this market?

“Absolutely not, because even big companies are opening SSCs in Budapest.

It’s cheaper to have an office in Hungary than, for example, in Ireland. Anyway,

“Using cloud services is a risk, but a risk that you take if it worth it.” there will always be a lot of companies who don’t trust cloud computing and that will never use it,” Rózsa said. “IT service is the biggest growing area of SSCs,” Rózsa told us. “In TCS, there are 500 people working in this field (one-third of the total). And even as we are speaking, there are 200 new positions open. And we are just talking about IT support here. “ “IT service is divided in two categories,” the manager explained. “The first is development: it represents just 10% of the hiring process and it is growing very slowly.

Then there is IT support, which is required more and it is increasing by 30-40% every year.” The added value in Hungary is the languages spoken. For this reason there are so many vacancies in IT support.

“People working there are not experts in the field, but they are not paid for that.

Customers expect just kindness and polite people.” According to Rózsa, TCS will probably move IT developers to the main head quarters in India and keep here team leaders, who will act as translators between business needs and IT needs.

Rózsa told us that the only purpose of IT developers is to create and maintain applications for the web. IT infrastructure is

more complex, however, and it can provide different services in different fields. “In TCS, like in many other similar companies, IT support provides the following services: service desk or customer service, EUC [End Users Computing, which means how to install and operate systems or how to optimize patches], data servers [hosting and maintaining], database, communications (outlook, chat), network, and handling projects.”

There are many challenges in running an SSC, starting with the building itself.

“The market in Hungary is exhausted, so we must be more attractive, building an office in the city center. An office that should be very flexible, with all comforts provided and with security control,” Rózsa said. “Then there is the hiring process,” he continued. “It is not easy to compete with all the other companies.

We need to be more competitive in many fields: offering a higher salary, a better work place, more career opportunities.”

The most difficult challenge is to keep people motivated. “There are people who like to do the same thing every day.

And there are people who like to change and try something different. It’s hard to understand what motivates whom, especially in a big company like TCS, where there are a lot of people from all over the world. This means different cultures, different religions, different ways to be motivated.”

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Hungary suffers labor shortage in many sectors

More sectors in the Hungarian economy are complaining of a shortage of workers in the country. While a general lack of skilled blue-collar staff and trained IT specialists make it hard for businesses find the employees they need, the brain drain is also hitting many sectors hard here.

CHRISTIAN KESZTHELYI

“Most sectors are suffering from a labor shortage, a phenomenon that is not sector-dependent, but there are some geographical differences,” Sándor Baja of HR specialists Randstad Hungary told the Budapest Business Journal.

“The most affected regions are Budapest and the metropolitan area, northwest Hungary and the Austrian border region,” he added.

One of the peculiarities of the labor shortage on the Hungarian labor market is the fact that while the number of jobs on offer has been rising in recent years, the number of people able to work has stayed more or less the same. “The number of advertised positions on job boards has gone up 60% in the past three years, while the number of economically active people is unchanged at roughly 4,4 million,” Dorottya Sámson, an expert at Profession.hu, told the BBJ. Supply and demand do not meet in the market, she adds, while a growing number of people are moving abroad, which is further deepening the issue. “People living in the eastern part of Hungary are not open to relocate to the west of the country, mainly for economic reasons, such as they cannot afford to buy a new flat as the eastern region is poorer,” Sámson added.

The labor shortage now seems to be a feature of many sectors in Hungary, and the reasons for such are apparently many-fold. “As the economy has been prospering in the past years, demand has grown mainly for blue collar workers, such as operators in the producing sector,” Sámson explains. While elementary school qualifications are enough for just 25% of the positions advertised, professional qualifications are needed for 75% of the jobs on offer, she adds.

“Currently there are around 10,000 open positions for welding experts all around Hungary, there is a shortage of IT experts (almost 22,000 open positions), salespeople and engineers are also sought in great number, while the sectors of healthcare, tourism and hospitality are hurt due to salary issues,” the expert elaborates.

And, as Baja points out, the problem affects whole parts of the country, not just

BBJ_2416_spec_report.indd 15

“In the Netherlands 74% of work capable people are working, compared with 65% in Hungary.” sectors within the economy. “Nowadays all the sectors are hit in all regions,” he says, and that is increasingly even true of Budapest and the central region.

“In the countryside companies fight for survival to keep life going. In some sectors companies still find people, but the quality of work is always a question these days,” Baja adds.

Easing the shortage Multiple steps could be made in order to ease the current situation, our HR experts believe. First and foremost, emigration from the country needs to be slowed, as Hungary is already facing a natural population decline. “The main problem that causes the labor shortage is the declining population, caused by the natural population decline and the inequality of the migration balance,” reckons Baja. “Fifteen years ago almost 189,000 young workers entered the labor market annually; in 2015 the number is less than 128,000,” Baja says, citing data from the Central Statistical Office (KSH).

“The first task is to stop emigration.

Companies have to face Europe-wide competition for talent. There is a need to raise real wages and create high-paying positions,” he thinks.

Baja insists that people leaving to work abroad itself is not a problem, the issue is whether they return to their homeland after a few years. “All the people are leaving, from the washer up to the top doctors and engineers. That is not a problem. It is the same in France, Germany, and the Netherlands. But they return to their homeland after some years,” says Baja. The question is whether expat Hungarians can find interesting, high-paying jobs back home that make it worth their return, Baja argues.

European average Sámson believes the greater danger to the Hungarian economy is that it is “mainly the well qualified persons who are open to move abroad”. In order to avoid losing that knowledge and experience in the first place, “salaries should reach the European average (this is particularly true of healthcare)”, she adds. Strengthening the diversity of companies as well as implementing maternity programs can also help a lot, she believes.

Baja says important task is making a company attractive for the limited number of talents available on the market. “On the corporate level, employer branding is a key tool for attracting and keeping talents. If an employer understands the real motivations of his employees, focuses on these fields and learns to communicate the company’s values, it can become more successful,” Baja notes. “According to the Randstad Award research for Hungarian employees, salary and benefits are the most important factors (82%) when it comes to choosing whether to work for

a company, followed by long-term job security (62%) and a good work-life balance (52%),” he added.

Elsewhere, more need to be done on whitening the economy. “We must fight against the grey and black markets by stopping employers who support and cause this economical problem. People should learn how to stand up for their rights and say no to black money. It would help ‘righteous’ employers to find people,” Baja says. Sámson agrees, and identifies several sectors particularly prone to the problem, including tourism, hospitality, and construction, Whatever the sector, better use needs to be made of the potential reserves in the country. “In the Netherlands 74% of work capable people are working, compared with 65% in Hungary,” Baja notes. “Elderly people over 50 are a valuable but underused category. We should take them into account and ease their access to part-time work,” Baja points out. He also thinks the youth should be given more possibilities. “We believe that young people have a lot more potential than is acted upon, so the limitation of their access to work should be reduced. All employers should

be given the possibility to benefit from young people and not just through Student Associations. It is great that we support disabled and mothers entering labor market. It must go on.”

IT sector suffers most A shortage of IT professionals seems to be the most serious issue in the market, which is reflected by the many offers specialists receive daily. “They get several offers per day, therefore a job advertisement should not be average,” Sámson says. “The advertisement must contain interesting tasks and describe the technology they have to work with. The newer the technology, the more attractive the position becomes,” she says, and adds that the possibility of working from a home office or as a cooperating contractor can also help making a position attractive for IT experts.

“We must know their insights. What are they looking for? Where are they?

How should we talk to them to arouse their interest?” insists Baja. “I think Randstad’s IT team is among the best in my company, which shows that everything is possible,” he adds.

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EXPERT OPINION

HOW TO EARN YOUR EMPLOYEES’ LOYALTY? If you want to go further, you can think in alternative benefits like giving more Dániel vacation days than the mandatory or a Rónai pleasant working environment. For example a ‘relax room’ where employees can IT Team Leader hang out together and play video games consents to develop a good community, HAYS HUNGARY which greatly increases the loyalty towards the company.

If this would be too much or doesn’t fit Hiring and training new employees is an in the company policy you can start with expensive and long process, therefore it’s small steps like not having a mandatory advisable to focus on keeping the high- dress code, or let the employees work in performing colleagues at the company. flexible working hours. Home office is also This is especially true for those key people an opportunity, which is worth considering. whose loss would be a setback in the It became increasingly widespread in performance of the organization. recent times, especially that more and more It is even more typical in dynamically foreign companies are looking for experts developing sectors such as IT, given that to work for them in telework construction the IT industry is in a continuous shortage from Hungary. of staff and fresh graduates cannot fill the But maybe the most important thing onset of workforce demand. Companies for IT professionals is the continuous compete with each other to recruit and challenge and the opportunity to grow both retain the best employees. But as it is professionally and in career. Internal career known an experienced professional can get paths or pre-defined promotion criteria several job offers weekly, some of which could be excellent tools for it. come from abroad where the wages are still Furthermore, these tools might help to considerably higher than in Hungary. That’s fill the leadership positions with internal why the IT sector is still employee driven. candidates and it can maintain a positive As we see, salary is still a very important work attitude. factor, thus, those who want to compete for the best employees are slightly forced to go into price-competition. But it is certainly not just the basic salary that counts in this case.

A variety of benefits, such as stock options, bonuses or cafeteria can also make the www.hays.hu company attractive.

2016. 08. 31. 20:49

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Systems integrators integRation oF oWn pRoduCts oWneRsHip (%) HungaRian non-HungaRian

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david blunck – –

2040 Budaörs, Edison utca 4.

(1) 801-1500 (1) 801-1501 info@invitel.co.hu

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4

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20,500

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Péter Szalay, Péter Benedek Árpád Koncz Svetlana Stavreva

1117 Budapest, Neumann János utca 1.

(1) 382-5500 (1) 382-5501 info@hu.ibm.com

5

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20,411 5,780

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1033 Budapest Szentendrei út 39–53.

(1) 437-5200 (1) 437-5299 info@delta.hu

6

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16,996

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árpád kucska – –

1145 Budapest Újvilág utca 50–52.

(1) 358-6350 (1) 358-6359 info@euroone.hu

7

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13,889

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8

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89,368

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44,463

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Péter Dezső Szabó Sándor Kulcsár Tímea Soós

2040 Budaörs, Puskás Tivadar út 14.

(1) 371-8000 (1) 371-8001 info@snt.hu

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tamás molnár János Bence Bajzáth –

1118 Budapest, Gombócz Z. utca 12.

(1) 411-3720 (1) 411-3749 info@intercomputer.hu

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nádoR system kFt. 10

5,259 1,746

QualysoFt ZRt. 11

4,326 2,000

www.nador.hu

www.qualysoft.com/hu

dimension data 12 magyaRoRsZág kFt. www.dimensiondata.com

3,617 (1)

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3,590

aCCentuRe tanáCsadó 14 kFt.

3,573

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www.dunaelektronika.com

www.accenture.hu

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1,711

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1,317

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www.kurt.hu

Conet kFt. 17 www.conet.hu

aQuis innovo kFt. 18 www.aquis.hu

iFs HungaRy kFt. 19 www.ifsworld.com/hu

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peter Freed, gábor juhász – –

1183 Budapest, Gyömrői út 99.

(1) 666-1600 (1) 350-5660 sales@ dunaelektronika.com

peter skodny – –

1088 Budapest, Rákóczi út 1–3.

(1) 327-3700 (1) 266-7709 Info_Budapest@ accenture.com

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péter Fárizs, Zoltán görbics Csaba Angelmayer Attila Molnár

1134 Budapest, Váci út 35.

(1) 237-1730 (1) 350-4113 info@hostlogic.hu

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János Kürti (37.30), Sándor Kürti (37.30), József Kmetty (25.40) –

József Kmetty Katalin Botyánszky –

1118 Budapest, Rétköz utca 5.

(1) 424-6666 (1) 228-5414 kurt@kurt.hu

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Endre Nagy (50), Endréné Nagy (50) –

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1111 Budapest, Budafoki út 9–11.

(1) 467-2060 (1) 467-2070 conet@conet.hu

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2051 Biatorbágy, Tópart utca 65.

(1) 436-3000 (1) 436-3100 info@aquis.hu

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Zsolt Weiszbart – Gábor Halász

1132 Budapest, Váci út 22–24.

(1) 236-3700 (1) 236-3701 infohu@ifsworld.com

Vodafone, Audi Magyarország, MÁV, MVH

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(1) 470-5000 (1) 470-5011 info@nador.hu

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mixed

Consulting

it seCuRity

soFtWaRe development

eRp –

majoR Clients in 2015

HaRdWaRe

type oF system integRation

seRviCes

sap seRviCes

total net Revenue in 2015 (HuF mln) in H1, 2016 (HuF mln)

Rank

Company Website

17

3

Budapest Business Journal | September 2 – September 15, 2016

–

Ÿ

–

Ÿ

–

BioTech USA Kft., Vajda Papír Kft., HAJDU Csoport, ANY Biztonsági Nyomda Nyrt., FÉMALK Fémöntészeti és Alkatrészgyártó Zrt., LAKICS Gépgyártó Kft.

Ÿ

Ÿ

–

Ÿ

Ÿ

✓

Ÿ

Ÿ

–

–

–

–

✓

✓

✓

✓

–

–

Ÿ

Ÿ

–

NoteS (1) Data of business year Oct. 1, 2014-Sept. 30, 2015.

This list was compiled from responses to questionnaires received by Aug. 31, 2016 and publicly available data. To the best of the Budapest Business Journal’s knowledge, the information is accurate as of press time.

While every effort is made to ensure accuracy and thoroughness, omissions and typographical errors may occur. Additions or corrections to the list should be sent on letterhead to the research department, Budapest Business Journal, 1075 Budapest, Madách Imre út 13–14., or faxed to (1) 398-0345. The research department can be contacted at research@bbj.hu

BBJ_2416_spec_report.indd 17

2016. 08. 31. 20:49

18

www.bbj.hu

3

Budapest Business Journal | September 2 – September 15, 2016

Software developers

Germany

–

16

Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, etc.

Agricultural portal

Ÿ

✓

✓

installation Siemens

no. of full-time employees on july 1, 2016 of tHese full time softWaRe developeRs

99.89

distRibution of oWn pRoduCts

15,879(1) 7,613(2)

majoR Clients in 2015

Resale

main expoRt destinations

softWaRe pRoduCts

Consulting

softWaRe expoRt in 2015 as a peRCentage of total Revenue (%)

softWaRe Related aCtivities

total net Revenue in 2015 (Huf mln) H1, 2016 (Huf mln)

Company Website

net Revenue fRom softWaRe development in 2015 (Huf mln)

Rank

Ranked by total net revenue from software development

oWneRsHip (%) HungaRian non-HungaRian

top loCal exeCutive Cfo maRketing diReCtoR

addRes pHone fax email

evosoft HungaRy kft. www.evosoft.hu

15,862

1

Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

752 683

– evosoft GmbH (100)

péter várady Erika Balogh Bíróné Zoltán Gönye

1117 Budapest, Kaposvár utca 14–18.

(1) 381-6400 (1) 381-6631 sales@evosoft.com

✓

✓

199 150

Individuals (3) Qualysoft Holding Ltd. (97)

attila simon Tamás Zimányi Édua Karajos

1118 Budapest, Rétköz utca 5.

(1) 889-9800 (1) 889-9810 info@qualysoft.com

–

✓

Ÿ Ÿ

Individuals (100) –

szilárd ocskay Judit Nyeste –

1138 Budapest, Váci út 186.

(1) 465-5100 (1) 465-5101 nexon@nexon.hu

2

Qualysoft zRt.

3,000

4,326 2,000

3

nexon kft.

1,667

3,419 1,728

–

–

NEXONhrm, NEXON_PORT

4

R&R softWaRe zRt.

1,428

1,551 745

4.80

UK, Romania

FusionR ERP, FusionR BSS, FusionR Utility, FusionR SFA, VERK/400, cDMS

Invitel, MNKH, Heineken, NISZ, Vasivíz, Central-Drinks, BricoDepot Romania

✓

✓

✓

✓

96 48

Individuals (100) –

Csaba Rozenberszki Ilona Rétai Rónyainé Zsolt Rozenberszki

1038 Budapest, Ráby Mátyás utca 7.

(1) 436-7850 (1) 436-7851 info@rrsoftware.hu

0.20

Romania, Slovakia, USA

Kulcs-Bér; Kulcs-Könyvelés; Kulcs-Ügyvitel; Kulcs-Számla, Kulcs-Készlet, other management software

Ÿ

✓

✓

–

✓

96 18

Tibor Kulcsár (96.40)shareholders (3.60) –

tibor kulcsár Ernő Pap Ida Szabó

1022 Budapest, Törökvész út 30/A (1) 336-5300 (1) 336-5309 info@kulcs-soft.hu

62

Austria, Germany

–

Ÿ Ÿ

Individuals (100) –

ákos szekendy – –

1143 Budapest, Gizella út 51–57.

(1) 471-3000 (1) 471-3002 contact@ sysdata-pse.com

1

Switzerland, Germany

–

56 49

Protomix Zrt. (55) Zoltán Madár (21.43) Ivana Mader s.r.o.

(23.57)

zoltán madár – Fanni Tósoki

1087 Budapest, Könyves Kálmán körút 48-52.

(1) 204-7730 (1) 204-7731 mail@grepton.hu

19

Ÿ

Individuals (100) –

sándor dankó – –

1117 Budapest, Budafoki út 209.

(1) 463-0620 (1) 463-0621 infomail@itware.hu

Individuals (100) –

lászló szalóki Anikó Nagy Norbert Somkutas

1133 Budapest, Váci út 76.

(1) 461-8030 (1) 352-1553 revol@revolution.hu

5

www.qualysoft.com/hu

www.nexon.hu

www.rrsoftware.hu

kulCs-soft számításteCHnika nyRt.

1,361

1,361 668

1,252

1,295

1,124

1,246 302

885

885

www.kulcs-soft.hu

6

7

8

sysdata pse kft.

www.sysdata-pse.com, www.pse.hu

gRepton infoRmatikai zRt. www.grepton.hu

itWaRe kft.

www.itware.hu, www.createsmartapp.com

Ÿ

Ÿ

Ÿ

Ÿ

Ÿ

Siemens

Ÿ

Allianz Hungária Zrt., Magyar Telekom Nyrt., Vodafone Magyarország Zrt., Telenor Magyarország Zrt., Budapest Bank Zrt.

✓

✓

✓

✓

Ÿ Ÿ

Philips

✓

✓

✓

✓

70 11

Gábor Kelemen (73), Judit Gyenes Kelemenné (27) –

gábor kelemen Zsuzsanna Pauló Dóra Bertalan

1112 Budapest, Kőérberki út 36.

(1) 310-1492 (1) 310-1497 sales@multisoft.hu

✓

41 3

Magdolna Demeter (60), Miklós Konrád Molnár (30), Miklós Molnár (10) –

konrád miklós molnár Judit Horváth –

1149 Budapest, Pillangó park 9.

(1) 222-2402 (1) 222-2405 terc@terc.hu

✓

22 5

– IFS WORLD AB, IFS CEE (100)

zsolt Weiszbart – Gábor Halász

1132 Budapest, Váci út 22–24.

(1) 236-3700 (1) 236-3701 infohu@ifsworld.com

✓

15 9

Zsolt Koltai (100) –

zsolt koltai – Diána Wágner

1149 Budapest, Nagy Lajos király útja 117.

(1) 220-6458 (1) 469-0899 sales@trilobita.hu

Ÿ

Ÿ

Ÿ

deep.erp, Iroda++, rEVOL Express

10

multisoft kft.

340

1,016 576

33

Austria

MobileNAV

11

teRC keReskedelmi és szolgáltató kft.

339

1,158 447

Romania

TERC V.I.P. (GOLD, SILVER, BRONZ), TERCETALON

Ÿ

–

IFS Applications ERP/EAM/ESM rendszer

BioTech USA Kft., Vajda Papír Kft., HAJDU Csoport, ANY Biztonsági Nyomda Nyrt., FÉMALK Fémöntészeti és Alkatrészgyártó Zrt., LAKICS Gépgyártó Kft.

Ÿ

TriDoc standard, TriDoc enterprise, DocuBank, MiBio, TriCommission, TriProject

Richter Gedeon Nyrt., MVM Informatika Zrt., Magyar Lapterjesztő Zrt., TriGránit Fejlesztési Kft.

12

ifs HungaRy kft.

320

640 320

13

tRilobita infoRmatikai zRt.

248

298 62

www.ifsworld.com/hu

www.trilobita.hu

BBJ_2416_spec_report.indd 18

–

51

–

Prímagáz Zrt., Spark Promotions Kft.

617

1

–

Ÿ

617

www.terc.hu

✓

–

Ÿ

Revolution softWaRe kft.

www.multisoft.hu

✓

✓

✓

Ÿ

9

www.revolution.hu

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

–

–

✓

2016. 08. 31. 20:49

www.bbj.hu

Saldo Creator Integrált (ERP) Rendszer

542

Ÿ

16

vt-soft kft.

47

566 265

NR

aleRant zRt.

Ÿ

1,531

axis RendszeRHáz infoRmatikai Fejlesztő és tanáCsadó kft.

Ÿ

923

NR

www.unit4.com/hu

www.alerant.hu

Ÿ

Ÿ

3

Czech Republic, Germany

no. of full-time employees on july 1, 2016 of tHese full time softWaRe developeRs

Ÿ

distRibution of oWn pRoduCts

http://www.unit4.com/hu

0

top loCal exeCutive Cfo maRketing diReCtoR

addRes pHone fax email

✓

67 14

(100) –

márta sibinger Enikő Kovács Ágnes Kramer

1135 Budapest, Mór utca 2–4.

(1) 237-9800 (1) 237-9811 saldo@saldo.hu

✓

11 –

– UNIT4 Business Software Holding B.V. (100)

tamás Wehring Laura TordayKordás Zsófia Koczeth

1023 Budapest, Lajos utca 28-32.

(1) 436-0540 (1) 388-2178 contact.hu@unit4.com

✓

✓

30 3

– UNIT4 Business Software Holding B.V. (100)

tamás Wehring Laura Torday-Kordás Zsófia Koczeth

1023 Budapest, Lajos utca 28–32.

(1) 436-0540 (1) 388-2178 contact.hu@unit4.com

30

AMCS Kft. (100) –

tamás szabó – –

1117 Budapest, Infopark sétány 1.

(1) 205-0055 (1) 205-0056 info@alerant.hu

41

4iG Nyrt. (100) –

attila zoltán merényi – –

1037 Budapest, Montevideo utca 8.

(1) 270-7600 (1) 270-7679 info@axis.hu

– BalaBit IT Security Deutschland GmbH(Ÿ), BalaBit S.A. (Ÿ)

zoltán Györkő, scheidler balázs, Wagner endre – –

1117 Budapest, Alíz utca 2.

(1) 398-6700 (1) 208-0875 info@balabit.hu

4iG Nyrt. (100) –

attila zoltán merényi – –

1037 Budapest, Montevideo utca 8.

(1) 270-7600 (1) 270-7679 info@banksoft.hu

Ÿ

Ecomatic Kft. (Ÿ), CSM Holding Kft. (Ÿ) evopro systems engineering GmbH (Ÿ)

péter török – –

1116 Budapest, Hauszmann Alajos utca 2.

(1) 279-3970 (1) 279-3971 sales@evoline.hu

Resale

100

931 397

oWneRsHip (%) HungaRian non-HungaRian

majoR Clients in 2015 Consulting

unit4 Coda HungaRy kft.

softWaRe pRoduCts

installation

15

main expoRt destinations

www.saldo.hu

softWaRe expoRt in 2015 as a peRCentage of total Revenue (%)

128

softWaRe Related aCtivities

total net Revenue in 2015 (Huf mln) H1, 2016 (Huf mln)

saldo pénzügyi tanáCsadó és infoRmatikai zRt.

net Revenue fRom softWaRe development in 2015 (Huf mln)

Rank 14

Company Website

Fővárosi Állat- és Növénykert, Széchenyi István Egyetem, Axel Springer Kft.

✓

✓

–

Unit4 Financials, Unit4 Logistics, Unit4 ERP

Magyar Telekom Nyrt., KÉSZ Consulting Kft.,Fundamenta Zrt.., New Wave Kft., Darholding Kft., Sews Kft., Magyar Cetelem Zrt., Axa Biztosító Zrt., Axa Bank, DPD, Flaga Kft., Organica, U-Shin

✓

✓

✓

Mercedes-Benz, DIAGEO Kft., Központi Statisztikai Hivatal, Pan–Job Humán Szolgáltató, Nemzeti Média és Hírközlési Hatóság, CG Electric Systems Hungary, Magyar Suzuki Zrt, WHC Holding Kft, Raben Trans, Normbenz, UPC, Penny Market Kft.

✓

✓

–

–

Unit4 Munkaügy (Unit4 Bér, Unit4 Tb)

Ÿ

Ÿ

Ÿ

Ÿ

✓

–

✓

✓

Ÿ

Contentum, doc. net, Páter

Ÿ

✓

✓

✓

✓

Ÿ

19

3

Budapest Business Journal | September 2 – September 15, 2016

Ÿ

Ÿ

www.axis.hu

balabit-euRope kft.

NR

Ÿ

2,603

banksoft számításteCHnikai NR RendszeRFejlesztő kft.

Ÿ

135

evoline kft.

NR

Ÿ

101

Ÿ

Ÿ

Ÿ

NetFlyr

Ÿ

✓

✓

–

✓

Ÿ

18,189

Ÿ

Ÿ

ARCHICAD, BIMx, BIMcloud, MEP Modeler, EcoDesigner STAR

Ÿ

✓

✓

✓

✓

Ÿ Ÿ

– Nemetschek AG (100)

viktor várkonyi Gábor Svéd Ákos Pfemeter

1031 Budapest, Záhony utca 7.

(1) 437-3000 (1) 437-3099 mail@graphisoft.hu

Humansoft kft.

NR

Ÿ

13,889

–

AgromAX, DoQ, MindTheGapp, ASIR/PAIR

✓

Ÿ Ÿ

4G Nyrt. (78.200) HS Board Kft. (16) Béla Zsolt Tóth (5.80) –

gábor somlyai, judit Hegedűs Tamás Koppány Ferenc Turcsán

1037 Budapest, Montevideo utca 8.

(1) 270-7600 (1) 270-7679 info@humansoft.hu

ibm HungaRy kft.

NR

Ÿ

20,500

Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

Ÿ Ÿ

– IBM Ireland Product Distribution Limited (99.93)IBM World Trade Corp.

(0.07)

péter szalay, péter benedek Árpád Koncz Svetlana Stavreva

1117 Budapest, Neumann János utca 1.

(1) 382-5500 (1) 382-5501 info@hu.ibm.com

Ÿ Ÿ

Individuals (63) Volán Elektronika Zrt. (29.14)AlsóKeszi Kft. (7.76) Carolinainvest Kft. (0.10) –

kálmán faur Zoltán Komora –

1113 Budapest, Karolina út 65.

(1) 255-3939 (1) 209-1477 info@mve.hu

– Logmein Ireland Holding Company Ltd. (100)

lívia kovács, timothy james ewing – –

1061 Budapest, Andrássy út 9.

(1) 413-3780 – recepcio.bp@lonmin.com

www.balabit.com

Ÿ

Ÿ

Ÿ

Ÿ

Ÿ

Ÿ

Zorp Gateway, Shell Controll Box

Ÿ

Ÿ

Ÿ

✓

✓

✓

✓

–

✓

✓

172

✓

8

Ÿ

Ÿ

www.banksoft.hu

www.evoline.hu

NR

gRapHisoft se

www.graphisoft.com

www.humansoft.hu

www.ibm.com/hu

NR

libRa softWaRe zRt. www.mve.hu

logmein kft.

NR

www.logmein.com

Ÿ

Ÿ

Ÿ

Ÿ

1,298 632

Ÿ

7,392

Ÿ

Ÿ

Ÿ

–

Ÿ

Ÿ

–

Ÿ

Ÿ

Ÿ

Ÿ

Libra6i, Libra3s

MVM Partner Zrt., Volán Companies, Public Utility and City Management Corp.

Ÿ

Ÿ

✓

✓

–

✓

✓

✓

✓

–

–

✓

1

✓

362

– Microsoft Corp.

(100)

gabriella szentkuti – –

1031 Budapest, Graphisoft park 3.

(1) 437-2800 (1) 437-2899 –

Ÿ

NR

miCRosoft HungaRy kft.

Ÿ

17,148

Ÿ

Ÿ

Ÿ

Ÿ

Ÿ

Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

303

NR

p92 it solutions kft.

Ÿ

1,293

Ÿ

Ÿ

Ÿ

Ÿ

Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

44

József Molnár (100) –

józsef molnár – –

1038 Budapest, Fürdő utca 2.

(1) 453-4100 (1) 453-4101 info@p92.hu

Ÿ

22,588

Ÿ Ÿ

– SAP SE (100)

balázs ablonczy – –

1031 Budapest, Záhony utca 7.

(1) 885-7300 (1) 457-8344 info.hungary@sap.com

www.microsoft.hu

www.p92.hu

sap HungaRy kft.

NR www.sap.hu

Ÿ

Ÿ

Ÿ

Ÿ

Ÿ

Ÿ

✓

✓

–

✓

Ÿ

Ÿ

NOTES: (1) Data of business year Oct. 1, 2014-Sept. 30, 2015. (2) Data of business period Oct. 1, 2015-March 31, 2016.

BBJ_2416_spec_report.indd 19

2016. 08. 31. 20:49

4 Socialite BBJ

Total Records: Celebrating the golden years of vinyl

DAVID HOLZER

Miles Davis’ Tutu album cover.

“Total Records” is an exhibition of album covers that runs at the Capa Központ center just off Király utca until 2 October.

Apart from the obvious care that has gone into choosing the covers, “Total Records” succeeds because its curators have resisted the temptation to blow them up to an enormous size. You really have to get up close and take a good look, just as we did back when vinyl was king.

The exhibition is arranged by genre, theme and, in some cases, celebrates the work of photographers or artists like Andy Warhol or Richard Avedon who created several covers. It’s an approach that makes absolute sense because, although it went through a splendidly pretentious period in the early 1970s, album cover art didn’t develop in a straight line.

For connoisseurs, the notion of album covers as art begins in the mid-1950s when designers John Hermansader and Reid Miles birthed a bold, instantly recognizable style for jazz label Blue Note.

This gave the label a powerful identity, forever associated with the boundarybending bop captured in the grooves of albums by legends like Miles Davis and John Coltrane. The covers on display at Capa Központ remind us that, to this day,

no other single record label defines cool in the same way.

If you’re of a certain age, part of the fun of wandering around “Total Records” is spotting the covers of albums you owned back in the day. Warhol’s zipper cover for The Rolling Stones’ “Sticky Fingers” (1971) or Robert Mapplethorpe’s shot of Patti Smith for her incendiary debut “Horses” (1975) are great art by any definition. And ended up in millions of teenage bedrooms, including mine.

But it’s really the oddities and detours into the stranger alleyways of album cover art history that are most thought provoking.

In stark black and white, covers for 1960s albums by Martin Luther King and Angela Davis reflect the rage felt by many American blacks. There’s a wall of covers for radically political recordings of Che Guevara speeches and Mexican revolutionary songs, among others. Another, of albums in support of the student riots in Paris in May 1968, demonstrates how much sound and vision was part of dissent.

At the opposite end of the spectrum is a collection of erotic album covers, mostly from the 1970s. Although a couple are for soft porn movie soundtracks, most are for heavy metal bands; an eyebrow-raising reminder of the casual, silly sexism of the time. Roxy Music’s “Country Life” (1974) however is a powerful piece of art, showing lead singer Bryan Ferry’s grasp of how to use sex and provocation to sell music.

Then there are the intriguing albums by one hit wonders and artists you’ve never heard of, who vanished into the mists of time. Who was Claire Austin, for instance, captured looking both sultry and wistful on the cover of her album “When Your Lover Has Gone” (1956)?

What does the album sound like and how would you track it down?

“Total Records” does an excellent job of celebrating “The great adventure of album

cover photography”. But there are no Hungarian album covers to be seen. And if you’re a vinyl-lover, it leaves you wanting to touch albums themselves, to inhale deeply of the scent of vinyl and old cardboard.

Fortunately, the splendid Laci Bácsi vintage vinyl shop on Kertész utca is only a fiveminute stroll away from Capa Központ.

Vinyl heaven Admiring album cover art is, of course, only one part of experiencing the joy of vinyl. Collectors, called “crate-diggers”, spend hours flipping through thousands of albums in search of the Holy Grail. Today, now that the internet gives us the value of anything in a millisecond, collecting takes deep knowledge and a poker face.

It’s also led to collectors specializing in the strangest of sub-genres. Anyone for Czechoslovakian psyche beat?

I’m just dipping my toe into the waters of Hungary’s rock and roll history so Laci Bácsi is a bit overwhelming. But that doesn’t really matter. Flipping through some of the 10,000 albums on offer is a mindblowing trip into the weird and wonderful, especially if you know nothing about, let’s say, Hungarian progressive rock.

The history of Hungarian rock and roll, pop and jazz is actually pretty fascinating.

In the 1960s, both the music and production values of Hungarian rock were regarded as of a higher standard than that of other communist countries. British bands including the Spencer Davis Group (“Keep on Running”’) and Free (“All Right Now”) played here. Albums by bands like The Beatles could be had, for a price. Oddly enough, some – known as “Dum Dum” records - were manufactured in India by EMI and shipped to Hungary to get around export and currency limitations.

One Hungarian band, Omega, got as far as touring England and Germany in the late 1960s and ’70s. Their 1969 song “Gyöngyhajú lány” or “Pearls in Her Hair”

was translated and recorded live in 1995 by German hard rock band Scorpions as “White Dove”. Kanye West used a sample from the song on his 2013 track “New Slaves’”.

By the 1970s, the authorities had cottoned on to the subversive power of the music and cracked down on Hungarian rock. Bands had their songs inspected by what was called the Song Committee, which led to a glut of inoffensive pop and disco. But, the economic miseries of the early ’80s fuelled an underground punk scene in Hungary, as in many other countries. Members of one punk band, CPg, received two-year prison sentences for political incitement.

With the collapse of communism, the Hungarian music scene became pretty much like that of every other European country. But Hungary still has stars unknown in the West. At Laci Bácsi I picked up a curiosity of an album called “Üvöltés”, recorded by Beat poet Allen Ginsberg with blues band Hobo when he visited in Hungary in 1987. Ginsberg is most famous for his 1956 poem “Howl’”, which translates as “üvöltés” and the album includes a version in Hungarian.

I thought I’d found a rarity for just HUF 1,000 until I went online and discovered I’d paid exactly what the album was worth.

Today, vinyl is enjoying a resurgence.

The sound is simply so much better than CDs and MP3. And, as the “Total Record” exhibition demonstrates, gazing at a vinyl album cover is the perfect accompaniment to high quality listening. So it’s not surprising that bands are re-releasing their back catalogue all over again on heavy-duty 180-gram vinyl for our listening and consuming pleasure.

Total Records is open every day from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Capa Központ, 1065 Budapest, Nagymezö utca 8. More information at www.capacenter.hu Laci Bácsi is at 1073 Budapest, Kertész utca 42-44. You can browse its collection online at www.hanglemezek.hu

ADVERTISEMENT

It may seem incredible, but it has been already 25 years now since the Budapest Wine Festival was first held. The festival grew up in tandem with the reviving wine culture, following the fall of communism: it supported the stars of the nineties, evolved into an international popular event and a must in the years after 2000, while it is currently promoting a generational change in the profession. Let us celebrate together the 25th Budapest Wine Festival!

Just a couple of wine couples - professional wine tastings at the Budapest Wine Festival.

Taste of Hungary - The most beautiful wines of Hungary.

Through the thematic wine tasting routes wine lovers can taste various wines made of Hungarian grape varieties and other wine specialities which are specific to Hungary.

The most popular Hungarian bands in the world music, folk

BBJ_2416_socialite.indd 20

music, folk dance and jazz genres will make your time spent at the Wine Festival unforgettable.

Numerous programmes and services will provide an even more pleasant entertainment: arts and crafts programmes for children, free face painting, free wifi.

Main sponsor: SPAR. Tickets are available on the spot from 3,000 HUF, and at a discount price by early bird registration on the website of the Wine Festival (www.winefestival.hu). The daily wristband includes a crystal glass and textile bag for the glass, too!

Make a note in your calendar: “Go to Budapest Wine Festival from 8th to 11th September with my friends!”

2016. 08. 31. 20:49

4 Socialite

www.bbj.hu

Budapest Business Journal | September 2 – September 15, 2016

Bowling over the Magyars In the wake of a successful international tournament, Hungarian cricket eyes growing the game among native kids and adults, while offering young refugees from cricket-playing regions a sporting opportunity.

STEVE LEBOEUF

It might seem a stretch at first glance to include a team from the United Arab Emirates in a cricket tournament billed as Pan-European. For a cash-strapped minority sport in the CEE region, however, all opportunities to increase revenues and get its name on the world cricket map need to be seized.

Nearing the end of its 10th season of senior domestic cricket in Hungary in August, the Hungarian Cricket Association (HCA) was accepted as an Affiliate Member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 2012. It has sustained itself over the years largely through private sponsorship and the tireless efforts of a small group of expats from cricket-playing nations and enthusiastic Hungarian newcomers.

The second Pan-European T20 Cricket Cup was concluded on July 31 at the HCA’s dedicated ground in Sződliget, some 25 km north of Budapest. National teams from Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Malta were joined by Sharjah-based team Unique Cricket Training, playing each other in a round-robin format, before the Emirates team beat Malta in the Sunday final – thanks largely to a brilliant unbeaten innings of 95 by opener Ali Bilal Azmat.

Hungary’s own team underperformed, finishing fourth, not helped by rain causing one of its matches to be abandoned. Third-placed Romania, who entered the tournament as one of the favorites, was even unluckier, with

A kids’ indoor training session in progress.

The Hungarian National Cricket Team. rain washing out two of its four group matches. Such are the vagaries of a sport beholden to the weather – thankfully not such an issue in Hungary as it routinely is in the U.K., for example.

The Bulgarian team, meanwhile, won many friends, not least due to the high percentage of native Bulgarian players in its squad, whose enthusiasm and visible improvement as the tournament progressed was clear for all to see – and not lost on a host association keen to develop its own native players.

With the tournament over, cricketers in Hungary returned to their own domestic games. League cricket had already finished in July, with the Baggy Blues International winning the three-team Premier Division, while Dunabogdány CC came out top in the four-team lower Club Division. A domestic T20 Cup competition involving five teams follows in August and September, with semis and the final in October.

Although several teams have some native participation, it is worth noting

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that one of the founding teams of Hungarian cricket, the Danubian Kangaroos, is captained by Hungarian Gábor Török – a former HCA president who learned his cricket when living in Australia – and exclusively comprises native Hungarian players.

The HCA Board is once again focusing its energies on initiatives popularizing cricket in Hungary. Current HCA President Márton János Kis spoke to the Budapest Business Journal about plans for the near future, beginning with the youngest generation.

“As pupils return to schools in September, our popular schools cricket program will begin again,” he noted.

“This school year we’ll not only send coaches to conduct training sessions at elementary and secondary schools, but also plan to organize a schools championship for kids.”

More pressingly for the sake of the continued survival of senior league cricket in Hungary, a condition for membership of the ICC, Kis also explained that recruitment efforts need to be strengthened among adult native Hungarians.

“We will hold presentations at a number of universities,” he said, “while anyone interested is also welcome to join our weekly native training sessions.”

The latter have hitherto taken place through the winter and spring at an indoor gym in Budapest, and outdoors during the playing season.

A third pillar of the HCA’s development efforts is its successful program, begun three years ago, to offer playing opportunities to refugees, in cooperation with the refugee reception center in Fót near Budapest, holding training sessions for youngsters to provide recreation and try to help them settle in. One of the Hungarian team’s current star players, Pakistan-born Zeeshan Khan Kukikhel, progressed through this scheme.

“For all three programs, we warmly welcome volunteers able to offer their help, as well as companies or institutions interested in philanthropic opportunities,” said Kis. More information on forthcoming programs and developments can be found at www.hungary4cricket.com, while regular updates on events in the Hungarian cricket community appear on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ hungary4cricket.

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Junibor fest exudes the confidence of youth

The Junibor Borünnep showcased the wares of Hungaryʼs young winemaking talent.

ROB SMYTH

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The fourth Junibor Borünnep, held on Szent István tér against the stunning backdrop of Szent István Basilica from August 25-28, was a buzzing minifestival showcasing young winemaking talent. There were certainly a number of exciting new releases on offer that suitably exuded the kind of youthful confidence you’d hope to find from

the younger winemaking generation.

During the festival, the 33 members each presented their favorite wines to the press, and there sure were some stunners on show: here are some of the most compelling and distinctive offerings.

Tomi Kis of the Somlói Vándor winery dazzled with a dry white wine made from the Kabar grape, which is a crossing of Hárslevelű and Bouvier and is one of the permitted varieties in Tokaj. This intensely sugar accumulating and über fruity grape made its way to Somló in a bid to re-establish the one-time tradition of making botrytized Aszú wines in Hungary’s smallest region. Kis has in his possession the only plot of Kabar vines in Somló, which was planted by Lajos Somogyi, in 2000. They are located in the middle of Somló Hill in a south-facing spot where the rocky, volcanic basalt soil is very thick. It was picked in the middle of September, which is early for Somló, with high sugar content which accounts for the wine’s huge body. It was spontaneously fermented in a stainless steel tank from the wild yeast inherent in the cellar and on the grapes, which can be riskier than controlled fermentation with cultured yeast, but the upside is that it can also lead to more in the way of flavor enhancing chemical reactions, as it has done here. It was rested in the tank until January when it was transferred for five months of ageing

into two 500-liter barrels – one new and one used. While intense and full-bodied, it’s also a very smooth and balanced wine with no rough edges sticking out, but with lots of uniqueness about it. It’s really floral but not in an overtly perfumed way and also rather fruity for Somló and exudes that rare rhubarb note, and it also has a rich, oily texture with the savory character typical of wines from Somló’s basalt. This wine is due out in September at the cost of HUF 7,000 a bottle. That may sound steep, but this is very good and distinctive stuff, and only 1,300 bottles of it have been produced. It will be labeled Kabar Nagy-Somlói, but cannot carry Somlói on the label.

Meanwhile, Kis is also experimenting with sweet botrytized wine, but for this he is using the Kövérszőlő grape (the so-called ‘fat grape’), another type associated with Tokaj (although it is believed to originate from Transylvania), and is known as Grasa in Romania.

The region of Mór is closely associated with the Ezerjó grape, which can be roughly translated as “A thousand good things”, but unfortunately it is often quite one dimensional. Ákos Kamocsay Jnr. has managed to get more complexity out of the grape with his Grand Móri Ezerjó 2015, which is a late-harvest dry wine, which includes a few shriveled grapes in the mix. It spent a day on the skins (the previously

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Enjoying top vintages from young vintners at the Junibor Borünnep. mentioned wine had three hours), which gives it more mouthfeel but it stops short of being bitter and astringent. It was spontaneously fermented and aged in oak but the wood is well handled and subtly adds some weight rather than blocking out the fruit. The only interventions made were the use of a bit of sulfur, to prevent oxidation, and bentonite for fining. It is really intense and powerful with peach, apricot, orange peel, mango and coffee on the nose and palate, and it has enough body and fruit to handle the high alcohol of 15%.

Another grape that does well in Mór whose limestone soils tend to ensure

good acidity is the Királyleányka and the cleverly named Demi Mór 2015 from Csabi Miklós was light, fruity and floral, and a welcome palate cleanser.

Stefán Wille-Baumkauff from Tokaj’s Pendits winery surprised us all as he poured a rosé from Tokaj, which was made from Pinot Noir in the 2014 vintage.

It was really rather good and a fuller style of rosé that is still in fine fettle despite being mature for the pink stuff and from a tricky vintage.

Over to the reds and it’s great to see that the younger generation are taking Kékfrankos really seriously. Hungary’s most widely planted red wine grape

had been somewhat overlooked in favor of international varieties by their predecessors, but the young guns have clearly cottoned on to the fact that local grapes mean everything, and also that the grape is capable of making top wine. From Eger, Marcell Bukolyi’s 2013 was varietally pure with lively acidity, pure red fruit and fine-grained tannins. It was great to taste an impressive debut effort – Magma Kékfrankos 2015 – made by Tamás Kovács from the Szent Donát Winery in the predominantly white wine sub-region of Csopak, part of the Balatonfüred-Csopak region.

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Another good Kékfrankos came from Franz Weninger Jnr., who makes biodynamic wine in Sopron and over the border in Austria’s Burgenland. His father, Franz Weninger Snr., earlier created a joint venture with Villány legend Attila Gere. Attila’s daughter Andi Gere showed Gere-Weninger’s Cabernet Franc 2012, which revealed why this particular international grape is so well suited to Hungary’s southernmost red wine region. It had very pure black and red fruit and great structure but also complex herbaceousness. A fruitier and very juicy Cabernet Franc came from Gábor Kiss with his Code 2013.

From the Balatonboglár region of the south side of Lake Balaton, Dani Konyári pairs Cabernet Franc with its more famous relative, Cabernet Sauvignon, and to dramatic effect in Páva (peacock) 2011 – a tour de force of a wine that really displays its feathers.

Incidentally, members of Junibor have to be less than 35 when they join and they basically either make wine or sell it for the family business. They can stay members after they hit that classic middle age barrier of 40, albeit as seniors, but become less active in the organization. Junibor works in exclusive cooperation with the DiVino wine bars, of which there now four – two in Budapest, and one each in Debrecen and Győr.

Next up in Budapest is the 25th Budapest Wine Festival, which will be held September 8-11 on the picturesque terraces of Buda Castle.

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