2008-2018: Celebrating 10 Years of Nearshore

More than a decade ago, Phi Partners began considering a nearshore delivery capability from which to support the growing demands of our European client base for expert Summit services at an attractive price point. In 2008, the notion became an imperative, the choice of location became clear, and it all began for Phi Nearshore….

We followed in the footsteps of Quanto Financial Technology; an organisation founded by two former directors of Summit Financial Systems, both Romanian, to deliver Summit testing and development services from Bucharest to the Summit product centre in New York. Misys subsequently acquired Quanto, and the Bucharest Summit development centre grew, having created a local talent pool of around (at that time) 100 highly skilled Summit experts.

When Romania joined the EU in 2007, our choice was confirmed. Phi Partners, Bucharest, was born the following year, with initial hires of leading Summit technical experts.

From small beginnings, Phi Parnters Bucharest has gone from strength to strength and we are proud of our reputation for providing cost-effective niche consultancy services without any compromise on quality. We expect 2019 to be another significant growth year for our nearshore practices – but our growth will never be at the expense of hiring the very best talent that the local market has to offer.

The journey so far:

• 2008 – Phi Partners, Romania is born: focussing on Summit and operating out of a small serviced office
• 2010 – Move into our current premises: the brand new Eurotower building, initially on the 13th floor
• 2010 – Opening of our DR facility in Ploiesti
• 2010 – First client audit of our facilities (successful!).
• 2012 – Transfer of our internal operations team from the UK to Romania with some key local hires across Finance, Legal, HR and Compliance
• 2012 – Creation of our data centre, from where we host our own instances of vendor software including Summit, Sophis and ActivePivot.
• 2013 – Start of our formal graduate trainee programme to support the growth of our delivery employee base
• 2014 – Lifting of all working restrictions for Romanians, across the EU
• 2015 – Expansion into the 9th floor of Eurotower
• 2016 – Beyond Summit: Specialist pricing and risk and DevOps practices born, with services provided from nearshore
• 2017 – Expansion into the 6th floor of Eurotower
• 2017 – First hires of Sophis nearshore experts
• 2017 – Delivery of first nearshore services for Java Quant Development
• 2018 – Delivery of first nearshore services for ActivePivot
• 2018 – Certification of our delivery centre under ISO 9001:2015 and 27001:2018

Scores of visits from clients, both old and new, and partner organisations.  Successful passing of every client audit ever undertaken. Endless re-configuration of client secure areas. Ongoing R&D supporting client solutions and internal tools.  Countless “share your knowledge” sessions presented and “FinTech Academy” training modules completed.  Regular team building and social events, movie nights, games nights, table tennis championships and the annual PhiNomenals awards…. And, most importantly, dozens of clients supported with cost effective, expert, niche consulting services across vendor solutions and pricing & risk.

Do you represent an existing client or a financial institution looking for a new provider of specialist vendor technology services? We are just a 3 hour flight from most European financial centres and we would be delighted to show you around and demonstrate how we can help you. Come and visit us!

Are you a motivated and talented technology or business specialist, looking for your first job in financial technology consulting? We are always looking for the right individuals to expand our teams at all levels of seniority – from graduates to partners! Phi will support you with relevant and structured training and will give you exposure to the world’s leading financial institutions, with excellent opportunities for travel all over Europe and beyond – all the while maintaining the much prized “small company” feel.  Join our team!

Contact us now at info@phipartners.com