The unassuming technology company Adastra is riding the wave of change in a number of industries and is growing. The Canadian-Czech company, which focuses on data management and information management, has just received a huge order from the second largest bank in Canada, Toronto-Dominion.
“Medium-sized companies also approach us and entrust us with constructing the entire system. Based on this experience we gain ground with big companies, which is how the strategy of big data for the second largest Canadian bank Toronto-Dominion will not be provided by IBM, Accenture or Terrado, but by Adastra,” said one of the founders, Jan Mrázek, in an interview with Mlada Fronta Dnes.
According to him, many companies today increasingly solve what is referred to in business as “Big Data”, the large amount of information on customers, for instance. According to him, it is mainly seen in banks, telecommunications, but also need large manufacturing firms.
Already today the company provides it for most Czech banks and insurance companies, as well as for mobile operators – and the number of automakers is also increasing. Interest in “data” and its use is growing unprecedentedly.
“20 years ago, when I was talking with the leadership of a Canadian bank and tried to persuade them of some concepts of information management, they looked at me as if I was crazy. What ideas could an IT guy bring to the bank’s board of directors? They took IT as just something that solves the main functions of the system, but they did not understand the other possibilities. But we all live in that world now,” added Mrázek, who spends most of his time in Toronto but flies regularly to Europe.
The company was founded in 2000 and is still owned by three Czechs, Jan Červinka, Petr Jech and Mrázek, who is now one of the most prominent faces of the company. Mrázek emigrated to Germany in 1988 and later moved on to Canada, where he advised local banks on information management already in the 90s.
Revenue Growth of Up to 10 Percent
Thanks to him, today the group’s centre of gravity of its business is in Canada. Adastra Group now represents several companies with more than 900 employees in offices worldwide.
“Canada accounts for about 50 percent of our business, with Czechs comprising the second largest market, then Slovakia and Germany. Regarding our software division, the most advanced is in the US,” he added. Currently, the group wants to strengthen themselves especially in the United States in the coming years.
Company revenues grow every year. This year the company expects total global sales of around $102 million, or roughly CZK 2.5 billion. Next year, sales should increase by more than ten percent to $116 million.
Source: iDnes.cz