In 2020, Asseco invested assets worth more than PLN 5.4 billion outside Poland. This result earned the company a place in the list of "10 top investors abroad" prepared by the monthly magazine "Strefa Biznesu". The ranking includes the largest Polish private investors abroad.

In 2020, Asseco's foreign markets together accounted for nearly 90% of the Group's revenues. During this period, 15 new companies joined the Group. In total, the company has made over 110 acquisitions since 2004. Asseco companies are listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE), NASDAQ and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.

Last year, the Group was joined by several new companies from the Israeli, American and European markets, complementing our offer with interesting products and competences. We continue to analyze our regions of interest and meet with new companies as potential acquisition targets, although due to the pandemic we are more cautious in our decision making. We are taking a close look at companies, including those with whom we have already held talks. We are checking how they cope in the current situation and how they achieve their business goals - said Marek Panek, Vice President of Asseco Poland.

Asseco once again won the "Polish Company - International Champion" contest in the "Investor - large companies" category. According to the organizers of the ranking, the daily newspaper Puls Biznesu and PwC, Asseco was unrivaled among large companies involved in foreign investment.

We are a company that constantly cares about its global development. However, we do not forget that the engine of growth is to operate effectively in local markets. That's why for many years we have been pursuing an active acquisition policy aimed not only at geographic expansion, but also at increasing our sectoral competence. By appearing in a new country, we benefit from the knowledge and practice of local specialists, and this, combined with our international experience, makes it possible to implement the largest projects, said Adam Góral, President of Asseco Poland.

Asseco is a leader in digitization in Poland* and the largest IT company in the Central and Eastern European region. For 30 years it has been developing technologically advanced software for companies in key sectors of the economy. The company is present in 60 countries around the world and employs about 29,000 people. It has been growing organically as well as through acquisitions, of which it has made over 110 since 2004. Asseco’s companies are listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE), NASDAQ and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.

*according to the Computerworld TOP200 report for 2020.

The coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the digitization of companies in the insurance sector, among others, and changed the way they communicate with customers. In the era of rapid digitization, BOTs increasingly support physical employees in their daily duties. With the support from Asseco, one of the medical insurers in Poland - TU Zdrowie - has opted for such an improvement. IGA, the new Intelligent Voice Assistant, will provide the customer with quick answers to questions about their insurance, accept orders for medical services or transfer to the appropriate consultant, which will significantly accelerate the service process.

TU Zdrowie is one of the leading medical insurers in Poland. The company's services are actively used by over 170 thousand customers. In view of the dynamic development associated with growing market demand for healthcare services, the company has decided to introduce a modern technological solution that is expected to improve communication with customers. Designed and implemented by Asseco, the intelligent voice bot, named IGA, operates on the basis of artificial intelligence algorithms and perfectly copes with human speech. The virtual advisor is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

"Modern IT tools are the strength and competitiveness of our services. Medical insurance industry is characterized by a very high frequency of telephone contacts, therefore we care about the development of our contact center by constantly improving the quality of services. The most important thing for us and our customers is that the insured can handle any matter related to their insurance at any time, without any problems and unnecessary waiting. Therefore, we decided to implement Asseco's voicebot, which took over some of the tasks of our employees, relieved their workload, and thus accelerated service by answering customer questions or redirecting them accordingly. IGA's assistance is already invaluable, considering the number of calls we handle, emphasizes Sławomir Koszewski, Member of the Management Board of TU Zdrowie.

The task of IGA is to streamline and speed up the contact so that the customer does not wait in line at the hotline for the availability of a consultant. This offloading of basic tasks from employees will allow them to focus on serving users at later, more demanding stages.

The main goal of the measures that automate given processes is to reduce the time from when the user comes with their question to when they get an answer. Therefore, we first focused on replacing the all-too-familiar IVR (interactive voice response) system with an intelligent solution so that the customer can immediately connect with TU Health and get support. After mapping the needs, we introduced IGA, which aims to correctly identify the customer's problem and find a solution for it. IGA will be constantly improved, and the number of users supported by it will gradually grow, adds Kamil Parzuchowski, Head of Asseco Innovation Hub, Asseco Poland.

The popularity of bots is now a reality. According to the forecast of the Statista portal, by 2025 the market of virtual brand assistants will be worth over USD 1.25 billion. However, as shown by the results of a study conducted by LivePerson company, which got to know the opinions of more than 5 thousand consumers from Europe, North America, Asia and Australia, in 2020, 75% of respondents have at least once dealt with a virtual advisor.

Towarzystwo Ubezpieczeń Zdrowie SA has been operating on the Polish health care market for over 11 years and is the only insurance company specializing in health care for corporate employees. The company already insures more than 170,000 people, who can use more than 3,700 medical facilities throughout the country. In carrying out its mission, it cares about the health and time of the Insured, guaranteeing the shortest access times to specialists, and allowing the freedom to choose the medical facility and the doctor who conducts the treatment. It provides its customers with modern communication tools facilitating contact with a doctor directly or via tele-consultation. TU Zdrowie offers original insurance packages and health programs, occupational medicine, medical diagnostics and hospital care. The high quality of services provided is evidenced by the fact that 98% of customers prolong cooperation with TU Zdrowie. For more information on TU Zdrowie please see: www.tuzdrowie.pl

Asseco is the largest IT company in Poland and Central and Eastern Europe. For 30 years it has been creating technologically advanced software for companies in key sectors of the economy. The company is present in 60 countries worldwide and employs over 29 thousand people. It has been expanding both organically and through acquisitions. Asseco companies are listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE), NASDAQ and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.

Asseco Innovation Hub focuses on reaching interesting projects that are at an early stage of development, supporting their implementation and creation of finished products or services to be included in the Asseco's offer. For more information about Asseco Innovation Hub, please see: https://innovationhub.asseco.com/

2021 is a time of unprecedented digital acceleration. The demand for e-services triggered by the covid-19 pandemic has accelerated technology processes by 5 to 7 years. In the past year, projects were implemented in IT that normally would not have happened or would have been postponed. The increase in importance of e-services was observed, among others, in public administration, health, trade or professional services, for example on the capital market or when concluding transactions electronically. Social acceptance for e-services and the level of citizens' awareness of the possibilities of using them have also increased.  

State registers increasingly computerized

In public administration, there has been a dynamic increase in the demand for digitization and automation of public services. Increasingly more official matters could be handled online, and the trusted profile is already used by over 13 million Poles. Important projects that became operational this year include mPrawo Jazdy or mObywatel (mDriving Licence and mCitizen). The importance of the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) has increased on the map of public digital services.

Last year we implemented projects which allowed to introduce further e-services in public administration. From our perspective, the most important was the takeover of the Good Start program (the so-called 300+) by ZUS.  We implemented a central solution with full automation of process handling for 98% of submitted applications, which made it possible to use the program without a visit to the office and reduced the costs of program handling in subsequent years. Currently, ZUS is building next solutions for handling 500+ and Family Capital Welfare benefits. Another important project for us was the launch of the National Debtors Register ordered by the Ministry of Justice as well as the completion of implementation of the Digital Border for the Ministry of Finance - says Sławomir Szmytkowski, Vice President of Asseco Poland.

A breakthrough year for eHealth

For the digitization of the health care system, 2021 was a landmark year. In the last 12 months, e-prescription or e-referral became operational, and medical phone advice became the norm for lighter illnesses and ailments. In January 2021, the obligation to keep medical records in electronic form was introduced, and in July – to index five documents on the P1 platform. Also important was the introduction of the Prevention 40 PLUS program, which must be reported electronically in order to be billed by a physician. Still an obstacle to full implementation and use of the so-called EDM is the lack of a mechanism to enforce its use, which results in the lack of widespread compliance with these obligations.

In 2021, the most important event for us was the establishment of the company Krajowy Operator Chmury Medycznej (National Medical Cloud Operator - Cloud for Health) specializing in the digitization of healthcare. It executes implementations of electronic medical records (EDM) in the cloud and allows us to offer our customers the latest technological solutions. Last year we also carried out large-scale IT projects in 15 hospitals supervised by the Ministry of Health. Under the project of integration of the nationwide TOPSOR system with our AMMS solution, we implemented a new customer service system in over 100 hospitals across Poland, says Krzysztof Groyecki, Vice President of Asseco Poland.

New developments on the capital market

The digital acceleration was also visible on the capital market. We could observe many new phenomena which had an impact on its development, such as financial institutions building an offer taking into account the needs of passive investors. The importance of robo-advisory services was also growing and brokerage houses were implementing modern platforms for access to brokerage services for retail investors. Integration of online and mobile platforms with banking solutions, as well as digitization of onboarding of stock market investors are becoming increasingly common. An important event last year was the WSE's announcement of the implementation schedule for the new stock exchange system WATS. There is also a growing expectation of financial institutions to "cloud" the IT solutions they provide.

2021 is a very intense time of digital transformation on the capital market. We implemented many complex projects for clients that brought a major technological change. One of the most important events for us was the implementation of a new generation of solutions, including the ePROMAK NEXT and mPROMAK NEXT web and mobile platforms in the Brokerage Office of PKO Bank Polski. We also started work on the next generation of the main PROMAK NEXT brokerage system, which we will be able to present to our clients in 2022 - says Artur Trunowicz, Director of the Capital Market Division at Asseco Poland.

A year driven by the cloud

2021 was undoubtedly the year of the cloud. We saw the rise of cloud computing and a huge demand for cloud services. Due to the pandemic, enterprises were focused on maintaining business continuity and increasing cost efficiency, which translated into increasing use of on-demand, scalable cloud models. There was also growing interest in the technology from public institutions. According to McKinsey & Company, cloud computing solutions implemented in Polish companies and public institutions may bring an additional PLN 121 billion or 4% of GDP to the economy by 2030. An important event on the cloud map was the opening of the Polish branch of Gaia-X, a European project for the development of cloud technology. This is another initiative strengthening the trend related to the development and adoption of cloud technologies on the Polish market. September 2021 saw the launch of a new company within the Asseco Group, namely Asseco Cloud, which is dedicated to the provision of high quality cloud-based services and proprietary data centers.

In 2021, we carried out projects using cloud computing, among others, for clients from the health, trade and telecommunications industries. We signed an agreement with Amercian Heart of Poland, one of the largest providers of medical services on the Polish market, to migrate and maintain the comprehensive Asseco Medical Management Solution in the SaaS model. This system covers several dozen medical facilities and is delivered on the Asseco's cloud basis along with a range of professional IT services. We also continued our strategic cooperation with Dino Poland and supported the company in its digital transformation, by maintaining its key production systems and supporting the implementation of a new ERP system, among others. For the Polsat Plus Group and Netia, we implemented and adopted Office 365 and security solutions based on Microsoft 365 Security - says Lech Szczuka, President of Asseco Cloud.

Cyber security a priority

In 2021, like everyone else, the cybersecurity industry was grappling with the impact of the pandemic on business processes. The remote working model in most companies and institutions meant that the "attack area" increased significantly and it became necessary to manage risks in a very dynamic way and to constantly supplement cyber security solutions. In many cases, the actions of cybercriminals proved to be so effective that the losses of entities attacked, e.g. ransomware, were substantial. Attacks carried out by specialized teams acting in the interest of foreign countries have become even more dangerous. There is a growing awareness that effectively securing one's resources and business processes against cyber attacks is becoming a prerequisite for doing business. The National Cyber Security System Act, for example, helps with this, but there is still much to be done.

In 2021, we delivered and integrated solutions from leading vendors and supported customers in building processes in the area of incident management. We also joined a large research and development project and together with our consortium partners, we aim to create a unique solution to support companies with the most critical resources in combating the most dangerous APT-class attacks. We have also expanded our offerings with our own code security product that is unique in the world. As a result of these efforts, in 2021 we expanded our customer base to include more strategically important companies, including the launch of our partnership with the Polish Post Office. We believe that in 2022, after the completion of Cyber Defense Africa, a project implemented jointly with Asseco Data Systems, further expansion on foreign markets awaits us. We are preparing to support our clients in adapting to new regulations related to the amendment of the National Cyber Security System Act. We also hope to break new ground in the area of providing solutions for practical exercises on how to respond to cyber attacks, says Krzysztof Dyki, President of ComCERT (Asseco Group)

Trust services appreciated by business

2021 was also a landmark year in terms of awareness of the use of trust services, including digital signatures. Increasingly more companies are integrating it into their business processes and customer interactions, and it is also being used by executives in organizations. E-signature has become the beginning or an important part of accelerated digital transformation for many companies and institutions. There are still many challenges ahead for the trust services market, especially due to the lack of sanctioned regulations related to video verification, which hinders the development of e-signature providers on foreign markets, and also due to the amendment of the eIDAS regulation, which will affect this market at the level of the entire European Union.

In 2021, we implemented projects for clients that took their businesses to a new level whether in logistics, sales or customer service. The solutions we offered responded to companies' current challenges of digital transformation. Both mobile e-signatures, created on mobile devices or desktop computers using SimplySign service, and "card" e-signatures, created using a physical card similar to a sim card, were used. The key projects this year include the implementation of e-signature in Plus outlets, digitization of the process of signing lease agreements by Santander Leasing customers, as well as streamlining the logistics processes in Żabka Polska by implementing our qualified trust services - says Artur Miękina, Key Projects Sales Director, Asseco Data Systems.

In connection with the announcement of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) concerning the searches conducted in the headquarters of Asseco Poland, Comarch Healthcare and Bestprojects, in connection with the investigation initiated by the President of UOKiK and concerning a possible anti-competitive agreement that may have been applied in the tendering procedures for supply and implementation of IT systems used by the healthcare service, we would like to inform that from the very beginning the Company declared its full readiness to cooperate with UOKiK's representatives in order to clarify the matter as soon as possible. The Company provided the Office's inspectors with all necessary documents, information and explanations. We hereby declare that the proceedings are of explanatory nature and are not instituted against Asseco Poland.

We fully respect UOKiK's right and obligation to institute proceedings against entrepreneurs who are suspected or reported to be engaged in activities that may limit competition. However, the Management Board emphasizes that the Company in its operations always observes the provisions of the Act of February 16, 2007 on competition and consumer protection.

Please direct any questions concerning this matter directly to the Office, as the competent authority for the ongoing investigation.

Asseco summarizes the #AssecoHelpsChildren charity campaign, whose aim was to support students most in need in accessing knowledge. Out of more than 1300 applications, the jury selected children and youths to whom 300 laptops together with mobile Internet are now distributed. The Podkarpackie Regional Branch of the Polish Red Cross is involved in the campaign, with the Mayor of Rzeszów and the Marshal of the Podkarpackie voivodeship supporting it as partners.

Remote education is one of the challenges we have faced during the pandemic. As of December 20, students are once again switching to this mode of learning, and for many, this means exclusion from access to knowledge. The enormity of this problem was also revealed in the submissions received as part of the campaign. The committee analyzed more than 1300 applications, out of which 300 students were selected to receive new laptops from Asseco. Applications confirmed by teachers and school directors came from all over Podkarpacie region.

The transition of students to distance learning obviously involved the need to purchase many computers to put young people in contact with teachers and peers. Although the financial situation of Polish families has improved considerably in recent years, many of them could hardly afford such expenses, especially families with many children. Therefore, I am glad that as many as 300 laptops with mobile Internet access have been given to schoolchildren most in need in Podkarpacie under the Asseco's charity project. This is a great and necessary support for children and youth in accessing knowledge, and thus an investment in their and our common future, said Władysław Ortyl, Marshal of the Podkarpackie voivodeship.

I am very happy that children in need will receive computers with internet access. I would like to thank everyone involved in this undertaking. I would like to thank the Mayor's Office, the director of the Municipal Social Assistance Centre, the director of the Education Department of the Rzeszów City Hall who put a lot of work and heart into these activities - said Konrad Fijołek, the Mayor of Rzeszów.

The computers have been donated by Asseco Poland S.A. from Rzeszów, celebrating its 30th anniversary of business operations. Internet access is provided by the Plus mobile network operator. The equipment is donated to children and youth through the Podkarpackie Regional Branch of the Polish Red Cross and its cooperating local branches.

Asseco was founded 30 years ago out of passion for creating something new and the need to make dreams come true. And this desire to explore the world has stayed with us until today. In today's world, education, development and the pursuit of passions that are so close to my heart without access to a computer or the Internet are basically impossible. Therefore, we have decided to support children and young people most in need from Rzeszów and the entire Podkarpacie region and donate the equipment which will give them the opportunity to learn, develop their interests and give them a chance for a better future. I am very pleased with the support given to our initiative by the local authorities, i.e. the Marshal of Podkarpackie Voivodeship and the Mayor of the City of Rzeszów, as well as by the Rzeszów Polish Red Cross. I am proud that together we could do something good for the residents of our city and region, says Adam Góral, President of Asseco Poland.

The more than 1,300 submissions we received and thoroughly analyzed pointed us to stories we were aware of, but also stories we didn't know about up until now. Thanks to our involvement in the #AssecoHelpsChildren campaign, we will be able to support more families and get to know them even better. All branches of the Podkarpackie Polish Red Cross are in the process of delivering equipment to selected students from Rzeszów and the voivodeship. We are trying to act as efficiently as possible, as we are aware that reintroduced remote learning often means skipping classes, and equal opportunities in access to knowledge are crucial for education and development - adds Maciej Maruszak, Director of the Podkarpackie Regional Branch of the Polish Red Cross.

The donation and distribution of the equipment to selected students began on December 17 and will continue for the next few weeks.