GFT has renovated its facilities in Zaragoza in order to adapt them to the new culture of the company within Spain and the different ways of working, in addition to laying the physical foundation to boost its growth in the technology sector and expand its staff by 40 professionals. to reach 300 employees by the end of 2023 or 2024.
GFT began its activity in Zaragoza with 40 people in 2001, a year since which it has grown until it currently has a staff of 250 professionals. And, now, the company, which opened one of its first headquarters in Spain precisely in the Aragonese capital, gives new impetus to this work center, in the Trovador Building, with the renovation of the Zaragoza headquarters.
“We expect a substantial growth in Zaragoza and Aragon. The forecast is to end with between 40 or 50 more employees to grow to 300 people throughout 2023 and 2024″, says Manuel Lavín, CEO of GFT, in an interview with the Economist
Between the profiles that the company will incorporate include those in the technological areas and, specifically, related to Data, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and cloud, among others. “They are advanced technologies,” says Lavín, who adds that the lack of talent that many companies in the sector complain about is not a problem for the company. “Luckily, we have attractive projects that make recruitment not traumatic.”
To accommodate the increase in staff, GFT has undertaken a remodeling of its current facilities in Zaragoza. The company has allocated one million euros to do all the physical transformation. But “it is more than an economic investment. It is a new work model. We must raise awareness about working in a different way” such as, for example, in remote teams, agile methodologies, with large teams or using telematic tools to work remotely or with distributed members, among others.
“We have adapted the facilities to the new ways of working with our employees. We are a technology company and we were already working with the remote model, but COVID-19 accelerated it,” he says. Furthermore, the company has been moving towards a model, the Working From Home 3.0, more flexible and hybrid and facilitator of conciliation of work and personal life.
“We assume in our DNA that employees can telework 100%. For two years, they have been able to come one day a week, all five or none to work all remotely from Zaragoza or a second residence anywhere in Spain,” adds the manager.
Zaragoza hosts the Center of Excellence in Cybersecurity from which work is carried out worldwide
In this way, a new office concept is given because “it is no longer needed to work, but the office becomes a more collaborative environment, for meetings, for socialization. The new structure is more oriented towards this, with more collaborative areas, to have meetings…”.
Specifically, in the center of Zaragoza, GFT has 80 permanent jobsbut there is more than 202 collaborative different to facilitate meetings between three people or a co-creation session, among other options. There are 12 meeting rooms of different sizes, as well as spaces for collaborative work and video calls.
From banking to other sectors
Zaragoza is one of the key centers of GFT activity in Spain and also in the world. Precisely, the Zaragoza headquarters hosts the Cybersecurity Center of Excellence, supporting everyone. Specifically, the activity carried out in this field in countries such as the United Kingdom, Singapore, Switzerland or Germany is coordinated from the Aragonese capital.
This center of excellence, employing 70 people throughout Spain, is specialized in cybersecurity, but this is not the only line. From Zaragoza he also coordinates internally for GFT Spain the occupational risk prevention and labor relations units, and the implementation of the equality plan.
The company plans to incorporate between 40 and 50 new professionals with ICT profiles
Precisely, in this last field, actions to promote and incorporate female talent in the ICT sector stand out. With this objective, different programs are available such as those aimed at young women between 10 and 18 years of age interested in STEAM degrees, in addition to collaborating with universities to attract female talent or initiatives such as Woman Tech to promote the soft skills among professionals.
They are technological areas in which You don’t just work with banking. GFT has diversified its activity. “Historically, we are a financial company. This has made us leverage our knowledge in the financial sector, which is one of the most advanced in technology and security. But, for three years, we have also been in the industrial, logistics or manufacturing sector” , among others. “We have clients in the financial sector, but increasingly in the industrial sector.”
In addition, the company is a partner of Amazon Web Services (AWS) for the development of cloud services. “Aragon is a reference center in cloud computing“says Manuel Lavín. Zaragoza has also participated in the largest financial merger in Germany in the last two years.
Among the next steps, the process to obtain the Social Responsibility of Aragon (RSA) seal stands out, based on values such as awareness, commitment, training and transparency.
In Spain, GFT has been operating since 2001. In addition to Zaragoza, it has headquarters in Alicante, Lérida, Madrid, Sant Cugat (Barcelona) and Valencia. It employs more than 2,000 people.
On the occasion of the updating of the facilities, GFT has organized an opening event in which it has included different authorities and institutional representatives such as the mayor of Zaragoza, Natalia Chueca; the vice-rector for Students and Employment of the University of Zaragoza, Ángela Rosa Alcala; the general director of CEOE Aragón, Jesús Arnau; the Councilor for Digital Transformation of the Zaragoza City Council, Miguel Ángel García Muro, and the general director of the Women’s Institute, María Antoñanzas, among others.
