What's New
at CluneTech

At CluneTech, continuous learning is at the heart of our culture. In 2025, CluneTech’s subsidiary Fintua launched the Fintua Tax Academy, a comprehensive training programme designed to equip colleagues with deep knowledge of EU VAT, practical skills, and the confidence to tackle complex challenges in their daily work.

The goal of Fintua was to create an internal training series that goes beyond theory. While external courses exist, developing an in-house programme allows the content to be tailored to real-life scenarios and business-specific challenges, ensuring every session is directly relevant, practical, and immediately applicable.

“Our aim was to show that behind the Excel tables and daily routines, there is so much more to understand and appreciate. Participating in this type of training reshapes the way colleagues think about their work, the value they create, and how they collaborate across teams,” explains Péter Árpás, the main driver of the programme.

From April to October 2025, the Academy hosted seven sessions - two in-person and five online, covering the EU VAT system, legal background and EU Court decisions, and practical examples from advisory experience. The series concluded with a final exam in late November, consisting of more than 60 questions. Out of 70 participants from Bulgaria, Ireland, and Hungary, 40 successfully participated in and passed an exam, with 21 achieving results above 80%.

A graduation ceremony in Varna this February marked the successful completion of the exam, with top performers recognized for their exceptional achievement.

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Building on the success of the first year, Fintua is already preparing its 2026 programme. The next edition will be even more practical, featuring new lecturers and an open invitation for anyone who wants to participate, regardless of previous involvement.

Beyond its global reach and automated, highly integrated platform offering a full suite of indirect tax solutions, Fintua’s VAT Academy adds one more key advantage: the deep VAT expertise of its long-term professionals, handling complex VAT cases for clients such as Nestlé, Google, IBM, Mondelez, and many others.

The Fintua Tax Academy demonstrates CluneTech’s commitment to investing in our people. Beyond providing essential knowledge, it fosters professional curiosity, strengthens collaboration across teams, and empowers colleagues to step into advanced roles.

At CluneTech, growth is a team effort, and initiatives like the Fintua Tax Academy ensure that every colleague has the tools and confidence to progress their development.  

Fintua are currently hiring in various roles across our global teams in Tech and Finance. See their current vacancies at https://fintua.com/careers/.

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Friday, February 6th 2026. CluneTech was proud to celebrate the achievements of Kilkenny’s emerging young talent as it hosted the Kilkenny GAA and Camogie Academy Awards at its Kilkenny HQ on January 27th and 28^th. Held over two evenings, the awards recognised the dedication and commitment of theU16 Kilkenny GAA hurling and football squads, alongside the U15 Kilkenny Camogie Academy and Development squads.
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Over both evenings, a small number of players from hurling, football and camogie were also selected for the Driver of Excellence Awards, recognising individuals who demonstrated outstanding commitment, leadership and determination throughout the season, both on and off the pitch. Players were joined by their families, coaches and mentors to mark an important milestone in their development journey.
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Special guest speakers across the two nights included CluneTech’s Derek Lyng for hurling, Christy Walsh for football and Aoife Prendergast for camogie. Each shared valuable insights and encouragement with the young athletes as they continue their progression within the academy pathways.

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CluneTech has been the main sponsor of both the Kilkenny GAA Academy (Na Cait Óga) and the Kilkenny Camogie Academy since 2024, under a three-year partnership supporting more than 500 players across both pathways. The sponsorship helps fund essential operational and player-welfare costs, including transport, equipment, nutrition and medical supports, ensuring a high-performance environment can be sustained for young athletes across the county.
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Terry Clune, Founder and CEO of CluneTech, said:

“We were delighted to host the Kilkenny GAA and Camogie Academy Awards at our Kilkenny HQ and to celebrate the hard work and commitment shown by these young players throughout their academy journey. CluneTech is proud to support both academies and to play a role in developing the next generation of Kilkenny athletes. We would like to thank the coaches, mentors, parents and all involved for the dedication they continue to show year after year.”
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This sponsorship forms part of CluneTech’s award-winning CSR programme, CluneTech Cares. Established in 2007 and created by its people, for its people, the programme supports charities and causes worldwide while having a strong local impact in Kilkenny and in the communities where CluneTech operates.
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Speaking at the event, Sean Kelly, Kilkenny GAA Performance Lead, said:

“The Academy Awards are an important point in the development pathway, giving us an opportunity to recognise the work and commitment shown by our players throughout the year. For our U16 hurlers and footballers, this marks a key stage as they continue to progress within the Kilkenny system, building strong habits around preparation, discipline and performance.

Nights like this reflect the high standards being set across the academy and the collective effort of players, coaches and families in supporting long-term development both on and off the pitch.”
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Tommy Farrell, Kilkenny Camogie Development Officer, added:

“This was a really special evening for Kilkenny Camogie, bringing players, families and coaches together to celebrate the progress made by our U15 academy and development squads. It’s important to take time to acknowledge the enjoyment, confidence and personal growth that comes from being part of the academy journey.

The awards night captured the positive atmosphere around the programme and highlighted the strong sense of community that supports our young players as they continue to develop and enjoy the game.”
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PJ Kenny, Chairman of Kilkenny GAA, said:

“The Academy Awards are an important occasion in the underage calendar, giving young players the opportunity to be recognised for their commitment and effort throughout the year. It is a proud moment for players, families and coaches, and a reminder of the standards being developed within the Kilkenny academy pathway.”
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Theresa Aylward, Kilkenny Camogie Chairperson, added:

“Kilkenny Camogie is delighted with our partnership with CluneTech, as we share many common values, standards and a strong sense of identity. Their support allows us to continue developing and supporting our young camogie players, and occasions like the Academy Awards are an important opportunity to recognise their progress and encourage them as they work to reach their potential within Kilkenny’s high-performance environment.”

The two awards evenings reflected the strength of the partnership between CluneTech, Kilkenny GAA and Kilkenny Camogie, and a shared commitment to providing young players with a supportive and high-quality development environment. As the academy programmes continue to grow, the focus remains on nurturing talent, building character and ensuring that young athletes across the county are given every opportunity to reach their potential both on and off the pitch.
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For more information, please contact:

Lauren Cleere, CluneTech, lauren.cleere@clunetech.com  

Mary Morgan, Kilkenny GAA PRO, pro.kilkenny@gaa.ie

Aoife Lanigan, Kilkenny Camogie PRO, pro.kilkenny@camogie.ie

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At CluneTech, we have an extensive Milestone Recognition Program that rewards employees that choose to build a long and successful career with us. As part of this programme, we love celebrating and sharing the stories of those reaching major milestones with the company.

This month we caught up with Fintua's Chief Financial Officer Edward Furlong who has been a part of the team for the last 15 years.

What is your favourite thing about working in CluneTech / Fintua?

The people. In Fintua, we have a core of really good people that have been here a long time.

What has been your biggest achievement or highlight since joining CluneTech / Fintua?

My appointment as Chief Financial Officer.

Who or what has inspired you the most during your time here?

The dedication of our staff, in particular the Bulgarian based employees. The level of effort and automation they have brought into work practices over the past number of years has been remarkable.

What is the biggest change that you have witnessed in your time here?

The automation across lots of processes during my time here at Fintua.

I have also witnessed the growth in many of our businesses from the foundations of being mainly an income tax refunds business  which was very manual to being a key player in the Fintech space.

What is the greatest challenge that you have faced in your time here and how did you overcome it?

Covid completely changed the focus of our business. The majority of what we did prior to that was based around travel. This presented huge challenges from a budgeting and cashflow perspective.

In the same period Comply was also being developed.

What has been your favourite project to work on?

The rebrand project led by the marketing team was interesting to be involved in.

There are lots of elements of automation that we are working through at the moment so hard to choose a favourite.

If you had to swap roles with someone in the company for a week, who would it be and why?

Anywhere within the Sales function. I get lots of Sales phone calls so would be nice to be on the other side of the fence, for just a week!

Do you have advice for someone who is just starting their career in CluneTech / Fintua?

Don’t be afraid of change and embrace new ways of doing things.

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On February 17th, CluneTech, a fintech group with over 1,200 employees worldwide, received the "Employer Supporting Parents with Children" award by the Bulgarian Parents' Academy.

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The Academy is one of the country’s largest communities, uniting specialists and organizations that support families. The inaugural edition of the awards seeks to highlight best practices in creating work environments that support parents with children.

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With over 300 parents among its employees in Bulgaria alone, CluneTech was recognized in two categories: "Employers Offering the Most Flexibility" and "Employers with Innovative Ideas for Future Parenting Policies."

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What sets CluneTech apart from other employers in the country is its high level of flexibility. In Bulgaria, 40% of employees work fully remotely, 45% follow a hybrid model, and only 15% work exclusively from the office.

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Some of the benefits CluneTech offers its employees to support work-life balance and childcare include extra annual leave days, flex hours, which allow employees to complete their weekly hours over 4.5 days, and Lifework Days —a half-day each quarter employees can use to take care of personal matters.

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“Besides the long list of traditional employee benefits such as additional health insurance, sports cards, and food vouchers, we are deeply committed to providing social and emotional support for our employees. Naturally, this support extends to parents as well. In addition to the fun celebrations and initiatives we organize for the children and families of our employees, we also support our colleagues during life's difficult moments. This includes miscarriage leave, extended leave for the loss of a loved one, and an Employee Assistance Program, providing free 24-hour psychological support for employees and their family members," shared Ekaterina Hristova, HR Manager at CluneTech in Bulgaria.

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This is CluneTech’s second accolade in Bulgaria in 2025, after climbing to number 14 in the prestigious Top 100 Best Employers Ranking by Career Show Index.

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CluneTech is proud to announce its 14th-place ranking in the "Top 100 Best Employers in Bulgaria" for 2025, as recognized by the annual Career Show Index in Bulgaria.

This achievement marks a significant advancement from our 46th position in 2023, reflecting our dedication to continuous improvement. Our success is attributed to several accolades received over the past few years, including Best Employer in Fintech, Work-Life Balance Strategy, and Employee Benefits Strategy.

The Career Show Index honours employers who demonstrate consistent efforts in providing excellent working conditions and enhancing the workplace atmosphere. CluneTech's recognition highlights our successful adaptation to the evolving expectations of the employees.

"We congratulate CluneTech on their success in the 2025 Top 100 Best Employers in Bulgaria ranking! It is an honour for us to highlight employers who have demonstrated successful practices and strategies for employee development and care. We are pleased that through the Bulgarian awards for best employer, we can present innovative, creative, and effective employee care and working conditions improvement projects that would otherwise be unseen by the public. Participation in awards and making it to prestigious rankings is an excellent opportunity to give voice to good examples in the work of a company," shared the organisers.

The "Top 100 Best Employers in Bulgaria" ranking is part of Career Show's annual initiative, which includes the largest career expo in the country and the Career Show Awards, the leading awards for best employer and employer brand. The ranking is based on the awards CluneTech received in this esteemed competition.

The full list of the top 100 employers can be found on the Career Show website.

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Monday, 19th February 2024. Kilkenny-headquartered software technology group, CluneTech, has been recognised at the 2024 b2b Media Employer Branding Awards at a Gala Awards ceremony held in the Astoria Garden Hotel, Sofia last Friday.

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Now in its seventh year, the b2b Media Employer Branding Awards celebrate the achievements of the HR and Communications departments of companies that are focusing on creating a positive employee experience and driving talent development. The awards are vital for promoting best practice in HR and employer branding, as they enable Bulgaria’s leading employers to showcase the unique and innovative ways in which they are creating industry leading cultures for their people.

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This is CluneTech’s sixth year participating in these awards. At a captivating ceremony in Bulgaria’s capital city, Sofia, Kristina Ilieva and Niya Boncheva from CluneTech’s Marketing & Communications Team accepted two awards on behalf of the company.

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CluneTech were thrilled to be recognised in two categories:

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Our Management of New Employees award goes for the company’s enhanced onboarding process, which features a Workvivo New Hires Space, a series of step-by-step guidance emails for candidates and new starters, and the implementation of a brand-new e-signature solution for all employee-related documents which has reduced the paper usage by 30,000 sheets annually in Bulgaria alone.

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CluneTech were also awarded in the category Employer Branding Idea for their CSR Spotlight Charity of the Month initiative which resulted in a significant amount of donations for a wide range of charitable causes in the past year. CluneTech’s Spotlight Charity of the month is fully driven by their employees across the globe, who actively participated by sharing photos of their physical activities on their internal communications platform, Workvivo, over the past year.  For every employee who participated in the initiative, CluneTech donated between €5 and €50 to selected charities and causes each month. The initiative is part of the company’s global CSR Programme, CluneTech Cares, which sees the company support the charities and causes their employees hold dearest to their hearts.

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Following the recognition, Ekaterina Hristova, HR Manager for CluneTech in Bulgaria, said:

“We are truly over the moon to have won the Management of New Employees Award and we are proud that the progress we made in improving our onboarding process in the last year has not gone unnoticed. This recognition is a huge team effort by both our HR and Communications teams, and represents our commitment to creating a top-notch experience throughout the whole employee journey with CluneTech.”

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Kristina Ilieva, Marketing and Communications Specialist at CluneTech’s Team added:

“Our people are the driving force behind all the amazing changes in our workplace. It is their feedback and participation that continues to shape our CSR and Great Place to Work programmes, and our overall #OneTeam culture. There is no doubt that each one of us plays a fundamental role in making CluneTech a great place to work and recognitions like this prove we are on the right track.”

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Learn more about CluneTech’s career opportunities and our amazing #OneTeam culture here.

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At CluneTech, continuous learning is at the heart of our culture. In 2025, CluneTech’s subsidiary Fintua launched the Fintua Tax Academy, a comprehensive training programme designed to equip colleagues with deep knowledge of EU VAT, practical skills, and the confidence to tackle complex challenges in their daily work.

The goal of Fintua was to create an internal training series that goes beyond theory. While external courses exist, developing an in-house programme allows the content to be tailored to real-life scenarios and business-specific challenges, ensuring every session is directly relevant, practical, and immediately applicable.

“Our aim was to show that behind the Excel tables and daily routines, there is so much more to understand and appreciate. Participating in this type of training reshapes the way colleagues think about their work, the value they create, and how they collaborate across teams,” explains Péter Árpás, the main driver of the programme.

From April to October 2025, the Academy hosted seven sessions - two in-person and five online, covering the EU VAT system, legal background and EU Court decisions, and practical examples from advisory experience. The series concluded with a final exam in late November, consisting of more than 60 questions. Out of 70 participants from Bulgaria, Ireland, and Hungary, 40 successfully participated in and passed an exam, with 21 achieving results above 80%.

A graduation ceremony in Varna this February marked the successful completion of the exam, with top performers recognized for their exceptional achievement.

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Building on the success of the first year, Fintua is already preparing its 2026 programme. The next edition will be even more practical, featuring new lecturers and an open invitation for anyone who wants to participate, regardless of previous involvement.

Beyond its global reach and automated, highly integrated platform offering a full suite of indirect tax solutions, Fintua’s VAT Academy adds one more key advantage: the deep VAT expertise of its long-term professionals, handling complex VAT cases for clients such as Nestlé, Google, IBM, Mondelez, and many others.

The Fintua Tax Academy demonstrates CluneTech’s commitment to investing in our people. Beyond providing essential knowledge, it fosters professional curiosity, strengthens collaboration across teams, and empowers colleagues to step into advanced roles.

At CluneTech, growth is a team effort, and initiatives like the Fintua Tax Academy ensure that every colleague has the tools and confidence to progress their development.  

Fintua are currently hiring in various roles across our global teams in Tech and Finance. See their current vacancies at https://fintua.com/careers/.

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At CluneTech, we have an extensive Milestone Recognition Program that rewards employees that choose to build a long and successful career with us. As part of this programme, we love celebrating and sharing the stories of those reaching major milestones with the company.

This month we caught up with Viktoria Kurteva, Front End Developer at Sprintax. She has been on our team for the last 5 years.

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What is your favourite thing about working in CluneTech / Sprintax?

My favorite thing about working in CluneTech is the team I work with. We’ve built a strong and open way of communicating, with a lot of mutual understanding and trust. Everyone is approachable, open to questions, and always willing to help when needed. Beyond the professional environment, I’ve also had the chance to build meaningful connections and friendships that extend outside of work, which makes the experience even more valuable.

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What has been your biggest achievement or highlight since joining CluneTech / Sprintax?

‍Having been with CluneTech for five years, my biggest achievement has been my professional growth within the company. I joined shortly after graduating, and through continuous learning and commitment, I was able to demonstrate my potential and take on increasing responsibility. This journey eventually led to the opportunity to step into a Team Lead role, which I see as both a personal milestone and a reflection of the trust and support I’ve received along the way.

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What is the biggest change that you have witnessed inyour time here?

‍The biggest change I’ve witnessed is the growth and evolution of the team I’m part of. When I joined, the team consisted of just three people, and today it has grown to twelve. Along with this growth came new dynamics, stronger collaboration, and a more structured way of working together. It’s been interesting to see how the team has evolved while maintaining open communication and a supportive environment.

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What is the greatest challenge that you have faced inyour time here and how did you overcome it?

‍One of the greatest challenges I’ve faced has been growing both professionally and personally. From the very beginning, it required stepping outside my comfort zone to communicate with more experienced colleagues, ask questions, and actively learn.

Over time, I needed to take on more responsibility and make decisions on my own, which was initially intimidating. Today, many of the things that once felt challenging are now part of my everyday work.

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What has been your favourite project to work on?

I’ve really enjoyed projects where I could both contribute technically and support the team’s growth. Working on challenging front-end tasks while also helping colleagues solve problems, share knowledge, and improve collaboration has been very rewarding. I particularly value opportunities where I can learn new approaches and see how our work positively impacts the product and the team.

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Do you have advice for someone who is just starting their career in CluneTech / Sprintax?

My advice would be not to be afraid to reach out to your colleagues and communicate openly in the workflow. Ask questions whenever you have them, seek feedback, and don’t hesitate to share your ideas or suggestions. Make the most of your time, stay curious, and take every opportunity to learn as much as you can from those around you.

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At CluneTech, we have an extensive Milestone Recognition Program that rewards employees that choose to build a long and successful career with us. As part of this programme, we love celebrating and sharing the stories of those reaching major milestones with the company.

This month we caught up with CluneTech's Head of Design, Elena Stefanova who has been on our team for the last 15 years.
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What is your favorite thing about working in CluneTech?
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The opportunity to work in an international environment and meet people from different cultures.

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What has been your biggest achievement or highlight since joining CluneTech?
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One life-changing achievement was the opportunity to upskill from a graphic designer to a motion designer, using After Effects. It had been a childhood dream of mine to create motion graphics and animations. However, my biggest overall achievement within the company has been progressing through every career stage—from junior designer to Head of Design.

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What is the biggest change that you have witnessed in your time here?
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Relocating the office from Tsar Simeon to Bacho Kiro and changing the company name to CluneTech.

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What is the greatest challenge that you have faced in your time here and how did you overcome it?
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Without a doubt, it was the renovation of the new Lounge and Meeting Space in the basement (formerly the Martini Bar)—from the interior design concept to full realization. It required countless hours of research into commercial space requirements, including layout planning, lighting, safety, and dimension regulations, along with completing a six-month Interior Design course at SoftUni. It was a huge commitment for everyone involved, sometimes exceeding 10 hours of work per day, seven days a week.

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What has been your favorite project to work on?
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Creating videos with Zory for company parties— the videos on the Brick Port walls in recent years and the CluneTech event videos from previous years.

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Do you have advice for someone who is just starting their career in CluneTech?
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The company offers great opportunities for career growth and job security—be wise and make the most of them.

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At CluneTech, we have an extensive Milestone Recognition Program that rewards employees that choose to build a long and successful career with us. As part of this programme, we love celebrating and sharing the stories of those reaching major milestones with the company.

This month we caught up with TransferMate's Financial Crime Subject Matter Expert, Nelda Montalvo who has been on our team for the last 2 years.
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What is your favorite thing about working in CluneTech / TransferMate?
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I love that every day is different. I get to work on interesting cases and learn something new all the time. Plus, the teamwork here is great! Everyone is so willing to help out.
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What has been your biggest achievement or highlight since joining CluneTech / TransferMate?
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Moving into the Financial Crime Subject Matter Expert role has been a big highlight for me. It’s been really rewarding to grow in this area and work on some challenging investigations.
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Who or what has inspired you the most during your time here?
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Definitely the people I work with. There’s so much experience and knowledge in the team, and everyone is so open to sharing what they know.
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What is the biggest change that you have witnessed in your time here?
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I’d say the way our processes and systems have evolved. It’s great to see how we’re improving all the time, especially in how we handle financial crime risks.
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What is the greatest challenge that you have faced in your time here and how did you overcome it?
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Some of the complex cases I’ve worked on were definitely challenging, especially when quick decisions were needed. I just focused on staying calm, asking the right questions, and working closely with the team. 
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What has been your favorite project to work on?
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I’ve enjoyed the investigations where I could really dig into unusual activity and spot patterns. It’s challenging work, but it’s really satisfying.
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Do you have advice for someone who is just starting their career in CluneTech / TransferMate?
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Be curious and don’t be afraid to ask questions and take every chance to learn from the people around you.
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At CluneTech, we have an extensive Milestone Recognition Program that rewards employees that choose to build along and successful career with us. As part of this programme, we love celebrating and sharing the stories of those reaching major milestones with the company.

This month we caught up with Kristina Ilieva, Marketing & Communications Specialist at CluneTech, who has been on our team for the last 10 years.

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What is your favorite thing about working in CluneTech?

Time flies when you're having fun and surrounded by great people. I feel really lucky to have spent these ten years working alongside incredibly smart, down-to-earth, and supportive colleagues. This sense of camaraderie is truly one of the best things about the group, and it remains unmatched by any other team I’ve encountered in my career so far.

What has been your biggest achievement or highlight since joining CluneTech?

It’s definitely not the awards, no, no!

At the end of the day, my highlight is helping to create and foster a workplace where we support each other and gravitate toward the same values: respect, innovation, and passion for what we do. And let’s not forget all the great moments and parties we’ve shared, too.

What is the greatest challenge that you have faced in your time here and how did you overcome it?

As an introverted person, my role as a Communications Specialist has definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone. It’s taught me that being in the spotlight isn’t an act of selfishness, especially when you have something meaningful to say. The same goes for my amazing colleagues, whose knowledge, successes, and inspiring stories we’ve shared with the wider audience over the years. Highlighting these great examples, inspiring others, and keeping people’s spirits high is a success I’m proud of.

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What has been your favourite project to work on?

There’s no single task or project I admire above the rest. Everything—from communications and writing to events, charity work, educational programs for students, and even marketing and organizational tasks—serves as an outlet for my personality. I’m deeply curious about human nature and what drives us, and I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to work with so many people from diverse backgrounds, nationalities, and personalities.

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Do you have advice for someone who is just starting their career in CluneTech?

Dive deep into your role, and be open to learning from your mentors. Don’t give up easily when you face challenges. Instead, try to be creative, learn, and find your way through!

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At CluneTech, we have an extensive Milestone Recognition Program that rewards employees that choose to build along and successful career with us. As part of this programme, we love celebrating and sharing the stories of those reaching major milestones with the company.

This month we caught up with Rory Lynskey, Senior Content Creator at Sprintax, who has been on our team for the last 5 years.

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What is your favorite thing about working in CluneTech / Sprintax?

It’s difficult to name just one thing, but if I had to pick then my favorite thing about working here has to be the people and the culture (that’s one, right? 😅).

Everyone here is so supportive, talented, and passionate about what they do. It’s great to be part of a team where innovation and teamwork go hand in hand.

What has been your biggest achievement or highlight since joining CluneTech / Sprintax?

The Taxback blog restoration project was a big highlight, reversing the decline in page views on the blog site, and the Content and SEO teams deserve a lot of praise for finding a way to do that and putting the hours into make it happen.

Personally, being promoted to Senior Content Creator was also a great moment.

Who or what has inspired you the most during your time here?

It’d be hard to pick just one person! Working with such a talented and supportive team makes every challenge easier! There’s always someone willing to lend a hand or share some expert knowledge to help with any situation.

What is the biggest change that you have witnessed in your time here?

I have seen big changes at all the brands I have worked on since I joined. Overall, I’d say each brand is now a lot more polished than when I joined, and they look better than ever.

The improvements in design, messaging, and overall presentation really make them stand out to me.
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What is the greatest challenge that you have faced in your time here and how did you overcome it?

I’d probably have to say COVID. I was only in the door of the company, getting used to the 9-5 lifestyle after fours years of college and all of a sudden I was working from home for the first time. Almost everyone else was in the same boat, however, so it made it a lot easier trying to navigate the WFH world!

What has been your favourite project to work on?

I really enjoy my work with Sprintax, there’s always so much going on and particularly at this time of year, with it being US tax season. The Dividends project as a whole is very exciting and challenging to work on so I’ll go with that.

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Do you have advice for someone who is just starting their career in CluneTech / Sprintax?

My biggest piece of advice for someone starting their career at CluneTech is to be proactive.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions - everyone here is really supportive and always willing to help. Take the time to learn about what you are working on, embrace new challenges, and get involved in different projects!

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This April, CluneTech has donated 4.5 tons of cement-based floor screed to the Center for Medical and Social Care for Children in Varna (Vinitsa District).

The donation will be used for the construction of a brand new ward for complex care for children with chronic diseases and impairments up to seven years old. The ward will include rooms where children experiencing severe and chronic health challenges with uncertain prognoses can stay with their parents. Additionally, it will incorporate facilities for rehabilitation, physiotherapy, medical manipulation rooms, and space for individual activities. This project will ensure our city has a modern medical ward that provides complex care and assists children with severe chronic diseases and their families in dealing not only with the physical pain resulting from their conditions but also the emotional suffering they endure.

Long after its founding in 1953, the Center for Medical and Social Care in Varna only provided care to children aged 0 to 3. However, at this stage, the center boasts a multidisciplinary team of psychologists, physiotherapists, doctors, nurses, and speech therapists who provide comprehensive support to a wide group of children, ranging from premature babies to those up to eighteen years old. Many of these children have severe chronic, neurological, or genetic conditions, necessitating 24/7 medical supervision.

A long-time partner of CluneTech Cares, the medical centre in Vinitsa is the largest facility of its kind in the Northeast of Bulgaria, providing medical care and rehabilitation to premature babies and children with neurological and orthopedic problems. With donations of over €12,000 which we have made throughout the years, we have helped the centre to purchase important equipment such as hospital beds, therapeutic chairs, baby monitoring devices, two air conditioning units, a portable oxygen concentrator, a neonatal pulse oximeter, a patient monitoring system and more.

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Friday 19 April, 2024 Kilkenny. Kilkenny-based software technology group, CluneTech, has been announced as the main sponsor of Kilkenny Tennis Club’s new Padel Tennis Court, which was completed in March 2024. The official opening event, which is due to take place this Saturday, April 20, will incorporate a Charity Tennis Tournament and social event, with all funds generated being donated to the Carlow Kilkenny Homecare Team.

Founded in 1879, Kilkenny Tennis Club is a not-for-profit club with all funds generated being reinvested in their tennis facilities and the development of the game. With over 1,200members, split into 700 seniors and 500 juniors, it is one of the largest and best regional tennis clubs in Ireland. It is a very active club with high grade facilities and always welcomes new members and visitors.

“Our club is very proud of our many achievements with our members winning numerous regional and national titles, our representative teams winning many Provincial Cups and a number of members having represented Ireland at international level.” Brian Doyle, President, Kilkenny Tennis Club

This sponsorship is part of CluneTech’s award-winning CSR Programme, CluneTech Cares. Established in 2007, CluneTech Cares is created by their people, for their people, and while the programme supports deserving charities and causes all over the world, it is driven by employee requests and has a momentous impact locally, both in Kilkenny, and in the various other communities where the company operates. This significant investment will enable Kilkenny Tennis Club to be the first in the region to offer Padel Tennis, the world’s fastest-growing racket sport, to its members.

“We are delighted to sponsor Kilkenny Tennis Club’s new Padel court,” said Terry Clune, CEO and Founder of CluneTech. “As an organisation, we are passionate about giving back and we are proud to support a number of fantastic local clubs in Kilkenny where our HQ is located. I’d like to give a special mention and thanks to our own team members, Eoin Dunphy, Éanna Brady, James Murphy, Patrick Dalton and Patrick O’Neill, who are all dedicated members of Kilkenny Tennis Club. Without them, this sponsorship wouldn’t have been possible. Padel tennis is a new and innovate sport, and we are really excited to play a part in ensuring it has a home right here in Kilkenny.”

Padel Tennis is played on an enclosed court, one third the size of a traditional tennis court. Its format is doubles and it uses traditional tennis scoring, combining action with fun and social interaction. It’s a fantastic sport for players of all ages and skills, as it is both quick and easy to pick up, with most players understanding the basics within the first half hour of play.  

Edwin Walsh, Captain, Kilkenny Tennis Club, said: “Kilkenny Tennis Club was founded in 1879 at its current location in Archersfield, Kilkenny. As one of the largest tennis clubs in the country with 1,300 members, ranging in age from 2 to over 82, Kilkenny Tennis Club is constantly reinvesting in its facilities to enhance its members’ experience. On behalf of the Committee and members of Kilkenny Tennis Club, I would like to thank Terry and all the team at CluneTech for the incredibly generous sponsorship of our new Padel Court which is part of a wider redevelopment of playing surfaces and other facilities. We are immensely proud to be associated with such a progressive and innovative team and look forward to developing our partnership over the coming years.”

Jimmy Morrow, Development Chairman, Kilkenny Tennis Club, said: "We are delighted to have CluneTech join us as Sponsor of our new Padel Tennis Court and we very much value their significant investment in our club which enables us to greatly enhance our Sporting facilities with this innovative addition.”

In addition to the innovation this sport embodies, Kilkenny Tennis Club have also launched a green energy project, which to date has seen the installation of energy saving LED tennis flood lighting, reducing electricity consumption by over 44%; the installation of 36 Solar PV panels which allows the club to generate its own power, supplying any excess to the National Grid; air to water source heat pump which uses electricity generated from the club’s Solar PV system. The club’s commitment to reducing their environmental impact is just one of the reasons that CluneTech made the decision to support the club.

“At CluneTech, we always aim to support clubs, charities and causes whose values reflect our own,” said Rachael Quinlan, Head of Employee Experience, CluneTech. “Sustainability is one of the key pillars of our CSR Programme and we are super impressed at the club’s efforts to date. In addition, we recognise the importance of work-life balance and knowing that a number of our own team are also club members, made the decision to sponsor their new Padel Club a no brainer.”

Our CSR Programme - CluneTech Cares, is a fantastic representation of what we are - a team of truly caring individuals giving our best to support and add value, not only to our customers, but also to the communities in which we operate.

As part of our CSR Spotlight, we dedicated the month of March to celebrating World Autism Awareness. With this in mind, we are delighted to share an interview with John McCarthy, Facilities Manager, CluneTech, and his son Adam, who we consider an honorary CluneTech employee. For those who have had the pleasure of meeting Adam, they will be familiar with his bubbly and outgoing personality which brings so much joy to our HQ. Adam, who’s 27, has both autism and epilepsy, and was delighted to jump on camera and give us a unique insight into his life, his autism diagnosis and some of the many things he enjoys doing.

In Adam’s words, “Love will always come from the heart”.

Our CSR Programme - CluneTech Cares, is a fantastic representation of what we are - a team of truly caring individuals giving our best to support and add value, not only to our customers, but also to the communities in which we operate. CluneTech Cares is employee-led and has three key pillars: Wellness, Culture & Community, and Sustainability. It has been a busy quarter so make sure to check out some of our latest activities below.

January’s CSR Spotlight: Supporting Asylum Seekers, Refugees and Migrants

Throughout the month of January, we dedicated our CSR Spotlight to supporting Asylum Seekers, Refugees and Migrant charities and the incredible work they do providing assistance to families and single people from a migrant or refugee background in Ireland and abroad.

Our main beneficiaries of the month were both Doras and Nasc Ireland.

Doras is an independent organisation working to promote and protect the rights of people from a migrant background in Ireland while also providing specialised support to migrant and refugee victims who have experienced human trafficking, domestic abuse and hate crime. 

Nasc Ireland works with migrants and refugees to advocate and lead for change within Ireland’s immigration and protection systems, ensuring fairness, access to justice and the protection of human rights to all. Nasc's goal is to realise the rights of all migrants and refugees within Irish society. 

Across the globe, our team came together to raise vital funds for both of our beneficiaries. Thanks to the support our staff showed throughout January, CluneTech Cares has made a monetary donation to Doras and Nasc for the crucial work they do day-to-day for all Asylum Seekers, Refugees and Migrants in Ireland.

From all here at CluneTech Cares, we want to thank our team for their incredible support and the difference they have made during the month of January.

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February’s CSR Spotlight: World Cancer Day

February marked the month that CluneTech took a stand against Cancer, dedicating our CSR Spotlight of the Month to World Cancer Day. All donations from fundraising initiatives throughout the month went towards our cancer support charities selected by our teams around the world. These charities and causes included Waterford Hospice in Ireland and Една от 8 in Bulgaria.

Waterford Hospice is a remarkable organization dedicated to providing end-of-life care, particularly to those battling cancer and giving incredible support and peace of mind to their loved ones. The profound impact of their work extends beyond the walls of the hospice, touching lives not only within our wider community, but of our teammates and their families over the last number of months.

By aligning our efforts with Waterford Hospice, we are not only contributing to the crucial mission of offering comfort and solace during life's most challenging moments but also acknowledging the impact it has on the lives of our colleagues.

Our second beneficiary for the month of February was Една от 8 in Bulgaria. Една от 8 | One in 8 was founded by Nana Gladwish in 2013. Nana is a famous TV host in Bulgaria and breast cancer survivor. The organisation works with healthcare professionals, state authorities, patient communities, and other stakeholders to improve the Bulgarian healthcare system for those diagnosed. 

The team strives for a better quality of life and outcomes for the patients they care for. Една от 8 | One in 8 is funded by company and community donations to support its existence and activities. Our team’s support during February was more important than ever, contributing to keep their amazing services running in Bulgaria.

Over the course of the month, an incredible 79 members of our team around the world took part in a walk / run / cycle in aid of Waterford Hospice in Ireland and Една от 8 in Bulgaria.

CluneTech Cares donated a total of €790 to our dedicated charities of the month. Well done to all of our amazing colleagues for their participation this month.

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March’s CSR Spotlight: World Autism Awareness

Each year, we launch our CSR request form where our staff can suggest the charity and causes they'd like to see us support throughout the year. Following their feedback, we dedicated March’s CSR Spotlight to World Autism Awareness.

The main beneficiaries of the month nominated by our team included ABACAS School Kilbarrack in Dublin, Gowran National School Autistic Unit in Kilkenny, and Autism Today in Bulgaria.

Autism is a neurological difference that many people are born with which affects how they experience the world around them and how they communicate with others. While autism awareness has greatly grown in Ireland and globally in recent years, we are still a long way from having a society which truly understands autism. 

During the month of March, not only were we delighted to make a monetary donation to all three charities and causes, but we also had the pleasure of interviewing John McCarthy, Facilities Manager, CluneTech, and his son Adam, who we consider an honorary CluneTech employee.

For those who have had the pleasure of meeting Adam, they will be familiar with his bubbly and outgoing personality which brings so much joy to our HQ. Adam, who’s 27, has both autism and epilepsy, and was delighted to jump on camera and give us a unique insight into his life, his autism diagnosis and some of the many things he enjoys doing.

In Adam’s words, “Love will always come from the heart”. A massive well done to all who took part in last months CSR Spotlight of the Month and a special thank you to John and Adam for a truly inspiring interview in celebration of World Autism Awareness.

You can catch the full interview here today.

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CluneTech Cares: Supporting Kilkenny Ladies Hockey Club

At CluneTech, we're passionate about giving back to our communities and we are proud to support a number of fantastic local clubs in Kilkenny where our HQ is located, one of those being the Kilkenny Hockey Club's Ladies' Team.

Paddy Dalton, Business Development Manager at TransferMate has been coaching for the club for over three years:

"I've been working with CluneTech for 10 years now and started as a coach with the hockey club back in 2021. I really enjoy coaching because of the buzz seeing the girls reach and exceed their goals. It gives me great satisfaction to see the group training, playing matches, and sticking to the structured game plan. We're delighted to have had CluneTech on board as sponsors for the last 3 years and it has enabled us to grow our women's section to 3 teams. We can now pride ourselves on being one of the biggest female adult sporting clubs in the county, providing hockey for all levels ages and abilities."

Thanks to the club for giving us the opportunity to get behind them and a huge well done to Paddy Dalton who not only goes above and beyond in his role with CluneTech, but within his local community too.

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CluneTech’s I.T Equipment Donation to St. John of God Primary School, Kilkenny

As part of our CSR Programme, CluneTech Cares, we were delighted to donate laptops to St. John of God Primary School.

Recognising the importance of technology in education, we have repurposed these devices to support the learning needs of students within our community.

This aligns with our dedication to sustainable practices, as we strive to effectively extend the life cycle of our technology resources while also supporting the next generation with the tools they need to thrive in their education.

A massive thank you to Norm Power for arranging this donation and to St. John of God's principal, Conor Gorey, and some of the school's pupils who visited CluneTech HQ to collect the donation.

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Martenitsi Charity Bazaars in Varna and Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria

On the 1st of March, our colleagues in Bulgaria celebrated Baba Marta, a Bulgarian holiday deeply rooted in folklore and culture, symbolising the arrival of spring and the wish for good health. 

To mark the holiday, our teams in Varna and Veliko Tarnovo organised annual charity bazaars in support of children with special needs. 

Thanks to our employees' contributions, a donation of 780 BGN was made to Karin Dom – a long-term CSR partner of CluneTech and one of Bulgaria’s most modern centres, providing a range of social, health, and educational services for children with special needs. 

Additionally, 600 BGN was donated for craft materials for the children at the Day Center for Disabilities ‘Daga’ in Veliko Tarnovo, ensuring that children and young people with disabilities receive rehabilitation and engaging activities that support their development and social integration.

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CluneTech Continues to Raise Awareness of Crucial Stroke Symptoms

'Fast Heroes 112' is a prevention program with one grand mission - to educate the world about the symptoms of stroke and the need for immediate action.

After the successful launch of the award-winning educational program in Varna last year, in 2024 we will continue our mission to raise awareness of stroke symptoms in another well-known school in Bulgaria’s sea capital – Foreign Language School Alexander S. Pushkin. The second edition of Fast Heroes 112 will take place from February to April involving 150 students from first to fourth grade who will share their knowledge about stroke symptoms and first aid with parents and grandparents.

Last May, 150 first graders from Geo Milev school were officially named Fast Heroes 112 ambassadors as they learned the symptoms of stroke and raised awareness of stroke prevention among their loved ones.

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Volunteering at CluneTech

Introduced in 2021, our CSR Volunteer Day empowers each employee to give back to the charities and causes closest to them. Since the inception of Volunteer Day, 160+ CluneTech employees have contributed to causes which they find meaningful, and this number keeps growing. See what they had to share with us about their experience this quarter:

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Baba Marta at CluneTech

In preparation for this year’s Baba Marta celebrations, over ten colleagues in our Varna offices joined forces using their CSR volunteer day to hand-craft some martenitsi that were later sold at our in-house and other local charity markets in aid of children with special needs. A great tradition and a great use of their Volunteer Day as our colleagues managed to make 1,690 martenitsi in just one day!

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Daffodil Day 2024 with Claire McBride, Financial Services Account Manager at TransferMate

Speaking about her Volunteer Day, Claire said:

"Daffodil Day is a special day where we all unite to remember the loved ones we’ve lost to cancer, to honour the people in our lives who are facing cancer and to acknowledge the bravery of those that have fought and won their battle with cancer. I am very fortunate to work for a company that affords and encourages staff to use their volunteer day to get involved in fundraising activities of all kinds. I am proud to play my part today for the Irish Cancer Society."

Well done to Claire on her involvement in this incredible volunteering activity.

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CluneTech are absolutely delighted to be supporting Ronald McDonald House Ireland as part of our CSR Programme, CluneTech Cares. Ronald McDonald House Ireland have been caring for families in Ireland since 2004 and since then, have provided accommodation, care and support for in excess of 4,200+ families from all over Ireland.

We recently paid a visit and saw first-hand the tremendous work that their team does to support families through the toughest of times in the most loving, homely, and peaceful way.

“We call ourselves the invisible family that wraps ourselves around mum, dad, brothers, and sisters. We provide them with a home and the security and safety net they require while facing, quite often, a long period of time when their child is sick in the hospital” said Louise Quail, Corporate Relationship Manager with The Ronald McDonald House Charity. “It’s never going to be their home, and we never want it to the be their home, but it has to be the next best thing.”

CluneTech’s donation will see us sponsor a bedroom in the new Ronald McDonald House which will be built on the campus of the new National Children's Hospital. With 52 bedrooms spread out over four floors, the new house will be a vital home for families from every county and every town in Ireland. We are honoured to be sponsoring a room, and playing a role in supporting such an incredible charity.

“Outside of just providing extra bedrooms, there’s going to be so much more communal spaces allowing us to possibly extend our programmes or offer additional core programmes or services that can really support the wellbeing of the overall family.”

Ronald McDonald House Charities are actively seeking sponsorship and donations towards their new house build. To learn more, please visit https://www.rmhc.ie/about-us/new-house.

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About Ronald McDonald House Charities Ireland

The mission of Ronald McDonald House Charities Ireland is to provide a Ronald McDonald House to support families whose children are seriously ill in hospital. The Ronald McDonald House provides accommodation and a caring and supportive environment for families whose children are seriously ill and are hospitalised or undergoing medical treatment at Children’s Health Ireland, Crumlin.

The Ronald McDonald House Position Paper 2021 outlines who we are, the impact we make and where oursupport comes from. To find out more about our New 52-bedroom RonaldMcDonald House alongside the New Children’s Hospital click here.

About CluneTech Cares

CluneTech’s CSR programme was established in September 2007in response to a tragic flooding disaster in Tsar Kaloyan, Bulgaria. Deeply saddened by the news, our Bulgarian employees decided to help and within 48hours, they had rallied together and organised 3.5 tonnes of food and 12,000litres of water for the village. After this event, we formalised our CSR activity to give it a global reach, ensuring to support each of the communities in which we operate and giving back to our local communities.

The amazing thing about our CSR Programme is that it’s created by our people, for our people. Each year employees are given the opportunity to request which charities we support and the programme’s global reach results in us having appositive impact in each of the communities we operate in.

As part of CluneTech Cares, in 2020 we introduced our Volunteer Day which empowers our people to give back within their local communities during working time, ensuring that even our smaller teams can get behind the charities and causes closest to their hearts.

In 2022, we donated over €75,000 and supported over 55 charities, causes and fundraisers.

Further Information:

Rachael Quinlan, Head of Employee Experience, CluneTech

rachael.quinlan@clunetech.com

Tel: +353873450595

Louise Quail, Corporate Relationship Manager, RonaldMcDonald House Charities Ireland

louise.quail@rmhc.ie

Tel: +353868659116

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CluneTech’s award winning employee wellbeing programme offers a range of supports and initiatives including corporate health insurance, a Global Employee Assistance Programme, Life Work Days and much more, ensuring that health and wellbeing of our people is always a priority. In recent years, we expanded our offering to include fertility support and paid leaves for both IVF / pregnancy support and miscarriage / pregnancy loss, helping our people and / or their partners through all stages of their fertility journey.

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With this in mind, we are honoured to announce that this summer, CluneTech has made its first donation towards the I Want a Baby Foundation in Bulgaria. This donation will directly assist the facilitation of psychological support groups for those experiencing infertility in Bulgaria’s sea capital Varna, where the large majority of our Bulgarian workforce is based.

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The I Want a Baby Foundation launched its psychological programme in 2007. The programme is the first of its kind as it has been thoughtfully crafted to run in tandem with the medical procedures a couple is going through.

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Following the donation, Katya Simeonova, who is the psychologist conducting the support groups in Varna, shared:

“When families start their infertility path, we always notice a feeling of social isolation. Their families and friends usually have children, and this is something that upsets them very much. They start distancing themselves emotionally. They usually don’t have someone to share the things they are going through and at some point, they start feeling isolated. The work in such groups is very precious to them as it gives women with infertility a chance to meet people with similar problems, to talk things through, each one of them to share the challenges they have been through. They get great feedback and in addition, they start getting closer to each other. They keep nurturing the friendships they create throughout our support groups even after the end of the program. I’m confident to say that group therapy is working really well.”

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The donation was made following an employee's suggestion

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At the beginning of 2023, in addition to the many amazing initiatives we already support, we opened our global CSR request form, where our employees from all over the world have the opportunity to submit requests highlighting which charities and causes they would like to see us support. This year saw the highest number of requests to date, with our employees eager to see us support the charities and causes closest to their hearts.

Following an open vote on our internal communications platform Workvivo, the I Want a Baby Foundation which was put forward by Iglika Raeva, was chosen as the next CluneTech Cares beneficiary.

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Following her nomination, Iglika Raeva from our Veliko Tarnovo office shared:

“The reason I want to support 'I Want a Baby' is because it is a cause very close to my heart. The volunteers there give their time and endless effort to support the families that are listed in the program. They support them not only financially, but also mentally, and emotionally and become their second family. All the parents of the babies born with the help of the foundation are also volunteers and they give back time and effort invested by others previously for them. I see great value in their cause as it brings happiness to people that have wanted this for years.”

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About the I Want a Baby Foundation

The I Want a Baby Foundation coordinates reproduction, fertility treatment and psychological support programmes for childless couples.  

The foundation’s efforts led to the creation of Bulgaria’s National IVF Fund and there are now IVF Funds in over 45 municipalities in the country. These funds sponsor up to four IVF procedures per couple. In addition to the foundation’s psychological support programme, the I Want a Baby Foundation also operates a genetic material donor programme for all couples who, after multiple unsuccessful procedures, are unable to conceive and require a donor.

In 2023 the organization celebrates its 16th birthday. In those sixteen years they have welcomed 3,500 babies in Varna and 20,000 babies in other locations, which would easily fill a whole town!  

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About CluneTech Cares

CluneTech’s CSR programme was established in September 2007 in response to a tragic flooding disaster in Tsar Kaloyan, Bulgaria. Deeply saddened by the news, our Bulgarian employees decided to help and within 48 hours, they had rallied together and organised 3.5 tonnes of food and 12,000 litres of water for the village. After this event, we formalised our CSR activity to give it a global reach, ensuring to support each of the communities in which we operate and giving back to our local communities.

The amazing thing about our CSR Programme is that it’s created by our people, for our people. Each year employees are given the opportunity to request which charities we support and the programme’s global reach results in us having appositive impact in each of the communities we operate in.

As part of CluneTech Cares, in 2020 we introduced our Volunteer Day which empowers our people to give back within their local communities during working time, ensuring that even our smaller teams can get behind the charities and causes closest to their hearts.

In 2022, we donated over €75,000 and supported over 55 charities, causes and fundraisers.

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CluneTech has been recognized for yet another year at the Annual b2b Media Employer Branding Awards. The event, which took place in Sofia, Bulgaria on 15th February 2022, celebrates the achievements of the HR and Communications departments of companies who are focusing on creating a positive brand experience for their employees and who are contributing to talent development and innovation. 

The b2b Media Employer Branding Awards which were launched five years ago, have been steadily gathering steam and this year we were competing with nearly 100 well-known employers in Bulgaria. We are delighted that our progress did not go unnoticed. On the glittering national awards ceremony in Sofia, Kristina Ilieva from our Marketing &Communications Team and Elena Stefanova, our Design Team Lead, accepted two awards on behalf of CluneTech: first place in the Employer Branding Project category and second place in the Excellence in Stress Management category.

The Employer Branding Project award was received in recognition of our recent rebrand to CluneTech and is a testament to the growth and evolution of our global group of companies. It recognizes the immense amount of work that our Communications, Design, HR and IT Teams committed to deliver a flawless transition to our new brand as well as to support our goal to continue enhancing our #OneTeam culture. Brilliant people and technology are at the core of everything we do, and the rebrand to CluneTech has only strengthened our commitment to making business better.

The Excellence in Stress Management award on the other hand, recognizes the continuous focus on employee wellbeing over the years and more specifically, the introduction of an Employee Assistance Programme and Life Insurance for all our employees in Bulgaria. Last summer we significantly upgraded our employer benefits package to include these important upgrades, and continue to make improvements where possible. For instance, we recently increased the annual leave allowance for all Bulgarian staff by two days. These improvements and more have enabled us to better support our employees through the highs and lows they may face, whether personal or work related.

Both awards are a testament to the incredible work from our cross-functional teams on our recent rebrand as well as our focus on employee wellbeing and support. Despite all of the challenges that Covid and remote work has presented, our teams have continued to go above and beyond, and we are incredibly proud of the work that they put in each and every day.

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Welcome to our CluneTech Social Spotlight Series – a fortnightly roundup of the best social media activity from across our group of global companies. Want to stay in the loop with everything happening in CluneTech? Here’s the place to do it! Click the title of each entry to view the original post.

..And don’t forget to like and share the wonderful content being produced across the Group!

Next Generation Analytics for VATConnect – Taxback International

Taxback International have just announced a major update for their VATConnect Platform – ‘Next Generation Analytics’. VATConnect is Taxback International’s advanced VAT Reclaim and Recovery Platform for Businesses. This latest update has seen the platform become even more advanced, introducing new features such as improved UI, new Ideation Portal, and an improved AI/ML tech stack.

Check out their post and YouTube video for more. Additionally, you can sign up for their upcoming webinar where the TBI Product Team will tell you all you need to know about the latest updates!

9 Ways That FinTech Has Changed B2B Payments – TransferMate

It can be difficult to notice a dramatic change when it creeps up on you but, there’s no doubt, B2B payments have been transformed over the last decade. On the TransferMate blog this week the team partnered with Andrew O’Garro and Axletree Solutions to deliver 9 valuable insights on how FinTech has impacted the B2B payments sphere. Among those insights are the instantaneity in payment transfers it affords, as well as the transparency in movement it offers. Check out their blog post for more.  

Gradguide Brand Ambassador Programme – Gradguide

We are all very excited here at CluneTech about the launch of the Gradguide Campus Ambassador programme! If you’re a student looking to get some hands-on experience with the Gradguide marketing team working on events and projects making a real impact on the company, then this is the perfect opportunity. Not only will you be helping your friends get jobs, but you’ll also be getting great CV content. This might come in pretty handy when you get priority access to Gradguide's partner companies when you graduate. Check out their post on LinkedIn and find out why you should apply to be a Gradguide Brand Ambassador!

2021 Gartner Market Guide for Multicountry Payroll Solutions – Immedis

Immedis has been positioned as a Representative Vendor in the 2021 Gartner Market Guide for Multicountry Payroll Solutions. The Immedis Platform has been recognised for its capabilities in complete payroll cycle management, advanced reporting, real-time data analytics, and #HCM integration. The Guide also provides recommendations for organizations to consider when selecting a provider for global payroll operations. Read the full guide here.

Series 2 of TBI Expert View – Taxback International

Wrapping up this week’s Social Spotlight is a second entry from Taxback International! Following the success of the first series, TBI have relaunched TBI Expert View with the first episode releasing this week. In Episode 1 of Series 2 –TBI Expert View, Lisa Dowling, Senior Global Director – Head of Indirect Tax, Advisory and Compliance and Joe Healy, Chief Strategy Officer discuss the ‘Tail End of the Storm’ and the practical implications of Brexit for our customers.

And that’s this week’s Social Spotlight roundup… Head over to www.clunetech.com to learn more about CluneTech and our amazing group of global companies. And check back in two weeks’ time for the next CluneTech Social Spotlight!

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At CluneTech, we have an extensive Milestone Recognition Programme that rewards employees that choose to build a long and successful career with us. As part of this programme, we love celebrating and sharing the stories of those celebrating major milestones with the company. This month we caught up with Liz Keenehan, Relationship Team Manager at TransferMate, who has been on our team for 10 years! Check out our interview with Liz below.

What is your favourite thing about working in TransferMate?

This is an easy one to answer, most certainly the people I get to work with every day across all the different departments. There is a genuine spirit of collaboration and co-operation in TransferMate and in CluneTech.

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‍What is the biggest change that you have witnessed in your time here?

In my opinion, the company has seen the biggest change in the last 2-3 years both in terms of how we work and our offering. I was one of very few people who worked remote for the company prior to March 2020 and to see the company become fully remote practically overnight and continue to grow and prosper, especially when so many people faced challenges, was amazing.

How do you overcome new challenges you may face in work?

We are an ever changing business, always evolving. Each day is different and is a constant adventure. I always try to approach each new task with a fresh mindset.

 What has been your biggest achievement or highlight since joining TransferMate?

In my 10 years in TransferMate I have worked in a few different roles and I work with many different people on a regular basis. Seeing the company succeed and knowing how we all play a part in that success is hugely gratifying for me. Personally, I was honoured to be awarded an Employee of the Year award in 2021.

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Do you have any advice for someone who is just starting their career with CluneTech/TransferMate?

Get to know as many different people as possible, across all different departments. Never be afraid to ask questions and ask for help. Remember a new job is a chance to show the world what you are capable of. It is a new beginning so embrace it.

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CluneTech Cares is the new name of our CSR Programme.

This year’s Group rebrand faced us with another challenge - the rename our Corporate Social Responsibility Programme #TaxbackGiveBack. Ever since the launch of the programme in 2007 one thing always stand out – our caring nature. Naturally, this brought us to the new name CluneTech Cares.

CluneTech Cares is a great representation of what we are – a team of truly caring individuals giving their best to support and add value not only to our customers and our team-mates but also to the communities in which we live and operate!

Race for the Cure

In October 2021, CluneTech took part in the Race for the Cure 2021 event. Race of the Cure is Europe’s biggest sporting event for women’s health. It helps to raise money and awareness for Breast Cancer Research. It was incredibly important to us that we participated in this event as cancer has impacted so many of our lives. It was amazing to see over 50 employees register and take part!

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Golf Tournament for A Very Special Place Inc.

A Very Special Place Inc. provides a comprehensive network of programmes and services for people with intellectual and development disabilities and their families. With the guidance and support offered by AVSP, people of all ages find opportunities to achieve independence and self-fulfillment. We were approached by an Immedis employee who told us all about a golf outing hosted by and raising money for AVSP. Having heard all about the event and the services AVSP provide, we were delighted to sponsor a team of Immedis employees to take part.

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Jack & Jill’s Up The Hill Challenge

We're absolutely delighted to have taken part in Jack & Jill's Up The Hill challenge again this year. By taking part and sharing their “Up The Hill” pictures on Workvivo, our employees not only had the chance to win some amazing surprises but also to represent the hill that the children of Jack & Jill climb each and every day, and to show solidarity with their families. Furthermore, CluneTech covered a €5,000 participation fee for our staff which goes toward providing crucial care to the Jack & Jill Foundation and the children who are relying on home nursing services.

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“Investing in Human Capital to Invest in the Future of Karin Dom” Programme

CluneTech and Karin Dom in Bulgaria have launched a project called “Investing in Human Capital to Invest in the Future of Karin Dom” which aims to support the long-term vision of the center by increasing the focus and investment on the retention and the development of their specialists.  CluneTech supported the first series of professional supervisions for the Karin Dom team, which were organized before the Covid-19 pandemic. Having witnessed the positive impact of these professional supervisions, we had no hesitations about continuing our support of this programme long-term.

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"World Vision Romania" Foundation and Palliative Care Center "Sfantul Nectarie”

This November, our colleagues in Romania supported two local organizations with donations of €1000 each. The first one, World Vision Romania, looks at all the things that prevent children from surviving and thriving in their community, and then works with the community to bring all the pieces of the puzzle together to build a better life for them. The second beneficiary of the donation is the Center for Palliative Care „Sfantul Nectarie” which aims to relieve the suffering and provide the best possible quality of life for patients with serious illness and their families.

In December 2021, we completed our rebrand, with a new name, logo and website redesign. The new name, CluneTech, acknowledges the group’s roots and reflects its evolution to what it is today – a hub for technology innovation, dedicated to making business better.

Taxback was first established in 1996 by entrepreneur Terry Clune, to help university students reclaim their overpaid tax.  Driven by technology, the group has expanded over the past 25 years and today encompasses a suite of software companies with industry-leading solutions, global reach and a common goal – to make business better for customers worldwide.

CluneTech solutions streamline processes such as digital sales, global payroll, tax compliance, global VAT and cross-border payments. Founder and group CEO, Terry Clune, explained: “The decision to rebrand was driven by our need to better represent the companies within the group, and the breadth and depth of technology-based solutions we offer.”

As parent company to some of Ireland’s most successful and ground-breaking Fintech brands, CluneTech supports its constituent companies with shared services and a common dedication to make customers’ lives easier, driven by innovation and an entrepreneurial spirit.

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With a footprint across four continents and over 1,500 employees globally, CluneTech comprises the following companies:

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TransferMate, a global payments technology firm, powering international B2B payments and receivables transactions for the world’s biggest brands.
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Immedis, the global leader in consolidated global payroll solutions. Processing payroll in over 150 countries, the Immedis Platform provides a unified view of global payroll operations, real-time data analytics, and advanced reporting capability, while ensuring legislative compliance and data security.
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Taxback International, recognised as a world leader in technical innovation, assisting clients around the world with their VAT challenges.
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Benamic, a leading global provider of end-to-end promotional management and fulfilment solutions
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Taxback.com, a multinational corporation providing specialist tax return services to private and corporate clients.
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Sprintax, providing multi-jurisdiction tax compliance technology which simplifies tax withholding and tax return filing for non-residents and their employers.
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Visa First, specialising in arranging business travel visas and work permits for companies and organisations.
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Gradguide, a career guidance, mentorship and graduate recruitment platform that bridges the employment gap between college and company.
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“CluneTech is focused on supporting entrepreneurial leaders and fantastic new businesses,” Terry Clune continued. “We are very proud of our success to date, which is based on putting our customers first and always asking: how can we help; what can we do better? Our new brand reflects our evolution and reinforces our mission to support our brilliant brands to make business better.”

CluneTech has been consistently recognised as one of Ireland’s Best Workplaces™ and has won multiple awards and recognition for excellence in innovation, technology and customer care, including Deloitte Best Managed Companies (Platinum Status), EY Entrepreneur of the Year and HSBC European Business Awards.

See our overview video here.

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For further information, please contact: Fiona MacCarthy, Head of Communications, CluneTech

fiona.maccarthy@clunetech.com

+353 86 8250027

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About CluneTech

CluneTech is a suite of software technology companies providing cutting-edge solutions that simplify global business. Our technology streamlines business processes such as digital sales, global payroll, tax compliance, global VAT & cross-border payments, making business better for our customers worldwide.

Established in 1996 by entrepreneur Terry Clune, CluneTech is headquartered in Ireland with a footprint across four continents, and does business in more than 100 countries on a daily basis. The group has offices in 20 countries, and over 1,500 employees globally, including a workforce of more than 900 people in Bulgaria.

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This interview was originally posted in Bulgarian by Economy.bg.

Immedis is a constituent company of CluneTech that provides multi-country payroll and employment tax solutions for organisations with overseas staff – whether local or expatriate. Economy.bg caught up with Immedis employees Elena Yankova (Full Stack Developer) and Iosif Petrov (Automation QA Lead) to learn all about their projects, teams, and technologies.

Could you tell us a little bit about some of the projects that the Immedis teams in Bulgaria are currently working on?

Elena: Our teams develop and maintain software through which we provide our customers with a comprehensive and consolidated service in the field of international payroll. Our system consists of two parts: an internal portal used by Immedis employees and a public portal used by the managers of our client companies, which contains and processes information about their employees. The portal is also used by the employees of our clients, who, in turn, can check their pay slips. Our platform has integrations with various HR platforms that our clients use to collect data about their subordinates, as well as with payment systems through which we can pay the salaries of the employees in question.

Iosif: Our idea is to support the full departmental cycle, while offering real-time reports and analyzes. Apart from that, we are working on building a mobile application that can be used by our customers and their employees.

Elena: Our internal portal is used by Immedis employees to monitor and manage the information of our customers, their employees and the various services we provide for them. Managers from our client companies have access to our public portal. There they can upload information related to hiring a new employee, update the data of existing ones, as well as review the results of our integrations with the external systems they work with, or monitor the payroll process for the current period. They inform us when hiring a new employee or changing the data of an existing one so that we can process his information and calculate their salary.

How many people typically work on a project and what kind of specialists are involved?

Iosif: The total number of Immedis employees in Bulgaria is between 150 and 200, and over 50 of them are in the technical department, of which I am a part of. The colleagues I work with in this department are exceptional specialists. Not a day goes by where I don’t learn something new from a colleague. We have Full Stack, Front End and Back End specialists, DevOps Engineers, Manual / Automation Specialists, ETL Developers, Designers, Business Analysts, Project Managers, and also the so-called scrum masters.

The software team is naturally focused on the development of the aforementioned departmental platform. It is also involved in its integration with other Human Capital Management (HCM) platforms.

The quality assurance team is divided into 3 sub-teams – manual, automation and integration. The three teams are in direct contact throughout the test cycle. The manual team checks via pre-written acceptance criteria whether a feature works as expected. The automation team, in turn, automates the appropriate scenarios from the acceptance criteria that have already passed the manual team. The Integration team deals with quality assurance of integrations with other HCM platforms.

The DevOps team is directly related to the process of creating and changing each functionality in the system such as integration, deployment, management of current infrastructure and more.

The team of designers are responsible for giving the user interface an appealing and professional look.

The team of product managers takes care of the correct prioritization of daily tasks.

The team of business analysts is responsible for writing user stories.

What technologies do you use for individual projects?

Elena: Until recently, our internal portal was developed on the basis of the .NET Framework platform, but in 2021 we migrated to the newer .NET Core to keep up with the best working technologies. Our databases are built on Postgresql, and they are accessed through NHibernate, which provides many opportunities to connect the objects from the database with those of the code and their configuration. Our public portal is written on Angular.js, and our mobile application uses React Native. Our automated tests are written mainly in .NET, and we have some that are written in JavaScript. Our servers are hosted on Amazon AWS, we use Bitbucket as our code repository and Octopus for our CI / CD processes. We also have ETL and Data Analysis teams that use Alteryx and Tableau for various activities around our core developments.

Iosif: We use a wide range of different technologies for projects. Specifically for the departmental platform we use .NET (.NET Core, MVC, Web API, WCF, Entity Framework), Angular, NodeJS, HTML5, CSS3. We use PostgreSQL for the database and we rely on Amazon Web Services for cloud services. To ensure adequate performance and smooth progression through the different versions of the platform, we use BitBucket and Octopus. For testing we have chosen Selenium with .NET, Postman, JMeter, AWS and BitBucket Pipelines to perform automated tests and analyze their results. For monitoring systems we use Grafana, pganalyze, Jaeger.

How do you go about organising project work and processes?

Iosif: Our work is automatically organized on Scrum and we work on sprints, which simplifies the work process. We plan the process at the beginning of the sprint and end with an analysis. We have daily meetings where we discuss the tasks in focus, and here the mentioned scrum masters take part, who help in the process of prioritization.

A business analyst or product owner presents to individual teams the idea of ​​what needs to be done. This is done in the form of a user story, after which the priorities are defined. When this is completed, employees who will develop and test these user stories gather and discuss issues that may arise during the work.

Elena: The projects are divided between the teams, and each team specializes in the maintenance of a specific part. Our team consists mainly of tasks related to the integration of the platform with other external platforms. An example of this is our integration with Oracle as an HCM (Human Capital Management) partner in 2021, as well as SuccessFactors, with which we integrated in 2020.

How have your projects changed over the years?

Elena: Our product started as a system offering payroll services to large companies. Over the years, we have discovered that there are many other opportunities around this service that we can develop and offer. So we started integrating with various external platforms that help us track the data of our customers’ employees or pay their salaries.

Iosif: In the last two years, the company has received investments totaling $75 million, which has allowed it to enter a phase of high growth, which, in turn, has led to the expansion of the Bulgarian team. The project itself has not undergone radical changes, but rather we strive to stay “on the crest of the wave” of new technologies and make the platform more convenient and functional. This has actually won us many large clients and international recognition as one of the best departmental platforms on the market.

What are some of the biggest challenges your team faces when working on these types of projects?

Elena: One of our biggest challenges was to be able to simplify the processes in our public portal, while continuing to function as before. This is something we have been able to deal with over the past year. An additional challenge was the pandemic, which required all of our teams to work from home. Getting used to this new way of organizing the work process was certainly tricky, particularly onboarding and training new staff like me, which my colleagues did very well despite the unusual circumstances.

Iosif: For the last almost 2 years, one of the challenges that has affected every part of the business has been working from home. What is more interesting is that in the end this did not stop us, but on the contrary – even increased the productivity of employees, leading to a positive impact on product quality.

Another challenge is working with more and more sensitive data of companies that have hundreds of employees around the world. We are constantly looking to improve the security of this type of information, as well as the entire platform.

Of course, a challenge, but also a good opportunity, is the advancement of technologies and their implementation to the product. The challenge is to prioritize and strike a good balance between the work that needs to be done straight away and work such as finding and implementing new technologies that will improve the current system.

What are some of your team’s greatest achievements?

Elena: The development of our public portal, which now fulfills everything that our clients have as processes on their part. Also automating the process of collecting data from our customers’ employees through the integrations we have. Now our customers only need to approve the data and confirm that it is correct.

Iosif: We are extremely proud that with the quality of our platform we have managed to attract companies worldwide, including Adobe, MicroFocus, Uber, McAfee and others.

What’s next for the Immedis team in Bulgaria? What else have you got in the pipeline?

Elena: We are about to launch a mobile application that the employees of our clients will be able to use to view their pay slips or change some of the personal data. We also plan to make more integrations with external systems, with which we can make the process completely automated from the acceptance of employees’ data to the payment of their salaries.

Immedis are hiring in Bulgaria! Check out their open vacancies on Jobs.bg.

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