Draugiem Group – a social networking site becomes a founder of several successful businesses

Draugiem.lv success story is one of the most popular in Latvia. The company was established in 2004 by two of its founders and a software engineer. During this time, the site has united Latvians all over the world, becoming the most viewed Latvian website, and within eight years the company transformed into Draugiem Group.

Draugiem.lv has contributed to the development of many different start-ups, which later became successful, independent companies. Draugiem Group currently consists of 14 companies with over 170 employees in Latvia and 300 employees in the United States. Draugiem Group covers a wide range of services, such as production and distribution of print products, car fleet control system solutions, SMS marketing solutions, telemetry and GPS device development, integration of various web applications and even television platforms and social media. The Group’s annual turnover is several tens of millions of euros.

Clients of Draugiem Group include financial institutions, telecommunication, road transport, state and local authorities, media, construction companies, as well as private individuals, which bring the total number of clients to more than 500,000.

The company’s head office is located in Riga, however, Draugiem Group companies operate in such markets as the USA, Spain, Lithuania, CIS countries, and even Africa. Current plans involve opening plants in China and Australia.

We are able to innovate thanks to our cooperation with Telia

“In 2008, we started cooperation with Telia Latvia using Telia data centre with the latest server solutions,” says Jānis Palkavnieks, spokesman for Draugiem Group. “The data of all our companies is stored on servers located in one of the most advanced data centres in the Baltics. The servers are located in a specially equipped building, with the most advanced security, fire security, and technical security equipment installed. Data security is monitored daily by the best specialists of Draugiem Group and Telia.”

“In addition to using data centre services, which include server deployment and service, we also use high-speed Internet solutions and cloud computing services,” Jānis Palkavnieks emphasized. “Taking into account the rapid expansion of Draugiem Group’s business, which is often associated with innovation, cooperation with Telia allows us to deal with technological challenges, therefore we can mention the flexible attitude and quick response to our needs as a client as the main advantage of Telia!”

Jānis Palkavnieks mentions the implementation of the Internet Protocol IPv6 solution necessary for Draugiem Group to reach the global market as an example of cooperation with Telia: “For example, the Asian market can hardly be achieved without this solution. As the technological provision of Telia ensures 100 % support for IPv6 standard, Draugiem Group implemented this solution successfully together with Telia specialists and now can boast as one of the first Latvian companies using such a solution!”

Telia – a trustworthy partner

“As we look at the current cooperation with Telia, we feel assured about our business continuity and trustworthiness in such an important matter as data security and data transmission, and this is why Telia is the first partner which we would contact for solution of technological issues or capacity increase,” Jānis Palkavnieks says.

“We are planning to expand our cooperation in development and distribution of new services hand in hand with our long-term partner. Cooperation is power!” Jānis Palkavnieks emphasized.