The biggest conference in area dedicated to information technologies and business, called Sinergija 21, was held on 1st and 2nd of December in a digital format. Visitors had the opportunity to hear the news updates on digitalization and the capacities of the IT industry in Serbia for its better positioning on the regional and global map. One of the speakers at this event was Alfredo Giannattasio, Regional Chief Operations & Marketing Officer, who talked about Digital Hotspot in CEE and Microsoft’s Regional Ambitions. We had the opportunity to discuss digitalization trends and the Serbian IT industry in general with Alfredo.
Where do you see Serbia’s key points when it comes to Digital Hotspot in CEE?
In the Serbian technology ecosystem, we can provide a data foundation, which is one of the most critical assets that companies, organizations, and societies have. Each CEE country is on its Digital Hotspot journey, highlighting strengths and identifying opportunities for their own actions. I see Microsoft playing a pivotal role in supporting Serbia to become a Digital hotspot, where people, businesses, and organizations can realize their visions and where growth is sustainable and inclusive. Digitization has a strong relationship with a country’s environmental performance and lower air pollution and should be twinned with ‘green’ strategies as part of national recovery initiatives. The greatest impact will come from investing in both digital technology and skilling people. Everyone has a role to play, and that matters to all of us, as it’s about our lives, our careers, our future.
What is CEE Multi Country contribution to the Digital Hotspot perspective?
Today, businesses in the region are innovating not only to navigate the impact of the crisis but to emerge from it stronger, with a focus on developing new products and services, increasing efficiency, and creating entirely new business models. This is the reason why I also like mentioning Serbia as a part of CEE Digital Hotspot, because many inventions came from people who originated and/or were educated here. We are also looking not just at those who came with historical inventions but at those who took advantage of those inventions and found a quick way to apply them, gain benefits, recover, and thrive. And this goes not just for businesses, but for Governments and their citizens.
Where do you see the biggest potential in Serbia regarding digital transformation?
Microsoft’s Development Center in Serbia is one of the emerging hubs we see in the region. It’s great to see consistent growth in employee capacity during the last years, which translates to the current opening of 40 positions at MDCS. This is extremely important for the whole society where the IT community is engaging and applying significant changes, especially encouraging women engineers to apply, as a cultural switch. I was amazed by the speed and ingenuity of Serbian people, businesses, and governments to embrace modern technologies not just to carry on but also to scale and move to higher levels. Now we stand witness to technology being fundamental for the innovation that we are seeing today, and there’s greater opportunity ahead as companies use tech as a true growth enabler.
Where do you see the importance of the partnership between Microsoft as a company and Serbia as a country?
Microsoft continues to invest in partners’ network, which has been the backbone of the Serbian IT industry for many decades. The company collaborates with partners in Serbia to provide vast possibilities of our products and artificial intelligence to every developer and every organization. We, as a corporation, are dedicated to becoming a partner of choice for all Serbian organizations that want to use this moment of economic disruption to reimagine their future and society for the better. Together, we can put Serbia in a Hot Spot of a new digital world.
