Interviews with experts on Digital Transformation/Digitalisation
within the project Digitalisation - Strategy Development Tool for the Digitalisation of SME, Project Agreement No.: 2017-1-DE02-KA202-004223
The Interviewees, Mrs Todorova and Mr Vlahov, are experts in Organisational Development, IT experts in business systems, Education/training. Our experts have experience working with different SMEs.
Here we publish only some extracts of the interviews as testimonials, of course, after the written consent of the interviewee. The provided here interviews data is aiming to serve as a horizon scan and best practices collection in digital transformation.
Mrs Eva Todorova is the CEO of the ACS ltd which main area of activity is Web development. Digitalisation for her means the integration of digital technologies into everyday life.
She has 12 years of experience related to digital transformation projects in different types of SMEs. And the digitalization for her is in fact the necessary future for the SMEs. Because it is easier to work in digitalized company. It broadens the Business growth, opens Opportunities for individualized/custom tailored services and for Speeding-up the automation/delivery cycle
Several challenges, acc. to her opinion, like Poor computer skills of the operators, Resistance to change, Mismatch between education & work practice are hindering the implementation of a Digital transformation. Moreover, not only the technical staff but also the management team resists to the change. The identified risks within the interview are related with problems with staff, brain drain, market pressure, etc.
Mrs Todorova thinks that is because the Innovations always need some time to get used to them. These risks are in terms of leadership, human resources, management practices and financial management practices. The Staff is mostly affected. And her advice to the businesses is to implement digital innovations with the support of specialists.
Mr Tonko Vlahov is Coordinator for Vratsa Software Community /VSC/. He has one year of experience related to digital transformation especially Leading management system in education / training sector.
The digitalization, as for him, saves time and resources and helps them /VSC/ to track key performance indicators. Its implementation might be made via building of web presence and adopting software solutions.
The company Mr Vlahov works for has begun with searching of a ready applicable system, but there wasn’t one that really fitted their needs and requirements. The most impact will be to accept the `Learning management system `but they /VSC/ are also thinking about providing `Live video streaming` courses and/or events.
Mr Vlahov realizes that Not enough people realize the Digital transformation benefits; The lack of Digital transformation burdens the SMEs growth potential and development. His advice to the SMEs is Spend more on Digitalisation and on Marketing.
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission, Erasmus+ Programme, Key Action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
