Assistant Minister at the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications, Sava Savić, participated in a roundtable discussion entitled “Why do companies in Serbia underused information technology”. The meeting took place in the Belgrade Chamber of Commerce and was organized by the Serbian Society for Informatics (DIS) and the Association for Information Technologies in the Belgrade Chamber of Commerce.
Data provided during the discussion indicates that only 10.8% of companies with more than 10 computers use ERP, 13.7% of companies and government bodies use CRM, 9% of companies and government authorities have implemented DMS and only 1% of companies apply some form of Cloud Computing.
Participating in the discussion, Savić stated that companies use their own ICT resources for communication and the internet and do not use them for e-commerce and the exchange of electronic invoices. “The Law on and the Law on Electronic Document and Electronic Signature created some of the preconditions for the use of e-invoices, but when we go a step further, we see that the exchange of electronic invoices is not working because it is impossible to prove before an administrative procedure that a person received the electronic invoice that you sent him, that it was not edited and so on” said Savić.
He stressed that the aim of the policy of the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications, as well as the objective of the policy of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister Rasim Ljajić is to strengthen the competitiveness of the Serbian economy by strengthening the private sector, i.e. small and medium-sized enterprises, because it is these companies, not the larger companies, that are insufficiently exploiting the potential of information technologies to promote their business. Savić said that the aim is to create the preconditions for increasing the competitiveness of SMEs and enable them to sell their products and services better, not only in Serbia but also abroad.
On this occasion, Savić also stated that the Law of Electronic Commerce will also be included the Action Plan for the implementation of the strategy for development of information society in the Republic of Serbia in 2015 and 2016, which is currently being prepared by the Ministry.
At the roundtable, Savić also announced the project E-business, which supports the achievement of the policy of the Ministry through strengthening the institutional component, developing e-commerce and preparing the ground for the electronic invoices’ support system.
