The CEOs of three Croatian IT companies today officially presented the newly established Association for Information Technology at the Croatian Chamber of Economy (HGK), which is expected to represent the interests of 2,329 companies registered for IT activities in the market going forward.
According to the association’s president, Davor Majetić, who is also the CEO of Atento, this professional community will advocate for the improvement of the sector, mutual connections, and the introduction of clear criteria for who can be called an IT company and who cannot. The vice presidents of the association are Ante Mandić, CEO of IN2, and Tomislav Bronzin, director of Citus. When asked why such an economically strong sector had not previously engaged in the establishment of a professional association, Majetić stated that this idea had actually been in development for two years, but that no one can imagine how difficult it is to gather 20 people at one table who will lead the association on a voluntary basis.
However, from the figures he presented, that only “1.2 billion dollars” was spent on purchasing services and products in Croatia and that in per capita spending we lag almost 50 percent behind European countries, it can be concluded that Croatian IT companies have felt the crisis and decided to connect in time and work on maintaining the current level of revenue. The goal, Majetić said, is for Croatian IT companies to jointly participate in domestic and European tenders and to better prepare for market competition after entering the EU. For comparison, Majetić noted that the largest Croatian companies have about 300 employees, while some leading European companies have up to 5,000. The assistant director of the IT sector is Marina Čizmar, and the secretary of the IT Association is Igor Škevin. (Marija Čekada)
