– The future is digital, whether we are talking about large companies, entrepreneurs, or public administration. Citizens and the economy want fast, modern, innovative, and secure services, and none of that is possible without modern technology. Croatia is making significant strides in this area – says Mirko Ledić, regional director of VMware for Central Europe, in an interview for Lider, announcing the VMware Tech Forum Adria, which will gather representatives from all industrial verticals from about ten countries in the Adriatic region in mid-May in Šibenik.
Cloud solutions are most often discussed in the context of larger private companies, but they have great applications and can bring enormous benefits to public administration as well. What is the level of acceptance of this technology in the region?
– Those who need quality solutions for their users, solutions that can be quickly created and adapted, and are secure, are turning to cloud solutions. This description certainly includes states, i.e., public administration, as it has the most daily users, provides a huge number of services, processes incredible amounts of data, and must guarantee the security of all that data and processes. For a state to become or remain competitive, it must create a modern digital environment, which today implies cloud solutions.
Thus, everything that applies to the success and competitiveness of a large company also applies to the success and competitiveness of a state. The challenge is that changes in public administration often take much longer because we are dealing with old systems that have been functioning on inertia for decades, which is why significant effort is required for large technological leaps. Of course, there are also large financial investments and a lack of quality workforce in public administration that could carry out such work.
And what is the situation in Croatia?
– Despite all the challenges mentioned, which certainly apply to our country, we can be proud of the progress made in this area in Croatia. Last autumn, at the VMware Explore Europe conference, the Croatian state cloud was presented as a technological example of good practice on how to transition from legacy systems to a private cloud in the hands of the state. Many were surprised at how far Croatia has come with its state cloud, but the fact is that the state is making significant strides in digitalization; perhaps the local public administration is changing and digitalizing even faster than in other European countries.
IT segment jobs contracted by the state, public institutions, cities, and municipalities through public procurement in the first quarter of 2023 recorded significant growth compared to the same period last year. EU funds are also being excellently utilized, and there are opportunities from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan that can be leveraged. All of this enables the acceleration of business processes in state bureaucracy. The public sector has recognized the opportunity that cloud solutions provide for faster development of digital services for citizens and entrepreneurs.
Since last year, you have been in the position of regional director of VMware for Central Europe. Your company is one of the largest global technology players and is highly regarded in technology circles, but it could be said that it is somewhat less known to the general public and that many find the technological products and solutions you provide somewhat abstract. Can we say that the domestic business community is sufficiently familiar with everything that technology like yours can offer?
– VMware is a global leader in providing multi-cloud services for all applications, and we are extremely proud that over the past fifteen years, we have become a partner to a large number of users from all industrial verticals who conduct their business relying on our technologies. The regional and domestic business community does not lag behind in knowledge and aspirations compared to those operating in more developed markets.
