After years of exuberant IT&C spending, many Romanian companies need to realise that such investments need to be made bearing in mind their effects on profitability.
This was one of the main conclusions drawn at the seminar organised by Ziarul Financiar and Omnilogic on Wednesday, entitled "Profit goes through computers." Attendees included general and IT&C managers of major companies in the IT&C business, as well as representatives from other industries.
Most importantly, an IT investment must not be made in the absence of a clear plan of how to get back the money invested, as explained by Gabriel Marin, the general manager of Omnilogic Group, one of the leading IT&C equipment and services providers in Romania. He noted that any investment in IT or communications needs to be done with the question of returns in mind. Omnilogic's general manager provided examples to support his views by mentioning the results of his own company where labour productivity amounted to approximately $2 million/employee in late 2003, and was on its way up to $2.5 million/employee this year.
"Such efficiency would not have been possible if we hadn't based our IT&C investments on the return on investment (ROI) concept. For instance, hardware purchases were done in cycles, involving at least three years of service. We are not looking to have state of the art equipment, but to minimise internal costs and maximise profits," Gabriel Marin said.
The Omnilogic head warned that computer networks or software purchases should not be made just for the sake of having the newest versions installed, but only if the new product genuinely offered new features in comparison with the older version. The best example in this regard was of upgrading from MS Office for Windows 2000 to MS Office for Windows XP, or from an Intel Pentium 4 processor running at 2 GHz to an Intel Pentium 4 at 3.0 GHz.
At the same time, the IT&C solution that is best suited to a company must not be exclusively chosen by technical experts, or by the company's IT manager alone. The general manager also needs to have a significant involvement in such decisions.
"If we say that PCs are not the general manager's responsibility, the computerisation project is doomed to failure," warned Florin Talpes, head of the National Association of the Software and Services Industry, and general manager of Softwin. He explained technology alone could not save a business that does not fare well because of poor management. There is also the human factor, which is usually overlooked. "You can have the best computers and the newest software in the world, but if your employees do not know how or do not want to use them, then the whole project will fail," Florin Talpes explained.
victor@zf.ro ; dan.dragomir@zf.ro
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