Follow up "Responsible Digitization of SMEs"

And this time we had a “full house” at BT STUP, at the event “Responsible Digitization of SMEs – Support for the Development of Small and Medium-sized Businesses”, organized together with the partners from UEFISCDI, on August 2^nd .

The objectives of the event aimed, among others:

Promoting Responsible Digitization: It was a key priority to inform SMEs about the importance of integrating digital solutions in a responsible and ethical way.

Networking and Partnerships: The event provided an excellent platform for creating connections between SMEs, technology experts, business consultants and investors, thereby facilitating valuable collaborations.

Improving Competitiveness: We discussed strategies that support increasing the competitiveness of SMEs through digitization and the use of emerging technologies, emphasizing the importance of these approaches in the current economic landscape.

In the first section, entitled “Digital Responsibility in Supporting the Development of Small and Medium Size Businesses”, the CDREUROPE projects were presented to the public by Oana Ionescu – UEFISCDI and PROSME by Roxana Lupașcu – MSP.

Oana Ionescu, International Projects Expert-UEFISCDI, presented the main concepts of the CDR and highlighted the theme of the most responsible use of digitization in organizations, especially in enterprises, starting from the International Manifesto on Corporate Digital Responsibility. Corporate Digital Responsibility is a new concept that UEFISCDI has fully embraced as it fits perfectly with the organization’s principles and values, which aim to build a responsible, inclusive and sustainable environment for all. We care about fair and equitable access to technology for all, reducing its impact on the climate and environment, promoting social well-being and we believe that the responsible use of digital, especially by SMEs, can lead to the creation of more positive outcomes for society and the planet, can improve the appropriate use of data, and certainly contribute to the economic success of organizations.

Roxana Lupașcu – PROSME- MSP Partner Coordinator, presented to the audience the Enterprise Europe Network which has been present in the development regions of Bucharest – Ilfov and South Muntenia since 2008, through the “Promoting SMEs through Enterprise Europe Network” (PROSME) project, financed under The Single Market Program, a project that supports the transition of businesses to more economically, socially and environmentally sustainable businesses, under the conditions of supporting digital innovation and increasing resilience, so that they are competitive on the European Single Market and on global markets.

One of the main objectives of the EEN network is to support SMEs in the triple transition to sustainable, digital and more resilient business models. To this end, the services offered by the MSP team in the PROSME project aim to raise awareness among SMEs of the challenges and opportunities of digital technologies to improve their business models, helping them to adapt their processes, use digital technologies and develop new products and services using digital means.

Among these integrated and quality digitization services are: technology supplier identification services, digital solution providers to target their portfolio to possible new markets, industry and public sector technology adopter services to understand the process of digital transformation and the roles of technology in the process of expansion, services and consulting for a new managerial vision to stimulate innovation and digital technologies in organizations, support for organizations in developing business and operational models for the digital economy, services for SMEs for experimentation, adoption, transfer of technologies and digital skills.

The second section, skillfully moderated by Raluca Coșcodaru, International Projects Expert -UEFISCDI and entitled “Challenges in the adoption of ethical and sustainable practices in the use of digital technologies”, revealed a multitude of angles and approaches of the guests, this one being truly panel highlight.

Elena Unciuleanu, Executive Manager Reporting Center:

Elena spoke to us from the perspective of the close relationship that the Reporting Center has with the banking and fintech system in Romania. One of the novelties presented by her was the new European directive “Dora” (Digital Operations Resilience Act), which will enter into force at the beginning of next year, and which wants to regulate and encourage digital operational resilience in the financial sector. From the perspective of the differences in “top-down vs. bottom-up” of ethics in the digitalization process of SMEs, Elena emphasized: “We cannot rely only on everyone’s common sense to respect a certain ethical conduct in the digital space. Specialists need to develop certain regulations that are prepared for the high speed of development of the field.”

Emanuela Modoran, Partner WeH-European Digital Innovation Hub Network:

Ema pointed out some key concepts from which any discussion in this area must start: ethics, data privacy, cyber security and solutions for digitization. She also brought up the set of values that every SME must refer to when implementing a proper digital transformation. “Ethics is essential especially in the area of digital solutions based on artificial intelligence, which are increasingly common today. To shape this set of values it is essential to appeal to education, the peaks (like the Romanian team that won the World Robotics Championship in the USA) are not enough, as long as there are an alarming number of young people who do not work or who are not in school.”

Alexandra Cernian, UNSTPB University Lecturer:

From all the “hats” that Alexandra wears, today she chose the one in the educational area, which is also the angle from which she looked at the problem of digitalization of SMEs. In her opinion, digital responsibility can only be achieved with serious investments by SMEs in the training area. The main reason? Because no matter how much you impose a regulation in the digital area, if the people who have to apply it don’t understand “why?” from behind, they have no way to implement it correctly, always finding various shortcuts. Alexandra also pointed out that there is a great need for standards and a development vision with a precise direction, because otherwise, we cannot have a congruent effort in the area of business digitalization.

Laurentiu Clenci, Head of Sales Neurony Solutions:

Laurentiu pointed out one of the most frequent needs that he identified in companies in this digitization process: “know-how – or the need for advice from people with real expertise”. Support and belonging to a community is a real help especially for entrepreneurs at the beginning of the road. From his experience, the responsibility part, especially in the area of software development, is closely related to the very dynamic pace of this market, which often pushes entrepreneurs to make certain sacrifices in order to adapt to these changes. Unfortunately, ethics is very often put on a secondary level.

Mihai Cepoi, Co-Founder & CEO Jobful Playground:

Mihai shared his experiences developing his platform, Jobful. One of the methods by which they chose to address this part of responsibility in the digitization area was by implementing two special projects for refugees from Ukraine and for people with disabilities. He gave us more details about how useful the anonymization of the candidate selection process was for different jobs, or how applying an additional selection filter within the platform prevented the violation of some ethics rules. From the perspective of the approach in the digitization area with a focus on ethics, Mihai pointed out the following two components: “There are two important verbs 1. I can and 2. I want. For the first, more and more opportunities have appeared lately, from projects with European funds to various training programs. The important thing is how we relate to the second one, “I want”! Opportunities exist. It is not their lack that is the main challenge but our attitude. Resistance to change is a totally wrong attitude.”

Cosmin Ciobanu, Octonius CEO:

Cosmin approached today’s topic from the perspective of the one who offers personalized work-management solutions. From his point of view, for a business at the beginning of its journey in the digital area, there are two important levels to reach: The first is that of survival on the market, and only starting with the second level do you start to optimize the digitization processes with a focus on the responsibility. Together with each of his clients, he goes through several stages and processes to understand how all the processes inside the company are carried out, maps and analyzes all potential nerve points, and only then proposes the development of an effective digital solution. Inertia and resistance to change was also observed by Cosmin in the multiple interactions he had with SMEs in the field, which is why a “top-down” approach to the implementation of responsibility regulations in the digital area would be ideal, but reality shows us something else entirely. In reality, SMEs run into many types of problems in digital transformation and try to make small, step-by-step changes without appealing to the big picture.