Karen Vardanyan: “The main participants and visitors of Business forum are the most progressive companies"<br /> " /> " />


Karen Vardanyan: “The main participants and visitors of Business forum are the most progressive companies"

  • 14-06-2011 14:36:37   | Armenia  |  Interviews
 On June 24-25, the annual DigiTec Business forum titled “The dialogue of business and technology” will be held in “Armenia Marriott” hotel. The organizer is the Union of Information Technology Enterprises, the general partner is “ArmenTel” and the official partner is Microsoft company. Business forum will be held under the high patronage of RA Prime Minister. The correspondent from “Noyan Tapan” talked to Karen Vardanyan, the executive director of UITE about the aims and expectations of the forum. “Mr. Vardanyan, what is the aim of the forum? K. Vardanyan: This year DigiTec business forum is the fourth one. The forum has been held since 2008. The title is invariable and reflects the main goal of the forum that is to secure the dialogue of business world and companies providing information and communication technologies (ICT), to support the investment of ICT solutions in different fields of economy. We aim at making business in Armenia more effective and competitive in different fields. There are two ways for securing competitiveness. The first one is the improvement of business processes, the other one is the investment of information and communication technologies in that improved business processes. In such conditions it is possible to raise the effectiveness of business for many times. In fact the situation is that there are enterprises in Armenia which produce solutions of quite high value, but very often those solutions are used in foreign countries, as the customer is from abroad. Now we try to turn the technological field to business, for the Armenian business to use it too. "To what field do the potential participants of the forum belong to?" K. Vardanyan: I can say that the forum interests those fields, where business is real business and not oligarchic or not competitive business, because such people don’t need solutions. They just want to avoid taxes or to exploit people additionally and the rise of effectiveness doesn’t interest them. The forum interests the most modern business leaders, who realize that they are in the competitive field and having realized this they aim at entering the competitive field widening their opportunities and entering new markets. “How much does the forum contribute to the solution of the problems that you mentioned and what is envisaged this year”? K. Vardanyan: I can say that generally we success because about 30 companies present their technological solutions, besides exhibitions of different technological solutions took place. One can come, listen, choose what he needs, what he can invest in his enterprise. Besides, we try to make the business forum interesting for both the visitor and those who show their products and in this sense we have a number of supplementary events. Especially, this year we will have a sector in our forum which will be devoted to Singapore’s success. We invite the representative from the office of Singapore information technologies, who will present the experience of turning from the poorest country of the world into the most developed country that is the experience to fly from the third world to the first one. Among other interesting events, we want to organize Armenian-Georgian business forum. We have given separate pavilions to Georgian companies, where they will present technological solutions of the business field of the country. The Armenian and Georgian companies wish to cooperate with each other. One and a half month ago, we organized business forum in Georgia and the following step of the cooperation is the participation of the Georgian companies in DigiTec Business Forum. We expect the participation of till 10 companies from Georgia. Besides, we have invited the professional from Disney company, with who we wish to discuss the issues of intellectual property. These issues are quite modern for them and we wish for our technological companies to realize that experience too. These year two events, such as DigiTec business forum and Microsoft innovation forum, are organized in parallel with each other. The joint opening will take place in the same hall of the hotel, after which people can visit the separate pavilions. Seminars and thematic round-table discussions, technological exhibitions, the discussions referring to the issues of the field will take place in three halls. "How many participants and visitors do you expect?" K. Vardanyan: All in all we expect the participation of 30-40 local companies. We have created special participation conditions for new companies. We aim at encouraging new companies and young professionals who have innovatory ideas. DigiTec business forum is quite good place for the companies to be able to show their products and services. Every year, by approximate calculations we have 1200-1400 visitors. They mainly present different companies, educational centers, and social organizations. The entrance of the forum is payable. It is a close event for those people who need investment of ICT solutions in their business. "Is there a tangible result from the previous forums?" K. Vardanyan: We don’t do monitoring. The companies come, participate and in the case of success next year they will take part, too. If they don’t have a tangible result, they won’t take part next time, as the participation is connected with quite major expenses. If they take part, it means that as a result of own observations they conclude that it is effective.
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