Sorin Serb, IBM: We would have to skip some stages to reach the region’s maturity

One of the challenges the local market is facing arises from the discrepancy between Romania and its peers.

“What we’re trying to do is cut our customers’ costs by delivering new cost effective solutions aimed at producing changes in the local IT&C market, which is not exactly the most mature, if we look at other countries in the region. Moreover, Romania would have to make some big steps, or  even skip some stages and learn from other countries’ mistakes or experiences to catch up”, said Sorin Serb, manager at International Business Machine.

For the time being, the domestic information technology market is unstable. The representative of the computer-services provider said he could not make any forecasts on the state of the industry, but expects IBM’s customers to get past the frenzy of cost-cutting and start making some investments this year.

“If 2009 was marked by drastic cost-cutting initiatives, we hope consumption to pick up in 2010. At a certain point, you can’t only cut costs. You have to do something that will help you grow, emerge from crisis. I think our customer’s approach will change for the better”, he added.

Even though the financial crisis affected the entire market, the small players were the ones that took the heaviest losses, as they didn’t have the resources and the strategy of a large company. “All corporations have back-up strategies for better or for worse”.

“I think it’s important for the company to be close to its customers, be it crisis or not. You have to listen your customers, know what they want and make an offer. And technology itself is not the answer; it is part of the solution.”