And to have the appropriate question, whether Darwin’s theory of the evolution of species and the dominance of the most adaptable will prevail, let’s take a look at today’s reality.
In Greece for example, and in contrast to Cyprus where we have been active for the last 20 years, IT and telecommunications have never been treated by the state as a development tool, competitive advantage and export activity. At best, they saw it as a good means to collect taxes faster. The concepts of software and service production, maintenance and outsourced actions were and remain unknown.
I will mention as an example the huge market for outsourced services that developed abundantly in India in the mid-00’s, to be transferred immediately afterwards, in early 2010, a part of it to the former Eastern Europe. We read in an internet “advertisement”:
Thinking of Outsourcing? – Save Up to 70% in services
Hire Virtual Employees to work Supervised from Our Office in India. Supervised Employees. Free Recruitment. Monthly Rolling Contracts. IT Support. Customised Recruitment. IP Protection. Scalability. Get Your Free 5-Day Trial. 24-Hour Client Support. Technical Support. Services: IT Outsourcing, Mobile Apps Development, Internet Marketing, Content Writing, Graphics & Web Designing Check : xxxx.com
You are right to wonder: Why was there no effort to do it in Greece? Why did we let (we let) opportunities pass us by? What were we missing? Why did we not manage to attract the large call centers, which were leaving India, mainly due to the low quality of services and the language and going to the Czech Republic or Poland? Rhetorical questions that have no answer…
But what will be the role of the country in the upcoming “storm” of new categories of technology? And where are the investments in State infrastructure and human resources? Who will “program” the robots that will drive the buses autonomously? Who will build and maintain the machines that operate together with the doctors? Who will build the “virtual” museums that will showcase the Culture of Greece?
Where are the schools that produce software and telecommunications engineers? Why don’t we find developers in Java and .NET? Is there some understanding between the Ministry of Education and the productive sectors, so that we can direct the new generation to sectors of high demand and specialization? Or will we continue to “produce” unemployed candidates with a degree?
At the same time, what are we doing with the infrastructure? What happened to the digital expenditure covered by the NSRF II which ends in 2020? (The programming period is 2014-2020). Where is it today and who clearly knows, the program for technology investments, so that businesses can invest in these sectors? There is practically no program and the few projects that are being implemented have been awarded 4 years ago…
Ultimately, at some point it should be understood by governments that in the coming decades, not only businesses will compete with each other, but mainly countries: who and how will attract the best and most capable executives. The best minds. The best craftsmen. And how will they create an environment that will favor innovation and development, with an attractive living environment, good salaries and business activity without obstacles.
Countries should draw up a 20-year business plan and define strategic and tactical goals, understand where they are and where they want to go. What are their competitive advantages and capabilities. And invest in these goals. If they intend to have a role (and existence) in the years to come…
So approaching the formal end of this year of 2018, the year in which we complete 30 years of continuous operation, we can only stop and think about where we started and where we want to go. We were lucky to live at the dawn of the technology era and we are moving into the maturity phase. Moore’s law will gradually slow down and we will not have a doubling every 2 years. The evolution will be different.
And this development will require strong and experienced technological groups that will bring together the many and different technologies, to provide a comprehensive result to end users.
The market and society will need strong systems integrators, who will also be business consultants, to exploit technological achievements. This is the role we want to have at Cosmos. And we are committed to achieving it!