BANJA LUKA (Bosnia and Herzegovina), November 15 (SeeNews) – Bosnian IT company Lanaco has launched its first ITivity software academy in a bid to cope with the shortage of seasoned personnel that could hamper its development, Lanaco general manager, Nebojsa Ninic, told SeeNews.
The IT industry is the fastest growing branch of the economy, but it faces a deficit of high-quality workforce, Ninic said in a recent interview with SeeNews.
For this reason, Lanaco has launched an academy for everyone interested in a career in programming, with the aim to set the right conditions for the company's unimpeded growth and development.
“Essentially, I think this is the right way to keep pace with the process of digital transformation, and to allow young talented staff to come into contact with the most important aspects of this process in the best possible way, all with the aim to allow them to reach their full potential,” Ninic said, adding that the company is currently educating its first generation of students.
Lanaco is also working on bridging the gap between young people and the IT world through scholarships, professional practice for university and secondary school students, by investing in faculty equipment, and by establishing scientific and research centres in Bosnia and the region.
Another challenge for businesses in the IT industry is achieving sustainable growth in the 21st century without looking outside of the country, Ninic said.
“Today, taking into account the high level of globalization in the IT market, it is not realistic to expect any company to achieve sustainable growth in the long run without a significant presence on a regional or focused global market,” he explained.
Ninic noted that Lanaco is currently in the process of expanding into the increasingly attractive markets of Africa, the former states of the Soviet Union, and Scandinavia.
“We are definitely planning to enter new markets, as well as create new business alliances with companies which are world leaders in this line of business.”
At home, Lanaco is currently working on helping small and medium-sized enterprises improve their business operations with its latest project which increases their access to state-of-the-art technology and software solutions.
Lanaco’s authentic cloud product, EcoOne, provides SMEs with access to an extremely complex software solution that unifies business operations, optimizes processes and provides decision-making based on real business parameters.
It is a means for SMEs to enter the digital transformation arena and secure a future in the increasingly demanding market of the 21st century, Ninic noted.
“Such a re-positioning of IT features creates a crucial prerequisite for business success in the market.”
EcoOne has been available in Bosnia since the beginning of this month. Recently, Lanaco also signed a cooperation deal with Belgrade-based SBB Solutions, which will see its products disseminated among businesses in neighbouring Serbia.
The company is also supporting the telecommunications industry as it tries to keep pace with technological challenges. In July this year, the company signed a deal with Bosnia’s largest telco, BH Telecom, for antivirus and Internet protection solutions.
“The process of digital transformation has brought with it a change in the telecommunications spectrum, whereby the clear divide between the telecommunications and software segment is slowly closing,” Ninic said.
In cooperation with Kaspersky Lab, Lanaco is offering new technologies to telecommunications firms to protect their users from the dangers lurking in the Internet.
Lanaco earlier led a comprehensive digital and business transformation of the business of Bosnian state-owned power transmission system operator Elektroprenos BiH, in accordance with modern technological innovations and standards of modern business.
Asked to evaluate the company's business operations, Ninic said 2017 has been a challenging year.
“Like all previous years, this year is challenging for us and significant in many segments, especially with the introduction of new products and services, the activation of the Lanaco Data Centre, and in terms of our ever-increasing presence on regional markets that is expected to flourish in the coming years,” Ninic concluded.
Lanaco Information Technologies, established in 1990 with its head office in Banja Luka, is the largest private company in the field of information technology in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Currently, the company has over 280 employees, including a great number of graduated engineers and economists.
In October, Lanaco hosted a conference on IT mega trends in Banja Luka, which brought together IT professionals from several tech giants, including Schneider Electric, Microsoft, Fortinet and Oracle.