From the internal studies done by CIEL Romania, one of the most important software producers for entrepreneurs, it resulted that 45% of the Romanian companies made investments in digitalization during the pandemic.
In more than half of the cases (61.2%) the amounts allocated to the automation of processes were smaller than 1,000 euros, in the rest of the situations the amounts being between 1,000 and 3,000 euros (27.2%) and over 3,000 euros (11.6%). This represents an increase, given that the latest DESI (Digital Economic and Society Index) report communicated by the European Commission, in June 2020, placed Romania on the 26th place out of the 28 EU Member States in terms of digitization in both the public and private system. The report argued, however, that our country has a huge potential in this regard, but that Romania’s digitization must start with the education of the relevant players.
“Many Romanian entrepreneurs have the feeling that they must make bank loans in order to digitize their business, but equipping it with a software solution is very affordable. Contrary to preconceptions, investing in such software is not expensive at all. They start from 100 euros a year, and entrepreneurs earn free extra hours for each employee. If you give yourself more time, by delegating repetitive tasks, you can gain the freedom to identify other opportunities to lead your business to success. The future belongs to digitized companies, especially in the context in which partial work from home becomes a normality, and new models of business have made their way into the market”, says Roxana Epure, Managing Partner CIEL Romania.
Automation in software is a functionality that gives results (free of errors) much faster, compared to physical work. However, a large part of the Romanian entrepreneurs are scared when they hear technical terms, such as ERP systems, management software, e-commerce, accounting and so on.
Such software products, however, do nothing but make the work of entrepreneurs easier, by taking over the repetitive tasks of employees, such as cost calculations, sending invoices and bank statements, generating reports and so on.
“Equipping your company with software results in a very big time saving because the software can do things for you or your team. The software industry does not aim to replace the human workforce, but to solve a number of existing problems. Operational teams do not always cope with daily tasks, while customers complain about poor service.
When we say digitalization, we are talking about invoices automatically generated and sent with a single click, sending offers to customers, notifications of payment delays, updates of stocks and databases and much more. Of course, you can do all these things by yourself, but if you sit and calculate the allotted working time, automation is a big gain. Especially since everyone complains about the lack of human resources”, says Roxana Epure, Managing Partner CIEL Romania.
Automation relieves entrepreneurs of repetitive tasks and streamlines their work. Specifically, they reduce the actual working time by carrying out multiple operations in a shorter time. It eliminates human mistakes that can affect the business and provides more control and predictability. Other great advantages of automation are represented by the reduction of stress levels and the increase of employee productivity on other key segments and business development. Also, the customer retention rate is higher, while data and reports help entrepreneurs make correct and secure decisions.
CIEL Romania provides Romanian entrepreneurs with over 20 softwares for the digitization of the businesses they run. The most popular products are those for medium-sized companies – management, e-commerce, production and accounting software, but also those for large companies – ERP systems, in many cases customized according to the specific needs of companies.
