The Slovenia Times

Conference debates digital transformation of business

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While IT services once played a prominent support role in the operations of companies and the rendering of public services, they now play an increasingly strategic role, the NT Conference organised by Microsoft in the coastal town of Portorož was told.

IT now affects all facets of company operations and many aspects of everyday life, Microsoft Slovenija director Robert Trnovec told the second day of the annual event.

"Technology can power economic growth and empowers us in everyday life, while also being a tool for preserving key values. Technology is contributing to social development," Trnovec said.

The message was echoed by chairman of Microsoft's division for Central and Eastern Europe Don Grantham, who assessed that "the age of digital transformation is well under way...business models are already changing".

Among key tools offered by digital transformation are mass data, cloud computing, mobility, artificial intelligence and automation. "Automation and AI will be the engine of progress in the future," said Trnovec.

The debate also broached the expanding use of IT in government, as Tom Loosemore, the founder of the British Government Digital Service, presented his experience of digitalisation of government services in the UK.

Loosemore said that governments stand to gain immensely from digital services, highlighting public procurement as an area where efficiency can greatly be increased.

The biggest challenge in implementing digital transformation in the public sector is mindset. The first thing that every public servant must have at heart is providing a service to the public. Solutions will grow from there, he said.

The debate was joined by Slovenian Public Administration Minister Boris Koprivnikar, who said that Slovenia has embarked on an evolution of digital public services. "The goal is to expand on the good practices and abolish the unsuccessful practices."

In a key step in the digital transformation of the Slovenian public administration, the country recently connected a number of separate government digital networks into a single cloud, said Koprivnikar.

The NT Conference started out two decades ago as an event for developers but has since morphed into one of the biggest tech events in the country. Over 2,000 attendees are taking part in debates that will run through Wednesday.

Among other prominent guests today were David Rowan, the editor of the British edition of Wired magazine, and Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar.

Addressing the conference in the final act of the business section, Cerar stressed the importance of cooperation between the government, the science community and business in digital transformation.

Highlighting that Slovenia had extensive IT potential, the prime minister said the country saw digital transformation as a big opportunity.

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