The Romanian IT sector redirects its businesses eastwards

“The software and service sectors are those which had and will have a significant increase, especially in developing countries in Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa,” said Anca Crahmaliuc, Marketing and Communication Manager of Siveco Romania, a major business software solution producer on the market.

“When entering a crisis, one must have the strategies for exiting it, and one of these strategies is based on IT. Investments in the IT field are absolutely necessary for the growth of any economy, especially developing ones,” Crahmaliuc added.

“In times of crisis, operating on foreign markets is an extremely important solution. It is difficult to survive with businesses only on the Romanian market. Areas with natural organic growth have an advantage over saturated ones. Ukraine, Serbia, and Bulgaria are still attracting projects,” said Liviu Dragan, General Manager of TotalSoft, one of the largest players on the local software and service market.

Some 35 percent of TotalSoft’s net sales in 2009 are estimated to be registered abroad, according to Dragan. The company will end 2008 with €18-19 mln in turnover and is expecting a 25 percent increase in the coming year.

“At present, everybody is struggling terribly. We cannot talk about a geographical strategy, only about survival. It is very difficult to say now which region will be privileged in 2009,” said Gabriel Marin, Chief Executive Officer of Omnilogic.

According to a report published by the IDC market research company, Japan, Western Europe and the United States will be most affected by the crisis, while Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America will register solid organic growth.

The value of the Romanian IT market amounted to €884 million in 2007, according to IDC and Business Monitor International.