Digitalization as a key to SME efficiency
Ion Bodrug, president of the Association for the Advancement of Electronic Communications and Innovative Technologies (ACETI), told Logos Press. The association has called on other SMEs to use its Digital Intensity Measurement Tool (MIDIA). The association has already received responses from various sectors, including a cluster of companies in furniture manufacturing, food processing and even farms.
ACETI introduced MIDIA at the end of last week. This innovative solution for assessing the level of digitalization of SMEs is the first of its kind adapted to the Moldovan context.
The tool was developed as part of the Digital Maturity in Innovative Regions project, implemented with financial support from the Swiss government and Helvetas Moldova.
MIDIA – a stepping stone to obtaining financing
During the presentation, Ion Bodrug emphasized the role of MIDIA as a practical tool to assess the digital maturity of SMEs in order to improve their competitiveness and access to finance. In this sense, the digital audit will be an additional stepping stone to obtaining grants from the Organization for the Development of Entrepreneurship (ODA) and other government agencies, through which companies are provided with state support.
For her part, Lidia Mocanu, Strategic Director of Digital Innovation Zone EDIH in Romania, emphasized the importance of MIDIA for the assistance that the European Digital Innovation Hub can provide to Moldovan companies. The tool can become an entrance gate to the programs offered by the European Digital Innovation Hub of Moldova.
“Digitalization is no longer a fad, but a necessity. To be competitive, you need to know your potential,” said Vitalie Tarlev, advisor for digitalization at the Economic Council under the Prime Minister. – This tool can help entrepreneurs assess their capabilities, resources and needs, understand what is good and what is not so good, and learn how to prioritize investments”.
An important part of the meeting was dedicated to the practical experience of using MIDIA, which provides assessors and companies with a clear basis for understanding the level of digital intensity and planning the next stages of digital transformation.
Benefits of assessment
Representatives of the companies that participated in the pilot phase of the project described the benefits they gained from the assessment. They noted the clarity of the generated report and its usefulness in informing digital investment decisions. And MIDIA certified evaluators described lessons learned in applying the methodology.
ACETI has prepared a legislative initiative to have the MIDIA tool used by companies when approving ODA grants.
One of the participants of the pilot project is the company AlexSistem. It is the first private metrology laboratory in Moldova that verifies weighing equipment for trade, as well as speed radars used by the police. The company got involved not to get financial support from the state through the ODA, but to increase the level of competitiveness in this developing segment.
“Last year we won an ODA grant of 3 million lei to develop our laboratory,” said Alexei Pianykh, administrator of AlexSistem. – Today there are already several companies on the market providing metrology services, but digitalization helped us to reduce the duration of the procedure to 2 days. And for business, speed is very important. Especially since we work with reputable clients”.
