We didn’t want to stop at the providing of telco services and internet access, rather we wanted to provide our users with full coverage to enter cyberspace
With the successful completion of last year’s rebranding project and the launch of a new brand on the Serbian telecommunications market – A1 Serbia told its users that it would strengthen its users’ digital life and work. Less than a year and a half on, A1 Serbia is positioning itself as an important player in the area of applied ICT solutions and business software applications. This stride forward in operations also provided reason for us to interview A1 Serbia Enterprise Sales and ICT Solutions Director Goran Stojadinović.
ICT development has shuffled the deck on the market in such a way that now one telecommunications company is recognised as a partner in IT operations. How would you comment on that?
– We say in jest at A1 Serbia that we have long been connecting not only people, but also machines. Mobile operators are among the main drivers of the digital transformation of business around the world.
We didn’t want to stop at the providing of telco services and internet access, rather we wanted to provide our users with full coverage to enter cyberspace, with the help of solutions and services for cyber security, advanced connectivity, data storage and machine-to-machine communication. Given that we’re a provider of internet and digital solutions, we have possibilities to combine services and offer everything in one place for business users, under the one-stop-shop principle. Likewise, these solutions mustn’t be a burden on users, which is why we insist on the “managed service” model, where we relieve them of any concern over the running of the service, in accordance with the “turnkey” principle.
The A1 Cyber Backup solution is intended for all business users, regardless of whether or not they’re users of A1 Serbia’s services, and has built-in proactive protection against cryptographic viruses, such as ransomware and other malware
ICT advances have brought countless possibilities and benefits to enterprises of all sizes. Which of these gains do you see as being the most important?
– The primary needs of business that will never change are to make your operations more efficient and profitable. Digitalisation has only increased those needs, but also brought the tools to achieve them. The applying of modern ICT solutions is synonymous with efficiency, as it enables enterprises to make major savings, improve the quality of their products and services, shortens the time required to complete a job and reduces administration. An excellent example of that is A1 SD – WAN [Software Defined Wide Area Network], which is software-defined networking that provides greater flexibility by enabling the flow of traffic via multiple networks, unlike VPN that directs all traffic down a single route.
Increased numbers of remote employees and new business models rely on flexibility, speed and security. Is security the most important issue in the online world because of the situation with the pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine?
– In this digital age, the risk of data loss continues to rise as a result of the rapid digitalisation of companies and as a result of the fact that data has become the most valuable asset of organisations worldwide. In order for every company to be fully prepared for the new way of working, it must also take measures to ensure the protection of its resources, or its data, and provide for swift and efficient recovery in the event of an incident, hacker attack etc. We really recognised this need well and can state with pride that we launched the A1 Cyber Backup solution, which is intended for all business users, regardless of whether or not they’re users of A1 Serbia’s services, and has built-in proactive protection against cryptographic viruses, such as ransomware and other malware.