The Greek Economy

Concrete Investment Opportunities in the Greek Digital Technology Industry

Best cases of the Digital Technology Industry in the Greek Administration

Testimonials

About SEPE

Acknowledgments

The information published in “The Greek Digital Technology Industry” is based on the:Economic Survey of Greece 2016 - OECD, Greece and Southeastern Europe Economic & Financial Outlook 2016 - Economic Research Division, Alpha Bank, Eurobank Research Economy & Markets 2016 - Economic Research & Forecasting Division, Eurobank Ergasias SA, Enterprise Greece and SEPE.

Photos: iStockphoto, Shutterstock Images.

© SEPE - Federation of Hellenic Information Technology & Communications Enterprises, 2017.

As a member of the EU and the Eurozone, Greece offers access to high-growth and emerging regional markets. Greece has significant investment opportunities arising from its geopolitical position and its natural resources while most sectors of the Greek economy demonstrate significant competitive advantages such as: well-developed infrastructure, highly skilled and well-trained workforce, lower labour costs in comparison with other EU member countries.

According to OECD, Greece has embarked on an ambitious adjustment programme to deal with the deep economic crisis by restoring sustainable public finances, the aforementioned improvement of its international competitiveness and the foundations for healthy and solid long-term development.

The reforms carried out over the past years are impressive. The cuts in the public deficit were unprecedented. Deep-rooted fiscal reforms have been launched to strengthen the management of the public finances and to revamp the pension system. The statistical system is being improved significantly.

A wide range of structural reforms are now underway which promise to raise living standards and employment, and to make labour and product markets more inclusive and fair.

Active labour market policies are improving job-search possibilities. Lower minimum wages for youth, improved wage bargaining, and revamped employment protection rules enhance job creation. Reforms in product markets are improving the competition framework and the business environment, and barriers to exports and investment are being reduced.

The new framework targets growth-enhancing investments sets a clear time schedule for the evaluation and approval of projects, better evaluation of projects and their outcomes. New financial engineering tools to support SMEs have been established, while fast-track procedures to accelerate the approval and implementation of strategic investments, particularly FDI, were introduced. Over time investments are best promoted by a good overall business environment.

Greek Digital Technology Industry contributes to the Development of the Greek economyWhere capable and experienced people meet expertise in complex issues and value for money. Greek Digital Technology companies have acquired extensive experience in major projects globally, demanding:• Complex issues solving• Developing tailor made solutions• Applying effectively complex solutions first in a

federate level, then adapting and implementing in a local level.

European Union’s complicated structure has provided Greek companies the opportunity to develop a unique skill of developing and implementing various ICT projects. In addition to that, Greek companies has acquired extensive experience in consensus building on digital solutions for overall Greek Administration for a significant number of countries in Europe and all over the world.

Moreover, the Greek human capital is capable of operating efficiently and effectively on many different and demanding ICT projects in various countries under different business and economic environments, delivering maximum results. Thus resulting into building a unique know how in delivering complex solutions all over the world.

The Greek Economy

3The Greek Digital Technology Industry |

The Greek Digital Technology sector offers a unique opportunity for investment in high-end, value added services with a global reach. Business operations of international companies that rely on skilled labour will find highly attractive resources in Greece. Establishing software development labs or microchip and MMS design centres are just some examples of high return opportunities that Greece offers. For companies that rely on know-how advantages to support strong growth rates, establishing an R&D lab to develop technologies can be a highly beneficial investment.

Human CapitalThe Digital Technology industry in Greece consists of a group of hard working, highly qualified professionals (which in most cases reflects to a PhD or Master degree from some of the best institutions in the world) with global experience, commitment to innovation and entrepreneurial talent. Greek engineers have topped Global Competitiveness Index/ World Economic Forum, ITU/ ICT Development Index and have been included in the top 16 ICT human resources pool globally by the Economist. The unique and high quality of the Greek ICT personnel is, concurrently, commercially attractive.

Innovation with Excellence Greek technology companies are providing competitive and innovative products and services to many Tier 1 customers around the world. For example, the Greek microelectronics sector serves companies like ATT, Brazil Telecom, Broadcom, CERN, Cypress, EADS Avionics, Freescale, Frigoglas, Fujitsu, Goodrich, Intel, Israel Aerospace Industries, Jazz, LG, Lockheed Martin, Mitsubishi, Motorola, NASA, Netlogic, NTT, O2 UK, OKI, Omega, Panasonic, Philips, RFMD, Rockwell Collins, Samsung, Sharp, Skyworks, Sony, T-Mobile, Texas Instruments, Toshiba, and generates over 80% of total revenues outside Greece.

Strong Pickup of digital technologiesGreece boasts one of the highest Fixed Broadband Coverage rates (99%). Greeks are active internet users of social networks and online content. Over the past year more and more users have been engaging in online banking.The launch of a direct fibre access broadband network programme (NGA) is expected by the government.

Conductive Business EnvironmentInnovation is a key priority and the private sector is increasingly devoting more resources to foster new and marketable products and services. Cooperation among universities and business, the public and private sector, and research and production has been growing in recent years.

Attractive Funding Opportunities International investors planning to penetrate the Greek technology market may benefit from funding opportunities, provided both from public and private sources. Several National Strategic Reference Programme funding programs allow the enhancement of technology development realisation of R&D projects. The Public-Private Partnerships framework allows for the realisation of bigger projects. In addition, international companies will be able to find in Greece a whole range of incubations, accelerations, seed capital funding, venture capital funding and private equity funding required financing growth. The Athens Stock is an attractive option for drawing equity capital, as there are many listings with international tranches.

Consequently the Greek digital technology industry has a proven capacity to undertake, carry out and deliver critical and complex outsourcing projects with always outstanding quality. Greece disposes with remarkable human capital trained and exposed to international environments. This human capital is Greece’s guarantee to providing quality deliveries based on strict SLAs and complex requirements.

Concrete Investment Opportunities

4 | The Greek Digital Technology Industry

“In 2006, Greece ranked first globally in terms of broadband growth. Microsoft gives particular emphasis in developing innovation at a local level, since it constitutes the key growth factor for each country. Within this framework, the inauguration of the Innovation Centre aims at contributing in the creation of opportunities for all that will reinforce Greek competitiveness globally”.

BILL GATES MICROSOFT CORPORATION

“Deutsche Telekom’s investment in OTE has significantly increased our footprint in the region of Southern and Eastern Europe and provides an ideal springboard for further growth potential. OTE has gathered a lot of expertise in the region over the past years, which currently generates 17 percent of our turnover and 20% of the EBITDA. We now have a solid market position here and combined with Deutsche Telekom’s knowledge from other markets, we can define considerable economies of scale, best practices and deliver a seamless and excellent experience for all of our valued customers”.

GUIDO KERKHOFFBoard Member SE Europe DEUTSCHE TELEKOM AG

“I strongly believe that despite the fact that Greece is a relatively small country, its telecoms market is very attractive for potential investors. And it will be more attractive as long as it plays a protagonist role in the neighbouring developing countries”.

THOMAS KARAKOULIASCEO Hellas & Cyprus AT&T GLOBAL NETWORK SERVICES

“Invest in Greece, achieve mutual benefits and win-win”.WEI JIAFU

President & CEO COSCO

“I must say, personally, I’m impressed with the

improvements that Greece is going through. Being the

largest global supplier basis software, we are here to

help accelerate the process to increase innovation and

growth, because that’s really the agenda of the future in

Greece. We see a market with lots of intelligent people,

we see a market where software would play a major role,

and we are here to make our investments and accelerate

the process. We will invest in Greece. We have moved our

South Europe Headquarters to Athens to show our focus

on this market. We can inspire small startups to leverage

our technology and drive innovation in growth in a global

basis environment.”

JIM HAGEMANN SNABE

Co-CEO SAP AG

“We came to Greece in 2000, in view of the upcoming

Games, and since then have had revenues in excess of

$500 million. We believe that Greece is a great place to

invest and our rate of growth compared to other east

Mediterranean countries is significantly higher here and

we are now looking to expand the scope of our activities

further”.

STEVE MARTIN

Executive GENERAL ELECTRIC ENERGY

“Greece is a strong business hub offering access to the

EU, Russia and the former East European bloc countries.

Moreover, Greece offers a large pool of skilled, well-

educated, and hard working labour force at competitive

cost rates. The Greek government supports heavily foreign

investments into the country”.

MASAHIKO TOYODA

Chairman & Managing Director TOSOH HELLAS A.I.C.

Testimonials

5The Greek Digital Technology Industry |

Best cases of the Digital Technology Industry in the Greek Administration

National Public Administration Network “SYZEFXIS”The Greek National Network “SYZEFXIS” has developed a common technological ground for the Greek Administration where participating agencies are able to interact with each other, communicate with Greek citizens and also cooperate with agencies of other EU member states. In other words it is the technological framework that glues together various distinctive actors and numerous e-government services in a versatile collaboration environment. This improves the internal workings of the Greek Administration and minimizes financial and management costs of government agencies, utilizing technologies such as IP telephony, videoconferencing or e-learning. It also helps the buildup of strategic connections and the flow of data by implementing a secure networking environment for developing interfaces among different governmental agencies and applications.

In addition, SYZEFXIS provides the means for both listening and talking to citizens. This is realized by serving public sector’s portals and e-government applications, by assigning every public servant an e-mail address and by offering an SMS platform to support informative actions towards citizens. Furthermore, SYZEFXIS has become a robust environment for implementing new innovative e-government services and applications on a national and local level. Thus, a number of pilot projects that aim to advance Greek Administration’s effectiveness and efficiency on different sectors (e.g. Health Care, Civil Protection, etc.) are currently active.

SYZEFXIS today offers its services to almost 4,500 agencies of the Greek Administration and is going to expand to approximately 12,000 agencies.

“SYZEFXIS” was initiated by the Ministry of Administrative Reconstruction.

Programme “Di@vgeia”The “Diavgeia” (Transparency) programme, had a deep and profound positive impact on society and on the political life of the country while it was proven to be more than a European and international “success story” technologically wise, as far as the size of the project and the stakeholders are involved. The main objectives of the Programme are:• Safeguarding transparency of government actions.• Eliminating corruption by exposing it more easily when

it takes place.• Monitoring legality and good administration.• Reinforcing Greek citizens’ constitutional rights, such

as the participation in the Information Society.• Enhancing and modernizing existing publication

systems of administrative acts and decisions.• Making all administrative acts available in formats

that are easy to access, navigate and comprehend, regardless of the citizen’s knowledge level of the inner processes of the administration.

• Providing open data to citizens and business for further analysis and exploitation.

Taking grasp of the current financial and social opportunity and trying to confront all problems that aroused, the main results are:• 18M acts and decisions uploaded on the “Di@vgeia”

portal.• 4.2K public authorities involved.• 64K public servants as active users, making it the most

extensively and widely used public application.• 24.5K uploads per working day.• Previously on average 3-20 days were needed to

acquire the required decision. Now the decision is uploaded in 2 minutes.

• Less paper-better environmental impact for public authorities.

The “Di@vgeia” programme was initiated by the Ministry of Administrative Reconstruction.

6 | The Greek Digital Technology Industry

Taxation Information System (TAXIS)The Greek Ministry of Finance implemented a fully functional and concise Taxation Information System that became the cornerstone of Greek Public Revenue Administration. Since then the system has evolved significantly to cater for advances in technology but mainly to incorporate the continuous legislative and institutional reforms that take place in Greece in the last years. At present the Greek Taxation Information System (TAXIS) covers the full range of Public Revenue Authority operations for both physical persons and legal entities.

The system includes modules covering: Taxpayers, Registry, Revenues/ Revenues Accounting, Expenses/ Expenses Accounting, Legal Actions, Bookkeeping, VAT, Income Tax, Large Property Tax/ Property Valuation, General Taxes, Capital Tax, Internal Audit, Vehicle Tax, Taxpayers Audit, Taxpayer Balance and Workflow.

The system also includes a taxpayer’s portal (TAXISNET) which provides a large number of electronic services for physical persons and legal entities such as: Revenue Declaration for physical persons, Revenue Declaration for legal entities, VAT declaration, VIES statement declaration, Bookkeeping declarations, Withholding Tax declaration, Applications and Certificates issuance, Large property declarations for physical persons and legal entities, User Authorization, Administrator Services, Usage Information, User Support, Back-office System data synchronization, Personalized Tax Calendar, Automatic filling of declaration data, Automatic Tax Clearance and Tax Certificates verification.

The system also provides interoperability with third-party systems such as the Greek Inter-Banking System (DIAS), the Greek Statistics Authority System (ELSTAT) and others.

Customs Information System (ICISNET)The Greek Ministry of Finance/ Greek Customs Authorities have interpreted the challenging mix of demands coming from Trade, Regulation & legal requirements, National & regional requirements as well as Security and Risk Management and in order to tackle all these have implemented an Integrated Customs Information System to streamline their operation. The brand new Information System (ICISNET) came into full use in order to facilitate the transition towards e-Customs and address the ever changing business environment factors such as Legal compliance, Regional Integration, Political agreements, Trade facilitation, Security and National requirements.

The ICISNET has been developed in order to meet the current requirements of EU in terms of collaboration and data exchange and supports fully the current EU Customs directives. The system includes functionality covering both European and National requirements such as:• National Single Window for Economic Operators

(Declaration Processing, Permit & Certification Management, License Management, Authorization Management, User Profile Management, Payments, Information Portal and Knowledge Repository, Tracking Alerts & Monitoring, Reporting)

• Customs Back-end System Components Declaration Processing, Tracking, and Clearance

(Entry/ Manifest, Import/ Transit/ Export, Excise, Goods Tracking & Clear-off)

Supporting Components (Guarantee/ Insurance Management, Risk Management

& Analytics, Case Management, Audit & Enforcement, Inspection Management, Tariff Management, Duty & Taxes Calculation, Quota Management, Valuation, Customs Decisions/ Ruling,Economic Operators & Authorizations Management, Accounting & Revenue Collection, Administration & Monitoring).

7The Greek Digital Technology Industry |

Social Security SystemThe Greek Social Security Foundation (IKA) launched an Information Technology Programme in order to streamline its operations and provide better services to employers and the public.

At the heart of this Programme is the Integrated Information System of IKA which supports all the business processes of the organization, and enhance the quality of delivered services (including e-services) to its members. IKA is the largest Social Security Organization of Greece, and one of the largest in Europe. IKA offers a variety of services ranging from the provision of pensions and benefits of various kinds, to a complete set of electronic services.

The objective of the Integrated Information System was to analyze, design and implement all the necessary applications that support IKA business processes. In particular the covered application areas are:• Contributions System (Calculation, Collection, Electronic

Services)• Benefits System• Financial Management System covering General

Accounting, Analytical Accounting, Budgeting, Accounts Payable, Fixed Assets, Inventory and other support modules

• Pensions• Registries• Statistical Analysis & Decision Support• Electronic Services - www.ika.gr (authorization,

registration, submission of Employers contributions, e-Payment Order of Contributions, Statement of Insured Members Accounts, Monitoring of Pensions Requests, etc.).

The IKA information system supports more than 8,000 users every day with more than 800,000 transactions per day.

Police On LineThe scope of the Police On Line (POL) project was to create of a new Pan-Hellenic ICT Network infrastructure for the Greek Police, to integrate all of their services, as well as the creation of a powerful central system, with modern central security systems, the development of specialized applications and finally the utilisation of the infrastructures on all police applications. The final result was the following: • Access from any point to any database in the Central

Offices via the Pan-Hellenic Network all over the country (more than 1,500 access points with local LANs for more than 20,000 workstation).

• Unified voice-data network and a central directory. • Modernise the old telephone exchanges connecting all

of them, with redundancies, installing and utilise IP telephony on the same private network.

• Powerful Central systems (High Availability) and a large storage area system for the main applications.

• Utilisation of the network for voice and web applications.

• Full document management specialised for the Greek Police needs, reducing paperwork as well as internal mail.

• Security and access permission with use of smart cards with digital certificates for every officer according to his role and position (about 30,000).

• Creation and automation of document workflows.• Secure document distribution with the use of

encryption and digital signatures.• Replace paper documents with digitally signed, freeing

more than 300 officers from paperwork.• Creation of a modern asset management system for all

IT assets, as well as of a help desk system for support and maintenance.

“Police On Line” project was initiated by the Ministry of the Interior.

Best cases of the Digital Technology Industry in the Greek Administration

8 | The Greek Digital Technology Industry

Business Registry (GEMI)The Greek National Business Registry (GEMI) is the single and authoritative registry of Greek companies under the auspices of the General Secretariat of Commerce and the Union of Hellenic Chambers. Every single company is registered into GEMI and also file any significant change that occurs during a company’s lifetime.

It is operated by the Greek Chambers of Commerce and offers numerous services:• The Business Registry itself• The Business Portal, where anyone interested can issue

digitally signed certificates of membership and copies of publicly available company documents. Also, there, the companies can apply for registrations of company business lifetime events. The company can register itself through OAUTH authentication using the relevant Ministry of Finance web service, whereas multiple automated/ electronic payments can be made such as using credit cards, direct bank transfers etc. Currently it has thousands of transactions per day and commits tens of millions of Euro annually from its transactions.

• The One Stop Shop, which integrates under a single contact point (either a Greek Chamber or a certified Notary) the whole process of business initial registration. Under a flexible and innovative workflow (BPMN) platform it integrates various third services (such as the registry itself, the Finance Ministry, the Greek Chambers) in order to reduce drastically the time necessary to form a new company in Greece. Currently it is operated from hundreds of Chamber users and 2,500 Notaries and led to a reduction of the time to establish a company under 60 minutes or less, as opposed to several weeks before its existence.

Business Registry “GEMI” was initiated by the Ministy of Economy and Development.

Digitisation of Civil Registry OfficesThe objective of the project was the digitization of civil records of each of the civil registry offices and their introduction into the core infrastructure of the National Civil Registry. A comprehensive database of civil status data had be created in the central infrastructure of the Ministry of Interior.The project encompassed 1,034 civil registry offices all

over Greece, and involved the following activities:• Digitization of all existing civil records of the

respective civil registry offices• Registration of the majority of civil records documents

which have already been digitized, in order to ensure data integrity and avoidance of mistakes.

The process involved both the scanning of civil records and also the registration of their civil status data, in order to build the necessary content of the National Civil Registry’s Central Infrastructure, and as a consequence, in order to allow the participating civil registry offices to monitor the already created/ modified civil records in a modern and systematic way.

Collection & Management of Data Related to Road Traffic Accidents and PenaltiesThe project comprised the supply, installation and configuration of an integrated MIS for the collection and management of data related to road traffic accidents and penalties through portable devices and electronic radars for offences recording, for the Hellenic Police/ Ministry of the Interior & Administrative Reconstruction.

The project besides the supply and installation of equipment and system software, comprised the implementation of customized solutions and services for the competent departments of the Hellenic Police, for automated citizen information services and a GIS Subsystem. To meet the project needs, a specific and unique application has been implemented.

9The Greek Digital Technology Industry |

SEPE, the Federation of Hellenic Information Technology & Communications

Enterprises was founded in February 1995 and is the sector’s representative for

the digital technology industry, aiming at the development of the Greek economy

and society.

Approximately, 5,300 small, medium, large, local and multinational companies

operate in the Information and Communications Technology and Consumer

Electronics Industry sectors in Greece, with more than 260,000 employees. The

country’s turnover in the digital technology sector in turns represents 4% of

the GDP.

SEPE Goals

• The rise of public awareness on the importance of digital technology

and the transition of our society to an information society for all.

• The modernisation of Greek Administration with the use of Digital Technology.

• The development of a high - speed telecommunication network to address and

assist the current Communication Infrastructure.

• The representation of the interests and views of the Greek digital technology

industry to the government, public and private institutions, international

organisations, the European Union, the Media and society.

• The promotion of close partnerships between digital technology companies and

the public sector as well as the collaboration with all relevant bodies for the

development and effective implementation of

a National Strategy for Digital Technology.

• The design and implementation of programs aimed at addressing the needs of

small, medium and large enterprises and improving their competitiveness in the

market.

• The leverage of digital technology into all levels of the educational system and

the evolution of computing literacy and technology expertise.

• The cooperation between the digital technology industry and the educational

system in order to coordinate the design of the study curricula according to

the market needs.

About SEPE

10 | The Greek Digital Technology Industry

SEPE focuses on the following areas:

Information Dissemination

SEPE promotes the usage of digital technology throughout

the Greek Society, while it closely monitors the progress of

“digital economy”.

SEPE also produces and publishes a broad range of

research reports, statistics and information and through

its portal offers a key communication tool

for all of its members.

Public Affairs and Lobbying

SEPE monitors, analyses and responds to public policies

and regulatory developments that affect the digital

technology industry; represents the industry to ensure the

best possible regulatory and legislative environment.

This involves also dealing with issues concerning the ICT

projects implemented in the Greek Administration.

International Presence

SEPE represents its members at the global digital

technology scene, actively participating in many leading

international associations:

• European Digital Technology Association

(DIGITALEUROPE),

• European IT Observatory (EITO),

• World Information Technology and Services Alliance

(WITSA)

and other bodies of influence.

Our Vision for the Greek Economy

One of our main objectives is to transform the Greek

digital technology sector into a leading strategic industry

that will stimulate Greek economy, encourage investment

in research, technology and innovation, enhance digital

literacy and at the same time apply digital technology to

address major social challenges.

In today’s global knowledge economy it is digital

technology that is reshaping the economy, driving

innovation and dramatic disruptive change across almost

every aspect of economic activity.

There are five pillars of excellence that Greece needs

to achieve in order to optimise innovation, productivity

growth and competitiveness.

• Exploitation of digital technology across the private

sector

• Improvement of the Greek Administration efficiency by

harnessing digital technology

• Technology adoption and innovation leveraged

by consumers

• A strong digital technology sector that can support

and drive economy - wide innovation

• A coherent policy framework that underpins

tech-enabled productivity growth.