Our colleagues have
visited you two years ago, could you tell us briefly
about the major developments for these last two
years in the company?
There are many things that happened since I met
your colleagues. First of all the telecommunication
boom in Europe, in the US and globally is over.
Financial houses have lost their interest to finance
the telecommunication projects for one simple
reason, many companies were not able to pay back
their liability, because they were overcapitalized.
The second important change was the liberalization
of the telecommunication market in the Czech Republic.
So there was one negative and one positive change,
because the liberalization brought the growth
of competition and the introduction of new services.
To be more specific, we started to offer our clients
turnkey solutions concerning the multimedia information
technology. That means, cooperation with telecommunication
operators, or generally with companies who offer
their clients voice and data network services,
and we provide the needed background for those
services.
With the new services you have also been able
to acquire new clients?
In most of the cases our clients are important
European and American operators. Our clients,
coming to Central Europe have specific demands,
which we have to meet with a flexible approach.
Because we follow the rule "our customer
is our boss". Those clients chose us because
we have good technical and personnel background.
We provide them with complex services in the Central
European region- that is in the Czech Republic,
Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Germany and Austria.
The companies are building their communication
routes here. We provide the building together
with the emergency service 24 hours per day and
365 days a year together with telehousing services.
One of the main lessons that we learned is that
operators choose only those companies that are
flexible.
Could you tell us how did all these changes
influence the turnover?
I do not think that the level of turnover was
influenced at Sitel. However it is true that the
composition of the turnover has changed. There
is a significant growth of income from our new
clients. Until the real liberalization, the turnover
was mainly composed by the income from domestic
customers. Now, this great amount of income comes
from foreign operators.
Are you still active in the US? Did you manage
to develop your operations there?
We have a great colleague there, Mr. Štepán
Martínek, who enjoys the time there, he
is a young guy but he did a great job there. He
chose the American company ISI as our partner
for creating a joint venture called Sitel Net,
each side having 50% of the company. This American
company has better connections on the American
market than we had as a foreign company. They
cooperate with America Online, AT&T and other
companies. We cooperate on the basis of building
data networks. There is another purpose of being
present on the American market apart from the
profit. What is very important for us is that
we can send our young perspective employees there,
where they learn about the new technology, customers
and it is a perfect experience for them. I think
it is necessary for them to learn different levels
of living and working conditions in different
countries.
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Medium-sized companies like Sitel are becoming
very prospective, because they are flexible and
they work well. Have you had any contact with
any foreign investor, who wanted to build a joint
venture with Sitel in the Czech Republic or maybe
buy a part of Sitel?
I had met one Italian investor, who was not among
the biggest operators in his country, and he wanted
to buy 100% of Sitel, however that was not a solution
for us. At the moment with the situation in the
telecommunication sector, there is no special
interest among investors to buy shares in telecommunication
companies, in Sitel for example. They themselves
have financial problems. On the other hand, 50%
of our activities is installations and there is
not much investor interest in this kind of companies.
We are not as attractive for the investors as
it could seem to be at the first sight.
You are also a member of the Association of
the Defense Industry in the Czech Republic. Could
you tell us about your role and maybe what other
associations you are a member of?
We are a member of the Association of Defense
Industry and also a member of the Association
of providers of public telecommunication network.
In the Association of Defense Industry we cooperate
on various projects for the army and other armed
forces. We received a Certificate of the National
Security Authority and we prepare many projects
for the NATO on the field of information technology.
This is an important part of our business. However
at the moment we have more or less a passive role
in the above-mentioned association. There is a
good administration office, which works very well
within this association, because they regularly
inform us about important events worldwide, like
exhibitions, workshops, and seminars. We appreciate
it, as we like to participate on these events.
At the beginning we were talking about the
last two years of the company. My last question
will be about the next two years. Could you tell
us about your plan and expectations, how do you
expect the company to grow and especially bearing
in mind that the Czech Republic is playing an
active role in NATO?
We have to be optimistic. We have to expect that
the situation will improve. Generally speaking,
I think that the Czech Republic is going through
a special period when it is about to enter to
the European Union. Many companies picture the
entry to the EU as a simple thing. By entering
the EU, we will have to face a tough competition
from the side of advanced western companies and
some of the companies cannot even imagine what
kind of period they will go through. I think that
Sitel has gone through this period already, and
we have a great advantage because by dealing with
foreign partners we learned how to be flexible.
The Czech companies have to realize and understand
one rule - once you make a promise, you have to
keep it, no matter what. So, the Czech economy
will go through this strict period. Many companies
will have a hard time to transform to the advanced
western market and its standards and mentality.
On the other hand we have to transform ourselves
step by step in some areas. Our labor force will
not have a free movement immediately otherwise
it could cause serious social problems for example
in Austria or Germany.
As you know French and Francophone investors
are readers of our reports. What would be your
message to them?
We are looking forward to them and when they come
they will meet high-qualified labor force with a
high level cultural environment. My own experience
is that this country is very open for investor possibilities
and there exist many good companies, not only in
the telecommunication sector, which are looking
forward to the arrival of the francophone investors. |
