
By Michael Dembinski, chief advisor, and Dorota Kierbiedź, membership director, BPCC
This issue focuses on IT in the broadest sense, and the ongoing digitalisation of business processes. Tech touches every aspect of business; whilst many processes are already digital to some extent, there’s still much that can be digitally transformed. In the six interviews and 21 articles, we offer you a cross-section of insights into how the way we do business is being changed by tech, how IT can boost productivity further – and Poland’s chances in a digitally connected global economy.
We start with an interview with the first interview with the BPCC’s new chairman, Michał Obiegała, BP’s corporate affairs director for Poland, in which he sets out his vision for the chamber as well as explaining how BP sees Poland developing, and his thoughts on green transformation.
Agnieszka Jarosz, head of ACCA for Northern and Eastern Europe, talks about the 120 year-old professional body’s role as a global superconnector, and explains how AI is likely to change accountancy.
Tomasz Zalewski, tech superstar lawyer at Bird & Bird, considers Poland’s place as a location for doing tech, considering infrastructural, regulatory, cultural and educational factors.
Krzysztof Konczyk, digital director at PwC’s Strategy& in Poland, discusses the impact that the digital revolution is having on Polish retail, and how data will be driving growth.
John Brett, who has just arrived in Poland from Beijing to take up the post as principal of the British School Warsaw, talks about education in an era of digitalisation and global mobility.
Bartłomiej Wójtowicz, business consulting director, Comarch S.A, discusses the next steps facing companies as digitalisation extends into every business process, and about the UK’s role in Comarch’s plans for global growth.
The articles
The Big Picture
Pawel Prymakowski, CEO of IT Vision shares his insights into the process of digitalising a company, and suggests the questions that business leaders should be asking themselves as they progress further along the journey of digital transformation.
EY’s Digital Transformation 2024 survey notes a massive surge in the percentage of firms prioritising digitalisation programmes compared to the situation in 2020. Sylwia Wójcik from EY says that rising costs of digitalisation can be offset by EU funds intended to help businesses adapt.
Digitising data should be a business priority; this is already an irreversible process. But the question, according to Bogumiła Szymczak of Forvis Mazars is not what to digitise, but how to do it effectively and when to take up the challenge.
Digitalisation doesn’t stand still. Software and hardware both need to be updated. How should a business cope with the migration of data from an old platform to a new one? Pierre-Francis Grillet from SoftwareOne considers the questions one should ask when planning SAP migration.
Law and Tech
Ever since computers became standard equipment across business, legislators have struggled to keep up with regulating tech. It is therefore not surprising that when discussing digitalisation, lawyers will have much to say about compliance.
Corporates whose activity span multiple jurisdictions face legal issues when sending data across borders. Binding corporate rules are the answer used by multinationals in banking, insurance, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing and IT, says Dr Damian Karwala of CMS.
Szymon Ciach and Norbert Lutowski, Osborne Clarke look at the scope of the wave of cybersecurity laws emanating from Brussels, and consider how these will affect business.
In May of this year, the EU became the first jurisdiction in the world to adopt such an extensive AI regulatory framework. Szymon Sieniewicz from Linklaters’ Warsaw office considers the scope of the regulations, their deadlines for coming into force, and what you need to do by then.
Natalia Kotłowska-Wochna and Mikołaj Kuterek from Kochański & Partners discuss where the EU’s AI Directive clashes with the GDPR, and where the two directives interplay with each other.
The HR aspects of digitalisation
Employee records take up a disproportionate amount of shelf-space in any business. Turning these documents into digital files has a host of benefits – but how to do this safely and in keeping with the law? Bartosz Wszeborowski and Julia Łuszczewska from PCS Paruch talk us through the process.
Karina Kozera from PwC Polska lists the obstacles holding companies back from properly digitalising their HR processes, and offers solutions that will make the HR function more effective.
Bożena Roczniak, founder & CEO of OstendiHR addresses the benefits of digitalising HR and sets out the path to effective implementation of tech solutions to HR management.
Cybersecurity is becoming an absolute priority for all businesses, so specialists from the field are hard to come by – and not cheap. Alicja Malok at Hays Poland looks at supply and demand for cybersecurity experts on the Polish talent market.
The impact of AI on business
Is EU’s digital landscape overregulated – or the world’s safest? Monika Cymerys from Grayling Poland balances these two points of view in the light of Mario Draghi’s report on the competitiveness of the European Union.
Crunching huge data lies at the heart of future advances in medicine. Piotr Maślak and Joanna Sasin-Kurowska from AstraZeneca explain how AI can increase productivity and accelerate the development of new treatments of diseases – and how much of this is happening in Poland already.
AI has speeded up the process of translating languages. But to what extent should we trust it – especially in sensitive areas such as marketing, copywriting or medical texts? A skilled pair of human eyes remains indispensable, says Stanislav Gorbachevsky, CEO of the Force Group of Companies.
Curative AI – using artificial intelligence to ensure full compliance with your brand guidelines, as well as regulatory and business guidelines – is a new use-case that can save vast amounts of time and energy, explains Leon Suchocki from VML.
Britain, Poland and tech
Brexit may have made cooperation between businesses from the EU member states and the UK formally more complicated and demanding, yet the UK remains an excellent springboard for Polish tech firms looking to expand into global markets, says Kacper Rydz from MFW Fiałek.
Looking the other way, Poland has much to offer UK businesses looking to nearshore their IT functions effectively, argues Barbara Lesiak at GS Services.
Digitalising the world of construction and real estate
A controversial topic for the construction sector – what’s the best solution for digitalising project management – bespoke software or plain old Excel spreadsheets? Dr Bartosz Zamara from Trebbi Poland, with Rafał Bałdys Rembowski, editor of Biuletyn Konsultant have some surprises in store.
Digitalising office-space management offers landlords and tenants huge gains in convenience and comfort, for their staff and their guests. Julita Sulinska from Globalworth describes the advantages of moving from card-based access to access based on a smartphone app.
And finally…
Of crucial importance to anyone who has ever worked in the UK and moved (or returned) to Poland. How to claim your UK pension for time worked in the UK By Dr Clifford J Frank, Angelo Chirulli, Yuliya Shved and Justyna Szymaszek of LexeFiscal LLP.