January the 6th, 2021 - Very few people will remember the utter disaster that was 2020 with fondness. A return to the economic level of 2019 is now not expected until 2022, or even 2023. How is A1 Croatia planning to push economic growth forward, all while maintaining social and environmental responsibility?
As Novac writes, as has been estimated, the fall in Croatia's GDP could be eight to nine percent, and the growth in 2021 will be equal to about five percent. The coronavirus pandemic has pushed the telecommunications sector into an unappealing corner much like it has with the rest of the economy. Companies are facing declining sales, rising bad debts and fewer visitors using roaming services, which significantly shapes their key financial indicators. However, A1 Croatia responded to this crisis with a different approach - a digital and green one, which opens up opportunities for the development of a more digital society.
Examples of smart cities
A1 Croatia, which employs about two thousand people and takes care of the needs of two million users across Croatia every day, welcomed 2020 in a largely digitally transformed way. Furthermore, it introduced a model of hybrid and flexible operation in response to employee protection during the pandemic and stepped up its overall investment in next-generation 5G and fixed networks based on optics to provide its customers with even more advanced services. In addition, to support the creation of better business and living conditions in the long run, they invested in a new data centre to further strengthen their capacities to support the digital transformation of the Croatian economy and smart cities, and joined the UN Global Compact initiative.
A1 Croatia, as part of the wider A1 Telekom Austria Group, is a leading provider of digital services and communication solutions in Central and Eastern Europe and has set itself the task of incorporating the ten basic principles of the UN Global Compact initiative into its business. Some of these principles are already being applied. The company's goal is to achieve full CO2 neutrality by 2030. In terms of sustainable development, A1 Croatia places great emphasis on the green economy, which is reflected in business IoT solutions that contribute to the community, such as smart waste containers, smart metres, air quality measurements and smart parking.
A1 Croatia's brand new data centre
The crisis that hit the globe also prompted A1 Croatia to offer even better business solutions through the accelerated digitalisation of Croatian society. Back in September 2020, the company launched an 11m-euro investment in its second data centre, which will be one of the most modern in the wider region. It will be built according to the Tier III standard and will be able to withstand an earthquake of magnitude 9 on the Richter scale, thus supporting the operations of Croatian companies in the digital transition. In parallel, A1 Croatia has implemented, in cooperation with local communities, several solutions that enable a digitised and greener future. Plin Vrbovec digitised the metres via the A1 NB-IoT network and connected them to the IoT system. As such, they collect data on gas consumption in real time, protecting employees from the possibility of coronavirus infection, as well as users because it can quickly warn them of excessive consumption. This year, A1 Croatia also introduced smart waste bins, which save up to 50 percent in waste management and 40 percent in the number of bins in cities.
In addition, A1 Croatia continues to invest heavily in real, gigabit 5G. In the next year, this operator will remain focused on the purchase of a 5G radio spectrum. They're already working intensively on 5G technology, and were the first in all of Croatia to demonstrate surfing speeds higher than 1 Gbps and a latency of 6 ms on commercial devices. They want to provide their users with just the experience of real 5G, ie a mobile network that offers gigabit speeds and extremely low latencies, which they're convinced will positively affect Croatia's position according to the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) which is published by the European Commission.
Developing the skills of the future
The basis for all these investments, savings and offers is the digital transformation of A1 Croatia, and at its core lies the development of future employee skills. In the last twelve months, 87 percent of A1 Croatia's employees have completed at least one form of education designed for their personal and professional development. The company has introduced Coaching and Mentoring internal programmes and placed emphasis on learning new technologies and ways of working in five key areas: Agile, 5G, Data Analytics & AI, Digital & Growth Marketing, Process automation.
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