CODE OF HONOR
Colombia's progressive authorities are pushing a dynamic and innovative IT sector, though challenges with software piracy remain.
The CCIT is the association that groups together and represents the largest players in the Colombian ICT sector. Among our associates we have operators, telecom providers, as well as large IT companies. It is interesting to see that the mobile device market, as in other parts of the world, is experiencing a steep upward trend. Thanks to efforts made by the Colombian government in previous years to bring down import tariffs, as well as VAT on personal computers, Colombia has the cheapest PCs in the region. However, this is still not the case for smartphones. The business software alliance calculates that in Colombia, 53% of the software is pirated, which is something we take seriously at CCIT, and we are working very closely with the government to resolve this. It is not only an IPR issue, but also one of lost tax revenues. The Colombian government is leaving a lot of money on the table by not legalizing each percentage point of the usage of that software. The growth potential is enormous and eventually we are going to be talking about software solutions for the mobile market as well.
The government of Colombia has implemented ambitious initiatives within the IT sector, such as democratizing internet access across the country and setting up an optic fiber network in its main cities and municipalities. The authorities are transforming the internet into a tool capable of improving the lives of Colombians. The only area in which we are lagging behind is content. SIESA was established over 30 years ago on the back of the innovative attitudes of its founders. We have a long and well-established tradition and relationship with other businesses in the Cauca Valley. SIESA became a leading company in the region due to its provision of software solutions for local businesses, especially large enterprises. After that, we grew both nationally and internationally; today we have over 10,000 clients in Colombia and over 100 abroad in eight countries in the region. Our main objectives are to consolidate our leading position in the national market; simultaneously, we want to further consolidate our activity abroad. Despite the fact that it took us some time, we finally offer a cloud product. It has been a process of teaching business the benefits of the cloud model, and at the moment we already have several clients using SIESA cloud services. We also have our mobile product which when first developed had a strong focus on the commercial side of companies; supplies, deliveries, money management, and related services.
We carry out a fully comprehensive and integrated process whereby we provide specialists in economics, communications, and marketing, among other areas. However, we base our entire activity on new technologies. In the beginning, the company used to sell software, and then we started to install networks and offer services. We also have our software production center. We like to call ourselves a shared service center that provides fully integrated solutions to businesses by generating value-added for companies by contributing to the efficiency of the processes. ADA provides a unique technological platform for over 4,000 educational centers by grouping them together under 480 educational funds, and we provide the required platform for these centers to better administrate and control their activity and development. From our early stages of developing the company, we started providing software solutions and packages to government authorities and institutions. Since then, we have understood the possibilities of that market niche, considering that most of the players have traditionally focused on the private sector. In this context, we understand that we can easily become a strong player if we focus more resources and efforts on providing services to the public sector.
CODE OF HONOR
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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