Nima Ashrafzadeh, the CEO of Pindo, in an interview with the Barcode radio program about the state of Iran’s digital economy, said: the beginning of the digital economy in Iran happened in the early 80s, and in the late 80s, with the arrival of demand platforms, the growth and completion of online stores. Iran’s digital economy started its path of maturity.
Ashrafzadeh emphasized that the penetration rate of internet and smartphones in our country is high and added; My personal feeling is that Iran’s digital economy has not grown at the rate of this coefficient. There are many issues in this field that can be divided into three parts. 1- The discussion of infrastructures 2- The discussion of businesses 3- The discussion of e-commerce, in each of which there are challenges and obstacles that hinder the growth of businesses and slow down the growth rate in the last one or two years, and in some businesses, it is stopped or negative. has done.
The CEO of Pindo stated: In the discussion of infrastructure, it should be said that the most important and main infrastructure that is needed anywhere is the internet and suitable bandwidth for internet businesses, and we had many challenges in this sector in the past years. Challenges that we are still grappling with, such as the recent talk of the internet of classes that I and those in the digital economy strongly oppose. Open Internet access is one of the main issues that must exist for a digital business to continue its work.
This expert and consultant in the field of internet business considered the next challenge of the digital economy to be licenses and regulations and said: We have many problems in this regard, unfortunately, despite the great growth of digital businesses in the past years, the government has not been able to keep up with this speed and we are lagging behind. We are facing a regulatory issue that we must take very seriously. For example, if an online store wants to be set up in a certain area, it has the challenge of whether it should get a license from the virtual business union or a license from the traditional union. And now it’s really treated as a matter of taste.
The CEO of Pindu said about the challenges in the field of human resources in the field of digital economy of Iran: according to the exact statistics that I got from one of the partners in this field two years ago, 38 people out of 50 colleagues of the technology team migrated in the technology department, and there are two important points in this matter. There are: 1- the loss of the country’s national funds, 2- the loss of business funds, because the education and training of these specialist forces is paid to reach this point. One of the topics that increase the migration among the technology specialists is the Internet. Because it worries these forces to access educational resources and keep their knowledge up to date. The next challenge is that we are not connected to many great people in the world to benefit from their experiences and advice, and this issue is becoming more difficult day by day.
Nima Ashrafzadeh added: Using the experiences of foreign specialist forces reduces costs and increases the expertise of domestic forces. However, unfortunately, due to the dollar exchange rate, it is almost impossible to send troops abroad. Currently, all the groups moved towards finding talents, but the important issue is to train them. The main gap is the experience of people who can train these talented forces. In fact, our digital businesses are now like breeding machines, that is, humans come and breed, and to the point where they get a university acceptance or a job offer, and migrate. One of the things that caused the growth of the digital economy in Iran was the presence of investors in this field. In the early 90s, various investment groups were formed and one of the things that was done was the entry of foreign investors into the country, they not only brought money with them, but also their knowledge.
Regarding the opportunities available in the digital economy, Ashrafzadeh said: In my opinion, everyone should start working in the field of digital economy or at least use the possibilities of this field in their businesses. If the ecosystem of the digital economy was more mature before Corona and there was enough trust in it, in my opinion, traditional businesses would have suffered the least damage at that time. Of course, it is not too late today, and I am surprised by some businesses that still do not believe in online sales. This is despite the fact that online sales are not particularly complicated, and businesses that do not have the necessary capital can use the existing platforms to start their business.
The CEO of Pindu said about the future of the digital economy in Iran: The digital economy is a revolution similar to the industrial revolution that happened; Therefore, we have no choice but to enter it and I am sure that a good future will be established for Iran in this area.
At the end, Ashrafzadeh said, I recommend traditional businesses or those who have not yet entered this field to enter this field by taking advantage of consultants in this field, participating in courses, studying and seeing successful examples of the world, and see its effects on their business quickly, because the characteristic The core of digital businesses is its broad and early impact.
