Electronic Economy in Poland – 2006 Report.
The development of the electronic economy in Poland in 2006 entered a phase of mature qualitative changes, the quantitative and value-based effects of which will be discounted in about 2–3 years. Summarizing the development to date, one can distinguish the period up to about 2004, during which mainly the dynamics of quantitative indicators (measured according to OECD standards) were analyzed – e.g., the increase in the number of computers in use, the density of ICT infrastructure, and the number of Internet users. The turn of 2005 signaled the need for significant qualitative changes in the area of content and functionality of e-services, system solutions and service platforms, the popularization of standards guaranteeing reliability and security on the network, as well as adapting legal regulations to the requirements of electronic transaction participants – enterprises and the information society. We are all aware that the electronic economy has taken a permanent place in our daily functioning, while the growth of its mass use in the years 2007–2008 (and later) will depend on meeting user needs and the scope of value creation. Examples of such activities in the past year 2006, focused on quality and value for the customer, included the start of submitting e-declarations for CIT, PIT, and VAT, the development and widespread availability of the e-invoice standard, the launch of the first e-office in Poland in Bydgoszcz (Electronic Customer Service Office EBOK), and the launch of the Telework Center in Garwolin.
It seems that the examples of purposeful actions presented below confirm the thesis about the current period of incubation and preparation for the mass use of e-economy tools. In 2006, the Polish society, thanks to biometric passports, became a full-fledged participant in the “European information space,” and the first Polish online store received the prestigious Euro-Label certificate. The success of biometric passports with a microprocessor (which created about 2,000 additional jobs in photo studios in 2006) allows us to hope for its continuation with the introduction of a new biometric ID card, planned for September 2008.
Research results indicate that in the past year there was a further increase in the involvement of enterprises in handling sales electronically. The net value of online transactions amounted to 94 billion PLN (approx. 6% of net sales revenue) and was nearly 50% higher than in the previous year. However, taking into account that only 11% of enterprises using a computer carried out sales using the Internet, this is a result representing only 60% of the European Union average (EU 25 – 15%). Enterprises appreciate the profitability of using the Internet in their business development strategy and conducting effective e-marketing of their products, while the main problems, as in previous years, include the lack of security of transactions and electronic payments and the high cost of the electronic data interchange system.
A significant impulse for public administration activities in the area of Poland’s e-economy was the State Informatization Plan for 2007–2010, adopted by the Council of Ministers in August 2006. According to the plan’s assumptions, the Minister of Interior and Administration received the authority to coordinate the process of public administration informatization on behalf of the Prime Minister. A new quality is also to be provided by the Inter-ministerial Team for Informatization, established as an auxiliary body to the Council of Ministers in the scope of public administration informatization, development of the information society, ICT network infrastructure, and the application of ICT technologies in building a knowledge-based economy.
After many years of discussion by specialists in various fields, the 1st Congress of the Electronic Economy was organized in 2006. Representatives of the government and many non-governmental organizations created a forum for exchanging thoughts on the directions of electronic economy development in Poland. The congress participants attempted to summarize the directions of activities to date, analyze achievements and failures, and define the directions for further, coordinated activities for the development of the electronic economy in Poland in the years 2007–2013. The importance for the economy and public administration of many IT projects planned for implementation in the years 2007-2013 (e.g., projects implemented as part of e-government: e-PUAP, PESEL-2, CEPiK, STAP) is evidenced by the amount of over 3.5 billion PLN. The projected value of 4.7 billion PLN of funds allocated generally for the development of the information society is almost 8.6 times higher compared to the funds from 2004–2007.
The electronic services market experienced a revival in 2006. The PayPal online payment system began operations, enabling companies and individual customers with an e-mail address to safely and conveniently send money and accept payments within the existing infrastructure of bank accounts and credit cards. A spectacular contract between Polkomtel and PGF for electronic order processing was concluded via the Internet using an electronic signature. Continuously developed e-government services enabled the processing of electronic orders for copies of civil status records in Poznań in 2006 – e.g., birth, marriage, or death certificates. Many examples of the development of electronic economy services in 2006 also include the Internet Exchange of Used Textbooks, launched as an e-service on the Electronic Education Service.
Data on products, which is significant for enterprises operating in supply chains, will be collected by the largest electronic catalog in Europe, SINFOS, which began its operations in Poland in 2006. Gathering electronic data necessary for carrying out efficient sales and supply processes in one place will ensure their quick and simple update, automatic distribution of data to recipients, and full synchronization between the supplier’s and recipient’s IT systems.
Electronic Economy in Poland – 2006 Report presents research results and statistics defining the state and dynamics of the development of the electronic economy in Poland, in relation to data from the 2004 and 2005 Reports and over the last few years. Decision-makers in economic development in Poland, analysts, and bodies creating the development of individual industries and sectors of the economy will find in the report’s content source data on methods and possibilities for increasing productivity, profitability, and competitiveness of business activities.
The basic content of the report consists of two parts, organized according to monitoring patterns adopted for ICT and e-business reports in the European Union:
— Part B – a report presenting the results of market analysis and areas of e-economy applications in Poland,
— Part C – a report presenting the basis for e-economy development in Poland, i.e., e-services, standards, and legal regulations and initiatives supporting e-business development in Poland.
Part B of the report has been divided into four areas that form the foundations of the electronic economy in Poland, which simultaneously stimulate its development:
— Information Society – being a beneficiary and at the same time a consumer generating revenue in the e-economy market;
— e-business – enterprises whose core business activity concerns the use of e-economy tools or whose activity is supported by ICT systems; from this activity, enterprises generate their own revenue and income for the state budget;
— e-government – offices and institutions that, through ICT systems, support the business activity of enterprises and the Polish information society.
Serving enterprises and the information society through e-government, which is de facto a consumer of the state budget, should enable multi-directional benefits – reduction of operating costs for enterprises and society, increase in the quality of services provided and the level of citizen service, and an increase in the quantity and reach of services provided with specific human resources. The latter postulate is still a current way of implementing the “cheap state” concept presented in the government exposé in 2005, taking into account the reduction of public administration operating costs through the use of effective IT techniques.
The results of the electronic economy research in Poland, included in the 2006 Report, constitute a source of data that is detailed for the researched issues and at the same time synthetic for the analyzed sectors of the economy. The authors’ intention is to provide objective information confirmed by research results, helpful in directing the further development of the electronic economy in Poland, to improve the level of service for enterprises, the information society, and public administration.
The areas of market activity presented in the 2006 report, in which high turnover and efficiency were achieved through the use of electronic economy tools, can be useful in investment decision-making processes at the level of an enterprise, industry, or sector, and the entire economy. Equally valuable may be the research results indicating areas with insufficient development pace, low productivity, or high costs – recommended for protective or supporting investments.
Concluding, one can observe the mutual dependence of the development of Poland’s economy and the electronic economy. Significant economic growth and the rapidly developing Polish economy require electronic tools that enable fast and reliable execution of economic transactions, mass data exchange, consequently supporting product competitiveness and economic development.
On the other hand, the extremely dynamically developing electronic economy, by supporting the activities of enterprises, exerts an increasingly greater and real influence on the further dynamics of Poland’s economic growth.