Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 12 September (BelTA) – It is necessary to put together a roadmap on standardizing in the sphere of digital transformation in Belarus, BelTA learned from the latest interview Belarusian Communications and Informatization Minister Sergei Popkov gave to the Vesnik Suvyazi magazine.

The Belarusian communications and informatization minister believes that Belarus should follow the example of industrially developed nations and the main trade and economic partners and put together a roadmap on standardizing in the sphere of digital transformation.

In his words, harmonizing Belarusian standards with international ones is the key to the successful digital transformation and the strong competitive ability of Belarusian products and services. If standards for developing systems and resources are available in Belarus, it will allow resolving the problem of software integration as early as the design stage. It will also create prerequisites for further optimization of software development for the government.

Sergei Popkov stated that for the sake of developing a standardization strategy in the sphere of information technologies it is necessary to take a number of measures. Among other things it is necessary to evaluate the current state of modern technological trends in the international system of standards. It is necessary to find out promising directions for standardization in various technologies (cloud computing, Big Data, Internet of Things) and areas of interest (Smart Learning, e-Health, Industry 4.0, Science 2.0 and so on). Then it will be necessary to evaluate the degree of harmonization of Belarusian and international standards, formulate the avenues of information and communication technology standardization, develop a national roadmap for making the transition to international standards, including in the sphere of digital government.

The Belarusian communications and informatization minister also believes that manufacturing branches of the economy should develop a strategy for digital transformation (Industry 4.0) for the period of 2018-2020. Their relevant companies and enterprises should work out and assimilate the necessary set of corporate standards that allow manufacturing competitive products, which are harmonized with the standards that the top competitors use.

“There is no doubt that we need common requirements for state information systems right now,” said the official. “It will be possible to create a base platform for storing information about all the technical solutions implemented by various government agencies and organizations. Later on the solution will help us avoid creating systems that duplicate each other’s functions,” he said.