On the Digital Transformation Italy “is like the ‘Sleeping Beauty’ that is finally waking up”. He doesn’t mince words Flavio Fazio, innovative entrepreneur, CEO and founder of Flazio.com, who comments on the National Recovery and Resilience Plan in a conversation with Adnkronos which allocates 49.3 billion euros – 27% of total resources – to Mission 1 dedicated to Digitization, innovation, competitiveness and culture. As founder of the only Italian SiteBuilder, with over 1 million websites managed, Fazio fully represents the category of ‘digital entrepreneurs’, a true ‘testimonial’ of what the fourth industrial revolution can represent in terms of growth and productivity. our country. And in the year of the pandemic – which has mowed down entire more traditional companies – being a digital company has in fact led Flazio.com to grow exponentially. “Since March 2020 we have reached the peak of new registrations equal to + 200%, exceeding the threshold of one million websites, with over 5000 e-commerce sites created by our users “.” As a direct consequence we have recorded a 50% increase in turnover and a 53% increase in staff between 2020 and 2021, with the majority of temporary employees undetermined “is the record balance sheet reported by the CEO, convinced that such a huge amount of resources in the NRP for the digitization of the country and its companies “it certainly gives us high hopes”.
And not only. Also on a territorial level, the accounts of Flazio.com – based in deep South, in Catania – testify how the ‘digital key’ can open new doors also to the Italian territories most in crisis. The ‘site builder’ – one of the new categories of the digital continent – observes that with the PNRR “it seems that for the first time reference is made to digitization processes as a ‘condition sine qua non’ for relaunching the competitiveness and productivity of the Country”. In the Pnrr, Fazio again points out, “we speak, in fact, of digital transformation according to a different meaning. No longer as a possible way forward, but as a transversal necessity involving all areas: from school to health, from public administration to safety, from culture to tourism. Up to involving the renewal of infrastructures and all production processes in general. “In short, a revolution. And Fazio knows something about digital revolutions.
Flavio Fazio has actually revolutionized the SiteBuilder sector by ‘translating’ it into Italian for the first time and transforming it into a landing place “within everyone’s reach”. A vision that in the months of the lockdown represented a way out for many neighborhood shops or small businesses that managed to survive thanks to the new online shop windows. The founder of the Etna company explains that “Flazio.com wanted to revolutionize and simplify the way in which it is possible to create websites, giving life to that process that we love to define ‘democratization of the web'”. Until very recently, still remembers, “having a website or an e-commerce was a privilege reserved for a few companies. Having a website was expensive and took a lot of time and energy. Thanks to Flazio.com today all companies or professionals can have a website and start selling online by spending just 9 euros “. In the vision of the Pnrr, continues Fazio,” the digitization of Italian companies plays a fundamental role: think about qhen we look for a battery charger, or any other Chinese or Japanese technological gadget, it is obvious to find it online. But unfortunately it is not the same for Italian products, and in this a rapid and drastic change is necessary: all products made in Italy, from South to North, from Caltagirone ceramics to Murano glass artifacts, must be ‘brought online. ‘and must be purchased by foreign users, in a few simple clicks “.
“Every day, who knows how many Chinese, Japanese or Australians are looking on the internet for a Sicilian baby to put in the garden or particular Caltagirone ceramic plates to set your own tables. Well, they should be able to find and buy them with the same ease with which we buy a Chinese charger. And it goes without saying: the effects on GDP would be immediate “marks the digital entrepreneur. But doing business online is not just about growing a turnover. With his digital company, Fazio has in fact overturned the concept of ‘brain drain’ interpreting at best a new screenplay of ‘Welcome to the South’. “Not only do we fight the brain drain, thanks to many young people who stay in Sicily to work with us, but we even manage to attract managers with decades of experience in large companies in the North who, from Milan, come to Catania: like our Cto Alessio Cantarella who has chosen to work in Flazio.com leaving Microsoft “. And there are also those who have even decided to leave New York to move under the slopes of Etna. This is the case of the American Mike Xenakis who crossed the Atlantic to work in Sicily as Flazio’s Country Manager for the US market.
In short, the ‘site builder’ cuts short, “we have unleashed three new processes in countertrend: the return of brains, the attraction of new brains and what we could define as” North Working “ that is to work for the South from the North since there are also those who have decided to work in smart working directly from the North of Italy for us. “An aspect of the world of work that the digital transformation will be able to make increasingly stable also in Italy . The digital horizon also allows the Catania company to have contacts with all of Italy and “in pole position among the cities with the highest number of subscribers are Rome, Catania and Milan, while Sicily, Lombardy, Lazio, Veneto, Campania and Emilia Romagna “. But the land of the internet also allows you to cross national borders in one click. “The countries in which we can boast a greater number of users are also the USA, France, Spain and England, but we are also active in Russia, Germany and very recently also in Mexico and Brazil”. With all due respect to the Pnrr that could really make a difference for a new entrepreneurship and tech occupation. (by Andreana d’Aquino)