BCC Paper No. 34

British Chamber of Commerce Didzioji 5, LT-011128 Vilnius, Lithuania

Autumn 2010

This BCC Paper issue is kindly sponsored by Strategic Staffing Solutions

issue No. 34

IT Jonathan White

Kurt Wilson

Paulius Galubickas

Coming soon to a pocket near you

Brits in Lithuania

How to manage IT contracts

page 4

page 6

page 7

Quote of the Issue: You cannot build staff as you build a house, from the bottom up, and then when it is finished put the CEO on top of it like the chimney. ( Winston S. Churchill )

How to Grow Quality of Talent Andrius Francas, Country Director Lithuania of Strategic Staffing Solutions in discussion with Alistair Day-Stirrat. they stand the distinct possibility of students not enrolling and that would mean the institutions not getting funding.

Now, more then ever, universities have to listen to the employers and to students. Barclays for instance have been active in developing programmes of study suited to their work place with both Vilnius and Kaunas Technological universities. What is more, Barclays have invested in books, material, and even bringing in specialist with up-to-date knowledge from Lithuania and the UK. Other employers could do more.

Incentivizing professionals in the work place is still more important. Showing the employees they are valued and the work they carry out. This builds loyalty over time. A developed career plan is also fundamental. IT professionals are always fairly highly paid, however during the crises many had their wages cut by 30% and they questioned why they should stick with their current employers. Often the more global companies see the long term benefit, they have the experience of ups and downs in an economy and don’t take the kneejerk reaction.

Looking to the future. It is clear there is room

With the likes of Barclays and new entries such as IBM and Western Union the question most commonly raised is ‘How much more can Lithuania host, is there enough talent’.

The question is actually rather simply to answer as one need only look at the numbers of graduates registering with the unemployment exchange, and over 15% unemployment in Lithuania.

In fact, Lithuania could take another 3-5 global companies of the size of operations Barclays and Western Union have and still remain attractive.

A better question is perhaps ‘How is it best to nurture the talent’.

Better training is one area. Within universities there are greater incentives and competition for students, not to mention universities abroad. The emphasis is clear; Universities have to show why the course is attractive so that the students understand their future at their chosen institute. Universities have to offer courses and programmes of study that will enable students to find work and progress. This means that universities have to offer the programmes students are looking for, and serve the needs of business, or

European Union Structural Funds for E-Business Development Andrius Šiaudinis „Peritus sprendimai“

Hopefully the recent hot summer days did not prevent cold minds of Lithuanian business leaders and foreign investors from starting new projects and setting new directions and priorities for the development. Autumn is the appropriate time to launch new business initiatives, especially if these initiatives are related to the investment in IT solutions, business process optimization and higher productivity using information technology systems.

Moreover, it is advisable to check the availability of the EU Structural Funds for that sort of initiatives.

Businesses, which are operating in Lithuanian market and willing to implement internal IT systems development projects, soon will have an opportunity to submit their applications for EU funding and this would give an opportunity to acquire financial support (up to 50% of the total project expenses).

Who can benefit from the E-Business measure opportunities?

Private entities, attributed to small and medium-sized category, are eligible to get financial support for an e-business or process management systems project (e.g. a warehouse management system, a project management solution, business process management system, CRM, etc.).

NB: The category of micro, small and mediumsized enterprises (SMEs) is made up of enterprises which employ fewer than 250 persons and which have an annual turnover not exceeding LTL 138 million (EUR 40 million), and/or an annual balance sheet total not exceeding LTL 93 million (EUR 27 million) euro.

So, if your company meets these criteria and you have an idea how to improve your company’s business with introduction of IT systems (at the same time increasing labor productivity and competitiveness across the EU), this fact is already more than the beginning.

Every project, regardless of whether it is provided by EU support or not, begins with innovative idea. continued on page 3 >

for more companies to open or expand operation in Lithuania. Competition for positions is strongest in particular areas of IT specializing in infrastructure networks, servers, and data storage; less so in more ‘junior level’ IT and call centre’s. Western Union is opening a back office accountancy and finance operation, these areas have exceptionally high potential being very under-developed in Lithuania with little international competition and a large talent pool to select from.

Lithuania is still under-developed and the market remains attractive for niche players. Educational levels are double EU average and politically Lithuania is stable. Lithuania is attractive to people in neighboring countries to come for work.

More positive and niche companies, working more closely with universities, stand to benefit the most. There is more scope for call centre’s, with English language skills and Eastern Europe costs giving two key attractions, what sets Lithuania apart is when a company needs other European languages be it German French Spanish or Norwegian. Services in general are well catered for; IT infrastructure is one of the fastest in Europe.

IT trends for Business Aidas Kavaliauskas CEO „CID Baltic“

In recent years, almost all businesses are rapidly changing approach to IT. Today it’s hardly possible to find business, that doesn’t use IT. Global technologies become more popular also in the Lithuanian market. E-Commerce has already found it’s place, but now greater attention is being paid to Cloud Computing, business management systems integration with social networks, tools that help to process large amounts of informaClient 5 tion efficiently.

Enterprise of the future It’s Cloud. The advantages of Cloud Client 4 Computing services are already quite well known in the world. Integration is the main difference between Traditional and Cloud computing.

All software, servers or computers are connected to the Cloud; their operation is integrated and adapted for the users. With the help of Client 3 the Cloud you can keep your documents and business data in another side of the world and when necessary open it on any computer which has access to the Internet. Currently the most

frequent types of Cloud Computing services are Software as a Service (SaaS) and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). These two types differ in their purpose.

SaaS is a software application delivery model where business applications are hosted at service providers and delivered to the customers via Internet.

IaaS is the general computing infrastructure.

Service providers give access to the hardware, software and all other necessary computer resources.

The main advantage of SaaS and IaaS over Traditional infrastructure is that Cloud is scaling according to the business needs and it hides all the infrastructure complexity from the end users. continued on page 5 >

Social Nettworks

E commerce

„The Cloud“

Google Apps

(e.g. Gmail)

ERP/CRM

Client 2

Client 1

BCC paper Autumn 2010

2 Members’ Discount Scheme Updates

From the Chairman construction – have fared very badly during the recession. However if you are an exporter you are probably doing quite well due to the recovery of many export markets. Many exporters are in a remarkable position this year – sales have been rising abroad whilst costs have been falling at home.

Chris Butler Chairman of the BCC Lithuania

As a member of the British Chamber of Commerce and BCC Membership Card holder you can benefit from the following discounts and special offers:

NEW! Baltic Surveys

-10% discount for market research services in the Baltic states

Paterson Art

- 20% discount (both for personal and corporate commissions) is offered for all artworks.

Profesionalus Dizainas

- 10% discount for photography, design and layout services if total order value is not less than 500 LTL

Vilnius Montessori pre-School

15% discount to BCC members for their children pre-school tuition!

AVIS rent a car

– 25 % for short-term rentals within Lithuania and the Baltic states; special quotes for outbound and chauffeur drive rentals; tailormade full leasing and fleet management offers; corporate Charge and Avis Preferred cards

Best Western Hotel Vilnius

– 40 % discount for accommodation, conference halls and fitness centre and 15 % discount for restaurant and bar; 20 % discount for accommodation in newly opened Best Western Hotel Central in Druskininkai

Biuro Pasaulis

- 22% discount for stationery

Black & Decker (Hardim, UAB)

– 10 % discount for Black & Decker and DeWalt electric tools

Bunnahabhain

– 20 % discount for Bunnahabhain; 10 % discount for other products. Discount is valid only at the Wine Boutique (Gero vyno parduotuve) in Subaciaus St. 2, Vilnius and NEW boutique in Jasinskio st. 16, Vilnius

CID Baltic

–10% discount for the off the shelf IT products.

We provide the opportunity to get free of charge consultancy in the areas of effective software implementation in business process, software impact and successful software deployment

Danske Bank A/S Lithuania branch – Bank will be paying 1 ON VILIBOR-0,2 % or 1 ON LIBOR-0,2 % interest for deposits.

Finreda

– 10 % for corporate, accounting, audit organisation, legal, financial, tax and business consulting, and translation services

Fiorentino Restaurant

- 15 % discount on prices from Restaurant menu (Dish of the day, catering and events services are excluded from this offer)

Hotel Vanagupė (Eskom, UAB)

– 10 % discount of rack rates for accommoda­tion in the hotel; 10% discount on food and beverages in the hotel restaurant, terrace and bar

Kaunas Airport

- free Long term and Short term parking and free VIP escorting

Law firm JURIDICON

- 20% discount for services. Special offer: legal services within your budget.

Le Meridien Vilnius Hotel

- 50% discount for “Green fee” (Bridgewater game); 20% discount for one time entrance to the Health Club + SPA Oasis; 10% discounts for Health Club + SPA Oasis memberships, for family one time entrance + memberships in the Health Club + SPA Oasis. 10% discount in restaurant “Le Paysage”; 10% discount from best available rate for accommodation; Free room for newlyweds if they celebrate weddings in Le Meridien Vilnius hotel with minimum 50 pax.

Motieka & Audzevičius, Law firm – free of charge first consultation for BCC members

ODONTIKA, Dental surgery - 20 % discount for services

Publicum

Dear Members and Friends, Welcome to the autumn edition of the BCC Newspaper which marks the start of our 2010/11 British Chamber season.

We always hope that each successive season will be an improvement on the last, or at least that it would contain some new features for members to enjoy. I must say that in aiming at that objective this year we have set ourselves a very high standard. Towards the end of last season for example we managed not only our first (long overdue) visit to Kaunas but also our first visit to Scotland, Edinburgh to be precise, with a business delegation. This trip was quite a feat of organization. Not only did Sandra and Toma manage it superbly, they also learned an awful lot during the process. We hope very much to be able to put this knowledge to good use with another business delegation later this season.

When I last wrote this column we were still deep in the economic collapse that befell Lithuania and much of the world in 2009. Today we are in a curious position – although the panic has gone and the collapse is over, the signs of growth are still few.

Certain business sectors – property developers,

I have been tremendously impressed by the speed with which many of Lithuania’s larger business have managed during the recession.

Many have controlled costs to such an extent that they were able to end the year at break even or thereabouts despite sales reductions of 20, 30, 40% and more. Of course there is a price that the country has had to pay for this and that is unemployment of 16%. The social problems that this gives rise to, not to mention the cost, will be a burden for many years to come, but speaking from a purely business point of view the speed of reaction has been remarkable. We should not forget that a company which is still trading is able to create growth and jobs in future – a bankrupt one cannot.

I would like to end by extending my special thanks to all the advertisers and sponsors who have supported this edition of the BCC Paper. It was very noticeable at our last AGM that the BCC membership overwhelmingly supported investing in the newspaper in order to keep it alive during these difficult times. This edition would not have appeared, however, had we not found sufficient advertisers and sponsors and I am delighted to say that we have done so.

I look forward to seeing you at our events during the forthcoming BCC season.

- 10% for all services and free of charge first consultation!

Radisson BLU Hotel Lietuva

- present your BCC card at the reception, fill in an application form and get your REZIDOR GoldPoints Plus classic loyalty card which will provide 5% discount on food and non-alcoholic drinks in the Riverside restaurant, Lobby Bar and Skybar and special accommodation offers at Radisson BLU Hotel Lietuva, as well as REZIDOR Group hotels worldwide.

Shakespeare Boutique Hotel

– 20 % discount for Shakespeare Hotel accommodation; 20 % discount at the “Sonnets” Restaurant and the “Globe” Bar

Strategic Staffing Solutions, UAB - 10% discount for Recruitment Services.

Varul Vilgerts Smaliukas, Law firm

- free of charge first consultation; 10 % discount for all services

AB Ūkio Bankas

– special fees for BCC members - legal persons.

Members of association - natural persons, are offered to acquire a payment cards package at a special price: a credit card with insurance (MasterCard Standard), a special card (Maestro Olialia or Maestro Žalgiris) and a virtual MasterCard card for settlements via the internet - only at a price of a credit card. Moreover, the first year service charge for the credit card is not applied.

When contacting the companies, please indicate that you are a BCC member, provide your company name and BCC Membership Card number. For more detailed information about special offers & discounts please visit our website www.bccl.lt and click on a flashing banner.

Pan Baltic Discounts are now available!

From 2010 BCC Members are entitled to use various of discounts provided by the British- Estonian Chamber of Commerce and British Chamber of Commerce in Latvia members. Moreover BCC Corporate and BCC Sponsor Members participating in the discount scheme will have a possibility to provide discounts for BCC Estonia and BCC Latvia members. Please check the BCC website ww.bccl.lt (flashing banner) for more information.

Bccl discount scheme, how has it worked for our members?

Mr Roberto Febbrari, Vice Director, Fiorentino Restaurant - We were giving BCC discount about 20 times during the summer. Also I would like to add that BCC subscription helped us to organize couple of events with some BCC members that didn’t know our restaurant before.

Our company used Kaunas airport parking facilities two times and we are fully satisfied with them.

Mr Alistair Day – Stirrat, Director, Odontika - We have recently started using Biuro Pasaulis (who offer BCC members a discount on stationary) and have found the services efficient, fast and uncomplicated.

Kaunas Airport parking scheme has worked very well and we have found it very convenient.

Mr Lukas Mikelaitis, Account Manager, Publicum - BCC discount at Kaunas Airport works perfectly. No need to worry about getting to the airport with taxi or public transport. It is always much more convenient to get there with your own car and leave it in safe hands of Kaunas Airport staff.

I also use BCC discount at Fiorentino – cosy restaurant with tasty food and great service. Highly recommended!

BCC paper is a free of charge newspaper of the British Chamber of Commerce in Lithuania, published 4 times a year. It covers a variety of subjects related to the UK – Lithuania business, provides members news, introduces to new BCC members and provides a review of events organized by the Chamber.

The BCC paper is distributed with Star1 airlines Vilnius-London route, at Vilnius International Airport, Kaunas Airport, main hotels in Vilnius, Kaunas and Klaipeda, travel agencies, restaurants, information and business centres, all BCC members, International Chambers in Lithuania, British companies interested in entering the Lithuanian market, the Lithuanian Government and trade organisations. Copies are also sent to the Lithuanian Embassy in London, UK Trade and Investment (the UK Government organisation which supports UK companies trading Internationally), British Chambers in the UK and Europe.

Total print run: 5000 copies Next publication date: December 2010 BCC paper team: Editor in Chief – Chris Butler Editor – Alistair Day-Stirrat – Alistair.Day-Stirrat@odontika.com Publisher – Geoffrey Cohn – Geoffcohn4747@msn.com Members section and advertising – Sandra Kundrotė, e-mail: Sandra@bccl.lt , tel. +370 5 2690062 Design – „Profesionalus dizainas“

Advertising information NEW! Issue sponsorship package (4000 LTL/1160 €) now available: Sponsor banners on every other page of the paper; Full color back page (1000 advert cm²) advert; Half page editorial promotional material within the paper; Issue Sponsor logo on BCC weekly E-News; Issue Sponsor logo on BCC website; Issue Sponsor logo in all e-mail information related to sponsored issue, sent to BCC Members and contacts

Advert sizes and prices Prices Size

Size mm

BCC Member rate

BCC Non member rate

Back page 1000 cm²

273x366

1250 LTL

363 €

1560 LTL

453 €

Full page right 1000 cm²

273x366

1125 LTL

326 €

1400 LTL

405 €

Full page left 1000 cm²

273x366

1000 LTL

345 €

1250 LTL

363 €

½ page 129 cm²

133x368

600 LTL

175 €

750 LTL

218 €

½ page 129 cm²

273x183

600 LTL

175 €

750 LTL

218 €

1/3 page 326 cm²

273x119

320 LTL

93 €

400 LTL

116 €

1/3 page 326 cm²

133x245

320 LTL

93 €

400 LTL

116 €

Small 129 cm²

273x47

150 LTL

44 €

190 LTL

44 €

Small 129 cm²

133x97

150 LTL

44 €

190 LTL

44 €

Small 129 cm²

63x200

150 LTL

44 €

190 LTL

44 €

For further information or to book your ad space, please contact the chamber: Tel. +370 (5) 269 00 62/84, e-mail: Sandra@bccl.lt

This BCC Paper issue is kindly sponsored by Strategic Staffing Solutions

BCC paper Autumn 2010

3

IT

Blue Bridge introduces bridge2cloud cloud computing services for business Blue Bridge is the first company in Lithuania to provide services based on cloud computing technology from its modern data centre. Cloud computing type of services gives companies an opportunity to avoid investments into their own IT infrastructure and instead use IT as a service.

Market has been looking for an opportunity to get IT as a service, for a long time. Staying in tune with a market needs we are the first ones to adapt new technologies and introduces cloud computing services in Lithuania.

‘Cloud type computing services, open opportunities for companies, to purchase IT infrastructure, platform or software as a service.

Comparing to airlines industry, when you need to fly to a particular destination you don’t need to acquire plane, one ticket is enough. So far in IT industry if company needed IT system to perform particular tasks, it needed to purchase hardware and software to perform those tasks’, Dalius Butkus, Sales and Marketing Director of Blue Bridge, said.

Dynamic IT services enable companies to get rid of their own infrastructure, pay only for what they actually use at a given moment, and manage IT resources capacity according to their changing needs instantly. Those type of services give companies ultimate flexibility, speed and efficiency.

‘We provide businesses with the opportunity to order services based on their specific needs.

Our goal is to provide market with service that give our clients maximum flexibility and speed.

Dalius Butkus, Sales and Marketing Director of Blue Bridge

Therefore we have adopted a new billing model with the minimal service usage time of one hour’, Mr Butkus said.

Blue Bridge bridge2cloud dynamic IT services are provided from the company’s modern data centre, which complies with all security and high availability requirements. Furthermore, the entire

A Life Long Learning (LLL) International Academic & Vocational Qualifications E-Learning and On-line testing strategy for business & education partnerships (BEP) and communities Jeff Lewis UK Chartered Management Institute & British Computer Society

This article introduces a new approach to ICT learning, drawing on Lithuanian and UK good practice. It links with the latest European competence based qualifications and initiatives, BEP’s including apprenticeship schemes where a candidates programme is a negotiated mix of study and work recorded in Individual Development Plans (IDP).

UK competence based qualifications are provided for all organisations and include e-learning and on-line testing. ECDL Test Centres and licensed authorities have no responsibility for the quality of the training programmes, only testing.

In Lithuania, education has introduced the national ICT School Certificate (ISC). In addition there are initiatives which should be linked with the national certificate, the prestigious and ‘Gold’ award winning ‘Langas į Ateitį’, community internet access points, delivering basic word processing, spreadsheets and E-Government information. At Rehabilitation Centres ‘informal and computer ‘basic knowledge’ should also rise to this new standard. Within BEP programmes can be customised to meet business needs and national economic requirements (NER). These include ‘Economics’, ‘Finance’ with Advanced Spreadsheets, a rebirth of ‘Manufacturing & Textiles, and a new ICT Sector with elements through all BEP and communities.

In the UK BEPs developed IDP’s which ensure career progression within a mixed program of academic study and work experience. Some

companies have developed their own learning facilities e.g. Barclays Universities, whilst the work experience progresses to a formalised apprenticeship scheme e.g. Textiles Training in ‘Centres of Excellence’.

It is possible to map the ISC syllabus across to an internationally respected ICT Awarding Body and vocational qualification i.e. Oxford Cambridge & Royal Society Arts, and CLAiT International through Cambridge International Examinations.

(Computer Literacy & IT) respectively. BEP’s include Microsoft and Office Applications which are covered by CLAiT. Through the new ITQ initiative it is possible to bring qualifications together to form a comprehensive ICT Career Progression.

The intention will be to develop a single competence based qualification deliverable through a blended course including e-learning and tested on-line. The proposed project links with the international on-line testing specialists EnlightKS and could be delivered initially as a pilot.

The proposed ICT qualification e.g. ISC & CLAiT, for education and business will satisfy the British business concerns where students recruited do not have the required vocational skills to match their academic knowledge. Investigations continue on the use of professionally developed and project proven computer simulated business facilities. It is essential for Lithuania to have a successful ICT Sector. This in turn supports other Sectors in their quest to be efficient, competative and attracts international companies to invest in Lithuania knowing there is a competent potential employee base.

infrastructure of the data centre is housed in a certified capsule with 100 percent protection from water and resistance to temperatures as high as one thousand degrees Celsius.

‘All IT solutions for the clients of our data centre are created and provided using a virtual infrastructure. This allows us to develop and man-

European Union Structural Funds for E-Business Development < continued from page 1

This is followed by a prioritization, coherent planning, implementation and further steps, which are all just the implementation of the good and structured idea.

Companies seeking for financing should be armed with patience, helpful consultants, and prepare an application for the EU structural funds.

It also should meet the other simple criteria specified by the institution responsible for implementing financial measures - Lithuanian Ministry of Economy.

The projects are financed according to the EU Structural funding measure “E Verslas” (“E Business”). This financial measure aims to contribute to the implementation of Lithuanian Republic’s strategic development objective to increase business productivity. Enterprise productivity problems in Lithuania are reflected by the fact that labour productivity in Lithuania is one of the lowest in the EU. According to European Union’s Statistical Office data, labour productivity in Lithuania equals only 60 percent of the EU average in 2008. Furthermore, labour productivity in some Lithuanian sectors lags behind the EU average up to 10 times (e.g., textiles and clothing sector).

How does it work?

The aim of the financial measure “E-Business” is to stimulate micro, small and medium-sized enterprises and to help those companies to implement information technology to their businesses. That is expected to facilitate labor productivity and export growth in the companies which gets financial support. Activities supported: IT consultancy services, software purchase and acquisition of computer equipment necessary for the operation of the new IT systems.

In 2009, after the first call of the same measure, 242 different E-business projects of enterprises operating in Lithuania were funded from European Union’s Structural Funds. Each individual project has received up to LTL 300,000 support for its e-business idea.

Maximum financing rate was set to 50%. The total amount of funding allocated – LTL 40.1 million (EUR 11.6 million). 20 separate projects received the biggest possible financing of LTL 300.000, which provide very high level of investment e-business development in excess of more than LTL 600,000 per project. Those projects are very different in their profiles and they are being implemented by a broad spectrum of companies

age infrastructure capacities, which means that companies do not incur costs due to unused or insufficient IT resources. This type of technology gives an opportunity to instantly implement IT solutions, sign flexible contracts, and promptly develop environments for the testing of solutions’, the Blue Bridge Sales and Marketing Director said.

ranging from insurance companies to television companies, from hotels chains to recruitment firms, from jewelry distributors to manufacturers of promotional material.

It is noteworthy that most of these projects are being implemented very successfully. More serious malfunctions were limited to a few enterprises. Those projects lost their control mostly because of weak project management culture in these companies and the highly unfavorable macroeconomic circumstances in the market.

Although Lithuanian business support agency (Lietuvos verslo paramos agentūra) (institution, responsible for the measure “E-business”) could not provide interested companies with detailed requirements for the project, it is likely that the funding should not be significantly less than the funding allocated in 2009. This means that application for the EU funding is highly recommended and beneficial for many private legal entities. This is also true for the members of the British Chamber of Commerce in Lithuania.

Are there any obstacles?

The main obstacles faced by the companies, which already applied for the EU’s support under the measure “E-Business” would be these: • uncertain funding conditions; • complexity of the legal barriers; • long-lasting project evaluation procedures; • other bureaucratic obstacles of the EU support.

These obstacles increase the need of the external experts/consultants. Most of the companies generally rely on the specialized consultants in the field of fundraising / EU project management.

All companies shall be aware of the fact, that getting a “yes” for the project from project evaluators is not all.

Specific project management and complex reporting requirements are also to be considered. Project executives often complain about complicated implementation of the projects and strict and bureaucratic external control system. However, it is necessary to take into account the fact that the EU funding, in contrast to bank loan funds, is non-refundable. Thus, the EU money despite of all negativities is a good alternative to be considered.

To sum up all the arguments, it should be noted that measure of “E-Business” support should encourage micro, small and medium-sized businesses to install new information technologies, facilitate their work productivity and increase exports. It is an excellent opportunity to expand their business prospects and move companies to a new level with the help of the IT solutions.

This BCC Paper issue is kindly sponsored by Strategic Staffing Solutions

BCC paper Autumn 2010

4

IT

Coming soon to a pocket near you! together and provide the classroom community they so need.

Jonathan White, Freelance Digital Consultant e and m-learning

At the other end of the scale in all markets worldwide, intelligent smart devices have become as powerful and functional as PCs. The explosive growth of Apple’s iPhone, HTC’s touch screen devices and other innovative market entrants are testament to this. Technological developments are making it possible for someone on a business english course to start a series of exercises and questions over breakfast on a laptop, continue via a mobile device on the way to work and finish during their lunch hour at their company PC.

Technology is changing the face of education rapidly. A quick visit to an average classroom just about anywhere in the world will show this.

Many have PCs for both teachers and students, there are several million whiteboards installed globally, and the likes of companies such as Intel are growing this trend rapidly with their innovative and affordable Classmate PC. But what about other forms of learning?

How are those who maybe don’t have the time or money to enter a classroom, are intimidated by formal lessons or simply prefer to study on their own at their own speed being addressed?

The answer is in all of our pockets. Mobile technology is the educational medium of the future and talk to anyone who has looked at the sheer strength and size of the mobile device and network industry today worldwide, and they’ll pronounce that mobile learning or m-learning as it is now referred to, will quickly over the next 3-5 years surpass all other types of education in terms of coverage, usage and income. Mlearning is about to hit us with a bang, and when it does hit, there will be positive repercussions all around the world.

Currently PC usage is in decline whilst mobile device usage is growing stronger and stronger.

Interestingly, the mobile device industry is now bigger than the PC industry at >US$ 1 trillion per annum. The PC industry is shrinking as users (particularly emerging markets) favour mobile devices over PCs. Two-thirds of the human race has a mobile phone subscription. A report by the International Telecommunications Union in February 2010 said that by the end of 2010, another 400 million mobile phone subscriptions will have been signed up, taking the global total to over 5 billion This means that two-thirds (67%) of human beings have a mobile phone subscription as opposed to the Internet being accessed using PC by around 1.7 billion, or 26% of the world’s population. Leading this is the explosion in developing countries where average penetration rates reached 57%, more than double its 2005 level of 23%. The figures are at saturation in developed countries where averages are more than 100%.

Predictions from the ITU says that accessing of the internet via mobile device will increase rapidly throughout 2010 as all networks worldwide become 3G and some become 4G allowing more rapid connection and transfer times on the mobile internet and there is already a much larger

take-up of advanced handsets offering full social networking, audio and video streaming, email services, web conferencing and other services which mimic those of online PC environments as well as very high-tech healthcare usages. A great example of this has been running with Australian telecom provider Telstra, who in conjunction with the Australian Government Dept of Healthcare offer a mobile breast-screening service in the outback. This cuts down huge delays in scan results and saves lives.

Interestingly SMS is the most used data application on the planet. As we sit in front of our PCs in the 1st world using complex desktop programs, this comes as a big surprise. Coupled with this, there is an explosion in the use of mobile devices to connect to the internet driven by the faster networks that we now all benefit from. In February 2010 the United Nations released a report which stated that mobile web access predicted to greatly exceed PC web access within 5 years.

So all these figures are astounding we tell ourselves, but coming back full circle, what does this mean for education? Are we really all going to be studying soon using a small 5 or 6 cm screen?

Without seeming to be contrite, many people already are. Services are springing up left, right and centre and as you read this, many more are being planned. Many see the opportunity in developing countries to provide basic education (healthcare issues, reading, writing and arithmetic) via mobile phones to a generation of people who

have the technology in their hands, but have no access and would never be able to afford even a basic classroom course. The power however is in the hands of the people.

Of the billions of people worldwide who have mobile devices, a very large proportion of these are in India, Africa, China and Latin America.

Although we may be used to large flat-screen tvs, and touch-screen multimedia devices which connect to broadband and transfer at the speed of light, for many people in these markets, their mobile device screen is the only screen they have ever owned themselves. They may have communally gathered around tv screens for football games or visited cinemas in their millions, but ownership has never been an option. The technology they now possess, one which we take for granted as being part and parcel of every day life, has become a lifeline, transforming the way they communicate and work. Meanwhile the mobile network providers and handset manufacturers are rapidly developing new ways for them to communicate using social networking, “intelligent” SMS which allows a question to be sent to a handset and a multiple choice answer to be sent back using a code as well as other innovations such as voice recognition also for responses to multiple choice questions. This means that with even the most basic mobile devices, education becomes a reality for those who before had no hope of receiving it, whilst at the same time, with the growth of social networking in the mobile sector, bringing this new generation of learners

The British Council have been pioneers in this area. The British Council’s m-learning products are highly innovative and will have a huge impact on the lives of English language learners around the world whatever their creed or colour or social income group. Already a number of products have been launched for the iPhone and Android formats which are being sold via iTunes as well as the British Council’s LearnEnglish website. These include an audio soap Big City Small World, MyWordBook which is an interactive vocabulary notebook for learners, and a number of fun games to improve grammar and vocab. Other products for different handsets will follow rapidly over the coming months/years, providing an invaluable extension to learning in a world which is always on the go.

These extend the LearnEnglish brand to a new audience of learners and allow them to study in a new and fun way when they want to. Learners will be able to choose their way of studying and study at their own pace, knowing that the pedagogical success and the highly valued stamp of the LearnEnglish brand will be on everything that they learn. The future as they say is looking very bright indeed.

Jonathan White began his career in educational publishing at Oxford University Press in the early 90s. A digital pioneer, he switched to the working solely in the digital sector in 1997 and since then has set up a successful online journal company, set up an online community, WebTV and e-commerce site for Pete Townshend of rock band The Who, and more recently has been making waves back in the publishing industry. During a stint at Penguin Books Rough Guides Mobile was produced and preloaded to 5 million Motorola Razr and Slivr handsets in Europe, and he set up and ran a Digital Publishing Unit for Macmillan Education for two and a half years until very recently.

Under his tenure, the company accelerated digital growth worldwide in the educational sector for both curriculum and ELT products and won an ELTON for Aviation English from the British Council. Additionally he pioneered mobile learning with a series of reader prototypes. Jonathan now consults in the digital sector, presenting at a wide range of international conferences and working at the cutting edge of the digital arena in both educational and mainstream content.

Common Mistakes in Web Design

By Andrius Zubkovas UAB „Move up Marketing Solutions“ Director

Navigational failure All web navigation must answer these questions: Where am I? Where have I been?

Where can I go next?

Where’s the Home Page?

Where’s the Home Home Page?

Navigation must be simple and consistent.

Common mistakes include different types of navigation on the same site, a link to the current page on the current page (home page link on home page), poorly worded links so the visitor doesn’t know where he’ll go if he clicks, no links back to the home page, and confusing links to the home page.

Thinking your web site is your marketing strategy.

Unless you’re an online shop selling t-shirts, cameras — you get

the picture — your web site is not your marketing strategy. Your web site is part of your marketing strategy.

If you take orders over the phone, don’t get rid of your phone banks. If you’re successfully using direct mail, don’t stop. Heck, if the Yellow Pages are working for you, continue to use them. The trick, and the hard part, is to find where your web site fits in your marketing strategy.

Don’t mix too many fonts Choose one font for headings, and another for the body. DO NOT use more then two different fonts in the body text! Consider this to be a general rule. For example, you could use “IMPACT” for headings and then “ARIAL” for the body. Keep in mind that every font is designed with its own baseline, x-height, cap height etc. You can compare fonts with Typetester (http://www.typetester.org/). It’s a really nice and useful.

Use a grid system Using a grid system will help you to align your elements better. I recommend using the 960 Grid System (http://960.gs/), as it offers both design and coding templates (.psd, .ai, .css, .html etc.).

Unfriendly Screen Resolution I’m sure we’ve visited websites where you have to scroll hori-

zontally. This is an absolute no-no in modern web design. A good designer will develop websites that fit on most screen sizes. The current optimized layout for websites currently is 1024 x 768 pixels.

Suggestions It’s hard and almost impossible to cater the design to fit every resolution especially when visitors are now surfing from mobile phones and netbooks, but we can get a rough idea what are the generally used screen resolutions with these following ways: Check your status – Analytic services like Google Analytics (http:// www.google.com/analytics/) provides you information about what monitor resolution they are using. These are useful information you should know before initiating your next revamp.

This BCC Paper issue is kindly sponsored by Strategic Staffing Solutions

BCC paper Autumn 2010

5

IT

Clouds on the Horizon

Linking Business with Universities in Lithuania Professor Algimantas Juozapavičius, vice-dean, Vilnius University Faculty of mathematics and Informatics speaking with Alistair Day-Stirrat, Editor of BCC paper A few editions ago one of our contributors raised the issue of academia for academia’s sakes asking where is the commercial value in much of the study/research undertaken in Lithuania, in Vilnius University Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics we find some synergy in the clouds.

Algimantas is keen to point out Vilnius is the Oldest University in Lithuania with a great academic tradition. Theoretical courses are a fundamental part of any university education but one must also accept the need for change. Many of the major universities around the world have for a long time worked closely with business. Notable changes have only now occurred in Lithuania. Barclays, and others, have given the Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics the opportunity to work in an ‘American Way’, that is Universities and business together creating operations and opportunities in science to do good for business and for the community.

Many skeptical relics of a by gone era were not so welcoming. According to Algimantas the negotiations took 2-3 months before Barclays and his Faculty could agree on a curricular and changes to particular. What is more, the Faculty developed a new graduation programme specific to the needs of Barclays, and developed new standards. This Algimantas believes is a particular success. Labour quality was already ranked highly and Lithuania was seen as a support & development centre, but now the engineering centre is being ranked highly as well.

Books, material, and equipment were donated to the Faculty to make the new programmes a

IT trends for Business < continued from page 1

You can start with 1 user and grow to thousands without any need to plan this in advance. Cloud will provide you with any necessary storage and computing capacities you need.

Most of the IT giants in the world like Amazon, Google, Microsoft, IBM offer Cloud Computing Services today. Also hosting centers in Lithuania are moving in this direction by introducing virtualization and web enabled business applications and I strongly believe that in a couple of years companies will remember managing own infrastructure as a bad dream.

New ways for reaching your customers Nowadays Internet became far more than the infrastructure. Today it’s a huge social network, largest market and unlimited source for information with over 1 billion people using the Internet and more than 5 million terabytes of data stored. There are very good examples for using this potential extremely successfully (Amazon, eBay, Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, GetJar). But it becomes more and more difficult to reach the right people and get the right information. Usually Google gives a few hundred million documents and most relevant information is not always on top of the list. Therefore new approaches to e-commerce and information management are being introduced. These are called socially aware applications that use Semantic technologies to bring information to the users directly, by understanding their habits and knowing their network. These applications gather data from social networks and other information sources more efficiently and help business to distinguish target groups and to reach particular customers. You can

Important to Algimantas is the academic environment, as the first stage in research and development. However, when business comes and asks specific questions this can create interesting possibilities for students to test the practical application of their research.

One example was for a furniture producer, using computer graphic algorithms one student developed a programme to recognize defects in furniture through object recognition.

Another example is whether algorithms can be used to analyze data from electro-physiology sensors or detectors on patients’ heads more quickly and efficiently. The detectors produce a read-out that can take 6-8 hours for a doctor to analyze, and the doctor needs months or years of training to become proficient. By developing a website based programme to process data and identify anomalies and certain points of interest much more quickly through ‘mining’ and ratios, the diagnostic benefits to the medical community are obvious. The results are being tested by medical doctors for reliability now.

Particularly interesting to Algimantas, EU structural funds have been used to develop the GRID system across Lithuania and her neighbours, linking clusters of servers in a geographical region. This is available for academic use but also for business, for when lots of computing power is needed. The grid will shortly be incorporated into a European wide grid. Moving swiftly from Grids Algimantas is in the Clouds, exited by new developments in Cloud computing (Internet-based computing, whereby shared resources, software and information are provided to computers and other devices on-demand, like electricity).

Professor Algimantas Juozapavičius, vice-dean, Vilnius University Faculty of mathematics and Informatics showing computing clusters of the Faculty

possibility. Content on specific fields was redeveloped, such as engineering courses like Unix, data storage and mainframe, both very new courses on offer. External experts were brought in to give courses. collect a lot of information about people’s tastes and needs in social networks. Afterwards you can quite precisely understand what your customers want and offer needed products and services.

It’s like social customer relationship management. However, if you want this management to be excellent you should consider the opportunity to exploit the advantages of e-commerce in your business.

E-commerce has already found its place in the world market and it is slowly finding place in Lithuanian market as well. Today nearly every company has its own website. But is it enough? Enterprise Resource planning system integration with e-shop is a successful step towards a more efficient business and customer satisfaction. Especially for a small market like ours it is important to find the ways of reaching global market. Therefore socially aware e-commerce and information management applications are the right tools to look for.

Being successful Companies must seriously look to the latest technology trends. Especially for a small market like Lithuania it is essential to have global presence, to be flexible and innovative. The best example for me is GetJar which started as a small mobile application development company in 2004 and became the second largest marketplace for mobile applications with only Apple still being ahead. This company is a good example when starting small and thinking big you can find your place among the worldwide leaders like Apple, Amazon, Google, eBay. Technologies do not guarantee success.

They are tools that help to reach the targets. But having the tools that allow to focus on making business rather than running it might be a good reason to see more of GetJar success stories in the future. And it is obvious that Cloud computing and socially aware business applications will play very significant role here.

Another, IBM recently donated hardware for practical exercises; they also gave access to development centres around the world, enabling students to access servers abroad remotely.

Asked about how many of his students go abroad for work Algimantas is not worried. If 5% of them come back with ideas and money to invest, Lithuania will flourish.

This year a United Nations backed conference for internet governance will be held in Lithuania. 2000 world wide experts will descend on Vilnius.

Reading and Writing in a Digital World produce high quality work increases”.

Rebecca Juras Director of Vilnius International School

For centuries, the definition of literacy has been the ability to read and write, but in the digital age, being literate means more than mastering the written word.

The digital world has ushered in new forms of media such as Web pages, blogs and YouTube.

Today the use of “new media” as a means of verbal expression includes the integration of sound, graphics and moving images with written text. Integrating new forms of media into a single narrative, or story, constitutes a “media collage”.

This means that being literate requires mastering a whole host of other skills. It does not, however, mean that the written word is in jeopardy.

A great deal of the new media used by students are participatory, social networks. Some fear that the quality of written expression will suffer as text formats in this new media favor succinctness and precision. But according to Jason Ohler, Professor of Education Technology, “as student participation goes public, pressure to

Dr. Ohler contends that the overwhelming amount of visual information will not undermine the importance of traditional essay writing. In fact, new media forms will serve to improve writing skills indirectly by forcing the author to write truly engaging and inspiring content in order to attract readers. Growth in the number of possible audiences has already encouraged more individuals to view themselves as authors due to inexpensive, easy accessibility to new media outlets. The increase in users of new media will ideally result in better writing as competition for readers swells.

Changes in writing in the digital age have also had an impact on the role of the reader. The explosion of information available to the lay person means that the demands on readers of new media to develop competencies in evaluating and verifying sources and critically analyzing text are greater than ever. In the digital age, a literate person cannot be a passive consumer of information, but must engage in a dynamic exchange between author and reader.

It is amazing that In just ten years, the prolific use of new media has both broadened opportunities for sharing written expression and increased the burden on writers and readers to expand their skills far beyond the traditional basics.

This BCC Paper issue is kindly sponsored by Strategic Staffing Solutions

BCC paper Autumn 2010

6

IT

Brits in Lithuania Interview with Kurt Wilson, CEO and founder of Advansys the IT Park concept, based largely on the models employed in India, where companies receive reduced taxes and qualifying employees within the IT industry currently pay no income tax. That’s a huge incentive to encourage talent to stay locally and allows the employer to offer much improved remuneration. I’d really like to see something similar implemented here as I think that would encourage us to expand our operations hereby taking on more staff and increase remuneration thus benefitting the local economy.

When did you come to Lithuania and at that time did you have in mind to establish an IT/web development company?

As is the case with a lot of Brits in Lithuania, my first experience came as a result of a stagparty; in fact it was mine! That was way back in 2002 but those first impressions are still firmly in my mind. It was one of my good friends who recommended Lithuania as a suitable destination having previously visited himself back in the 90’s not long after independence. I was at first naturally skeptical, because at the time it’s fair to say not many people knew a lot about Lithuania, but he convinced me of the need to get out of my “comfort zone” as he put it and so ten of us came over that summer as we wanted something a little different. Little did I know back then just what a major impact Lithuania would have on my life.

A year later, we still reminisced about the previous year’s trip and unanimously decided to organise a reunion for the summer of 2003. If I am being honest it was then that I realised I wanted to make it part of my life and the timing was perfect as I’d recently setup an IT business in the UK developing web and ecommerce solutions for small yet growing number of clients in the UK. I wasn’t really too sure of how things would work out here from a business perspective so I decided upon a two pronged attack where I could look to combine business activity with some personal investment.

If nothing else this would give me reason to make it work and I figured that at least one of these would prove to be a good move even if the other hadn’t worked out as expected. The real estate boom hadn’t taken hold back then but nevertheless I found it a little strange that the concept of people taking out mortgages to invest in property seemed quite alien here. In hindsight it was factor that kept the property market affordable for foreign investors at the time. With this in mind I returned in September of that year with a view to buying an apartment for investment and establishing a development office. Of course it made sense to combine the two as that would give me a place to stay when I came over for work and keep costs low by not having to stay in hotels. At the time a Danish company had set up a serviced office facility near the old town which was ideal to get us going with minimal investment. I took a two desk office and came over for a week to conduct interviews, subsequently employing the first two members of staff; we were up running with very little effort.

What attracted you for business, and has much changed?

Initially I was encouraged by the cost advantages that Lithuania could offer compared with those back in the UK. In 2003 the situation was quite different to now but generally there were savings

From your experience, are there specific areas or courses within IT that are not well offered by Universities that would further enhance Lithuanians growing stature as a global IT hotspot?

Kurt Wilson, CEO and founder of Advansys with his team in Vilnius office

in relation to office space, employment and other necessary overheads. This, coupled with a more favorable cost of living, provided us with a lower cost base which allowed us to pass on savings to our clients. Essentially we had competitive advantage over other UK suppliers without sacrificing the quality of the work produced.

Within the realms of IT, it made perfect sense to leverage available technology to make the Vilnius office tightly coupled with the existing one in the UK. Being software based we developed our own web-based centralised management system that shares our customer and project data between offices. The other essential factor was implementing a voice over IP (VOIP) phone system to eliminate international call costs, so now we talk between offices for free and UK clients call a UK number that is routed here. Now, it’s as if both teams work in adjacent rooms.

In terms of human resource I regard Lithuania as having a solid education system and as such there’s a broad spectrum of IT skills to be found here. The only negative is that as the country is relatively small, the pool of skilled people is not as large as those in other countries. I can’t say this has caused us an issue to date but then we are just short of 30 staff in Vilnius so our needs are not as great as the large corporates who have established themselves here more recently. I was particularly impressed when I first arrived in Lithuania about the strong work ethic and attitude of

people, not to mention how pleasant they were.

In more recent years the market and attitudes and have inevitably changed, especially in light of the global economic crisis. It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster ride for all. I would say that up until the end of 2008 the situation had clearly spiraled out of control here in terms of people’s expectations, costs and real estate valuations. Whilst the UK had caught a cold economically, it had still to filter through to Lithuania which presented additional challenges for us at the time. Some 6 months later the crisis seemed to kick in over here which was a reality check for many but was long overdue. It was totally necessary to re-align people’s attitudes and expectations and I think Lithuania has fared a lot better than some of its fellow EU members which is positive. The dust appears to have settled down but in spite of everything it’s clear that Lithuania, and in particular Vilnius, has seen tremendous change in a very small period of time. For me that’s a good thing.

It has been rumoured elsewhere that it’s difficult to find staff with specific IT skills necessary.

Have you found this to be the case when employing new staff in your company?

For us that’s not been a major issue. Leading up to the economic crisis it did start to become more difficult in to find people with the right skills as the demand for those skills was becoming very high. However, since then things have calmed down and a lot of “noise” which just caused distraction has been removed from the marketplace, certainly within IT. I think there are two main challenges still here though; the first is keeping talented people with in Lithuania and the second is attracting the right companies to come here in the first place. I don’t believe enough is being done on that front.

If you could influence policy making what would you change in Lithuania to encourage IT? It was David Cameron who recently declared UK as “open for business”. It’s a crying shame that there aren’t more incentives for small business both domestic and foreign in Lithuania. If you compare the situation in the UK, 60% of the workforce is employed by small business so it would be naïve for anyone to ignore this group, regardless of those in the field of IT. In Lithuania unless you’re a global banking giant the same privileges are not extended to small foreign companies looking to setup a base here. Ironically it’s the larger corporates who really don’t need these incentives they are able to gain advantages purely from economies of economies wherever they locate. If you consider Belarus they have adopted

In general the courses here tend to be very science and mathematics based which from a software engineering and pure programming perspective is great. However, a large sector of IT these days involves web and Internet based technologies and I would like to see more focus in these areas as they are essential in today’s online world. Compared to the UK there is a big skills gap here in online marketing related disciplines.

I’d like to see some Internet Marketing Courses covering subjects such as search engine optimization, pay per click and affiliate marketing which overlap and compliment traditional web development skills.

What are the specific benefits for your business with being in Lithuania and not say India or elsewhere?

We also have an office in Bangalore which I set up in 2007 so I’ve had firsthand experience in dealing with the challenges involved in locating in different parts of the world. Culturally, the differences between India when compared to the UK and LT are enormous. Whilst each nationality has its own nuances we are definitely more aligned in our views and approach within the UK and LT offices. It’s a huge benefit having an office within the EU for reasons of practicality too. It’s a lot cheaper to fly these days thanks to budget airlines and a lot quicker to travel between locations. I can set off early from the UK and be up and running in the Vilnius office in the same afternoon. There’s also no visa to worry about. Of course India does have significant costs savings over the UK and LT but if you take everything into account a near-shore model works a lot more effectively.

Outside your work, what do you especially enjoy about living in Lithuania?

I think most of my friends and family would class me a bit of a work-a-holic so at weekends you’ll find me in the office more often than not. I’m a firm believer in working hard and playing hard so when I do go out I’m often in the old town bars and clubs relaxing with fellow ex-pats over a cold beer or two. I also like my food and Vilnius has a great selection of restaurants offering a wide range cuisine from all over the world. I like the fact that Vilnius is a relatively compact city and everything is within short distance of each other. It’s true you can end up seeing the same faces all the time but for me there’s something quite nice about that and I have met many good friends being here. If you look at the range and quality of the shopping and facilities that have sprung up here in the last ten years it really is very impressive. It is a great place and often I think that’s overlooked.

Unlike some of my friends most of my time is still spent in the UK as that’s our main base but I try to spend at least one week a month here. This year I finally managed to visit Nida, Palanga and Klaipeda and have to admit I was really impressed with the beauty of this country. As I say to anyone who comes to England, make sure you get out of London as you’ll not see true English life. The same can definitely be said of Vilnius and you really do need to venture further afield to experience Lithuania properly.

This BCC Paper issue is kindly sponsored by Strategic Staffing Solutions

BCC paper Autumn 2010

7

IT

How to manage IT contracts Paulius Galubickas Associate at SORAINEN

Well constructed IT contract is an insurance policy for IT project. Anyone involved in drafting and negotiating IT contracts should follow certain methodology to achieve maximum result. Of course, the methodology depends on the type of IT project and the services rendered. The drafting phase is the most appropriate time to tune the contract in a self-beneficial way, which is least expensive when performed properly.

In order to tune the contract properly you should also have a good understanding of the issues involved in the IT project and the type of the problems that might arise during project implementation and thereafter. The contract has to be specific, not general. Many managers overestimate their understanding of the IT project’s technical side and the legal risks associated, and often exclude technicians and legal experts from drafting. This, however, limits the ability to assess possible risks and address them in due manner at the right time.

First what you have to do is start early, negotiations in IT projects take more time then you initially

may think. Do not leave contract drafting for the last minute. The contractual bugs like rush. You should consider legal and technical risks at the contract design stage.

Set objectives. Do not attempt to tune all contractual clauses to the perfection at once.

Use return on investment method to indentify the portions of the IT project which are most critical and profitable to you. Once these parts are indentified, describe it in the contract. It is always useful to have several versions of the same contractual clause during the negotiations. Your objectives should be defined in a form accepted and agreed by all the interested parties. For example, the setting the technical objectives and application of specifications are crucial for the service level agreements (SLAs).

In IT contracts it is very important to look in the parts where the scope of transfer of the copyright rights in the created software is foreseen. The developers of software are interested in maintaining the rights necessary for the distribution of the software because the individual software once created for a particular company may be easily applied elsewhere and later may be marketed as standard software. While the customer, by financing the software development, very often does not want to leave such rights to the software developers. Therefore, it is very important to specifically define in the contract what ownership rights (right in further distribution, modification, improvement,

transfer, licensing, etc.) in software are given to the developer and the customer.

One of the most important parts of IT contract – the conditions (licence) for use of the software. Here one must pay attention to what kind of licence is granted for the ordered software: exclusive or ordinary, for definite period or for indefinite period; as well as in which territory it is granted; how many users will be able to use the software at the same time; on what conditions the customer will be able to transfer the software to third parties; to evaluate whether the licence gives the right to the customer to modify the software independently etc.. In this part it is important to agree on the source code of the software, i.e. to indicate whether the source code is a part of the contract or not, because further development of the software depends on it.

It is important that the contract clearly provides the quality requirements for the software, warranties and liability, the duties of the parties in the process of the software implementation, the way of the projects management and testing, methods of dispute resolution, payment conditions, the conditions for terminating the contract, agreement on further maintenance of the software, as well as the method of acceptance and transfer of final and interim work results.

When accepting the final version of software the customer should confirm that the software corresponds to the technical specification provided

in the contract, and functions without substantial defects. Upon signature of acceptance-transfer act the software cannot be refused because of minor defects which normally always exist in software. Before accepting the final works of the IT software, it is advisable to agree on a certain time period during which the operation of final version of the software would be tested.

For the software provider it is useful to narrow its liability insofar as the law allows. Generally, the liability is limited by a certain monetary amount and loss, which occur only because of certain events. In the part which determines the liability, a laconic wording that the damage is compensated in accordance with the law, could be more useful to the buyer.

By contract drafting most likely you can apply the same 80/20 rule as in IT systems developing.

Typically, 20% of system transactions account for 80% of the system usage. The transactions that make up this 20% are the ones that must be tuned to the highest perfection level possible. Similarly, in IT contracts the most disputes and the biggest legal risk are related to similar percentage of contractual clauses which deserve the highest attention.

Often the contract drafting process is underestimated by the parties hoping that friendship may solve all arising conflicts in IT projects. But life learns that in conflicts parties tend more to rely on contractual wording then on oral promises.

Online search habits and preferences: Unlocking the secrets of the consumption preferences of European Consumers Ilse Thomele

Internet users in Western and Eastern Europe: 2004-2009

Research Analyst at Euromonitor International

Western Europe

350

Background Via the search words they are putting into the search engine of their choice (about 70% of the time this is Google, according to Wired magazine), consumers are offering information about their preferences and obsessions. Whether the search is for more information about Lena MeyerLandruth, Germany’s winner of the European Song Contest, or a recipe for muffins, the search engine records the number of hits and reveals consumers’ deepest concerns. On YouTube, the video most watched in Europe continues to be the Full Highlights & Goal F.C Barcelona vs. Real Madrid from November 29th, 2009. The online research site alexa.com updates the top searched-for global words every five minutes. The favourite searches are the same in virtually all European countries, with Google, Facebook, YouTube, Yahoo and blogger.com topping the lists in Hungary, Romania, Spain, France, Sweden and Belgium.

A gift for advertisers The online site of Business Week magazine reports that in a drive to show more appealing mobile ads and fuel competition with Google, Apple Inc. is studying the buying habits of many of its 150 million iTunes users. “Apple knows what you’ve downloaded, how much time you spend interacting with applications and knows even what you’ve downloaded, don’t like and deleted,” said Rachel Pasqua, director of mobile at marketing firm Icrossing, whose clients include Toyota Motor Corp. and Mazda Motor Corp.

300

Internet users in mln

Consumers in Europe are rapidly catching up with the US advance guard when it comes to internet usage. All major search engines now run their local language sites, and are heavily used by consumers in search of a bargain, of entertainment or of friends.

Eastern Europe

Travelling online

250 200 150 100 50 0

More than 25% of those questioned confirmed they shop for groceries online, with over half of respondents spending more than £150 or more per month. Online discount vouchers and discount codes are particularly sought after by 50-plus consumers, more so than particular brands, because many pensioners are forced to look for value for money.

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

Source: Euromonitor International from International Telecommunications Union/World Bank/trade sources

Online searches on the seedy side The global demand for pornography on the internet is so great that its omnipresence means you can scarcely avoid it. The statistics are truly staggering. According to compiled numbers from research site top ten reviews, every second, 372 internet users are typing adult search terms into search engines. The pornography industry is big business, with larger revenues than Microsoft, Google, Amazon, eBay, Yahoo, Apple and Netflix combined, reports the internet site toptenreviews. com. A 2006 survey by the internet research company Nielsen Online shows that nine million British men, 40% of the male population, have viewed internet pornography, compared with just two million in 2000. However, Europe represents only about 6% of the global search for pornographic items.

Search words mirror current consumer concerns In 2009, the word “Abwrackprämie” was one of the most searched for words on Google in Germany – the word for the car-scrappage bonus

offered by the German government for new car buyers. Names of celebrities are a top priority in search engines, with Paris Hilton an evergreen. In France in 2010, the names “Polanski” and “Bernard Gireaudeau” (a popular actor who passed away recently) were searched for a lot. The names “Robert Pattinson” and “Kristen Stewart” (youthful stars of the trio of vampire films) appeared high on the list of key words anywhere where teenagers go the cinema. The Italian Yahoo site receives copious clicks on names of footballers, starlets and TV presenters.

Bargain hunting with vouchers UK shoppers are the keenest online buyers in Europe and search online for voucher code sites such as VoucherSeeker in order to save money on items such as electrical goods and fashion.

PRNewswire reports that “this behaviour has carried on into post recession shopping as consumers realise how much money they can save”.

A 2009 study conducted by Mature Marketing Consultancy Millennium, “Spending habits of the over-50s”, questioned four hundred over 50s.

Most consumers in Europe use the internet to research their holiday destinations and flights.

Airline ticketing has become one of the hottest search topics on the net. The Trivago.com site, an online service for travellers seeking advice regarding their travel destinations, has recently picked up large numbers of clicks Europe-wide and temporarily topped the Google list of holiday-related searches during the 2010 summer season. Other popular sites are expedia.com, opodo.com and wetter.de for weather forecasts. “Isola del Giglio” is a much requested holiday destination on Yahoo Italia, while Yahoo France registers a stronger culinary than travel interest with a notable number of queries on “cuisine minceur” (lighter versions of traditional Nouvelle cuisine dishes).

Outlook European consumers are increasingly going to use the possibilities offered online, mainly to inform themselves about bargains in order to save money during meagre times. They will also find out about cultural and social events in the growing social networking world and increasingly find a partner through online dating opportunities. Finding a partner online is set to become as normal as being introduced by friends. A 2009 survey of 13,000 singles in Western European countries aged 18 to 59 conducted by leading online partner search organisation Parship finds that nearly half of all singles in Germany, Austria and Switzerland tried to find a partner through the internet in the previous 12 months. Also, as more textbooks, databases and whole libraries go live online, the internet will be used ever more by students, playing an important part in teaching and research.

This BCC Paper issue is kindly sponsored by Strategic Staffing Solutions

BCC paper Autumn 2010

8

IT

Linking business with Education in the SANTAKA Valley At the heart of Lithuania’s drive for a knowledge-intensive economy Kaunas Technological University Eugenijus Mačikėnas speaks to the BCC. How has the recent educational reforms impacted on current IT courses and planning future programmes?

KTU Informatics Faculty actively cooperates with other major IT companies in Lithuania, such as IBM and Microsoft. One of the most recent examples of such cooperation is an agreement with Barclays ITC, under which Barclays specialists assisted the university professors in creating new specialization Banking Data Operating Centres, provided material and requirements for it. Another example is Media Information Technologies study programme created in cooperation with LRT and other TV representatives.

What would you say to prospective IT businesses thinking of establishing operations in Lithuania with specific IT requirements?

Faculty’s study programmes were developed in accordance with international and Lithuanian standards and requirements. Our study programmes were accredited by the International Accreditation Committee almost without any remarks, this was practically a unique example in Lithuania. On the other hand, international and Lithuanian standards and requirements do not provide much space to respond to specialized needs of individual companies. This problem is solved by enabling students to choose individual study modules (electives), thus adapting to individual workplace needs. The Faculty has cooperation agreements with well-known companies (Microsoft, Oracle, CISCO and others). Faculty’s professors read courses prepared and accredited by those companies. So the students are provided with the possibility to acquire the desired professional qualifications.

Apart from the educational reform itself, there has been other steps undertaken that have had a major impact to the study process. Kaunas University of technology (KTU) is part of Santaka Valley. This means there has been major upgrade of infrastructure, a possibility for the university to acquire modern equipment, the possibility for students to take part in innovative projects that are carried out in the Valley, to undergo work place engineering traineeship with modern equipment, with concentrated scientific potential.

Due to the reform of higher education, KTU Informatics Faculty has made reforms in the first and second cycle study programmes. Changes were introduced into Bachelor of Informatics programme, which appears annually within the top ten most popular university programmes in Lithuania. Two specializations of this programme, namely Information Systems Design and Multimedia Systems were respectively transformed into independent study programmes of Information Systems and Media Information Technologies. In compliance with business needs, new specialization Banking Data Operating Centres was created based on new disciplines Banking Systems Architecture and Call Centre Services Design.

In a process of major upgrade of Study Curricula, KTU Informatics Faculty submitted an application under the measure VP1-2.2- MM-09-V “Development of Study Programmes in National Integrated Programmes”. The project will involve 4 universities (Kaunas University of Technology, Vilnius University, Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Vytautas Magnus University) and two colleges (Vilnius College of Higher Education and Kaunas University of Applied Sciences). The project aims to improve the preparation of Informatics and Informatics Engineering specialists. It should be emphasized that this project will also involve Infobalt Association which unites Lithuanian business companies of the field and public institution Visoriai Information Technology Park. The Integrated Science, Studies and Business Centre (Valley) SANTAKA is intended to contribute to the project by organizing internships for the students,

Informatics Faculty signed on 30 April 2009.

What do you see as the future IT courses in Lithuania? And what sells your institution to prospective students?

providing the students with the possibility to work with modern equipment, with the possibility to participate in carrying out innovative projects.

Some large IT employers in Lithuania have been working closely with you. Is this a recent phenomenon? And how does it work in practice?

KTU Informatics Faculty as well as other entities of the Santaka Valley has close relationship with major IT companies and other social partners in Lithuania. On 1st July, 2008 a cooperation agreement with ATEA Company (the leading supplier of IT solutions and services in Baltic countries) was signed. The company Sonex Technologies from

ATEA Group contracted to give lectures for future programmers, to provide the possibility for the students to undergo the internships in company’s departments, to provide scholarships for best students, to help with preparation of practical tasks for such students and to sponsor various events.

The company also plans to allow students to test the latest IT equipment, as well as technical and practical solutions.

Media Information Technologies students (KTU Informatics Faculty) do their internships at Lithuanian National Radio and Television (LRT) under the cooperation agreement between LRT and KTU

Those prospective students that are seeking not only just to acquire the university diploma but, and first of all, to get the knowledge that provide good possibilities for employment, an interesting job prospects etc., they are studying carefully the future prospects of the studies the universities are offering. Such students do appreciate the content of IT studies in KTU, the close relationship of KTU with industry, the fact that KTU is part of Santaka Valley as well as the willingness of university authorities to meet the needs of the industry pertaining to the qualifications of the graduates.

In the future, the KTU Informatics Faculty intends to update study programmes and study modules in accordance with the permanently changing international and Lithuanian standards and requirements, at the same time paying respect to the breakthrough tendencies of Lithuanian IT sector. KTU Faculty of Informatics aims to provide science-based studies, considering practical needs of companies and global IT development tendencies. continued on page 10 >

BCC paper Autumn 2010

Chronicle of BCC Events

9

Business Scope Mission to Scotland

The British Chamber of Commerce expresses its great gratitude to both partners – Scottish Chambers International and Cormack Consultancy Baltic for helping to organise Business Scope Mission to Scotland.

Also our high appreciation goes to sponsors of the Business Networking Reception.

During Business Networking Reception at Tynecastle. From left to right: Morag Keith, Viktorija Žilinskaitė, WoSCoP, Chris Butler, PwC Lithuania, Chairman BCC and Graham Keith, GK Management

ent

Business Scope Mission participants in the Scottish Parliam

On June 7-8th, the British Chamber of Commerce took Business Scope Mission to Scotland to explore business opportunities in this active UK region. The Mission was organized in partnership with Scottish Chambers International and Cormack Consultancy Baltic (CCB). Eight Lithuanian companies working in furniture, textiles, HR, financial services and investment areas have joined the mission and had an opportunity to increase their awareness about the Scottish market and meet useful business contacts during intensive 2 days programme.

Mr Tom Burnham, ctb assocs, winner of a sym bolic lottery prize Heart of Midlothi an F.C. signed football shirt

On June 7th, the Business Scope Mission participants attended a couple of introductory seminars kindly organized by partners. Presentations about the Scottish current economic situation, the Scottish market and business opportunities for Lithuanian companies were kindly delivered

by Mr Charles Cormack, CCB, Mr David Hughes, Saffery Champness, Mr Roger Horam, The Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce and Mr Ross Clark, Scottish Chambers International. In midday, the companies from Lithuania attended individual business meetings

organized by CCB and in the evening Business Networking Reception at Tynecastle with presence of nearly 50 various types of business representatives from Scotland. Presentation “What Scots can expect in Lithuania” was delivered by Mr Chris Butler, Chairman BCC Lithuania to better acquaint the Scottish representatives with business climate in Lithuania and business opportunities for the Scottish companies. The Business Networking Reception continued with haggis tasting and a short tour at Tynecastle stadium.

On June 8th the business group from Lithuania visited the Scottish Parliament and met with Mr Jeremy Purveys, MSP, Liberal Democrats. A member of Mr Purvey’s team has taken the group around for a guided tour and provided some very interesting information about the architecture of the building and about operations of the Scottish Parliament.

Mr Charles Cormack, CC

B, delivering presentation at introductory seminar

Reception Business Scope Mission participants during Networking ė Industrial at Tynecastle. From left to right: Linas Stankus, Taurag Kaunas Free Park, Anastasia Zencika, CCB, Ugnė Jankauskienė, Economic Zone and Inga Meškauskaitė, Baldai Jums

Mr Jeremy Purveys, Member of Scottish Parliament, in his cabinet talking to Business Scope Mission participants from Lithuania

Business Networking Rec

eption

From left to right: Vydas Damalakas, Omniteksas, Sergejus Fedotovas, UBIG and Chris Butler, PricewaterhouseCoopers during a short tour at Tynecastle stadium.

ernational ttish Chambers Int Mr Ross Clark, Sco B CC Charles Cormack

and

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BCC paper Autumn 2010

10 < continued from page 8

This requires the teachers to be both theoreticians and practitioners, and not just scientists. Therefore, we welcome the orders from Lithuanian and foreign companies, as well as the implementation of Lithuanian and international programmes and projects. Our Faculty is ahead of any other faculty—not only in IT field and not just in KTU—in respect of orders from industry, and the amount of implemented studies and science international and Lithuanian programmes and projects.

As it is set out in the Programme of Integrated Science, Studies and Business Centre (Valley) SANTAKA), approved by Lithuanian Government 12th November 2008, the main tasks of the Santaka Valley are:

There are four major trends of activities of Santaka Valley. One of these activities is Information and Communication Technologies. According to the a/m Programme of the Santaka Valley, there will be three Open Access Centres: in KTU, Kaunas Medical University and Lithuanian Energy Institute. The main activities in IT area are planned for KTU Open Access Centre. On the other hand, the Programme includes not only R&D and educational activities in IT area, but also provision of IT services to all participants in the Valley. Therefore all a/m partners of the Valley will be active implementors of IT progress.

Let‘s say, a few months ago IBM in a process of planning to establish R&D centre in Lithuania, have been working very fruitfully not only with KTU but also with the researchers from KMU.

1. to concentrate in a single area the potential of research, studies and knowledge-intensive business, to purposefully carry out R&D work important to the Lithuanian economy, to create central and peripheral infrastructure of the Valley, to modernize and develop the research facilities of the institutions of science and studies necessary for the Valley’s breakthrough activities, and to concentrate scientific potential;

The development of Santaka Valley means closer cooperation between universities, industry and R&D community. It means also major upgrade of the existing facilities, infrastructure of the universities, concentration of the scientific potential. All this will create the better prospects for the breakthrough in the areas that are very significant for country‘s economic development (including IT sector).

Could you tell us a little bit about Santaka Valley, it’s operations and added value to the country’s IT progress?

Networking across the Europe

2. to create a favourable environment for business-science cooperation, encouraging transfer of new technologies and introduction of innovations.

Many BCC Lithuania mem­b ers are probably aware of other British Chambers of Commerce operating across Europe. But perhaps not ever ybody has taken the possibility to par ticipate in British Chambers of Commerce activities in other countries.

As BCC Lithuania is a member of COBCOE (Council of the British Chambers of Commerce in Europe) this entitles all BCC Lithuania members to participate in other BCC’s (that are members of COBCOE) events and meetings for the member price.

As the main objectives of the British Chamber of Commerce in Lithuania is to promote business relations between the UK and Lithuania, provide a forum for an exchange of views, create networking opportunities and represent economic interests of members, this possibility will even broaden the achievement of those goals.

For example, a representative of one of our corporate members UAB Nileksa, Ms Auksė Packevičiūtė took this advantage and participated in Golf Day & Prize-Giving Dinner organized by BCC Luxembourg. “It is a memorable experience and unique opportunity for new business relations and exchange of views. I spent a great afternoon playing golf following dinner and networking with new members of the BCC in Luxembourg“- says Auksė.

So, if you are travelling abroad either for business meeting or for a short break, do not hesitate and take a look at the COBCOE (www.cobcoe.eu) website to find the most appropriate event for you - be it business lunch, conference or leisure activity and take the best of it.

The British Chamber of Commerce in Lithuania is a member of COBCOE since 2000. COBCOE is an umbrella organisation for the British Chambers of Commerce across Europe, representing 34 British Chambers of Commerce operating in 31 countries.

Forthcoming Events Calendar DATE

Events

Venue

OCTOBER 14th, THURSDAY, 6.00 P.M.

BCC Cinema Night presenting documentary Journey through Lithuania (Kelionė per Lietuvą) and David Ellis, the British Artist-Writer-Curator & Cultural historian

Cinema „Pasaka“ (Šv. Ignoto 4/3, Vilnius)

OCTOBER 27th, WEDNESDAY, 8.00 A.M.

Breakfast Technical Briefing

Shakespeare Hotel (Bernardinų str. 8/8, Vilnius)

NOVEMBER 5th, FRIDAY

Guy Fawkes (Bonfire) Night

NOVEMBER 18th

BCC New Members Evening

NOVEMBER 24th, WEDNESDAY, 8.00 A.M.

Breakfast Technical Briefing

DECEMBER (tbc)

Traditional English Christmas Celebrity with Christmas Carols

JANUARY 29th, SATURDAY

Top Annual Charity Event Burns Night‘11

Shakespeare Hotel (Bernardinų str. 8/8, Vilnius)

UKTI BALTICS

CALENDAR OF EVENTS 2010 DATE

LOCATION

EVENT

PROJECT TEAM/ATTENDEES

East of England

Global Export Opportunities event in the East of England

ringaile.saviciene@fco. gov.uk

Birmingham

Gardenex & PetQuip Meet the Buyer Event, Lithuanian and Latvian companies to participate

laura.lescinskiene@fco. gov.uk

London

Inward Mission to Technology World

laura.lescinskiene@fco. gov.uk

12-15 January

London

Possible Inward Mission to BETT Education Show

laura.lescinskiene@fco. gov.uk

18-20 January

Baltics

Possible Outward Food & Drink Trade Mission to the Baltics

ieva.binkauskaite@fco. gov.uk

TBC

UK

Visit to European Clinic event (ICT Sector)

laura.lescinskiene@fco. gov.uk

OCTOBER 2010 TBC

NOVEMBER 2010 TBC

DECEMBER 2010 7-8 December

JANUARY 2011

*TBC – dates to be confirmed

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BCC paper Autumn 2010

BCC Members’ News Two law firms combine forces and provide legal services under the new name of “Baltic Legal Solutions Lithuania” One the leading business law firms in Lithuania and the Baltic countries - Professional Law Partnership “Jurevicius, Bartkus & Partners” - combines forces with law firm “Kazlauskas & Degesys Solvings” and thus adds the three new partners, including Ramunas Kazlauskas, Robertas Degesys and Dainius Stasiulis, to its team. Additionally, enhancing the integration in the Baltic countries, Professional Law Partnership “Jurevicius, Bartkus & Partners” has changed its name to “Baltic Legal Solutions Lithuania”.

Following the merger, Professional Law Partnership “Baltic Legal Solutions Lithuania” has over 50 lawyers and 10 partners. It is one of the largest business law firms in Lithuania. Baltic Legal Solutions

Lithuania is a member firm of the Pan-Baltic association Baltic Legal Solutions, including the law firms in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. In April 2010, a leading management system organisation in London “Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance” (LRQA) granted the Professional Law Partnership the quality certificate ISO 9001:2008 proving that the Partnership had implemented the quality management system in compliance with international standards.

PricewaterhouseCoopers, UAB represented Lithuania in Europe’s Most Competitive Business Awards Competition In July 2010, the European Business Awards sponsored by HSBC announced that PricewaterhouseCoopers, UAB was to represent Lithuania in the prestigious 2010 Awards programme. PricewaterhouseCoopers, UAB beat off stiff competition to be selected as one of 10 Country Representatives.

In its fourth successful year, the European Business Awards has identified some of Europe’s brightest businesses based on their ability to demonstrate the three core principles at the heart of the Awards programme.

The esteemed panel of judges were looking for organisations to represent Lithuania who exhibited innovation, business excellence and sustainability.

Chris Butler, PricewaterhouseCoopers Country Managing Partner said, “At PricewaterhouseCoopers we’re absolutely thrilled to be selected to represent Lithuania. We’ve been operating since 1993 in the professional services sector and it’s an honour to be recognised as one of the leading companies in our country and in our field. The European Business

11 New possibility for nowadays business – VIP parcel Today’s business does not run without participation in public procurement tenders, contracts signing or document certification at notary public offices. Hundreds of important documents are being exchanged during these processes, which later become a background of new projects, negotiations or a partnership.

Taking into consideration an increase of customers’ interest in fast delivery of important documents until determined hour, DPD Lietuva has launched a new service for Lithuanian businesses – “VIP parcel” - in July, 2010.

This is quite a new service on the Lithuanian parcel delivery market. Its exclusive value for business is secure and guaranteed timely delivery of a parcel and notification to customer about its fulfilment. If you order this service, the parcel is delivered the next working day by a determined time (9 a.m., 10 a.m., 12 a.m., 4 p.m.) after pick-up of VIP parcel. In addition to express delivery customer is informed about VIP parcel delivery by email or by phone after the delivery of a parcel. Furthermore, delivery of the VIP parcel is being tracked through all parcel life cycles, from its order until the actual delivery. In this way customer can completely concentrate to their own business issues by leaving important parcel delivery to logistic experts. Nevertheless, if due to unforeseen reasons parcel delivery is failed, DPD takes responsibility and covers 100 Litas compensation.

After evaluating the mentioned criteria with the opportunity for businessmen to control everything by themselves or to send employees to hand over important documents, what also costs additional working hours and money for the company, it is clear that parcel service is becoming more than just a parcel delivery but the delivery with exceptional value to business. For more information about VIP service, please visit our web site.

Awards is widely recognised as the showcase for Europe’s most dynamic companies”.

The European Business Awards is dedicated to raising the visibility and progress of companies who excel in delivering innovation twinned with successful commercial results whilst acting responsibly and positively affecting the social environment they operate in.

Adrian Tripp, CEO of the European Business Awards said, “Over the past 4 years we’ve received an incredibly high standard of entries from organisations that are passionate about their business.

However, very few get the chance to fly the flag for their country and compete across Europe to be recognised as one of the EU’s leading companies.

It really is an exceptional accolade to be picked as a Country Representative”.

Final category Award winners will be announced at the Awards ceremony in Paris on 16th November 2010, in front of Europe’s top business leaders, politicians and media.

GrECo goes global – Insurance broker expands to new horizons The GrECo group continues to expand. Following last year’s acquisition of the majority in 10 corporations in CEE, GrECo has now strengthened its presence globally. The new partner Jardine Lloyd Thompson (JLT) is one of the leading insurance brokers has operations all around the world and is listed on the London stock exchange.

Today the exclusive trading agreement between 4 leading and independent European insurance brokers was announced in London. In addition to JLT (UK), SIACI Saint Honore (France), the Ecclesia Group (Germany) and the GrECo Group (Austria) form the core of the JLT International Network, which is operating in 130 countries with over 9.000 employees. The cooperation is sealed with a financial interlocking. JLT has been holding a 20% stake in SIACI for years and is now acquiring a 20% share in the GrECo Group in which the Ecclesia Group is already holding 13,33%.

Friedrich Neubrand, CEO of the GrECo Group: „With JLT we have found the right partner for our future development without giving up our independence as a family owned business. Based on global operations and class-leading expertise in areas like construction, aviation, energy and telecommunication we are now in an even better position to render our services internationally and with state-of-the-art know how.”

GrECo has been operating on the Austrian market since 1925. In 1989 the expansion towards the east began as first international broker in Hungary, followed by further 14 countries. “Together with JLT we are now also present in the booming economies of Asia and Latin America. “ says Friedrich Neubrand, “This partnership enables us to accompany our clients with investments around the globe in the same way that JLT clients have access to a comprehensive service in CEE by the market leader GrECo.”

New Managing Director in Inova Baltic Photo: Dalius Kaveckas, Managing Director of Inova Baltic

Founder and managing director of Inova Baltic Odd Magne Reme has become the Chairman of the Board of Inova Baltic from 19 January, 2010. Dalius Kaveckas has taken over the managing director position with effect from the same date.

Dalius Kaveckas after completing bachelor and master studies at Norwegian School of Economics and Business administration in Norway returned to Lithuanian in 1996. He has 12 years experience and track record in investment and commercial banking, 4 years in real estate investment and development.

Inova Baltic was established in Lithuania in 1998. It‘s core business areas are real estate and private equity investments.

Inova Baltic is investment adviser and manager of Norwegian investment funds focused on yield real estate acquisitions in the Baltics. Inova Baltic also provides accounting services via its daughter company Inova Experts since the beginning of 2010.

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BCC paper Autumn 2010

12 BCC Members’ News

SORAINEN law office celebrates its 15th birthday

Leading Baltic law firm SORAINEN celebrates its 15th year of operation. Founded in September 1995, the company has grown into a leading regional business law firm of the Baltic States with offices in Tallinn, Riga, Vilnius and Minsk.

after the restoration of independence. After that, the legislation of the countries started to evolve in different directions. However, during the past ten years, within the EU accession process, our civil law of the Baltic States has become similar again. This similarity provides an opportunity to cooperate and share knowledge and experience among our lawyers working in the region. Such cross-border cooperation has been one of the strongest foundation blocks of our business and becomes even stronger as the importance of EU legislation increases.

Review (2010, 2009), PLC Which lawyer? (2010, 2009) and The Financial Times & Mergermarket (2008).

SORAINEN numbers more than 100 lawyers and tax consultants advising international and local clients on all business law issues involving the Baltics and Belarus. During 15 years of operation, the firm has advised more than 6000 corporate clients. SORAINEN is the first law firm in the Baltics and the only one in Belarus to implement a quality management system under ISO 9001 standards (certified by Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance).

According to Aku Sorainen, founder and Senior Partner of SORAINEN law firm, the civil law of the Baltic States was largely the same at the beginning of the ‘90s and also for some years

In recent years, SORAINEN has received several prestigious international awards. Among other, SORAINEN was awarded as the “Baltic Law Firm of the Year” by International Financial Law

SORAINEN celebrated its 15th birthday on 9 September, with a management conference at Swissôtel Tallinn, with several recognised entrepreneurs presenting in addition to Aku Sorainen.

Aku Sorainen, Founder and Senior Partner of SORAINEN

Aviva Lithuania - sustainable growth

Easy to handle braces by Odontika

Aviva Lithuania sustained business volumes during the complicated year for financial markets 2009 and increased the profit by 67% to 9.8 million litas in the first six months of 2010 (HY 2009: 5.9 million litas). “I value the trust of our clients which is reflected in growing revenue of our company - life insurance revenue increased by 9.3% - from 37.6 to 41.1 million litas. Pension fund revenue was affected by political decisions, but I am glad that the number of pension fund clients has been growing steadily. Another important factor for the growth of the profit was our ability to control expenditure expansion in response to larger business portfolio”, - said Asta Ungulaitiene, general manager of “Aviva Lithuania”.

Clear positioners, who is this type treatment ideal for? Clear positioners are perfect for improving the smile without the worry of being completed by your June wedding date! Businessmen and women who don’t want “metal mouth” to interfere with their job find clear positioners perfect. They are great for facing graduation pictures. Previous orthodontic relapse cases where the teeth have shifted treat well with clear positioners. Mild to moderate spacing and crowding cases are ideal for this technique.

The number of clients of Aviva Lithuania increased during 2009 by 16,700 and growth continues this year: Aviva Lithuania signed contracts with 4,000 new clients and total number of the customers reached 200,000. Assets under management of life insurance and pension fund customers increased to 624.1 million litas.

with the next, your teeth will move, gradually, week by week, until they move into the final alignment prescribed.

The latest 3-D computer technology is used to create your customized positioners. You’ll wear each aligner for about two weeks, 20-22 hours a day, and take it out for eating, brushing and flossing, and important speeches! As you replace each positioner Asta Ungulaitiene, General Manager of “Aviva Lithuania”

Aviva Lithuania is part of world’s sixth largest insurance group. Worldwide Aviva profit increased by 21% to 1.27 billion pounds in the first six months of 2010 (HY 2009: 1.05 billion pounds).

The V Golf Club, Vilnius, Hosts the Lithuanian Amateur Championship 2010

Deloitte continue to strengthen its audit practice Deloitte, the Big 4 professional services firm has strengthened its audit practice further with 2 very experienced professionals joining the firm in July 2010.

Vratislav Moša joined Deloitte in Lithuania as a Senior Manager. Prior to joining the firm in Vilnius he was part of the Deloitte audit team in Riga where he contributed significantly to the development of the audit practice.

Vratislav has been working in Deloitte since 1998 and has gained extensive experience in audits of multinational public companies and advisory services. Vratislav has successfully managed advisory projects in connection with IPO, mergers and acquisitions as well as projects in the area of internal controls improvements.

Artūras Ledakas joined Deloitte in Lithuania as an audit Manager. Before returning to Lithuania he was a manager in Deloitte in the US since 2005.

Prior to going to the US, Artūras was working for the firm here in Lithuania from 2001. During his professional career Artūras has been successfully managing projects for a large number of multinational and Lithuanian entities.

“We are very pleased that these 2 highly experienced people are joining our audit team. I am sure that their knowledge and experience will contribute significantly to the development of our business here.” – said Tim Mahon, Deloitte Managing Partner.

Deloitte provides audit, tax & legal, financial advisory, consulting and risk services to public and private clients spanning multiple industries. With a globally connected network of member firms in more than 140 countries, Deloitte brings world-class capabilities and deep local expertise to help clients succeed wherever they operate. Deloitte’s more than 169,000 professionals are committed to becoming the standard of excellence.

Ūkio bankas recognised as the best local bank by international experts This year, the international capital and finance markets ma­ gazine Euromoney presented Ūkio bankas with two prestigious awards. Ūkio bankas was recognised as the best local bank among Lithuania’s best banks and finance institutions of 2010. Besides, having assessed Lithuania’s private banking service market, experts of the prestigious magazine elected Ūkio bankas the best provider of private banking services in Lithuania.

In the Lithuanian private banking market Ūkio bankas stands out for the promotion of new nonstandard investment options. The Bank provides possibilities of investing in precious metals, jewels, works of art and precious drinks. Ūkio bankas is Lithuania’s first commercial bank, which has operated for over 20 years and has created Lithuanian banking traditions for the third decade already. Being a multiyear actor on

the finance market the Bank is capable of correctly identifying client needs, presenting individual proposals, adapting financially beneficial instruments to its clients and thus earning confidence among both international experts and its clients the number of which is continuously growing. Ūkio bankas provides a full range of banking services to both individual and corporate clients. In addition, the Bank has created the opportunity of using the services of Bank’s subsidiaries: leasing provided by Ūkio banko lizingas, life insurance solutions developed by the life insurance company Bonum Publicum, advice on investment issues given by Ūkio banko investicijų valdymas, and financing solutions as an alternative to bank loans and leasing which are offered by Ūkio banko rizikos kapitalo valdymas. Ūkio bankas operates a wide network of branches and client service units throughout Lithuania.

Currently Ūkio bankas holds 12 branches, 48 client service units, and representative offices in Ukraine and Kazakhstan.

Photo by Ray Vyšniauskas

89 players coming from all over the world to participate in the V Golf Club, which played host to the tournament for the first time in the competition’s history and presented a world-class golf course prepared to full tournament conditions with 5* facilities.

Three days of incredibly hot conditions lead to the competition being quite literally ‘hotly’ contested between the three leading players. A fantastic final round 3-over par 75 allowed Arnas Kaunas (Lithuania) to win with a total score 218 The 2010 Ironman Championship took place on Sunday 22nd August at The V Golf Club.

The format of only playing with irons and a putter was devised to help people develop their

course management abilities. The design of The V Golf Club course requires players to have a clear strategy when playing and to plan their way around the golf course. By creating a format in which play is restricted to the use of irons only, players are then placed into situations where they need to plan their way through the holes on the course more accurately and specifically.

The winner of the competition was Kim Yoo Myung with 33 points, followed by Aidas Kupčinskas coming second on count-back from Ivo Kuldmae both with 29 points.

For a more detailed list of results and more infor­mation on the tournament visit www.thevgolfclub. com ‘Ironman Championship Page’, or contact golf@lemeridienvilnius.com.

LAWIN advised in the acquisition of a world leader in the discovery of molecular biologicals LAWIN (Lithuania) advised Fermentas International Inc., a world leader in the discovery and manufacture of quality molecular biologicals, in the acquisition of Fermentas International Inc. by Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. The transaction value was USD 260 million making it the largest deal of its kind in 20 years.

Gediminas Rečiūnas, partner of Lideika, Petrauskas, Valiūnas ir partneriai LAWIN, led the team of the Lithuanian tax and legal professionals advising Fermentas in what, according to Mr Andrius Kubilius, Lithuania’s Prime Minister, was the largest private capital transaction in Lithuania during the last 20 years.

Fermentas International has approximately 500 employees, is headquartered in Burlington, Ontario, Canada, and has principal operations in Vilnius,

Lithuania. The company had full-year revenues of approximately USD $55 million in 2009. Fermentas will be integrated into Thermo Fisher Scientific’s Analytical Technologies Segment.

Lideika, Petrauskas, Valiūnas ir partneriai LAWIN, has been advising Fermentas for more than a decade and led the company through corporate reorganisations resulting in the establishment of Fermentas International, Inc., a holding company based in Ontario, Canada with subsidiaries in Lithuania, Germany, Canada and the US; subsequent investment by Summit Partners, a leading private equity and venture capital house based in Boston; and finally realising the company’s value through the sale of Fermentas group of companies to Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.,a world leader in serving science with revenues of more than $10 billion and approximately 35,000 employees.

This BCC Paper issue is kindly sponsored by Strategic Staffing Solutions

BCC paper Autumn 2010

BCC Members’ News

13

Strategic Staffing Solutions to Celebrate 20 Years of Service and Growth Strategic Staffing Solutions (S3), a global IT and business services firm, will mark 20 years of steady growth and innovation when it observes its 20th anniversary Oct. 1.

Founder, President and CEO Cynthia J. Pasky started the company in a small office on Woodbridge St. in the shadow of Detroit’s Renaissance Center on Oct. 1, 1990. In the intervening years she has shephered the company through 20 years of steady growth while its workforce has expanded from three employees at the beginning to more than 1,800 employees in the U.S. and Europe today.

“S3 has grown to more than 20 locations in the U.S. and Europe because we create solutions for our customers and our community that lay a solid foundation and have high growth potential,” she said. “It is our philosophy that the S3 team becomes partners with the organizations we work with and we work to earn their business and trust every day. We have been doing this for nearly 7,300 days, since we opened on October 1, 1990, and we are proud of the success we have achieved.”

Pasky brought her company and her unique commitment to both business success and community service to Lithuania 11 years ago when S3 opened an office in Kaunas – the town that her grandparents, Bronislas and Theresa Piaseckas, left to migrate to the United States in 1911.

“Upon landing in Boston, Bronislas immediately Americanized his name to become Robert Paskey.

My father was Robert Paskey, Jr.,” Pasky said. “So it is a real thrill for me, 99 years after my grandfather left Lithuania to start a new life in America, to be part of a thriving business community here in Lithuanian.”

Pasky is quick to point out that the decision to open an office in Lithuania was based on her business sense, not on emotion or sentiment.

Kęstutis Vilčinskas, recipient of an Individual Scholarship as one of the Best IT students among Lithuanian High schools with S3 team in Lithuania. Kęstutis was awarded by S3 to support Summer IT training courses in Nida organized by “Nacionaline moksleiviu Akademija”.

“I saw tremendous opportunity here,” she said, “and like any good business person, I hurried to capitalize on that opportunity. Lithuania was, and is, truly the right location for S3 International (S3I).

The talent base is here, the people are smart and hard working, the education level is high and the government is working to enhance the ease of doing business in Lithuania.

“Now, 11 years later, the Lithuanian office is servicing seven countries in Europe and is innovating new solutions and service programs such as event management and language training, that we have taken back to the U.S. to serve our domestic branches.”

Help celebrate 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Eversheds Saladžius donated shirts

In addition to its commitment to innovation and growth, S3 also is known for its community involvement and philanthropic endeavors and the Lithuanian office is no exception to that commitment.

S3I has been a major supporter of Save the Children and an orphanage that they operate in the town of Pabrade, contributing financial support and computer equipment as well as volunteering time by all S3I employees. S3I also is a major sponsor of the Lithuanian National Opera, including the world-class production of La Boheme, and is a lead sponsor of the inaugural year of the ExCel high school exchange program. Under the program, organized by the U.S.

Varul Vilgerts, Smaliukas welcomes a new tax team member

Moreover, for a couple of years already Eversheds Saladžius is a sponsor of the Lithuanian National Football Federation. Based on close relationship with the Federation we have invited them to participate in the initiative. As a result, the Lithuanian National Football Federation donated several shirts as a support to Strip Amnesty.

Mr Robertas Tautkus, Head of the Lithuanian National Football Team commented upon Eversheds initiative Strip Off, Help celebrate 2010 World Cup in South Africa day:

Photo: Mr Robertas Tautkus passing shirts to Managing Partner Jonas Saladžius.

Help celebrate 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

This was the project Eversheds Saladžius recently participated in. We have pledged our support to Strip Amnesty, an initiative to send unwanted sport shirts to South Africa in advance of the World Cup in 2010.

We have collected replica shirts of our favourite teams which have become redundant as children and adults outgrow sizes and as clubs issue new season replica kits. Each “strip” was sent to charities in South Africa, such as The Teddy Bear Clinic which is the designated charity to our Johannesburg office, for onward distribution.

Contributing to building a new Montessori pre-School in Vilnius Antonella Vallone, new Montessori teacher at VMS is sharing her first impressions after arriving to Lithuania.

“I can vividly remember back in the fall when I first began applying for Montessori teaching positions abroad. I recall applying to various countries all over Europe and Asia. Vilnius Montessori pre-School was the first Montessori school I sent my application to. I had received responses from various schools, until one morning in early March I received a phone call from Ivona Rozanovska (Director of VMS), telling me that I was selected for the Montessori teaching position at the new pre-school (Vilnius Montessori Pre-school). It is difficult to express how delighted I was to hear this news. Although I knew very little about Lithuania, this gave me more motivation to

Lithuanian Football Federation was extremelly happy to support the initiative of its sponsor Eversheds Saladžius, a member of Eversheds International Limited. The iniciative that brought the spirit of the World Cup 2010 to all of mankind.

Lithuanian National Team though representing a rather small country played the games with most of the teams participants of the World Cup 2010. The Lithuanian National Football Team demonstrated persistance and good results during the matches played, what allows us to feel confident and proud of our local team.

We were very happy to become just a small part of this major corporate initiative. accept this offer. So, I accepted and now, here I am, in beautiful Vilnius! From what I have seen thus far, this city is filled with beauty and spilling with character, wonderful people, and vast hospitality. I look forward to explore more of Lithuania! To be able to immerse myself in a different country and culture is something I have always dreamed of. However, I did come with a purpose, to educate VMS children and guide them towards the Montessori path, for it is something I have been passionate about for many years. I look forward to observing each child grow and flourish in his and her own way. Let the journey begin!”

Embassy, four Lithuanian students are attending a semester of high school in the U.S. S3I was also the leading sponsor of the annual U.S.- Baltic Foundation gala awards dinner in Washington, DC in 2010, honoring Lithuanian Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius and Americans of Baltic heritage who support philanthropy in the region.

“This commitment to giving back in each of our communities is a part of our DNA as a company,” Pasky said. “I believe our commitment to reach out to serve others and become a contributing member of each community is a key to our success as a company.”

Varul Vilgerts Smaliukas is pleased to announce that Dainius Zapereckas LL.M. has joined the firm’s tax team.

Dainius Zapereckas has considerable experience in advising clients on indirect and direct taxation (both local and international), due diligence reviews, tax disputes, mergers and acquisitions, designing tax-

efficient structures for cross-border transactions and related tax planning issues. He also has considerable experience with transfer pricing issues, evaluating and preparing transfer pricing documentation and other related services. Dainius Zapereckas represents clients in negotiations with the State Tax Inspectorate and has substantial experience in solving disputes both in out-of-court settlements and through litigation. In addition to his expertise in tax law, Dainius will also advise clients on various matters regarding corporate and employment law.

By strengthening our tax team in Vilnius our law firm now offers experience and expertise in all aspects of taxation in the Baltics (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia) and may provide tax services in various local and international tax aspects, including transfer pricing, VAT, excise duties, customs, tax due diligence, disputes with authorities, tax litigation and other.

Gencs Valters Law Firm held seminar on Expatriate Tax Planning in Vilnius June 10, 2010 was a marked day in the calendars of representatives and members of all the Chambers of Commerce in Lithuania. That Thursday afternoon proved that Art, Law and Business are inseparable.

Gencs Valters Law Firm in Vilnius, represented by Head of Lithuanian office Dovilė Aleknienė, held a seminar on Expatriate Tax Planning in Jonas Mekas Visual Arts Center. The seminar was held in association with Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Lithuania and Jonas Mekas visual Arts Center in Vilnius.

Pan-Baltic and internationally recognized Gencs Valters Law Firm continues series of seminars organized in all three Baltic States. Previously held seminars in Riga and Tallinn were a tremendous success and will be held on annually.

This initiative is aimed to gather Lithuanian best known painters and their works, discuss investment possibilities in Art and open debate on legal and busi-

ness matters between diverse professionals.

This year special guests – Mr. Are Knoph, Manager of Volvo Lietuva Ltd., Board Member of Swedish Chamber of Commerce and Mr. Darius Žakaitis presenting the challenges building contemporary art gallery in Lithuania and abroad. The Presentation on Expatriate Tax Planning was followed by the unique exposition of SoHo Founder – Mr. Jurgis Mačiūnas.

This BCC Paper issue is kindly sponsored by Strategic Staffing Solutions

BCC paper Autumn 2010

Presenting New BCC Members

14 CORPORATE

CORPORATE

Tauragė Industrial Park

JSC „SWEDSPAN Giriu Bizonas“

Taurage Industrial Park is a privately owned company located in the city Taurage, the western part of Lithuania. Well established transport links to the ice-free port of Klaipeda or by roads and railway to any destination in the region provides with good investment and business opportunities for international companies willing to establish in Lithuania.

The park offers a developed infrastructure (fully established premises to rent or own), an access to incentive packages and skilled labour for companies.

The successful business concept has already attracted international companies from United Kingdom, Sweden, Norway and Denmark.

Other advantage is to provide companies with skilled employees as the city has a college, professional training centre and a number of international companies which demand competence. Employees are regularly trained, English speaking, with international experience in manufacturing sectors such as electronics,

Mrs Regina Zasienė Managing Director

Tauragė Industrial Park is owned and managed by Stankus family

apparel, building materials, food, furniture, metal processing and others.

Company Contact details: “Tauragė Industrial Park” Švyturio str. 4, LT-72361 Tauragė, Lithuania Tel: +370 446 62777 Mob: +370 685 74244 Fax: +370 446 62776 E-mail: linas@tip.lt www.tip.lt

The SWEDSPAN Group was formed as a spin-off from IKEA’s in-house furniture maker Swedwood in March 2008. JSC Giriu Bizonas belongs to the group from the 10th of December 2008.

SWEDSPAN’s main goal is to provide our customers with innovative, lightweight and environmentally friendly wood based panels.

We ensure the long-term supply of raw materials for the IKEA flat-line furniture business at very competitive prices. In the company’s opinion, the cost structure and properties of wood-based panels is the key to the competitiveness of its customer’s future furniture program. For this reason, SWEDSPAN strives to produce boards at low cost, enhance product properties and reduce raw-material consumption.

Furthermore, it is SWEDSPAN’s aim to set new standards in the wood-based panel market and to deliver state-of-the-art products to furniture makers.

CORPORATE Cormack Consultancy Baltic

Mr Charles Cormack Founder and CEO of CCB CCB specializes in helping Lithuanian companies who want to export their products and services to the UK market. The company has been established for ten years, and has offices in Edinburgh, Kaunas and Riga. We work with companies of all types and sizes, helping to research the UK market, develop their product or service for the UK market, create their market

CORPORATE LSC „Profesionalus dizainas’“

Ms Agnė Lingytė, Deputy Manager

LSC ‘Profesionalus dizainas’ was established in 1999. LSC ‘Profesionalus dizainas’ creates marketing communications to support every phase of communications strategy. As a creative provider that creates, develops and

SWEDSPAN ambition is not only to comply fully with existing laws & regulations on environmental protection and production standards; our goal is to set new standards and advance the concept that only sustainable business is good business.

We strive to implement production processes that minimize and filter the emissions caused during wood processing. Regarding the emissions issue, the IKEA Group of Companies has established a very strict standard for emissions from the particle boards used in its furniture production (Half-E1). By introducing the even more ambitious F****-star resin system (lower emissions than Half-E1), SWEDSPAN has taken another step forward. However, this is not enough! Our ambition is to reduce emissions to the natural emission level of wood.

Our customers are at the heart of our business.

We are consistently dedicated to fulfilling customers’ needs. Our approach to service is not only to satisfy but to exceed the expectations of our customers.

The SWEDSPAN vision is to create a better everyday life for people – for consumers, co-workers and people producing the products.

Company Contact details: JSC „SWEDSPAN Giriu Bizonas“ Gedimino str. 1, LT-69401 Kazlų Rūda, Lithuania Tel: +370 343 68680 Fax: +370 343 68681 E-mail: sgb@swedspan.com www.swedspan.lt

entry strategy and marketing materials, and also setting up sales meetings for them with interested potential customers. As well as assisting Lithuanian companies CCB also works for a range of UK companies interested in working in the Baltic markets.

CCB also owns St Andrew Square Capital, a specialist Investment Advisory service, based in Vilnius, which works with Baltic companies looking to raise finance from UK investors, and EU Business Training, a specialist provider of UK University online degree courses, and internationally accredited business training (www.eubt. eu). If you would be interested in finding out more please contact Kestutis Guobys ( email: Kestutis@ccbaltic.eu, mob.+370 683 04422 ) or Amit Majithia (email: Amit@ccbaltic.eu, mob. +370 620 17288 ) Company Contact details: Cormack Consultancy Baltic Europos av. 121, Kaunas, Lithuania Tel: +370 683 04422 www.ccbaltic.eu

implements marketing communications, which may include branded print, direct marketing materials, annual reports, books, etc. , we are proficient in effectively promoting clients’ products and services.

Over 11 years of working in Lithuanian market, ‘Profesionalus dizainas’ have gathered a proven track record of creating and delivering quality products. Nonexistent company’s staff turnover and stability of company’s environment has ensured consistency of product superiority and exceptionally personal client service.

Company Contact details: LSC „ Profesionalus dizainas “ Didžioji St. 14, Vilnius, Lithuania Tel: +370 5 279 1881 Fax: + 370 5 279 1881 E-mail: info@prodi.lt www.prodi.lt

This BCC Paper issue is kindly sponsored by Strategic Staffing Solutions

BCC paper Autumn 2010

List of BCC Members BCC Sponsor Members

BCC Corporate & Group Members AAA, UAB (www.AAA.lt) / Legal services & Real estate development A HOSTEL (Rolvinkas, UAB) (www.ahostel.lt)/ Hostel Accommodation

Arijus, UAB Transport and logistic services www.arijus.lt

AstraZeneca Lietuva, UAB (www.astrazeneca.lt) / Pharmaceuticals AVIS Rent a Car & Leasing Company (Litideal, UAB) (www.avis.lt) / Car rental and leasing AVIVA LIETUVA, Joint Stock Limited Life Insurance and Pension Company (www.aviva.lt) / Life insurance and pension funds

Bunnahabhain rep. by Mineraliniai vandenys, UAB Production of single islay malt Scotch Whisky www.bunnahabhain.com

Baldai Jums, UAB (www.BaldaiJums.eu) / Solid wood furniture production Baltic Holidays (www.balticholidays.com) / Tour operator in the UK specializing in Lithuania, Latvia & Estonia

Baltic Legal Solutions Full service law firm www.blslawfirm.lt

BALTIC HUMAN RESOURCE CONSULTING, UAB (www.bhrc.lt)/ Organisational Design, Executive Search, Performance Management, Assessment and Development, Reward and Motivation, Compensation Surveys in the Baltics.

BALTIC SURVEYS (Baltijos Tyrimai, UAB) (www.gallup.com) / Market research BANKSERVIS, UAB (www.bankservis.lt) / Bank and office equipment, security products and solutions BERNOTAS & DOMINAS GLIMSTEDT (www.glimstedt.lt) / Legal services

Kaleva Travel, UAB Corporate travel management www.kalevatravel.lt

Best Western HOTEL VILNIUS (Naujasis Vilnius, UAB) (www.vilniushotel.eu) / Hotel, restaurant, conference centre, fitness centre BITĖ LIETUVA, UAB (www.bite.lt) / Telecommunications

Synergos Capital International, UAB Investment management www.sci.lt

Strategic Staffing Solutions International Provider of information technology solutions.

Recruitment Services www.strategicstaff.com

BCC IT Partner

CID Baltic

BCC PR Partner

DELTA MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS, UAB (www.deltamanagement.lt)/ Recruitment, Executive Search, Temporary Staffing, Personnel Assessment, Outplacement, Greenfield Staffing Support DEVYZIS AND PARTNERS WILL, Law firm (www.will.lt) / Legal services, crisis management DPD LiETUVA (www.dpd.lt) / Distribution of business parcels within Lithuania & EU countries, logistics solutions for distribution EKO RIVI, UAB (www.ekorivi.lt) / Consultancy in municipal and environmental infrastructure EUROMONITOR INTERNATIONAL (www.euromonitor.com) / Provider of strategic market research on countries, consumers and industries EVERSHEDS SALADŽIUS (www.evershedssaladzius.lt) / Legal services FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT GROUP, UAB (www.fmg.lt) / Accounting, tax consulting, legal advice FINREDA, UAB (www.finreda.net) / Corporate services provider. Legal, financial and business consulting & translation services FIORENTINO RESTAURANT (Altomondas, UAB) (www.fiorentino.lt) / Restaurant/ Catering Services G4S Lietuva, UAB (www.g4s.lt) / Security Solutions covering cash handling, guarding, electronic security, system maintenance, installation, courier service.

GENCS VALTERS, Law Firm (www.gencs.eu)/ full service, general practice international business law firm with offices in Riga, Tallinn and Vilnius focused on tax, litigation, M&A, corporate, immigration, finance and intellectual property law

MIRROR SUPPORT SERVICES, UAB (www.mirroraccounting.lt) / Accounting services

VILNIUS MONTESSORI PRE-SCHOOL (www.vms.lt) / English Language pre-School

NOVOTEL VILNIUS HOTEL (Hekon, UAB) (www.accor.com) / Hotel services NILEKSA LTD / Women clothes production; Design, construction and collection production.

WEST OF SCOTLAND COLLEGES PARTNERSHIP (www.woscop.co.uk) / Representing 17 colleges in Scotland to share experience and expertise in education and structural funds management and operation

ODONTIKA (www.odontika.com) / Dental surgery

ZABOLIS PARTNERS (www.zabolis.com) / Finance and Real Estate

PERITUS SPRENDIMAI (www.peritus.lt) / EU funding, project management and legal consulting PROFESIONALUS DIZAINAS (www.prodi.lt) / Graphic design, Corporate photography NEW! PUBLICUM, UAB (www.publicum.lt) / Public Relations, Public Affairs, Management consulting and training PZU Lietuva, UAB DK (www.pzu.lt) / Insurance QUANTUM CAPITAL (www.qcapital.eu) / Investment banking & strategic advisory boutique

BCC Private Members Aivaras Krasuckas Ben Harvey Christian Ranft David Telky David Holliday Dominykas Čeledinas Edmundas Aniulis Geoffrey Cohn Giedrius Jankauskas

REVAL HOTEL LIETUVA (www.revalhotels. com) / Hotel, biggest conference and events centre, Riverside restaurant, Skybar, Lobby bar, fitness centre and saunas

Giedrius Sabaliauskas

SCANDINAVIAN AIRLINES SAS (www.flysas.lt) / Aviation

Dr Helene Ryding

SHAKESPEARE BOUTIQUE HOTEL (Olizarų rūmai, UAB) (www.shakespeare.lt) / Boutique hotel, Sonnets restaurant, Globe bar, conference halls

Jeff Lewis

SIMEON, UAB (www.simeon.lt) / Transport & Logistics

John Lawrence

Graham Keith Hugh Miles Thomas OBE, FCA

Inga Malinauskienė

Jim Paterson John S. Gledhill

Jouni Kaitila

GrECo JLT Lietuva, UADBB (www.greco.lt) / Insurance intermediation

SMITH GUTTRIDGE & ASSOCIATES (www.smith-guttridge.eu) / Business Psychology & HR Consulting including training/ coaching, career management and team and leadership development.

HIGHLIFE, UAB / Manufacturing for export timber components for the furniture and construction industries.

SORAINEN (www.sorainen.com) / Legal services in all fields of business law in the three Baltic countries and Belarus

BNTP, UAB (www.bntp.lt) / Real estate development; real estate investment; project management; real estate rental/ sales; facilities management; financial management; design and construction

HOTEL VANAGUPĖ (Eskom, UAB) (www.vanagupe.lt) / 5* Hotel, Modern Conference centre and luxury GOLDEN Spa centre, gourmet cuisine restaurant L’Ambra Rossa

STATICUS, UAB (www.staticus.lt) / Facades, curtain walls, cladding, windows & doors, frameless glass structures

Rokas Žilys

STOREBRAND BALTIC, UAB (www.storebrand.no) / Financial services

Tony Bishop

British Council (www.britishcouncil.lt) / the United Kingdom’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities.

INOVA BALTIC, UAB (www.inova.lt) / Real estate investments, private equity investments, accounting & tax

CAMIRA FABRICS Ltd (www.camirafabrics.com) / Contract seating & transportation fabric manufacturer

WELSH ASSEMBLY GOVERNMENT (www.ibwales.eu) / Promotes Trade and Investment opportunities between Wales and international partners

CID BALTIC (www.cid.biz) / Development, services and implementation of enterprise level tailor-made software for financial, trading, media and production business line and public sector.

JURIDICON, Law Firm (www.juridicon.com) / Legal services, tax consulting, corporate services, legal project & risk management.

Member of Warwick Legal Network.

BIURO PASAULIS, UAB (www.biuropasaulis.lt) (www.elektromedia.lt)/ /Office supplies, printing management and IT solutions PricewaterhouseCoopers Assurance, Actuarial, Advisory, Tax and Legal services www.pwc.com/lt TAX POCKET BOOK 2010- Lithuania

15

BLACK & DECKER (Hardim, UAB) (www.blackanddecker.com) / Black & Decker power tools distributor and service provider in Lithuania

COWI LIETUVA, UAB (www.cowi.lt) / Consulting and engineering services related to building design & engineering, energy, environment, territory planning, topographic survey, hydraulic engineering, technical supervision, water and sewage systems design CORMACK CONSULTANCY BALTIC LT Ltd (www.ccbaltic.eu)/ Business development, export development, market researches, consultancy in investment, innovation, management Creditreform Lietuva, UAB (www.cr.lt) / Marketing and credit information, credit management consultations, debt collection DANSKE BANK A/S LIETUVOS FILIALAS (www.danskebankas.lt) / Banking services DEKONA, Evaldo Darškaus IĮ (www.dekona.lt) / Management Consulting: Operational efficiency, Lean, Six Sigma, process improvement DELOITTE (www.deloitte.lt) / Audit. Tax & Legal. Consulting. Financial Advisory.

Enterprise Risk Services

KAUNAS AIRPORT (www.kun.lt) / Airport KAUNAS FREE ECONOMIC ZONE MANAGEMENT COMPANY (www.ftz.lt) / Real estate development KAZLAUSKAS & DEGESYS SOLVINGS, Law Firm (www.solvings.lt) / Legal services KLAIPĖDA FREE ECONOMIC ZONE MANAGEMENT COMPANY (www.fez.lt) / Management and development of Klaipėda Free Economic Zone

Tark, Grunte, Sutkiene Law firm (www.tgslegal.com) / full-service commercial law firm mainly focused on providing advice on commercial transactions in the Baltic region and Belarus SWEDSPAN Girių Bizonas (www.swedspan.lt) / Particle board production NEW! TAURAGĖ INDUSTRIAL PARK (www.tip.lt)/ Industrial premises for rent in Southwest Lithuania NEW!

Jūratė Rusteikaitė – Bakšienė Marius Molotokas Mark Whittle Nikki Leftly Rajinder Kumar Chaudhary Ron Sheppard

Sigitas Stankevičius

BCC Board 2009-2011 Honorary President Simon Butt HM Ambassador to Lithuania

Chairman Chris Butler PricewaterhouseCoopers

Deputy Chairman Saulius Racevičius Synergos Capital International, UAB

TRANSCOM WORLDWIDE VILNIUS (www.transcom.com) / International provider of outsourced services and solutions in the field of customer contact (client relationship management & credit management). Near shore outsourced services from Lithuania to UK and other European countries. ŪKIO BANKAS, AB (www.ub.lt)/ Banking

Alistair Day-Stirrat Odontika, Dental Surgery

Amit Majithia Cormack Consultancy Baltic Lt Ltd

Geoffrey Cohn Private member

Jaime Faus

Ūkio Banko Investicinė Grupė, UAB (www.ubig.lt) / Investment projects; real estate; banking; life insurance and other financial services; industry, industrial engineering; logistics and sports

Novotel Vilnius

Baltic Legal Solutions Lithuania

LIETUVOS DRAUDIMAS, AB (www.ld.lt) / Non-life insurance

Varul. Vilgerts. Smaliukas, Law firm (www.varul.com) / Legal services in all fields of business law. New Business and investment set up. Tax advice and accounting services. Advice on bankruptcy and restructuring

MICHAEL LITTLE IR KO, UAB (www.mikelittle.lt) / ACCA accountancy tutors

VILNIUS INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL (www.vischool.lt) / Pre-school, primary and middle school

MOTIEKA & AUDZEVIČIUS, Law Firm (www.ma-law.lt) / Legal services

VILNIUS INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (www.vno.lt ) / Airport operation and management

LE MERIDIEN VILNIUS & V GOLF CLUB (VILLON, UAB) (www.lemeridienvilnius.com) / Hotel, Leisure, Golf, Real Estate LawIN, Law Firm (www.lawin.com) / Legal services

Mike Little Michael Little ir Ko, UAB

Raimundas Jurevičius Rimantas Tuskevičius Eko Rivi, UAB

Robert Juodka Varul.Vilgerts.Smaliukas, Law Firm

Sergejus Fedotovas Ūkio banko investicinė grupė, UAB

Observer Laura Leščinskienė British Embassy, UK Trade and Investment Section

This BCC Paper issue is kindly sponsored by Strategic Staffing Solutions