VST Enterprises, a UK-based cybersecurity firm recognized for its development of VCode, has announced opening of an office in Armenia. Armenian News-NEWS.am talked to Louis-James Davis, CEO of VST Enterprises, to find out why Armenia is an attractive destination for IT companies.
VST Enterprises is one of several IT companies that announced opening of an office in Armenia this year. What is the reason for choosing Armenia along with South Africa and Asia Pacific?
Armenia is a perfect location for VST Enterprises’ base in mainland Europe. The Armenian location will provide the ideal base from which to do business with companies and governments in Central, Southern and Eastern Europe. We want to work with emerging markets from the Armenian office, since the growth of IT infrastructure can be far quicker and our technology can make a key difference while the IT revolution is taking place in Eastern Europe.
The Armenian government declare they are offering attractive conditions to IT companies. You have a great experience of working in other countries and you are well aware of the conditions in other countries. Does your decision to open an office in Armenia linked to the fact that IT companies have preferences in Armenia?
We weren’t initially aware of the attractive environment that Armenia offers IT companies, but this certainly makes Armenia a favourable location to base our work in mainland Europe for many years to come.
What will be the main task of the Armenian office? Will you employ Armenian IT experts? If yes, how many people will be employed?
One of our key European investors is Armenian, and will be heading up operations in the location. We expect to employ at least 25 IT sales specialists to focus on business development for our technology’s applications in tax and identity while developing new uses and markets for the technology.
The online transactions are not that developed in Armenia, e.g. PayPal is not operating in Armenia. Will it somehow interfere with your activities in Armenia?
Although our technology can be used for online transactions, it can also be used offline. Our technology, VCode can be used in many different ways. For example, VCode has been awarded the European Commission Seal of Approval for online and offline traceability in logistics, outperforming any other technology in this area. With the speed at which internet coverage and mobile device adoption is growing in this market, we are ideally placed to enable secure offline and online transactions now and online-only transactions in the near future.
