Capitalizing on Europe’s growing appreciation for their work, Czech software companies have gained the attention of international firms and are currently on the receiving end of a flurry of orders.

“Czech programmers are skilled, and they’re starting to become competitive,” said Martin Illner, director of Oracle’s Czech branch.

When upscale London-based department store Harrods decided to improve its e-shop Sept. 14, it didn’t hesitate to tap Logos, a Czech information technology company.

“We didn’t even have to go through any tender,” Logos Director Pavel ˇČovíăek said.

The recent invitation to upgrade the Harrods e-shop is Logos’ second assignment with the retailer. Last year, Logos developed the entire e-shop system for the famous department store.

As with other companies, Logos got the assignment on the recommendation of larger international firms; Harrods initially heard about the Czech company from the British office of Microsoft, ˇČovíăek said.

The project was also the result of Logos successfully implementing a content management system for ˇkoda Auto, he said.

The e-shop will be upgraded to handle more payment methods and provide a more effective sales system, said Marek Otava, Harrods account manager at Logos.

“Harrods is a prestigious department store, and it wants to offer comfortable conditions to its customers,” Otava said. “Our system should help make the selection of goods on the Internet more comfortable, and also to speed up possible refunds or to make changes of orders more flexible.”

Foreign appeal

Not only are prestigious assignments from abroad becoming the norm, but Czech IT companies are successfully penetrating foreign markets, said Michal Zále‰ák, director of Czech IT companies alliance.

“Our IT companies increase their foreign sales 15 percent every year,” Zále‰ák said.

Otta Matou‰ek — marketing director of S&T Services, a company that has already successfully penetrated markets in Ireland and Croatia — said Czech IT companies were especially successful in exporting corporate IT systems.

“The spread of Czech know-how abroad is increasing especially in the Central and East European markets,” Matou‰ek said.

In fact, some of the Czech IT companies have more recognition abroad than at home.

Communications equipment producer Strom Telecom remains relatively unknown in its home country, partially because the brunt of its business is conducted abroad. The company provides hardware to Moscow City Telecommunications Network (MGTS) and Svyazinvest, a telecom holding controlling about 80 percent of the fixed-line-communications market in Russia.

Similarly, the Zoner company, which focuses on developing software for digital photography, and anti-virus software producer Grisoft rely heavily on foreign sales.

MicroMedia, a mobile content producer, announced the launch of a mobile entertainment portal (handum.de) in Germany. The company will offer games and other audio and video content to mobile phone users.

“Germany is a great market to compare our competitiveness with West European counterparts,” said MicroMedia CEO Jakub Mach.

Eyes on the Czechs

Czech IT firms were always considered to be competitive, but only because they were often cheaper than other companies. But that cliché is falling by the wayside, said Jan Hlaváă, a media consultant for a number of companies in the IT industry.

The Frankfurt Stock Exchange (DBG) announced in mid-July that it would launch an IT branch in Prague, which is likely to buoy interest in Czech IT firms.

The Deutsche Börse Services company (DBS) will take over IT projects that DBG outsourced from independent firms, and it’ll further expand IT support to stock trading.

DBG spokesman Michael Kuhn said the Czech Republic was an ideal site for DBS.