We continue our interview series “Experts Speak,” where we introduce international EU4PFM experts who contribute to transformational changes in Ukraine’s public finance management sector.
In this edition, we present our new interviewee – Dragan Jeremic, EU4PFM International Key Expert on IT, who reflects on Ukraine’s dynamic IT sector and shares his vision for the future development of technology in the country.
— Please tell us, how did you first get into IT?
I have always been fascinated by technology, mathematics, chemistry, and especially engineering. This was not just a passing interest, but a path I chose from an early age. Although there were several doctors in my family who hoped I would pursue a medical career, I decided to go my own way. Choosing the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at the University of Belgrade, known for its excellent program, was a natural step for me.
Although the specific technical knowledge I gained there may not be directly applicable today, the experience was invaluable. The program gave me more than just facts and figures — it taught me how to learn. I developed skills in data collection, critical analysis, and strategic decision-making. In the IT field, which has existed for only about 70 years, the pace of change is relentless. If you stop learning even for six months, you risk quickly becoming irrelevant. That is why continuous learning is key to staying at the forefront of the dynamic IT landscape and effectively solving complex enterprise challenges.
— You have had several projects in Ukraine. Could you share your impressions from those experiences?
My first experience working in Ukraine began more than ten years ago, when I collaborated with the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU), which was just being established at that time. As an expert for the Council of Europe, I participated in developing an IT strategy for NABU’s future growth. Later, I also worked on implementing and preparing technical specifications for one of the key components of that strategy — the so-called “electronic case management system.” This system aimed to enhance transparency and efficiency by organizing electronic document flow for materials related to criminal investigations.
While working in Ukraine, I always felt strong support and openness to new ideas from my partners. For example, the concept of electronic case management, though new at the time, was quickly understood, adopted, and successfully implemented. It is extremely important to me that the projects I work on do not remain just on paper but are actually implemented. Seeing this system functioning in real life was very rewarding.
— What motivated you to join the EU Public Finance Management Programme (EU4PFM) as an International Key IT Expert?
I joined the Programme right at the start of the full-scale Russian invasion. In such critical situations, you have two choices: either step back or rise to the occasion and try to make things better. I chose the latter because I wanted to support Ukraine during this difficult time. There was an urgent need to provide rapid assistance to our beneficiaries — the Ministry of Finance, the State Customs Service, and the State Tax Service of Ukraine. My expertise in ensuring high availability was crucial.
We were able to quickly develop tailored solutions for each beneficiary, ensuring the stable operation of their information systems at the national level under the high risk of physical attacks or cyberattacks on critical infrastructure. I am proud that our Project played a key role in strengthening the information security of these institutions.
— Considering your extensive experience working with different countries, including Ukraine, how do you adapt to new environments and collaborate with local teams?
Adapting to new environments, institutions, and teams is a crucial aspect of successful work. My experience with the Council of Europe involved cooperation with Eastern European and Middle Eastern countries, and I learned that each country requires an individual approach. For example, when it comes to cybersecurity and the application of the Budapest Convention (the foundation of cybercrime legislation), it is important to consider not just technological capacity but also organizational and political aspects — including the existence of relevant laws, their enforcement, and the awareness level of both institutions and the public.
This process requires a multidisciplinary approach to fully understand each country’s specifics. Since every country has unique circumstances, there are no universal solutions — it is essential to develop tailored solutions that consider the local context and needs.
— Based on your experience in Ukraine, which approaches do you find most effective in the Ukrainian context?
It is interesting to note that in some areas, Ukraine even demonstrates better solutions compared to certain European countries. For example, in terms of standardization or integration with European platforms, simply copying existing models may not be the best approach. In some cases, this could even be a step backward for Ukraine.
— How do you see your contribution to reforming public finance management (PFM) in Ukraine?
My role largely involves implementing a “bottom-up and top-down” approach, meaning careful planning at the IT strategy level, taking into account all relevant factors, reforms, and stakeholders. Before supporting any direction, it is important that the decision is well thought through.
The first step for every institution is to develop a comprehensive IT strategy that describes the current “as-is” state, the desired “to-be” state, and the methods to achieve these goals. This means that each institution must define what needs to be done to prepare for EU integration, particularly regarding data exchange and compliance with European standards, while still following national laws and regulations.
As I mentioned earlier, our Programme also provides emergency support to Ukraine. With the onset of full-scale war, when the risk of data loss greatly increased, we ensured high availability of systems for each of our beneficiaries. We worked on strengthening their infrastructure to mitigate these risks. In the face of growing cybersecurity threats, EU4PFM played an important role in helping beneficiaries build more resilient IT systems capable of withstanding these threats.
— How do you manage to maintain a healthy work–life balance while contributing significantly to the Programme? Do you have any strategies or “life hacks” that help you shift focus?
Maintaining work–life balance is crucial for sustaining long-term productivity and well-being, especially in a fast-paced industry. I learned this lesson early in my career, when I headed the planning and development department at Telecom Serbia, overseeing Internet and multimedia services. Managing Internet and digital television services for the entire country, as well as leading a team of over 100 employees, was extremely stressful.
I learned the importance of recognizing when I was under stress and reminding myself that stress is a situational phenomenon, not something intrinsic to me. This mental shift helped me cope more effectively. In addition, regular physical activity — basketball, walking, or cycling — became an effective way to relieve stress and maintain balance.
— What personal philosophy or guiding principles do you apply in your work?
In the vast and ever-evolving IT field, curiosity and the pursuit of excellence are extremely important. One must constantly explore new ideas and innovations. However, equally important are clear communication and building personal connections with partners. Even the most advanced solutions will not succeed if they are not understood by others.
That is why I prioritize clearly explaining my vision and goals to all stakeholders, since IT must serve business needs. I invest in translating technological concepts into business language, focusing on how these solutions will improve operations.
Another guiding principle for me is doing work that is meaningful and has a clear positive impact — whether for the benefit of citizens and their well-being or for improving the productivity of an organization. Unfortunately, IT is increasingly used for unethical purposes. I am against using technology or knowledge in ways that can cause harm.
— What challenges have you faced when implementing IT projects in different countries?
Every IT project has its own specifics and requirements. For instance, when working on national security systems in Macedonia and Serbia, one of the main challenges was complying with strict state secrecy regulations. This required careful information management — understanding which data you could access, what you could share, and ensuring full legal compliance.
Another example from my experience was creating a data center in Ethiopia. The environmental conditions and security requirements were very different from European standards, requiring tailored solutions adapted to local circumstances.
— Among the countries you have worked in, could you share a success story or valuable experience you are particularly proud of?
During my time at Telecom Serbia, I implemented several innovative technologies. For example, in 2002 we introduced a full digital document management system, in 2004 a modern data center for business continuity, and in 2007 a streaming system that outperformed commercial solutions of that time. These initiatives gave me hands-on experience that later proved invaluable in my consulting career. Implementation always brings challenges, and these experiences taught me how to anticipate and resolve potential issues.
One of the highlights of my career was introducing the Internet in Serbia. This ambitious project revealed an unexpected gap: a lack of cybersecurity knowledge among children. This inspired me to initiate a series of educational trainings in elementary schools across the country, teaching children and parents about responsible Internet use. These sessions later inspired other organizations to start similar initiatives and eventually became regular trainings supported by the Ministry of Telecommunications and IT.
This is how I first connected with representatives from the Council of Europe, which was supporting the Ministry’s awareness-raising efforts. After leaving Telecom Serbia, I continued this work with the Council of Europe. This experience taught me that when you pursue something you truly believe in, you never know what opportunities or doors may open in the future.
— Public finance management is rapidly evolving thanks to technological integration. How is Ukraine using this technological progress to modernize its procedures and systems?
In some areas, Ukrainian state institutions already have advanced systems, while in others there is still room for improvement. The biggest positive is their strong willingness to learn from European experience and adapt this knowledge to create effective architectural and technical solutions tailored to their needs.
This approach goes beyond simply copying European models; it focuses on developing solutions that meet current needs while laying the groundwork for future achievements. The Ukrainian IT sector is already highly advanced, and with political will, openness to reforms, and the courage to implement new approaches even in the country’s most challenging times, it can continue to reach new heights.
— With the growing scale of IT environments, how important is IT consolidation for organizations, especially in Ukraine? How have you approached IT consolidation projects throughout your career?
IT consolidation is a broad concept that is often misunderstood. It is an important process that requires a step-by-step approach. The first stage is consolidating IT infrastructure into primary and secondary disaster recovery data centers that can serve all government institutions. This is far more efficient, as instead of each institution investing in its own data centers, management is centralized.
This means that non-IT-related investments, such as physical infrastructure and security measures, are concentrated in these data centers, and resources like processing power, memory, and storage capacity are shared across all institutions. This eliminates the need for each institution to maintain its own backup capacity, reducing costs and increasing efficiency.
If implemented properly, IT consolidation offers numerous benefits: centralized management of software, licensing, backups, archiving, virtualization, helpdesk, performance monitoring, physical and cyber security, and a shared pool of skilled staff to ensure stability and unified approaches. This leads to more structured and coordinated software architecture management, better budgeting for maintenance and modernization, optimized procurement, project management using classic methodologies, and higher-quality data analysis.
Typically, IT consolidation begins with network and storage consolidation, followed by the development of a unified application stack that can be used across institutions. Throughout my career, I have been involved in many consolidation projects, not only at Telecom Serbia — where we designed primary and secondary data centers and later a third one for external clients — but also in various European and non-European countries. In 2019, I helped develop a government network and data center consolidation strategy for Serbia’s IT Office.
IT consolidation is not only a technical process — it also requires organizational readiness. In PFM, institutions have similar technologies and skill sets, allowing for the creation of a centralized team with broad expertise to serve all institutions rather than separate teams for each one. From a security perspective, it is also easier to ensure high-level protection in two data centers than across many.
Success depends on careful analysis of each institution, an assessment of its current state, and the development of a roadmap to achieve the goals. Since each institution has a different level of maturity, implementation approaches may vary. It is crucial to create a detailed action plan for each institution to conduct the consolidation process effectively.
— What is the state of IT consolidation in Ukraine, given current challenges?
The situation in Ukraine is extremely complex due to the war, which makes the traditional approach to IT consolidation difficult. In many countries, this process involves centralizing all IT resources in one place, but for Ukraine, such an approach is currently not optimal and could create significant risks.
Instead, Ukraine has chosen a more adaptive strategy — deploying mobile data centers across the country, built to high availability and technical standards comparable to centralized systems. This distributed approach ensures resilience even under wartime conditions and allows integration into a centralized system once the situation stabilizes.
All elements of this distributed system adhere to unified security and availability standards, which makes it possible to achieve the desired objectives. This approach has already proven effective and will likely continue to deliver positive results. Ultimately, there are plans to transition to a private cloud solution for PFM institutions, further enhancing efficiency and security.
— What are the main cybersecurity challenges facing Ukraine, and how can the country respond effectively?
Since the full-scale invasion, Ukraine’s cybersecurity landscape has changed dramatically. Cybersecurity issues now go beyond protecting IT systems — they have real-world consequences, such as power and communication outages, which directly affect civilian life and military operations. In hybrid warfare conditions, cybersecurity has become critically important.
One of the main challenges is the growing number of cyberattacks aimed at stealing or destroying institutional data. To effectively counter these threats, institutions must implement robust data protection measures, ensure high availability of solutions, and conduct regular staff training to minimize cybercrime risks.
Another challenge is the spread of disinformation online, which creates confusion and additional problems. Combating this requires not only technical solutions but also strategies to counter disinformation and maintain public trust.
Ukraine must adopt a multi-layered approach:
Train personnel regularly.
Collaborate with national and international security teams.
Use cybersecurity centers and cooperate with international centers (e.g., in Estonia) to track new threats and trends.
Detect and respond to zero-day attacks — newly discovered vulnerabilities not yet publicly disclosed.
— How do you see the future of IT in Ukraine?
Ukraine has an impressive pool of skilled IT specialists, and EU integration opens up significant opportunities for them. Rather than focusing solely on outsourcing, Ukrainian IT professionals can now actively contribute to their country’s development.
As EU membership approaches, there will be a growing need to implement systems and technologies that meet European standards. Often, it is more effective to build on Ukraine’s existing advanced solutions rather than import external ones that may not fully fit the country’s needs. By further developing and refining these internal technologies, Ukraine can ensure compliance with national requirements and leverage local expertise.
Since government institutions are among the largest consumers of IT services, a strong domestic IT sector will drive continuous progress and innovation. Overall, building a robust, self-sustaining IT industry will be crucial for Ukraine’s future growth and successful EU integration.
— Are there any specific goals within the EU4PFM Project that particularly excite you?
We have already achieved significant results within EU4PFM. Key achievements include ensuring high availability for all our partner institutions, developing digitalization strategies, and defining clear paths for EU integration. These outcomes highlight the Project’s positive impact.
However, I am particularly excited about the implementation of the IT system for Ukraine’s Ministry of Finance, which will be used for state budget planning. This system, expected to be completed by the end of 2024, is set to fundamentally transform the budget process and greatly enhance its efficiency.
— How do you ensure that IT solutions implemented within the Programme remain sustainable and continue delivering value long after the project ends?
Sustainability is at the core of our IT reform approach. Before starting any project, we conduct a thorough needs assessment to ensure that sustainability issues are addressed.
Sustainability covers not only technical but also organizational and legal aspects. For example, if a beneficiary lacks the capacity to maintain the system after the Project ends, we ensure that they commit to hiring the necessary experts. We also perform cost–benefit analysis to justify the project and ensure that all investments are worthwhile.
— What advice would you give to beginners who want to build a career in IT and cybersecurity?
In the constantly evolving IT and cybersecurity field, it is essential to remain curious and committed to lifelong learning. Technologies — including new areas like artificial intelligence — are advancing rapidly, so staying open to learning and adaptable is key to long-term success.
Equally important is adhering to high ethical standards in your professional work. Ethics not only strengthen your reputation but also contribute positively to society and your country. Choose projects and roles that align with your values and make you proud.
Although IT can be used for various purposes, including unethical ones, focus on using technology for the greater good. How you apply your skills will determine whether your work benefits humanity. By prioritizing positive and ethical uses of technology, you will not only build a career you can be proud of but also contribute to the overall good.
