“We won the tender because we have unique experience in developing systems adapted to European and Asian customs unions. ERP has already developed various customs systems in Lithuania, Belarus and Kazakhstan, and this experience was used“, says Markas Zbarskis, CEO of ERP.

The project valued at USD 6.2 million is financed by the Government of Tajikistan and the Asian Development Bank. The contract for the development of the system was signed a year ago. The pilot version of the system is currently operating at the Dushanbe Customs Office and it will cover all the customs posts in December.

“This is yet another proof that we have sufficient intellectual potential in Lithuania not only to perform works for foreign companies but also to independently develop a high-level product”, states Markas Zbarskis.

The unified customs information system automatically records and systematizes all information on cargo flows in Tajikistan. Until now declarations in this country have been filled in manually, and there have been significant delays in providing summarised data to the management and other institutions. Upon the implementation of the new system, it will be possible to know the actual situation regarding cargo flows and how much tax has been collected on that particular day.

In addition, the risk management system based on “artificial intelligence” developed by ERP, which enables to automatically identify suspicious declarations, has been installed here as well.

The new system will simplify the work not only for customs workers but also for cargo carriers – following its implementation the single-window principle will be established in the customs.

Tajikistanis the third Asian country where ERP has been actively operating. Besides Tajikistan, large projects are being implemented in Kazakhstan and Kirghizstan. In addition, the company operates actively in Ukraine, Georgia, Belarus, Latvia, and other foreign countries.

ERP is one of the largest information technologies and business consulting companies in Lithuania. The company is an official representative of SAP and business and information management systems EMC Documentum. The company is currently implementing a dozen of large business management system installation projects not only in Lithuania but also in the Central Asian countries, Georgia, and Belarus.

The company has its offices in Georgia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Tajikistan and Finland, and it is active in other foreign countries as well.

The values declared by the Lithuanian capital company ERP include ecology, public spirit, and social responsibility.

“This will be a system based on artificial intelligence, which will be able, according to certain declaration, cargo, operational information and other data sources, to detect violations of the customs procedures such as smuggling and misrepresentation of the value of goods in order to evade taxes”, says Markas Zbarskis, Chief Executive Officer of ERP.

The projections are that the system development works will cost over LTL 4 million; LTL 1.7 million has been allocated from the EU Structural Funds.

“We will invest the remaining amount ourselves. We have unique experience, we have developed different systems for the customs in Lithuania, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan, and thus we do not have any reservations regarding the success of this system”, Markas Zbarskis is convinced.

The risk management system developed by ERP will allow sorting out potentially fraudulent declarations and recommending the actions for the checking of declared cargo and accompanying documents. “Seeking to pay lower taxes, entrepreneurs tend to be very resourceful. It is not a secret that often imported goods are declared as other goods to which lower taxes are applicable. It takes a long time to detect such “niches” and people are simply unable to quickly process a large quantity of data. Based on analytical models, the developed system will be able to detect the risk of covered goods in the early phase”, tells Gediminas Vedrickas, Manager of the Solution Management Group at ERP.

Declarations will be checked according to a variety of parameters and different risks will be detected. Advanced methods of solutions management and data analysis – the main components of artificial intelligence – will be used for risk assessment.

According to the system developers, this will be one of the most advanced systems in the world and conform to all the risk management recommendations of the World Global Customs Organisation. Furthermore, it is noteworthy that the product being developed is a common risk management platform, which will allow resolving various risk-related problems in the chosen industries, for example, finance management, telecommunications, insurance, etc.

ERP is one of the largest information technologies and business consulting companies in Lithuania. The company is currently implementing a dozen of large business management system installation projects not only in Lithuania but also in the Central Asian countries, Georgia, and Belarus.

The company has its offices in Georgia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Tajikistan and Finland, and it actively works in other foreign countries as well.

The values declared by the Lithuanian capital company ERP include ecology, public spirit, and social responsibility.

So far, our system has been operating at the three largest Customs posts in Kazakhstan, however, it is going to be implemented in the remaining ones even this year.  I can maintain boldly that currently it has been one of the most advanced system all over the world, the other countries have already been interested in it, for example, Australia, “ – Mr. M. Zbarskis asserts. The developed system has been implementing the risk management recommendations by the World Customs Organization.

The Risk Management System developed by ERP permits to select automatically the possibly deceitful Customs entries, recommend the verification actions related to a declared cargo and attached papers. There was a case in Kazakhstan, when the merchants had been declaring imported textile goods as a fabric for the production of sacks for a long span of time, to which smaller import duties had been levied. They managed to detect this risk of covered goods only some time later, when the statistical data related to the export and import countries were compared.  The developed system, based on analytical methods, is able to detect a risk of covered goods at the early stage and the Customs officers are automatically warned about such entries. However, it has just been only one of the examples, the entries are being verified pursuant to various parameters and different risks are being detected. Advanced solution management and data analysis methods have been employed during the risk assessment procedure – which are the major components of artificial intellect“ - Manager of ERP Solution Management Group, Mr. Gediminas Vedrickas, asserts.

It has not been the only ERP system developed to Customs Offices.  The Company has also developed various systems for the Customs Offices in Lithuania, George, Tadzhikistan, currently the system is being developed for the common Russian-Belorussian customs sector.

ERP has been one of the largest IT and business consultation companies in Lithuania. Currently the company has been involved in several implementation projects related to large-scale business management systems not only in Lithuania, but in the Asian countries, Georgia and Belorus as well.

The Company has had the official representative offices in the Ukraine, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Belorus, Latvia, Finland and it has been actively operating in Estonia, Great Britain, Poland, Kirghizia and other foreign countries.

The values declared by the Lithuanian capital company ERP are:  ecology, public spirit and social responsibility.

This award is given for excellence in regional sales, project quality and competence results.

ERP has the largest SAP projects portfolio  in the Baltics States. Constantly growing team of more than 70 SAP professionals is responsible for success  and 10 successful SAP projects development.

ERP is greatly experienced in provision of IT and consulting services to foreign countries. The company’s success in the development of its projects abroad shows its strong position in the IT market. Therefore, ERP’s know-how may be useful to other companies wishing to develop their business abroad.

The INFOBALT Association represents the national IT and Communication Technologies (ICT) sector involving 110 Lithuanian ICT companies as well as science and research institutions. The main objective of the Association is to establish the most favourable conditions for the ICT industry’s growth, which would benefit the people of Lithuania, the public sector and business. INFOBALT cooperates directly with European, U.S. and other national organizations of the ICT sector.

Currently, the approximate number of ICT professionals in Lithuania is 30,000. In 2008 the contribution of the ICT sector to Lithuania's GDP accounted for more than LTL 10 billion.

We should assess the independence and freedom. Congratulations to all Lithuanians from ERP.  We are proud to be a Lithuanian company.

RegioStars awards are given to the best EU funded projects implemented by applying the best ideas, progressive and innovative approaches. The award is organized by the European Commission.

Tomorrow in Brussels 24 nominated finalists will be presented to RegioStars 2010 awards jury. EU structural assistance website (www.esparama.lt) will compete with other 4 websites in the category.