Innovative business with a social face. An article in RBC magazine. No. 11 (17), December 2014

In 2014, the telecom market in Kazakhstan continued its development. At the same time, the main customer for the implementation of telecom projects was often the state, which is now pursuing an active policy of switching to an electronic format for providing services. The editors of the Real Business of Kazakhstan magazine decided to talk in more detail about the implementation of such projects of a serious scale with the head of marketing of ASTEL Artem Urazimbetov.

 

 - Artem, tell us how fruitful was 2014 for your company?

- This year has been very interesting for us. We have implemented several large projects and continued to work with serious customers.

We can say that one of the most "high-profile" events of the outgoing year for ASTEL was the signing of a cooperation agreement with NC Production Operations Company B.V. (NCPOC). According to the agreement, ASTEL will be engaged in technical support of NCPOC telecom systems at all their facilities of the North Caspian project until 2017. Thus, we became the general telecom contractor for NCPOC.

 

- Did ASTEL carry out projects for the public sector during 2014?

- Oh sure! As one of the examples, I can cite the project we have implemented to modernize the departmental data transmission and telephony network of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Our specialists have created an information management system for the telecommunications network of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan. It allows you to raise the level of information security in the network, its reliability, efficiency and manageability. This, as you understand, is critically important for such a structure as the police. Then the network was prepared for the transition to NGN (Next Generation Networks) technology, in particular, to VoIP and the Unified Communications system.

 

 - That is, the convergence of the telephone network and the data transmission network is planned?

- Exactly. Here we again return to the issue of the importance and complexity of the work of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Our project was implemented on a national scale, therefore, it affected the departments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in all regions of the country. With regard to the operability of the system, all information resources of the department must be protected, and access to them for employees must be carried out quickly. After all, the more efficiently the police work, the more peacefully our fellow citizens sleep at night.

 

- Does this mean that ASTEL is working on the implementation of projects not just from a business point of view, but also sets itself a certain social goal - to make life easier for Kazakhstanis in some areas of activity?

- Undoubtedly! We are very glad that the projects we have implemented help our fellow citizens to make their lives easier.

Here I can cite another example of a project that is very significant from the point of view of benefits for society. In 2014, ASTEL specialists organized and put into operation operational control centers (COC) in 4 small cities of our country. This project was also implemented for the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

 

- What tasks were set when performing work on this project?

- Actually, the main goal of the project is the protection of public order, as well as the prevention and reduction of the crime rate in small towns of Kazakhstan. To do this, all the response services were united under the leadership of a single management body - the UC, which is equipped with all modern technical means. Thanks to the opening of such centers, police officers in small towns can process at least 1,500 applications from citizens per day.

At the same time, up to 30 calls to the police can be processed at the same time. This project is long-term and its full implementation in all 35 small towns of Kazakhstan is planned until 2021. I can say that its final result is a decrease in the crime rate by 40% within three years and the achievement of an average daily crime detection rate of up to 72%.

For comparison, before the commissioning of the UC this figure was 55%.

 

- What difficulties did ASTEL have to face while implementing projects this year?

- The main difficulties are, as a rule, a limited budget and, as they say, "the deadline is yesterday." But that's why we are professionals in our field, so as not to be afraid of difficulties. For example, this year we completed in a short time and with a minimal budget a project to build a videoconference communication system (VCS) for the employment centers of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

The situation there was further complicated by the need to participate in public procurement at the local level, 200 employment centers are geographically distributed throughout the country. - What exactly was needed to be implemented within the framework of this project? - It was necessary to organize online video communication from workplaces so that the management of all employment centers could take part in operational meetings with the Labor, Social Protection and Migration Committee of the Ministry of Health and Social Development, which is geographically located In Astana. For this, our specialists have developed a complex technical solution with the installation of the central control server of the videoconferencing system in the Committee for Labor, Social Protection and Migration in Astana.

For the heads of local employment centers, we have selected a modern hardware and software complex with a simple interface that is easy to understand. Among other things, the existing satellite and terrestrial data transmission channels were expanded to improve the quality of communication.

 

- Does ASTEL plan to continue working on projects from a social point of view?

- Necessarily. It is very important for ASTEL that, in the end, when implementing our projects, the main beneficiaries are our fellow citizens, ordinary people of Kazakhstan. We are very glad that thanks to our work we can make their life a little easier.