Remaining correct to infrastructure projects, the Asteros group sees growth points in IT services

TAdviser: How do you assess a situation in the market and results of activity of the company in 2014? Whether it was succeeded to implement the drawn-up plans?

Yury Byakov: Without applying for a role of the exclusive statement, I will tell that it was difficult year. And its last months check of business on durability amplified literally every week. The political interstate conflict, deterioration in an economic environment, unprecedented currency jumps and, at last, imposition of sanctions could not but lead to commercial effects. The market contracted, significant restrictions of opportunities for the loan capital appeared, against the background of, frankly speaking, panic moods sequestering of IT budgets of clients began. It was necessary to hold current contracts in this situation, to balance a project portfolio … However considering that the bulk of our contracts nevertheless was concluded in currency, we felt better than many. We managed not only to save former volumes of business, but also grow up a little. The broken transactions, thank God, were not. Project teams of Asteros continued to conduct works on all our objects.

TAdviser: What structure of your business on the industries and activities?

Yury Byakov: We still develop the direction of engineering and IT infrastructure and we are in it leaders in a segment of buildings and constructions. The service portfolio of the Asteros group is provided by three core businesses – managerial and IT consulting, information security, service and outsourcing.

On an industry section priority for us are telecommunication and oil and gas sectors, financial institutions, transport. Shares of a public sector, the industry, power were a little reduced. At the same time the retail segment and also construction and the real estate grew.

TAdviser: What projects became key for Asteros last year?

Yury Byakov: First of all, we completed a complex of projects in the Olympic Sochi and even received for the part of them concerning creation of security perimeter of the Main Olympic Village, official letters of acknowledgement of FSO of the Russian Federation and UBKM Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation. Continuing a subject of infrastructure projects, I will note creation of project solutions on engineering and IT infrastructure of office of Rostelecom in business center of class A+ in Rumyantsevo and also project completion on creation infrastructure and multimedia of a stuffing of office "RusHydro" on Malaya Dmitrovka and office VTB in a 72-meter tower on Vorontsovskaya Street in Moscow.

From the sphere of telecommunications, I would call, the socially important project which was implemented by our command for and the Center of appeals of service of ambulance and emergency medical service "03" in Moscow. We carried out upgrade of telecommunication network, including digital telephony communication, microcellular telephone communication, SCS, integrated all this with an integrated automated control system of the station.

In an aviasegment – completed difficult design of engineering infrastructure for the second segment of the passenger terminal of the Moscow Domodedovo Airport, almost 240,000 sq.m. Besides, last year Sheremetyevo and the Asteros group started in one of terminals the innovation service in express registration of passengers for runs of airline based on mobile application of the Asteros Contact Avia developed by us with support Skolkovo.

TAdviser: In the direction of IT consulting, security was achievements?

Yury Byakov: Of course. We became winners of international contest of the partner solutions Microsoft Partner Awards 2014 in the Management, Virtualization and Server Platform nomination. Presented us this award for the project on creation of a private cloud based on technologies of Microsoft on Novolipetsk Metallurgical Combine (NLMK). At that time the project covered objects in Lipetsk, Revda and Moscow, now there is a replication stage on the remained structures of NMLK.

The ITSM project in Gazprom Neft on creation of the platform for management of IT infrastructure and the organization of IT services implemented together with HP Software Russia brought us a tender GlobalCIO award as "The project of year in category of energy industry".

In the direction of information security I would note the project for Aircraft engine (enters into Rostekhnologii) on implementation of the IBM Qradar SIEM system and creation on its basis of command center incidents of information security. In this project the big role was played by an intellectual component: our experts of cybersecurity seriously finished standard functionality of a system and created couple of tens of scenarios of identification of the problems of cybersecurity connected with specifics of design office.

TAdviser: In 2014 the situation in the IT market in Russia significantly changed. Whether you felt influence of sanctions against our country from some countries on business of your company?

Yury Byakov: As always it happens in crisis, since the end of last year extremely pragmatic approach of clients to selection of IT budgets and the directions for investments prevails. In parallel requirements to efficiency and fast payback of projects grow. Certainly, after a rate the prices of the equipment grew. To earn from usual box moving models former volumes it will not turn out any more. Redistribution of demand goes on a service way: traditionally during deceleration of growth rates of economy clients look narrowly at outsourcing schemes of IT services, at use of cloud computing, a business intelligence, at consideration of possible analogs of IT products in the light of import substitution. Globally the IT strategy of most of large customers with which I happened to communicate recently are aimed at providing stable work of business for action of sanctions policy. At the same time tactics at all different – someone, being afraid of trade restrictions, buys the equipment for the future, someone studies possibilities of alternative, in particular, Asian suppliers.

TAdviser: How does business develop in Asteros Ukraine companies? Yury Byakov: The market of system integration of Ukraine endures not the easiest period that note both integrators, and vendors. IT budgets of clients for obvious reasons were reduced in 2014, and such trend will remain also in 2015-2016.

Asteros Ukraine follows the strategy accepted in 2013 which consists in focus for work with key clients, partnership development and optimization of own costs. Involvement of several large customers last year, allowed the company to save positive EBITDA and to finish financial year with profit.

The essential share of projects fell on creation and upgrade of contact centers based on solutions Cisco and Avaya and also implementations of systems Polycom Unified communications. The contribution to financial results was made by service contracts, including support of the implemented solutions, design of IT and engineering infrastructure, development of new functionality for earlier installed systems, IT outsourcing services. The command works, despite all difficulties.

TAdviser: What changed in business of group in the conditions of change of the environment?

Yury Byakov: We really took a number of measures for ensuring growth of capitalization and return on assets of group. In our plans – enlargement of scales of consulting business and increase in effective management of services. As I already spoke, in unstable time the professional and high-quality services allowing business to solve difficult technology and managerial tasks can become an additional source of income. In this paradigm we carry out internal structural changes in the Asteros group now.

TAdviser: What strategy of the company in the conditions of import substitution policy? Whether you expect reduction of a share of sales of foreign solutions in your business in the long term 2-3 years?

Yury Byakov: Strategy is extremely simple: we create the market offer when we feel demand. It is possible to satisfy it in three directions. The first: develop own products that we also do using the Asteros Business Contact platform which develops on several industry branches at once – for telecommunication companies, the airports, banks and housing and public utilities. The second is a creation of special import substitution programs in the field of the IT based on the weighed assessment of economic risks and, respectively, ways of their minimization. The third is an analysis of alternative IT and telecommunication vendors, expansion of the corresponding partnership, perhaps, assistance to development of OEM with localization of productions in our country.

TAdviser: What tasks face Asteros for 2015?

Yury Byakov: Irrespective of weather in the market of Asteros will still develop the direction of complex infrastructure projects in a segment of office real estate, hotel complexes, sporting venues and also in aircraft. It is our mainstream from which we are able to earn and qualitatively would not undertake to manage megaprojects for which someone can even. It is interesting to us, we created the unique examination on a joint of IT, the engineering systems and complex security. For this reason trust us the largest holdings of the country – Gazprom, VTB, Rostelecom, Sberbank, Aeroflot, VimpelCom, MegaFon and many others. I do not exclude that in the long term we will even more go deep into a construction segment and, perhaps, we will purchase the business having strong positions in the Fit Out market. Certainly, we are aimed also at development of professional IT services and also preserving of strong positions in the field of system integration, telecommunication solutions, multimedia, VKS, creation of contact centers, infrastructures of DPC, etc.