Andrey Burin, FORS group: The market very much lacks "strong" IT professional

Andrey Burin: Presence of highly qualified personnel in the field of IT is one of decisive factors to go to digital economy. Only for the last year, according to the estimates of experts, the need for workers of this industry increased more than by 70%. Demand for this professional category advances the offer long ago. And the demand not only concerning traditional specialties — developers and testers, but also rather new — analysts, architects of information systems, Big Data specialists and in the field of Internet of Things, to SMM promotion (Social Media Marketing), digital linguistics and so forth grows. This personnel needs to be trained in large quantities somewhere that specialists "unique" for today stopped being like those and began to compete among themselves.

And it is about training not only yesterday's school students, but also those people who are for one reason or another forced to train for a new profession and receive new specialty. Structural adjustment of economy will inevitably cause dying off of a number of professions — it already occurs therefore it is necessary to provide smooth "overflowing" of human resources from some spheres in others.

In the conditions of market economy which we form all its spheres are connected among themselves. So, the need for IT specialists gives rise to demand for services of training and retraining, and it is already a subject of development of digital economy in the field of education.

Andrey Burin: Such deficit is felt by all IT companies without exception because the market very much lacks "strong" professionals who would have deep examination and practical experience of project implementation.

Yes, we work with universities. Among them — Higher School of Economics where we have the department, Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, Moscow Institute of Electronic Technology in Zelenograd. Our specialists teach training courses and seminars there. Besides, we accept students on practice from MSTU of Bauman, MAI, MEI, we help them with preparation course and theses, here they get practical experience. Some remain with us to work.

But the main thing — in our company is a set of own educational resources. To us come to study both students, and IT specialists to raise the professional grade, to acquire knowledge in areas, new to itself. It is about FORS Educational advice center where our employees and any other IT specialists are trained, expand and deepen the examination, receive the status of the certified specialist in any area. Within UKTs FORS the Competence center according to databases works. Partners and customers can be trained in FORS Solution Center where the line of the latest hardware and software systems is provided. Besides, at us the Partner Academy, ISV Migration Center and Competence center on cloud computing of SkyFORS works.

Andrey Burin: Several years we cooperate with Roskosmos where a number of systems, among which and the solution on automation of purchasing activity is implemented. During the project information exchange with the portal of state procurements, the internal budget and analytical systems, a management system for users and the normative reference information was configured.

Cooperation with Federal Treasury in development and operation of a subsystem of maintaining the normative reference information which is one of the central subsystems of the state integrated information system "Electronic Budget" continues.

The Moscow City Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund also remains for us the important customer where we conduct technology works on development of separate subsystems and a component of automated information system of compulsory health insurance.

The company is active in the regional markets. So, cooperation with Tula region where we together with the customer are engaged in support and development of a regional information system of the electronic government which deservedly occupied one of the central places in the digital map of Tula region continues. The components of an information system of the electronic government offered by our company correspond not only to all basic regional needs, but also requirements from the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications, including integration with federal services according to the last existing specifications, use of the centralized services of the Single system of identification and authorization and also services and widgets of the Uniform portal of state services.

Much attention is paid to the directions of automation of medicine and sport at the regional level. Among the solutions proposed to regional customers — the medical information systems, components and modules used in the field of telemedicine to remote monitoring of patients and also information systems for complex automation of sports facilities.

Andrey Burin: In recent years it essentially did not change. More than a half of revenue — from 60 to 75% was always the share of projects in a public sector at us. In other words, state institutions are customers, key for us. Among them there are federal ministries and departments, regional authorities.

However in recent years there was some change in structure of revenue on projects in a public sector. Demand was displaced from custom development to the area of integration of the applications which are available for the customer, in the direction of complex service projects, interest in cloud services and services actively began to grow.

Andrey Burin: Yes, customers needs changed a little. There is an active shift of demand towards complex projects — such as technology audit of the databases existing at the customer, systems and applications, their updating, standardization and integration and also ensuring comprehensive service support. The state customers for last years invested heavily in automation of the processes, and, often, such automation was scrappy, now came it is time to force to work the applications and also to provide process of their implementation and uninterrupted operation.

A number of the state integrated information systems — such as GIS of housing and public utilities, GIS GMP, GIS of energy industry, GIS "Electronic Budget", AIS "Tax 3" and others was in recent years created. They impose much more strict requirements to security, technical support, processes of integration and qualification of the personnel exploiting them.

Separately it would be desirable to stop on questions of use of Open Source. Demand for such solutions seriously grew in the last two years. And our company significantly expanded the competences in this direction due to use of platforms with an open program code. Customers try to systematize a picture of the developed IT landscape, to develop uniform requirements to integration processes and questions of information security that would allow them to create the mechanism of reuse of earlier received results and to create the principles and limits of applicability of the proprietary or free distributed software tools.

Andrey Burin: Within almost any project custom development which can be applied afterwards also in others, projects, similar in the purposes and tasks, is executed. So, for example, was with program components of Electronic government which were implemented both on federal, and at the regional level. Practically we created replicated solution for automation gosususlug.

For needs of the public and municipal administration we can also propose solutions for automation of control and supervising and housing and inspection activity, contract management and purchase management. The last is developed by us not so long ago and became the response to adoption of law "About a contract system in the field of purchases of goods, works, services for ensuring the state and municipal needs" which seriously complicated purchasing activity at the expense of budgetary funds. Now, that effectively and without payment of penalties to make purchases, a specialized system which we made is necessary and successfully we implement.

The special attention is deserved by the direction of business and technology consulting which we actively develop within our integration projects. To us also is what to offer in the field of industrial Internet of Things and cloud services.

Andrey Burin: It is possible to select several directions where the greatest demand in the next years is expected:

• Works on unification of processes and regulations of rendering the public, regional and municipal services in regions. In general, one of the main directions is a centralization of information resources within the whole country, development of uniform regulations and standards concerning a number of state services, especially at the regional and municipal levels now. With respect thereto regions there is a problem of streamlining and standardization of data of the regional information systems for reduction them to the uniform format accepted at the federal level.
• Automation in the field of property and town-planning activity, object management of the real estate and city infrastructure.
• More and more broad application of IT on transport. Already now there is an automated management of logistics of transportations and the uniform payment document for journey payment.
• Transition to digital health care that the whole package of measures — such as complex automation of health facilities, introduction of electronic medical records in regions includes, connection to Uniform State Health Information System, telemedicine, etc.
• Development of the regional systems within the Safe City project.
• Expansion of automation of control and supervising activity that will allow to lower administrative load of the citizens and the organizations performing business activity. According to the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation, at the moment 65% of organizations of the regional authorities having powers of control and supervision do not use information systems in the profile activity.

Problems at the regional level, as well as at the federal level — the same, but more localized. For example, problems with financing when not all heads of subjects understand need of investment into the IT industry. Though even more often regions begin to develop in this direction in a complex, namely — from creation and implementation of IT systems before construction in the region of the innovation centers and technoparks. Other problem is connected with staffing by profile specialists — systems are created difficult, and their operation specialists expensive and often just are absent in the region.

However, though not everywhere, but problems begin to be solved. Missing financing comes thanks to public-private partnership, and the shortcoming of specialists is partly compensated by transition to cloud model of providing services and services.

Andrey Burin: Of course, it is necessary — the same as the corresponding heads in other directions of our economy and spheres of life are necessary. Now federal CIO actually is the Minister of Telecom and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation. The task list, requiring the solution, is already created, and it is constantly updated, programs and strategies are developed, the managerial vertical in the field of information and communication technologies is built both on federal, and at the regional levels therefore it is necessary small — to continue, and only to begin to implement some things. The global purpose is a formation of modern digital economy.