Russian Railways IT Empire: What competencies are building up and how railway insights are fighting for personnel
Russian Railways owns one of the largest IT insourcing resources in Russia. In October 2021, the company told TAdviser what competencies its IT subsidiaries are increasing and how they are fighting for personnel in conditions of acute shortage in the market.
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IT Insights
The total revenue of four IT-engaging companies of Russian Railways - "Industry Service Company Infotrans" ("USC Infotrans"), NIIAS, OTSRV and "Russian Railways-Technologies" - in 2020 amounted to about 13.7 billion rubles, follows from the database of legal entities "Contour.Focus." This is about 1.8% less than in 2019. The total average state population increased by 8%, to 4.17 thousand people.
Three out of four companies showed an increase in turnover in 2020. The revenue of the largest of them - NIIAS - decreased by about 20%, to 6.3 billion rubles. Net profit at the same time increased. From the annual report of NIIAS it follows that the main decrease in revenue was due to the project "Management of the resource saving program and innovative technologies."
It should be noted that Russian Railways and its subsidiaries remain the key customers of NIIAS, but the share of external customers tends to increase - from 11% in 2018 to 23% in 2021.
A newcomer among Russian Railways IT-insourcing companies - Russian Railways-Technologies - in 2020 increased revenue by 193%, to 535.6 million rubles. In 2020, the company began participating in the implementation of the digital transformation strategy of Russian Railways, approved at the end of 2019.
The share of external orders from Russian Railways-Technology in 2020 was relatively small due to the fact that during this period the priority tasks of the key customer - Russian Railways were primarily solved, for which a company was created. Including, the company on a competitive basis received a grant Skolkovo for the implementation of the project "Cloud Robot Factory." And in the future, Russian Railways-Technology plans to expand the consulting business with the offer of a wide range of developments and competencies to both transport sector companies and companies from other industries.
Most valuable competencies
Russian Railways told TAdviser that in 2020, in the CCRV specializing in automation, first of all, they developed expertise in 1C software products, as well as in innovative IT areas: (blockchain, VR/AR, artificial intelligence), geoinformation platforms, the use of mobile solutions, data analytics. Some new areas of IT expertise, which the CRRV previously did not have, did not appear in the company, they say in Russian Railways.
Russian Railways-Technologies, the project office for the digital transformation of Russian Railways, combines the functions of the competence center and the center for project management of digital transformation, and also coordinates the holding companies receiving effects from the project portfolio. It was on these competencies that a special emphasis was placed in 2020, TAdviser was told in Russian Railways.
2020 was the first year of implementation of the digital transformation strategy of Russian Railways, approved at the end of 2019. As new directions for Russian Railways-Technology, we can mention those that relate to the implementation of program documents on transformations of this scale: the development of financial models of projects and a digital transformation strategy, portfolio management, the management of complex digital transformation projects, analytics and assessment of the effects of project implementation, analysis of business models and the formation of conceptual models of business processes.
The priorities in the activities of the IT service of Russian Railways - USC Infotrans - in 2020 were three areas:
1) Consolidation - bringing the volume of service for traditional USC services - servicing the IT infrastructure of users - up to 100% for Russian Railways and subsidiaries of the holding, improving the levels of support and quality of services provided while maintaining, and where possible, reducing the cost of services.
2) Cooperation - development and participation in new types of services and projects, both inside and outside the corporation - to achieve economies of scale, develop competencies, ensure a single chain and point of responsibility for services for the end user.
3) Components - necessary processes and tools to achieve the first two goals: reconfiguration of the logistics system, management reporting in terms of regions, motivation, etc.
And among the main results of USC Infotrans in 2020, the company calls the transfer to a remote format of work of 110 thousand users with SLA; launch of new directions - repair and maintenance of life support systems, installation and maintenance of automatic storage cameras at stations, etc. The results include the development of new tools: a service desk and a mobile application of engineers, providing traveling personnel with smartphones, developing a system for managing copy printing, etc.
Speaking about the expertise of NIIAS, Russian Railways notes that it has a unique portfolio of competencies, which includes such areas as automatic control of the transportation process, including interval regulation and unmanned control, rolling stock diagnostics systems, digital sorting complexes, information security, process modeling systems and much more. The institute also has expertise in the fields of intelligent control systems, process automation, robotization, transport security and diagnostics.
One of the main projects of the institute in terms of digitalization are the system of interval regulation of train traffic (IRDP) and the "virtual automatic coupler," which have already established themselves at the Eastern training ground, as part of the technological support of the transportation process. In addition, the institute began the implementation of a large-scale promising project "Digital Sorting Yard," within the framework of which the direction of industrial robotization was actively developed.
The NIIAS focuses on risk and resource management projects, as well as an integrated automated system for recording and monitoring the elimination of technical equipment failures and analysis of their reliability.
And Russian Railways notes that over the past two years, NIIAS has significantly advanced in the development and adaptation of technologies such as the use of high-precision coordinate-temporal support methods for the needs of the railway industry. Integrated concepts for the use of these technologies in Russian Railways have been developed and approved, competence centers have been created and operate, active work is underway, including in cooperation with BIM and digital doubles.
Also, one of the most important priorities of the institute's activities is the creation of unmanned rail transport.
The following competencies of the institute have been particularly developed over the past year:
- industrial robotics for the benefit of Russian Railways;
- intelligent services for shippers on non-public routes using SMART contracts;
- unmanned locomotive control;
- Design and survey works (BIM-technologies);
- use of high-precision coordinate methods;
- Process and infrastructure modeling;
- information and cybersecurity.
Hire and Hold
As demand for digital solutions has grown over the past year, so has the demand for IT personnel. In the market, the shortage of IT specialists and the struggle for them worsened, and therefore employers are forced to take additional measures to retain employees. In 2020, USC Infotrans, for example, indexed wage plans and paid quarterly premiums. The company has grown in additional personnel for new services.
The OCR believes that IT specialists in the company attract participation in large-scale industry projects using advanced technologies, organizing internship programs, developing internal communications and increasing involvement in corporate development, training in new technologies and software products, and ensuring rapid career growth.
Russian Railways Technology provides for adaptation and mentoring mechanisms, and takes measures to improve the skills of staff by sending them to specialized courses. Development is organized on the basis of internal training - seminars for the transfer of experience between project teams, round tables on promising issues.
To identify "bottlenecks" and determine the potential for the development of Russian Railways-Technology, it conducts an assessment using the 360 degree method and SHL testing, which allows you to more accurately form a set of corporate events, TAdviser was told in the company.
NIIAS not only organizes the search for IT specialists on specialized resources, but also conducts active work in the field of interaction with specialized universities, such as: RUTH (MIIT), Moscow Polytechnic University, St. Petersburg State University, ITMO University and many others, with the aim of attracting young employees for internships and practices, as well as hiring talented senior students.
 | An important aspect is the retention of employees in the company, maintaining a high level of their motivation and interest in implementing projects, the company notes. - NIIAS implements a comprehensive program in this direction: it modernizes the office space, transforming the usual classrooms into bright open space, develops a system for quick adaptation of employees using welcome-book tools and mentoring systems, develops and implements a transparent system for grading positions, and actively integrates with the social and youth programs of Russian Railways Holding. |  |
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