In recent times, the issues of digital transformation have been increasingly discussed in the society. Are we ready for the transition to a new format? It is a pleasant fact that our IT companies are in demand not only in the domestic market, but also expand their activities throughout Central Asia. We are speaking today with the Head of one of these successful companies, General Director of Green Light - Talgat Abdulaev.
Business Insight Spesial — AmCham Kyrgyzstan / December 2018
Text: Zarina Umetaliva, Photo: Tatiana Kozachenko
— Tell us about your company, how did it all begin?
As far as the company is concerned, we have been on the market for five years, although as a team we started working much earlier, in 2006. In the beginning, it looked more like a hobby. It was a group of enterprising students who started doing small projects for small organizations. Then everything took off and in 2013 we founded the Green Light; during that time we had done a lot of interesting and important work. There were a lot of achievements. As of today, we are the largest system integrator in the region.
— Your IT company has a regional status. Can you tell us what that means?
Green Light is currently working not only in the Kyrgyz market: we are implementing projects in Tajikistan and conducting negotiations with clients in Uzbekistan. We opened up an office in Kazakhstan and registered as an official legal entity this year.
Our plans for the next two years include covering the entire Central Asia. The means that the company is actively developing and has success in the domestic market, and in the near foreseeable future has all the prospects for success on the international platform.
We see that in the region such IT companies as ours pay very little attention to expertise, i.e. everyone is good at selling and buying, but not everyone is able to carry out complex projects that require serious expertise; our engineers train abroad on a regular basis, take online courses, learn new technologies - in other words, they are engaged in self-education, thereby constantly enhancing their skills. Our specialists always know the latest technologies and are ready to help our customers implement them.
— Your company pays due attention to serious engineering expertise. Can you tell us what kind of expertise is that and what advantages does it bring?
We specialize in four key areas, in which we consider ourselves the best. The first one - data processing centers - are technologies related to processing, computing, storing, and archiving data. The second - unified communications - are solutions that allows speeding up and improving the quality of joint work, that is, all solutions that help to exchange information, such as IP telephony, videoconferencing, and contact centers. The third area is corporate data transmission networks. The fourth area - the most relevant today - is information security. We attach great importance to this aspect and approach the solution in a complex way, starting from drafting information security strategies to implementing IT solutions.
— One of the problems in the field of IT is a shortage of specialists, but your company is involved in the training of professional staff who meet modern international standards. Can you tell us about your educational center?
We see that there is a need for training of IT staff not only within organizations in Kyrgyzstan, but also in neighboring countries. And in this regard, it was decided to open a training center that trains IT professionals who are able to work and manage complex modern IT solutions. For these purposes, we recruit foreign trainers on the use of various technologies. Experts come from the USA, St. Petersburg, and Moscow, which allows us to make professional IT education more accessible.
— Why should potential clients choose your company's services?
We adhere to the position to always work in the interests of the customer, helping to choose and buy solutions. Every employee in our company understands that we come to the customer to help them solve the tasks that they face. When our customers have a question about how to invest money efficiently, they begin to think about needing a professional consultant with expertise, and we are the best. As of today, we are the only company in the territory of Kyrgyzstan that has its own staff of engineers. We do not just sell, we help design, implement and maintain.