How to scale cloud-based projects and outsource IT services
Abdulaziz Sattarov, Member of the Board of Universalbank
Not too long ago, the card business began to develop, and banks began to move more and more into digitalization and the IT technology market. Previously, companies had the same problems — a lack of technical resources that were constantly being bought, and most importantly — a shortage of personnel. The most popular professions, according to Abdulaziz Sattarov, are not only programmers, whom modern companies hunt from other markets, but also system administrators: database administrators, OS administrators, Windows, Linux. At the moment, there is still a shortage of IT directors, there are only about 100 people for the whole of Uzbekistan. Another problem is the acute lack of knowledge. So far, most modern system administrators in Uzbekistan are self—taught, without proper education.
Universal Bank used the help of third-party companies that controlled the power levels. The company had problems with the timely launch of products, as the CIO constantly postponed the implementation of the product due to lack of equipment. There were many incompatibilities and problems that prevented the company from thinking about digital security.
The Bank started research with the help of third-party specialists from Russia, Kazakhstan and Europe. It turned out that data storage in the data center is much more expensive than storage in Cloud systems. The next point to study was responsibility. That is, what can be given, how to give, as well as the distribution and definition of responsible persons. All servers must be stored in the country, and many personal data cannot be stored outside of it.
After the research, a strategy was developed. It consists in the fact that the installation of a data center is excluded, as well as the purchase of servers. The company decided to replace SAREH with WALNUT. Universal bank has abandoned the staff of system administrators, moved all data to the cloud and outsourced.
As a result - contracting with the data center. Within two to three months, the company signed a contract with the largest and only company in Uzbekistan - Uzbektelecom. The contract was taken from Russian and Kazakh banks. They took all the necessary information and thus shared responsibility. The approval took from three to six months. The second point is outsourcing contracting. When the company looked at Alfa Bank's contract, it took it as a basis, since it was more powerful and stronger, but the market players did not agree and were not ready. As a result of long negotiations, only Expert Pro remained, and it was with them that the company continued to work.
To date, it takes no more than 30 minutes to create a new server. Thanks to the discovery of new opportunities and realities, production has become cheaper by more than 5 times. The company can afford not to think about capacity due to high fault tolerance. Universal bank does not make backups, settings and purchases. They are actively engaged in scaling, and today this is no longer a problem.