Cinimex Enters the Third Decade

The number of employees working for the company increased too. The Production Directorate expansion is one more important event. In 2017, its share in the total number of full-time employees increased by 30 %. Last year a new division was opened in Orenburg. Staff grew by 45.2 %. 

The company continued its active cooperation with returned customers and partners, including such leading market players as VTB, Gazprombank, Alfa-Bank, Russian Agricultural Bank, Raiffeisenbank, UniCredit Bank, Pochta Bank, Rosbank, Renaissance Credit, etc. In addition, large-scale projects have been launched for new customers. 

In 2017, Cinimex celebrated the 15th anniversary of its cooperation with Alfa-Bank. Cinimex’s specialists developed a software helping to launch the first in Russia innovative service — SWIFT gpi — in the field of international payments. This service package improves the speed and transparency of international payments and enables to track their routes. More than 125 foreign banks have connected to the service since January 2017. 

As part of the SWIFT gpi service launch, the Cinimex’s team improved “Universal Integration Interface” software, the Alfa-Bank’s integration bus. Service architecture flexibility of the bank’s information landscape and Cinimex’s extensive experience in implementing integration solutions made it possible to complete the project in the shortest possible time, which enabled the bank to be the first at the market to offer its clients an innovative SWIFT gpi service. 
The service helps Alfa-Bank solve key clients’ problems meanwhile increasing the transparency of international payments. 
Using gpi Traker Internet application, Alfa-Bank monitors payment status in real time and checks each bank’s information on the payment route including fees charged at each stage. The Traker system enables sending confirmations to counterparties in an online mode once payment reaches the final beneficiary account. SWIFT gpi offers the following advantages: possibility to receive and use funds on the day they are sent, increased speed, certainty and predictability of payments flow for all categories of clients. 
Last year Cinimex participated in a project on the development and implementation of Alfa Bank’s OpenAPI platform. API includes services to be used in users’ or partners’ applications. By the beginning of 2018 Cinimex had introduced four services: information about ATMs, a virtual card, international card‑to-card money transfers, a client verification service. It was a start of a large-scale project that would include dozens of services for integration with partners’ applications. 
In 2017, Cinimex’s specialists continued to refine Alfa Bank’s software complex automating the assessments of loan applications: WSRM (Web-Service Risk Management). A scoring function for the on-lending process is among improvements.

Last year Cinimex continued to maintain and develop Gazprombank’s key Integration Platform — the Interaction Management System (IMS), as well as “1C:Bank’s Administrative and Business Activities” automation system in terms of its integration with bank’s automated systems. Company’s specialists also took part in the introduction of an automated invoice matching system based on 1C (AIMS): they implemented mechanisms for access rights and role models differentiation, carried out data migration from historical systems, developed a subsystem for AIMS integration with bank’s automated systems.

Working in cooperation with Rosbank, Cinimex completed a project on the development of unified integration system. While working on the project, fundamental architectural and technological groundworks for implementation of integration layer in the bank’s landscape were laid. Besides, a robust functional core, capable of ensuring a stable expansion of the list of integration systems in the future, was created. IBM Integration Bus 9 was chosen as a platform possessing an optimal set of characteristics for building corporate solutions of high reliability and any level of complexity. 

Cinimex’s specialists, in collaboration with the Rosbank’s team, developed and implemented a corporate service bus based on the IBM Integration Bus 9 platform, which resulted in standardizing the connection and interaction between different systems and developing a unified approach to integration and services reuse. 

Project work was accompanied by a wide reuse of the code, which later made it possible to develop universal adapters in the shortest possible time. Besides, working in collaboration with the bank’s experts, Cinimex’s specialists designed and developed a universal message conversion module helping prepare almost any XSLT-based mapping without knowledge of Java and ESQL languages. If it is necessary to carry out complex transformations, the message is additionally processed in a Java handler. 

As part of Rosbank’s IT architecture transformation strategy, Cinimex developed and implemented a platform for automating all internal administrative processes of an organization. The project is aimed to improve processes efficiency, increase employees’ satisfaction level and reduce time spent on solving administrative tasks. Processes that deal with business trip processing were automated in a pilot mode. 
“Business Trips” option allows an employee or a secretary to create a business trip request with an automatically filled variety of parameters. It is planned to scale the solution for the whole bank.
This platform is also used as a basis for the automation of contract management processes and its integration with other bank’s systems.
The solution was implemented based on the stack of Open Source technologies such as Activiti BPM, Angular JS, Spring Framework and Postgresql. 

Collaboration with Cinimex’s specialists resulted in the development and introduction of Raiffeisenbank’s system enabling to process an array of data about transactions based on Big Data technologies. Cinimex’s specialists also developed and implemented a credit card processing service on the website, and this solution was integrated with the automated loan workflow — Capstone Credit Card — for prompt verification of entered information and calculation of terms of a possible loan. 
Raiffeisenbank and Cinimex have completed a project on automation of business processes regulating work with captive banks on retail banking services provision. 
Captive banks that offer car loan services have no banking license for providing retail banking services. Therefore, they outsource their clients’ accounts opening and maintenance to universal banks. Considering terms of Raiffeisenbank’s contract for the provision of outsourcing retail banking services to the clients of partner captive banks, the project working group had to comply with certain stringent requirements for system performance and speed of processing various types of incoming requests. According to SLA requirements, any query should be executed within 30 minutes, and during this time a captive bank should get an automatic reply concerning results of query execution (approved/rejected).
As part of the project, Cinimex’s specialists developed and put in place an automated retail banking services system for captive banks based on the IBM BPM platform, as well as ensured partner banks connection to the system in accordance with specified requirements for system performance and queries processing speed. 

In 2017, Cinimex completed a project for Renaissance Credit Bank on integration of a customer relationship management system (CRM Microsoft Dynamics) with a call routing module in a call center (IVR) and an electronic card processing platform Way4. 
The integration made it possible to unify processes and reduce the load on call center operators thanks to the introduction of call management services directly in the CRM interface. The CRM system was connected to 18 VoIP services. CRM integration with Way4 allowed the use of over 25 processing functions.
This project helped: reduce the time for typical requests processing in case of remote servicing, reduce the number of required additional licenses and purchased VoIP hardware thanks to changes implemented directly in AWS of the call center operator. 

Russian Agricultural Bank has started several complex projects where Cinimex serves as a contractor. Project activities include: modernization of the integration platform and integration of a new automated banking system (ABS).

Last year Cinimex expanded its expertise in the integration solution development at VTB Bank. Cinimex completed the second stage of VTB’s integration bus harmonization that was carried out as part of the transition to the centralized ABS. The team also developed new services using a software factory for integration services implementation. Once VTB24 Bank became part of VTB Bank, Cinimex built several dozens of new services (based on the same solution) to integrate VTB24 and VTB systems. It was the most ambitious Russian project on IT systems integration.
As a result of cooperation with VTB Bank, Cinimex’s specialists updated a module of deferred tax assets and liabilities (“MONACO”) in 2017. The need for updates was driven by a significant increase in the volume of resource-intensive banking operations, which occurred over the three years of the module operation. By the way, the Cinimex’s team was also responsible for the original module implementation in 2014 (aimed to automate the calculation of deferred tax assets and liabilities amounts). Company’s experts used Big Data technologies to accomplish a challenging task of MONACO module optimization. The task was completed within short time frames — in four months. The module speed increased threefold after the update.

At Pochta Bank, Cinimex’s specialists continued to improve the integration layer of the remote banking service platform (mobile and Internet banking); besides, they created an IT system (quite a unique one for the banking industry) for automatic assembly/deployment of releases and an automated code quality control system. The introduction of new developments has streamlined the process of release creation: from the description of changes and code quality control to the automatic deployment and rollback in case of failures. Once the project was put into place, the number of errors in the industrial operation of integration services reduced by more than 60 %.

In 2017, Cinimex continued its fruitful cooperation with United Credit Bureau (UCB). The company developed the “Personal Account” web application and integrated it into UCB’s billing system. It is designed to provide information about payment and closing documents of clients who can now receive up-to-date information about rendered services in an online mode using their personal account. During the development of “Personal Account” and as part of a common project for the development of a billing system, Cinimex’s specialists imported payment documents and an up-to-date client reference guide from the 1C system and integrated them into the developed billing system.

Cinimex’s specialists have completed a full range of project activities, including platform selection, architecture elaboration, analysis and formalization of system requirements, introduction, internal testing, participation in integration and business testing on UCB’s premises, as well as pilot production support.

Within complex project on modernization of an integration platform and information systems of BLAGOSOSTOYANIYE NPF, Cinimex’s specialists developed a new automated system “Seller’s Workplace” (pension calculator).
The solution was developed as a thin client to increase the efficiency of communication with customers and thereby improve the quality of service, as well as optimize fund’s specialists labor costs. User interface is based on Angular JS with typescript technology, while administration interface — on JSF and PrimeFaces. Rest services are created using Spring MVC framework. The “Seller’s Workplace” system complies with Russian legislation requirements of personal data protection and the fund’s information security policy.
Among other things, Cinimex’s specialists developed a mobile application for Android tablets intended for employees of BLAGOSOSTOYANIYE NPF’s branches and separate business units.

Using data from the fund’s systems, this mobile application can demonstrate manifold possibilities of fund’s pension products to clients. The application can be used both online and offline, including places with a limited Internet access. 
“Seller’s Workplace” helps quickly and easily calculate the future non-state pension rate. Flexible parameter settings allow clients to choose the best way of participation in the pension system that will ensure the desired level of income in the future. 

In 2017, the Cinimex company received public recognition for 1C-related solutions. Ilya Savelyev, one of Cinimex’s employees, became the winner of the DigitalSkills Championship for IT specialists organized by WorldSkills International. He received an award in the category “Software Solutions for Business”.

Summing up the year results, Andrey Sykulev, CEO at Cinimex, focused not only on the quantitative, but also on the qualitative growth. 20-year expertise in the banking sphere, considered to be one of the most open to cutting-edge technologies application, has also become in-demand in other business sectors. In 2017, this helped Cinimex to expand the area of its expertise and start working on projects in new industries (retail, fuel and energy, manufacturing, etc.). “We understand that a successful business consists of three components: constant growth and development, readiness for renewal and competent specialists. It is important to understand what resources and skills are needed at the moment, and be able to accumulate them. This year and in the future we’re going to pay more attention to talents acquisition and our employees training,” said Andrey Sykulev.