We'll consider which options in the field of innovative technologies can be used for the benefit of business based on examples from ICL Services, an international IT service company.

Kazan, Russia -- (ReleaseWire) -- 09/30/2019 -- Digital transformation is a natural, evolutionary and market process. Many breakthrough innovations have significant prospects and can radically change the economic and social aspects of society. Large companies have long understood this and have already developed transformation strategies, and leading system integrators have identified a stack of necessary technologies that can bring companies to new markets or provide competitive advantages. Typically, we are talking about big data, artificial intelligence, the Internet of things and robot automation of processes.

We'll consider which options in the field of innovative technologies can be used for the benefit of business based on examples from ICL Services, an international IT service company.

Automatic creation of incidents in ITSM using RPA

One of the most common problems for customers is the lack of integration between the ITSM system and the monitoring system. This happens for various, including technical, reasons. The monitoring team works mechanically, regularly checking email notifications in anticipation of new alerts from the monitoring system, and manually creating incidents in the ITSM tool. Software integration of systems is difficult, expensive, or not possible at all.

In order to automate tasks and, as a result, improve the efficiency of the monitoring group, the experts from ICL Services offered customers the option to introduce RPA technology in the monitoring system and provide instrumental integration of systems. Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is a business process automation technology based on RPA robot. This program is capable of performing typical and repetitive (routine) operations, which person performs using the user interface.

As a result, the following is possible in real projects:

- Automatically creating incidents in ITSM using RPA technology;
- Reducing the load on the monitoring group;
- Ensuring data consistency and process transparency;
- Minimizing human error (reducing the role of the human factor in decision-making).

Automatic incident coordinator

Customer projects have a complex structure, and there can be many teams working on the project. One of the main tasks is the qualitative distribution of incidents, both between teams and within teams, when assigning incidents to a specific engineer. One of these cases was a project with 11 teams (about 50 engineers in total), where ICL Services experts were able to distribute incidents in the customer's project with an accuracy of more than 90%.

To implement such a mechanism, the solution developers built an entire architecture containing several learning models, and all this was debugged and interconnected. In the final implementation, the program has the following functionality:

- Distribution of incidents from the shared queue to the team queue that is most suitable for incident resolution;

- Distribution of incidents from the "incorrect" queue to the correct one using intelligent evaluation

- Selection of the most competent queue engineer to solve the incident, according to the model assessment.

The development team used (in addition to the main results of the model prediction) a calculation system. This is necessary for the correct qualitative and quantitative distribution of incidents among engineers. With the calculation system, the model began to take into account not only the competence of the engineer, but also the real circumstances. For example, if an engineer is present or on vacation, or if he has an excessive or insufficient workload.

At the moment, the application is fully automatic. The program is trained daily to monitor changes in project activities and make the best decision. The software solution has left the piloting phase and is now in full production. The engineer in the role of "incident coordinator" can take a breath and do more important things, and the rest of the engineers in the team have more time to solve the incident because the coordinator does not spend this time on clarifying the circumstances.

This automation saves about 11 FTE (1800 working hours) per year, which constitutes 22% of service time. This solution is now being implemented in all major projects, and in the near future will become part of the standard for the provision of support services.

Machine Learning to support the IT Department

The introduction of artificial intelligence in the work of the IT Department entails decreasing the time for processing requests and reducing the agents' load. At ICL Services there are two key smart projects:

- A robot for processing requests on the side of the ITSM system;
- A chatbot to communicate with users.

Gosha robot

The pilot implementation of the Gosha robot to handle requests on the side of the ITSM system was successfully completed at ICL Services in December 2018. Then there were revisions, additional training of the robot, and its functionality was supplemented. The robot was created in order to increase automation in the processing of user requests.

As a result, the robot:

- Monitors new requests in the support queue;
- Displays the "Service" and "Request Type";
- Determines the availability of agents by their Skype for Business status;
- Assigns requests to agents;
- Transfers part of the requests to 3rd line support.

As part of the project, it is planned to train the robot to handle certain requests independently. It is intended to transfer requests that have model solution templates, where the solution does not require communicating with the applicant or collecting additional information. These capabilities of the robot will reduce the load on support agents and reduce the average time of the request in the stack. In addition, reducing the load on agents will in turn free up time for training. Firstly, this involves receiving knowledge from the 3rd support line for processing more complex requests. The fewer developers are involved in support, the more time is left for development.

Chatbot

In order to minimize costs regarding requests which have standard answers, the development team at ICL Services created a chatbot. The chatbot helps employees to solve commonly occurring problems, such as adjusting the sound in headphones or changing an outdated password. At present, this pilot project has already begun working at ICL Services. The bot sends links to existing instructions or gives the employees advice and recommendations from its knowledge base.

The development plans for chatbot capabilities are as follows:

- Collecting additional information on the problem;
- Clarifying the problem and offering a solution;
- Creating a request in the ITSM system if there is no appropriate solution;
- Saving all collected information in the request for further processing by the agent.

The bot can be accessed through Teams, after downloading it from the app store.

The introduction of all innovations has produced significant results, including improved business efficiency and quality of services, a positive impact on economic development indicators, as well as obtaining advantages over competitors. Modern innovative solutions in the field of digital technologies are better at coping with the key tasks of any business than ever before.

About ICL Services
ICL Services operates in the international market since 2006 and is the largest IT company in ICL Group.

To date ICL Services has about 1,400 employees working successfully with over 80 major clients from 30 countries providing IT maintenance services 24 hours 7 days a week in English, Russian, French and German.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Kazan, Russia -- (ReleaseWire) -- 09/30/2019 -- ICL Services' customer — the large international pharmaceutical company. The customer needed comprehensive equipment and software service and support. Since August 2015, the ICL Services has been providing the Company with a full stack of support services for about 2,000 employees.

Service Desk

There are about ten specialists on the first support line who receive requests from any of the Company's divisions regarding the IT systems and register them on the Itilium platform . The first line also sends notifications to employees about maintenance, software updates and other news from the IT department.

The Service Desk receives about 6,000 requests every month, half of which are resolved on the first line. 87% of the requests are received by mail. The Service Desk works 12 hours a day five days a week.

One of the significant criteria of the Service Desk performance is user rating on a scale from one to five. Performance of the ICL Services specialists is rated within the range of 4.95 to 4.98.

If a request is outside the Service Desk specialists' competence or requires a site visit or is too special, its resolution is handed over to the second line of support. There is a large number of such lines, so it is important for the Service Desk to know where a particular application should be forwarded. For example, the 1C platform has several services such as payroll, personnel management, document flow. For each of these there is its own second line.

Current SLA indicators, statistics for the metrics selected together with the customer, scheduled tasks and user ratings are discussed at the weekly operation meetings with the customer.

On-site support

The CL Services provides the pharmaceutical company with the on-site support. Six on-site engineers are permanently present at the Company head office to resolve the issues that require their attendance, such as replacing a power supply unit or connecting equipment. There are special performance criteria for requests from the customer's VIP representatives such as CEO or heads of the key departments: a dedicated on-site engineer is to address any VIP call immediately.

The ICL Services has 11 third support line teams to support servers, telephony, network equipment, databases and backup systems. There is also a special on-site team to deal with prompt repairs and, whenever necessary to forward equipment to the ICL Services maintenance centre.

Any issue is supposed to be resolved within 4 hours to 5 working days — depending on its priority. For certain type of issues the resolution time has been minimised. Thus, data transfer from a laptop under repair to a new one used to take a long time while its user could not work for this reason. Now an employee would hand in their laptop for repair in the evening and collect a new laptop next morning with all the data and software transferred from the old laptop. This reduces idle time virtually down to zero.

Working relationship with the ICL Services is not limited to handling incidents. For example, the ICL Services experts have developed a handbook application that helps users to independently deal with typical problems in a convenient format.

The customer has more than a thousand field staff, so it is important that their equipment is fault-free at all times. If the technical support would fail to give a laptop to a new employee within five working days such employee would be on the payroll but useless for the company. Therefore, having an efficient and reliable service provider is imperative for the customer.

'We enjoy the global support while the ICL Services takes care of some of the local functions. It is a good contractor providing us with the first, second and third support lines; they have been supporting us for over three years.

Whatever the ICL Services are in charge works without any fault. The main advantage of the Company is that its specialists can hear me and are ready to change along with us. And since we are a pharmaceutical company, we have high standards and even higher expectations. Any arising issues are resolved immediately: We get in touch every week over the telephone, meet once a month and once in four months, with concerned parties of various levels invitied,' the customer's service manager notes.

Results

- The Service Desk receives about 6,000 requests per month.

- 87% of the requests are received by mail.

- The Service Desk works 12 hours a day five days a week

- The support is rendered to about 2,000 employees

- The customer evaluation of our service ranges between 4.95 and 4.98 (on a scale from 1 to 5)

- 11 ICL Services teams successfully work on the third support line

- Idle time has been reduced to almost zero through optimising approaches to equipment serviceability recovery.

A handbook application has been developed in order to help users independently deal with typical problems in a convenient format.

About ICL Services
ICL Services operates in the international market since 2006 and is the largest IT company in ICL Group.

To date ICL Services has about 1,400 employees working successfully with over 80 major clients from 30 countries providing IT maintenance services 24 hours 7 days a week in English, Russian, French and German.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

In December 2016, KFC and ICL Services jointly integrated the Service Desk – a single contact point for receiving, registering, and resolving all the user queries – in some restaurants in Russia.

Kazan, Russia -- (ReleaseWire) -- 09/30/2019 -- In December 2016, KFC and ICL Services jointly integrated the Service Desk – a single contact point for receiving, registering, and resolving all the user queries – in some restaurants in Russia. And by mid-2018, the Service Desk project moved to a new stage and began using machine learning. To automate the routine tasks of ICL Services employees working with the Service Desk, a bot was developed that automatically classifies all incidents.

Project Objectives

Considering the active growth of KFC in Russia and the opening of more than 100 restaurants annually, there was a need to reduce the costs of ICL Services for the pre-processing of requests and their classification, as well as to increase the correctness of the appointment of responsible employees and the productivity of first-line support specialists.

Service Desk Robotisation

At the bot development stage, several algorithms were selected and artificial intelligence training began using a sample of requests from the Customer's ITSM system. After several months, the first bot release was ready and launched for testing. The bot classified only those requests that it considered correct with a confidence of 98% and higher.

In June 2018, the bot began to work independently. Its functions included classification of requests, their initial processing and escalation to the second and third lines of support. After 2 months, the effectiveness of the bot amounted to about 35% of all user requests. By the beginning of 2019, the automatic request routing was already fully operational: the bot no longer just classified requests, but distributed them taking into account responsible employees (agents). Requests were assigned to agents available at a certain period of time, taking into account the shift schedule, the workload of the agent team and their level of competence.

In addition, the Autonomous Bot functionality was developed which was launched by a trigger and created or changed user accounts. In total, the project development cycle took only 20 business days.

Results

ICL Services solution allowed distributing requests automatically, providing accelerated classification of requests (21 seconds instead of 5 minutes). Using machine learning, the bot processes more than 35% of requests independently, and another 15-20% of requests are assigned using bot tips about the most effective solution. In general, the accuracy of classification within the framework of the project has increased, as machine learning algorithms do not make human mistakes.

About ICL Services
ICL Services operates in the international market since 2006 and is the largest IT company in ICL Group.

To date ICL Services has about 1,400 employees working successfully with over 80 major clients from 30 countries providing IT maintenance services 24 hours 7 days a week in English, Russian, French and German.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Kazan, Russia -- (ReleaseWire) -- 09/27/2019 -- Information security incidents can be very damaging to business. According to 60% of directors and heads of financial departments and organizations, cyber security is one of the most serious risks (ACCA study), and the responsibility for ensuring cyber security often falls on IT specialists alone.

In order to establish unified requirements for information security management of commercial projects and define standard IS measures aimed at ensuring compliance with the requirements and reducing IS risks in service projects, ICL Services created a special Information Security Management Standard. The standard was created on the basis of ISO 27001, the recognized international standard for IS management.

The users of the standard are the Company's employees in executive positions within the framework of service projects. The IS management standard consists of a risk-based approach. This involves conducting an analysis of IS risks and customer requirements for each project, after which measures to ensure IS are implemented. The way in which the same IS measures are implemented may vary from project to project.

In order to assess the level of maturity of the IS management process of a particular project, as well as to further improve the IS management processes within the project, ICL Services has developed a 4-level maturity model:

- Level 4 is the highest. This level is not always needed.

- Level 3 is the target level. The objective of Level 3 projects is to support it.

- Level 2 is the minimum allowable level. The objective of Level 2 projects is to reach Level 3.

- Level 1 is the lowest. This level is considered a risk for IS. The objective of Level 1 maturity projects is to achieve at least Level 2 maturity.

The level of maturity is assigned based on the results of the IS internal audit of the project and is recorded in the audit report. The parameters by which the maturity level is estimated include compliance with customer requirements in the field of IS, IS risk management within the project, communication, team awareness, access control and others.

The information security management standard was developed in 2015. During 4 years of work, it was implemented in many of the company's Russian and international projects. As noted by project managers, thanks to the implementation of the IS management standard, these projects have significantly reduced IS risks, and as a result, the number of incidents and escalations has decreased, and customer satisfaction has increased.

About ICL Services
ICL Services operates in the international market since 2006 and is the largest IT company in ICL Group.

To date ICL Services has about 1,400 employees working successfully with over 80 major clients from 30 countries providing IT maintenance services 24 hours 7 days a week in English, Russian, French and German.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

ICL Services has many years of international experience partnering with customers which shows that the use of anti-corruption measures within a company is a necessary prerequisite in a modern global market system.

Kazan, Russia -- (ReleaseWire) -- 09/25/2019 -- In 2018, the share of economic harm caused by corruption-related crimes in Russia was about 46 billion rubles, said Yuri Chaika, Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation, in an interview with Kommersant. He also noted in the interview that only 8.5 billion rubles were voluntarily reimbursed by corrupt officials. The most common crimes are: providing inaccurate or incomplete information about income, expenses, property and property-related liabilities, there are many incidents involving bribery and the embezzlement of assets. Despite actively combating corruption, the scale of this phenomenon is growing, not only in Russia, but all over the world.

Various preventive measures to avert economic crimes have been implemented, not just at the federal and regional levels, but particularly in companies as well. ICL Services has many years of international experience partnering with customers which shows that the use of anti-corruption measures within a company is a necessary prerequisite in a modern global market system.

Transparency and playing fair

ICL Services is one of the leading IT outsourcers in the world, so focusing on global best practices had been a key pillar in its work from day one. The company always fights openly and fairly for customers whose geographies span more than 30 countries. International practices in IT-related services have contributed to developing a unified approach for company employees to observe the anti-corruption laws of Russia and other countries where customers do business. Therefore, combating corruption has become one of the key aspects of corporate social responsibility policy.

The anti-corruption policy developed and adopted within the company contains the norms, principles, and procedures for interacting with state bodies, political parties and associations. The policy also governs the company's charitable activities.

The experience of international colleagues in combating illegal economic activity has become the cornerstone of a zero-tolerance policy for bribery and corruption. The company's Compliance Manager conducts supervisory activities to counteract illegal practices, and also ensures the functioning of the internal control and corruption-related risk management systems.

Fraud Prevention is the best way to protect

The level of economic crime is gaining momentum: 66% of respondents said that their companies faced various types of fraud in 2018. A PwC survey shows that company executives are increasingly paying attention to certain types of fraud like cybercrime. This is due to the fact that over the past two years, the number of companies that have developed operational plans to defend against cybercrimes has significantly increased (from 26% in 2016, to 62% in 2018). On top of that, as noted in the PwC research, the proportion of senior executives among the country's lawbreakers is growing: in 2016, it was 15%, but increased to 39% in 2018.

The consequences of fraud are primarily measured by financial losses, but we must not forget about other losses for a business: it impacts goodwill as viewed by customers and competitors, as well as the moral and psychological climate within the organization. That is why, in its work, ICL Services adheres to the principle of the inadmissibility of corruption and necessarily includes a clause in its contracts regarding compliance with the norms of current anti-corruption legislation. After all, transparency in revealing fraud and informing the involved parties about precautions help to minimize or even eliminate the damage.

Competition as an upholder of compliance with anti-corruption legislation

Aware of all the threats that could potentially arise as a result of economic crime, ICL Services is creating a corporate culture not only among its employees, but also among its partners. As Sergei Soloviev, CEO of ICL Services, notes: "Corruption risks pose a real threat to business, so we take all kinds of response measures to prevent them. These actions are of strategic importance to us."

To establish fair competition, the company annually conducts internal audits of suppliers with which ICL Services has the right to run its business. These audits show the level of partner's compliance with the claimed criteria: quality-price ratio, reputation, and the ability to comply with all relevant anti-corruption legislation requirements.

Corporate culture

15% of respondents expressed concerns about possible bribery or corruption in Russian companies in 2018, whereas this rate is just 12% in the rest of the world. As respondents say, in the future, the economic realm will become more and more challenging. Therefore, it is very important to create mechanisms to control the risks of economic crimes.

ICL Services closely monitors anti-corruption policies and business ethics. All employees undergo anti-corruption training programs, which include a required testing unit. In addition, each employee is informed about concepts like "conflict of interest."

The ICL Services corporate portal has a tool for reporting any known or suspected economic crimes: a violation notice is sent to the responsible person - the compliance manager. At the same time, the anti-corruption policy guarantees protection for employees from possible threats and harassment. Compliance with principles of anti-corruption policy makes ICL Services a reliable partner for customers in the international and Russian IT markets.

About ICL Services
ICL Services operates in the international market since 2006 and is the largest IT company in ICL Group.

To date ICL Services has about 1,400 employees working successfully with over 80 major clients from 30 countries providing IT maintenance services 24 hours 7 days a week in English, Russian, French and German.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Continuous improvement is the basis for the success of any business. ICL Services, a large IT service company, even created an internal unit for Delivery Excellence, which main purpose is precisely to introduce innovative changes to the company's practice.

Kazan, Russia -- (ReleaseWire) -- 09/24/2019 -- Continuous improvement is the basis for the success of any business. A development strategy that keeps you ahead of the curve, optimal budget planning, and partnership relations with customers are directly dependent on the innovations offered and implemented within the company. Introducing this process in all areas of the business can bring a qualitative change in a short space of time. And there are already examples of this. ICL Services, a large IT service company, even created an internal unit for Delivery Excellence, which main purpose is precisely to introduce innovative changes to the company's practice.

Delivery Excellence

To stay competitive, and meet and anticipate customer expectations, companies have to keep their finger on the pulse and respond flexibly to changes. Methodologies and frameworks such as Agile, 6-sigma, SCRUM, SAFe and others provide the company with this flexibility and speed when it comes to making decisions. However, this alone is no longer enough. Businesses strive to create processes that will ensure a continuous process of innovation.

Delivery Excellence was established at ICL Services in 2018. Its main goal was to develop a culture of continuous improvement within the company and implement ideas to optimize budgets to reduce project costs. To do this, the project team designed the work system (Fig. 1).

The main focuses of the Delivery Excellence division's work are areas such as Lean and Ideas Vortex. Together they form the process of developing and implementing innovative projects.

Lean

The basis of the Lean approach is a deep understanding of customer needs and a timely, or even proactive, response to customer requests. Using tools and lean manufacturing techniques changes the way that the teams in the company think; a "customer centric mindset" is formed when the team learns to manage the changes in customer expectations faster.

Lean is introduced in the teams on a step-by-step basis, starting with creating a platform for discussing the quality of team work. Then, lean manufacturing tools are added to this site. The first successes in the work are visible within a few weeks, which prompts the use of Lean techniques for more complex tasks.

The Delivery Excellence team builds a systematic workflow to develop a culture of continuous improvement, involving all levels of the company in this process and introducing optimization tools. The result of this work are improvements with measurable results. They can be Indirect (affect customer satisfaction, improve quality, but only indirectly affect cost reduction) or Direct (directly affect cost reduction).

Lean focuses on three components in ICL Services:

1. Company's employees;
2. Customers;
3. A culture of continuous improvement.

This means that (1) all employees of the company should direct their actions to (2) provide the best services to customers and (3) continuously look for opportunities to improve existing services and business processes. The introduction of Lean is a cultural change. Without the participation of each employee, the company would not be able to do it.

As a result, Lean helps to reduce the number of incidents by 20%, while increasing productivity in the company by 28%. More than 30% of the high ratings of customer service quality are directly related to using the tools of this philosophy.

Ideas Vortex

Ideas Vortex is a portal for collecting ideas and initiatives to improve service, work and automation, which require significant labor costs and cannot be implemented by the project team on their own. The purpose of this area is to implement automation and optimization projects, as well as replicate successful cases of specific teams. The result of such projects are company-confirmed savings.

Ideas Vortex was first launched on November 29, 2018. Since then, about 200 ideas have been submitted by the company's employees. At the moment, 6 initiatives are already saving money, another 12 will be implemented in the near future, 90 ideas are being considered and about 50 are yet to be agreed. Ideas that have not been evaluated are also available - they are sent to the archive.

Thus, innovative projects that have passed through Delivery Excellence help to constantly improve the quality of services and fulfill customer requirements. The experience of ICL Services shows that companies that seek to achieve great results with the help of qualitative changes should take a closer look at the development of progressive methodologies.

About ICL Services
ICL Services operates in the international market since 2006 and is the largest IT company in ICL Group.

To date ICL Services has about 1,400 employees working successfully with over 80 major clients from 30 countries providing IT maintenance services 24 hours 7 days a week in English, Russian, French and German.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

ICL Services has been using labor best practices for 13 years, which includes introducing new processes and replacing what is no longer relevant.

Kazan, Russia -- (ReleaseWire) -- 09/23/2019 -- Each company is a kind of planet where its own laws and gravitational forces operate. Companies go to great lengths to avoid being jettisoned into open space outside the employment market. First of all, they try to do everything to provide employees with a comfortable work environment. ICL Services has been using labor best practices for 13 years, which includes introducing new processes and replacing what is no longer relevant.

First contact

The first contact with the employer occurs before the candidate decides to find a job. At student events ("open house" events, job fairs, etc.), company employees answer questions about working conditions, training, the job, and give recommendations on how to get a job and useful knowledge. This removes the fear of the first employer and facilitates entry into the company. ICL Services sponsors student events (Information Security Olympiad, I-TEAM student competition, ICL Programming Olympiad together with KNRTU-KAI), actively working with applicants, parents, and students along the way. In 2018–2019 alone, the company has taken part in 40+ events for talented youth.

Many students intern at the company and write their theses under the guidance of ICL Services specialists. After successfully defending their thesis, many young people continue their career path.

ICL Services also offers a paid internship. For young professionals, this is an advantage in the labor market. It's not easy finding a job without experience. The intern is assigned a mentor who gives practical and educational tasks and helps adapt. The internship lasts 3–6 months. If it's successful, an in-house job is offered.

A unique line of support for talented youth is the ICL Services Schools for students and graduates. The regional labor market does not have enough candidates who possess the necessary business knowledge. In response to this challenge, the company's management decided to teach these technologies for free, using all of ICL Services' resources, from equipping classes to finding experienced professionals to lecture. As a result, in 2018–2019, 13 schools have been held with a total of 200+ students. Over 50% of them were hired by the company. In addition to these schools, there are current technologies in different IT fields. These include service desk, project management, system administration, databases that are not taught at universities, as well as a flexible study schedule in the evenings and the program's rapid pace.

On the same wave

Today, when the boundaries between the employer and the applicant/employee are very tentative, it is important to use all possible channels of communication and quickly respond to questions. This gives a competitive advantage over other companies and creates transparency at all levels of interaction with employees:

- The company has business accounts on Facebook, Linkedin, and YouTube. The accounts feature success stories, information about innovations, and insight into the company's plans.

- It also has pages aimed at corporate culture on VKontakte, Facebook, and Instagram. Their goal is to show how employees live and to get closer to subscribers by promptly answering their questions.

- You can evaluate the expertise of the people you'll work with in the future in the Habr professional community.

- A bot is currently being piloted to help the HR team conduct an initial screening.

The internal communications network for existing employees also covers a wide area:

- news portal (850 news articles in 2018);
- "Thanks" button;
- meetings with top management 3 times a year;
- opportunity to contact a leader at any level.

A smooth landing: adaptation according to plan

When a newcomer joins the company, everything is done to quickly get them situated and adapted as comfortably as possible.

- The mentoring program that assigns a buddy to the new employee is a great example of this approach. Mentoring lasts 3 months and helps the newcomer to socialize in the team. The new associate always has someone nearby to answer job-related and office-related questions. The program received the prestigious IT HR Awards.

- The electronic adaptation plan shows what kind of training the employee has to take and what he/she can expect ahead.

- Induction training guides the new employee through all of the company's departments. The employee also learns about lean manufacturing and volunteering and can personally ask the company's directors any questions.

- Evaluation 360 at the end of the probationary period (self-assessment plus evaluation by colleagues and the manager) offers an effective evaluation of the new employee.

- Three times a year, the company holds a Strategy Update. These are major events involving the company's directors where all aspects of the company's operations are discussed. The average attendance at these events is 500+ people. Managers answer over 50 questions during each event.

A pleasant atmosphere in a pleasant office

In addition to the built-in communication processes, staff evaluation, and recognition programs, ICL Services' modern office, Technopark, plays an important role. It was part of the Best Office Awards 2018.

Employees took part in developing the sleek modern design of this office, which meets all modern requirements. It is environmentally friendly and is equipped with game rooms, recreation areas, modern meeting rooms, workstations, and fail-safes in case of power failures. Work stations in the open space format are designed in such a way that soundproof partitions allow you to work quietly while you're surrounded by colleagues. The company offers another perk to environmentally conscious employees: containers for collecting batteries and separate garbage and recycling collection.

Growth, compensation, and recognition

The company's principles of work are transparent to all employees. Evaluation is based on KPIs, which are negotiated by the manager and the employee. KPIs depend on the employee's position and department. As a rule, rewards are given for accomplishing supertasks and performing high-quality work. The system is automated, which protects against the human factor.

Employees receive their salary and a competitive benefits package.

1. Training at the Company's Cost

ICL Services invests in its employees' growth and provides an opportunity to take internal technical and skill courses, to learn foreign languages during the workday at the office or online. The fact that the company also picks up the cost of international certification and training through expensive external courses is also a significant plus for the employer. About 90% of employees take certain courses and certifications every year.

The company supports its employees' growth through individual plans and a manager training program (personnel reserve) and allowing employees to gain experience in new roles, such as an internal trainer, media expert, or Tech Lead.

2. Benefits

Health and Well-Being

While the company pays special attention to observing all the requirements of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, it also takes note of its employees' health. The company offers an annual medical examination, fluorography, vaccinations, lectures on preventing office illnesses, stress management, an expanded private health insurance plan for employees and family members. The company offers a host of perks. For example, it reimburses membership costs to fitness clubs. It also rents space for its employees to play football, volleyball, hockey, and table tennis. Twice a year, it holds trials to the running club and it partially reimburses participation in athletic events (the Kazan Marathon, the Race of Heroes, the National Half Marathon, the Belgrade Marathon, etc.)

Material Aid

Financial assistance for important events in an employee's life is a definite perk that offers interest-free loans from the company, financial support during childbirth, marriage, or in the event of a close relative's death.

The company compensates for the costs of mortgages, provides special conditions for purchasing housing in the IT village for employees and new residential complexes near the office.

The relocation program includes housing location assistance to employees from other cities, as well as initial financial assistance when moving.

3. Work–Life Balance

The company holds 80+ events a year, not counting team-building events. These cover various areas, from entertainment (the company's anniversary, professional holidays, etc.) to social events (eco-races, support for nursing homes, trips to animal shelters, etc.).

Additional vacation days, additional days off for working mothers and additional days off for the disabled are also among the opportunities available to employees.

4. Employee Recognition Programs

Annual awards at the end of the year among all colleagues, the Professional Award in each department, awards for volunteers and the personnel reserve, receiving team ratings from customers are only a small part of the recognition programs at ICL Services.

If paths diverge

The company added over 300 new employees in 2018. However, there are those who decide to leave the company. ICL Services works with them as well.

HR managers hold an exit interview with the outgoing employee to understand why they are leaving. If possible, the company offers another solution: transfer to another department, to a new position, or another work format. Reasons for leaving are recorded to resolve problems and improve conditions for other employees.

A distinctive feature of the company is the fact that ICL Services maintains contact with former colleagues. They still have the opportunity to attend corporate events, recommend new employees and get a bonus for the recommendation. They can also return to the company, which is not uncommon for ICL Services. After all, you always want to go back to where things are good.

About ICL Services
ICL Services operates in the international market since 2006 and is the largest IT company in ICL Group.

To date ICL Services has about 1,400 employees working successfully with over 80 major clients from 30 countries providing IT maintenance services 24 hours 7 days a week in English, Russian, French and German.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

In 2018, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights turned 70. But, as noted by Salil Shetty, Secretary General of Amnesty International, no one in the world can count on unconditional respect for their rights.

Kazan, Russia -- (ReleaseWire) -- 09/20/2019 -- In 2018, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights turned 70. But, as noted by Salil Shetty, Secretary General of Amnesty International, no one in the world can count on unconditional respect for their rights. Even if we leave aside the most monstrous events of recent years—armed conflicts, ethnic cleansing, repression, and restriction of freedoms—human rights have faced dozens of diverse challenges, even in relatively prosperous societies. We are in a time of growing phobias and reactionary changes after the liberal transformations of previous decades, the struggle for equality and tolerance, and open and bold statements about mass crimes against the person (#MeToo), etc. It seems that these calls concern only two parties: the person and the state as a guarantor of his rights and freedoms. Business is obliged to simply follow the laws. But is corporate ethics right to leave it at that?

The American supermarket chain Walmart employs over 2,200,000 people. If Walmart were a country, it would have surpassed 98 other world countries. The largest private employer in Russia, PJSC Magnit, has 270,000 employees. This is more than the entire population of Veliky Novgorod. Large businesses involve a huge number of employees, as well as their loved ones. In such a situation, corporate ethics can (and should) become a driving force for improving the area of human rights.

Understanding their responsibility, the largest companies are active in the social sphere. Nestle was the first global corporation to publish a white paper, its human rights reports. L'Occitane provides regular, well-paid employment to 11,000 women in impoverished regions of Burkina Faso in Africa. The head of Unilever Paul Polman named respect for and observance of human rights among the principles of his company's prosperity. There are other worthy examples. And even if businesses can't solve the most critical issues, in this time of challenges any contribution to the cause of human rights—even a relatively small one—holds a special value.

Companies don't have to be transnational giants to make a contribution. Moreover, it doesn't require excessive resources. As ICL Services' experience shows, it is sufficient to simply build your daily work in accordance with 4 simple principles in order to achieve certain improvements in the areas of the rights to health, social security, education, development, etc.

ICL Services is an IT service company with 1,800 employees. It is among the top 100 global outsourcers and works with clients from 30 countries. 90% of its employees are located in Russia. During the company's first stage of development and growth in the field of human rights, the only highlighted priority was complying with the laws of the Russian Federation. Later, as ICL Services developed, it became possible to clarify strategic planning in this area. As a guideline, ISO 26000 was adopted. This is the international standard regulating corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues, including human rights issues.

Principle No. 1. The tone is set at the top

We can talk about observing human rights in a company if this principle is followed by the entire or absolute majority of employees. But, to demand this from its staff, the company must first:

- articulate its goals and vision of the results;

- explain clearly and unambiguously to its employees and at the same time provide a channel for operational advice;

- model desired behavior at every level of managers and opinion leaders;

- set clear priorities in situations where respect for human rights conflicts with speedy action or short-term economic results.

To accomplish these tasks, human rights issues were enshrined in the company's CSR Policy, and ICL Services' internal portal contains contact information for the compliance manager, HR director, and company director, which can be contacted in difficult cases. Here's an example of what the Policy says:

"The Company respects human rights, understanding that they are applicable in all the countries where the Company operates, in all cultures, and in any circumstances. It takes all measures to observe them and assumes that profiting from situations where legislation or its application does not guarantee the necessary protection of human rights is unacceptable."

Principle No. 2. More responsibility in working with counterparties

The sphere of influence of a successful business far exceeds the circle of employees and their loved ones. It also includes partners and contractors and, in part, even the company's clients. Ideally, a business' area of responsibility in respecting human rights should correspond to its area of influence.

Imagine a situation that, alas, is quite possible. Company No. 1 produces a high-quality, low-cost product and respects the rights of its employees and customers when doing so. Company No. 2 supplies cheap raw materials for the first company, secretly using child labor. Having earned a good reputation, the first company is buying more raw materials as it grows. As a result, the second company employs more children and increases their shifts. The first company strictly observes the laws but encourages partners to violate them. To avoid such situations, the first company should expand its area of responsibility by showing interest in the nuances of how its counterparties work and making sure that they respect basic human rights.

To accomplish this, ICL Services uses a Code for Suppliers and Business Partners. Before starting work with the company, contractors are obliged to sign it and observe it when working.

Principle No. 3. Follow both the spirit and the letter of the law

In accordance with the letter of the law, the company is required to comply with the Russian and international human rights instruments. The spirit of the law can be interpreted in a broader sense, i.e. providing as complete guarantees in this area as the company's capabilities allow. ICL Services seeks to support employees in implementing the following rights:

Right to healthy living and medical care

Employees have Private Health Insurance (PHI), which includes dental coverage, free annual vaccinations, and fluorography. Office buildings are equipped with medical facilities. The company partially reimburses the purchase of fitness club memberships, provides employees with sports fields for team sports, and supports participation in athletic events (marathons, sports days, the Race of Heroes, etc.). There are also support measures for employees' families. For example, partial reimbursement for spa resorts with medical services for children and bonus payments for weddings, childbirth, etc.

Right to education

ICL Services pays for employees to take external training and certification and offers internal technical, skills, and language courses. 90–95% of the company's employees use their educational opportunities every year.

Gender equality

On the one hand, the absence of gender discrimination is a requirement of the law (which, of course, is observed). On the other, there are also opportunities for improvement. In the field of IT, the gender balance is shifted, starting with pre-university and university education. Mathematics and IT specialties are traditionally considered male domains. ICL Services implements career guidance and educational programs in schools and universities, which are designed to show girls opportunities in this area and support them in choosing this professional path. In addition, there are meetings of female students and interns with ICL Services' female employees who work as managers and senior specialists in the technical field. The personal experience discussed at these meetings motivates and supports girls to continue in IT.

Right to development and fair evaluation

The opportunities for growth and development in ICL Services are associated with a socio-economic human right—the right to social security—as well as the psychological needs for recognition and self-actualization. The corporate performance evaluation system was created in conjunction with the company's employees. 100% of employees participated in piloting the system and gave feedback that helped shape its final form. Automatic assessment by openly published rules guarantees transparency and objectivity. Finally, selecting employees for senior positions is primarily carried out within the company in order to provide fair opportunities for growth.

Principle No. 4. Process, not project

Respect for human rights is not a one-time project but an ongoing process. It requires involvement of the company as a whole and each individual employee—from an intern to the CEO—in particular. At the same time, the company's task is to provide employees with a base: an officially stated position, as well as the means to follow it.

ICL Services' experience shows that building this kind of platform is quite realistic and doesn't require extra costs on the part of the company. That's why there's the desire to hope that more and more companies will take on the constant and daily responsibility for observing human rights.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Ecological education is part of moral education, which consists of two parts, mindfulness and behavior. Using ICL Services as an example, we will explain how this works at a for-profit company.

Kazan, Russia -- (ReleaseWire) -- 09/19/2019 -- Society is facing an ever-increasing number of ecological problems. Man-made fires, loss of unique natural assets, and plastic pollution are no longer a ghostly threat to the future but the sad reality of the present. To deal with these problems, it is necessary to instill eco-friendly behaviors from childhood: in the family, at schools, clubs, and institutions of higher learning. But what if adults in their 30s, 40s, and 50s don't have this education and well-constructed value system? The answer is to engage in developing ecological thinking at the workplace.

Ecological education is part of moral education, which consists of two parts, mindfulness and behavior. Using ICL Services as an example, we will explain how this works at a for-profit company.

About the company and its initiatives

ICL Services provides IT services to more than 80 customers from 30 countries. It employs 1,800 people, with offices located in Moscow, Kazan, Voronezh, and Belgrade.

Eco-activities at the company are completely voluntary. That said, a significant portion of the company's employees and management are interested in them and realize their value. Among all the possible options for developing eco-initiatives, the company chose to support enterprising employees. The scheme works like this: an employee declares an eco-initiative, the company provides the necessary support for it, other employees join the initiative.

Introduction to ecology

Ecological values at ICL Services are declared when joining the company. Many applicants say that they considered the corporate culture described in the vacancy—which includes charitable, environmental projects, and volunteer programs—as an additional advantage when choosing ICL Services.

On the first day of work, the employee receives a welcome kit, which shows that ICL Services treats both new employees and nature with care. The employee has the ability to take their first eco-step: drinking from their own cup instead of using disposable plastic cups. The cups left behind by employees who decided to leave the company are also used ecologically. We plant flowers in them to make our office green.

When organizing events, the company tries to move away from traditional solutions to more environmentally friendly ones. For example, replacing plastic cups with paper ones made from recycled goods, replacing plastic containers with kraft paper bags, discarding beverage straws and small containers, ordering eco-friendly souvenirs for employees and partners.

It impacts the company's positive image as an employer and also makes it possible to find new customers by distinguishing the company from competitors.

Green office life

ICL Services' headquarters, situated at Technopark in the village of Usada, meets the world's best eco-practices. This building was selected to participate in the Best Office Awards 2018. Eco-friendly building materials, a huge green area around the building, a water-free water purification system, items for separate garbage collection, battery collection, reuse drafts, a reminder that you need to turn off the computer before you leave to save energy. This is only a small part of the benefits of an eco-office. Today, for most employees, these have become part of their daily work activities. Working in an attractive and comfortable eco-environment helps to transition to environmental awareness painlessly and quickly, without resistance.

Education

Employees conduct quarterly open meetings and environmental education activities. For example, in their first days at the company, new employees go through induction training that includes a section on environmental initiatives that anyone can join. Eco-active colleagues talk about areas of environmental and social work and even conduct training on separate garbage and recycling collection.

Events

When an employee has mastered their work tasks, there is time to take part in the company's corporate life.

One of the most popular events at ICL Services is planting trees in the office area and environmental workshops and events.

In 2018–2019, employee volunteers:

- have conducted a series of Academy workshops on how to minimize their negative environmental impact in everyday life;

- have planted trees on the grounds of Technopark, where the office is located. More than 100 blue spruce trees, deciduous plants, and shrubs have been planted, and the area has been thoroughly weeded;

- took part for the third time in the All-Russian Ecological Action Bike to Work Day (about 50 employees from Kazan and Voronezh chose to ride their bicycles to work for a week instead of travelling by car);

- have conducted training on separate garbage and recycling collection, lectures on vegetarianism and sensible purchase of clothes;

- organized the city event Eco-race in Gorky Park, Kazan, with the participation of everyone interested and subsequently cleaned the area;

- have taken part in urban community workdays in city parks;

- organized a traditional bike ride for 50+ participants with a field trip to the Kazan Observatory. They continue working on an Android app for our corporate carpool service. It helps employees who live nearby bring each other to work and home, thus reducing the number of cars on the road.

How to take part in an eco-project

Any ICL Services employee can suggest ideas for an environmental project and lead it, as well as become a volunteer for an existing initiative. To do this, they need to go to the intranet to find out when to attend a volunteer meeting.

For each initiative, a team of like-minded people is recruited. Colleagues from the HR department and administrative service help with organizational issues.

These events are quite popular because they offer a chance to help nature while serving as a great communication and team-building platform. They also provide an opportunity to be active and spend time constructively.

No rules

Ecological education is not a set of rules of conduct. Instead, it's a culture, an integral part of a unified education system that can be built only by explaining and showing with examples why it is important. This is a necessary component of creating and developing the personality that can solve the tasks of the next generations. That is why environmental education holds such an important place in the public arena throughout the world and in individual companies. ICL Services shows by example that it is not so difficult to achieve this. The main thing is to give the initiative to the employees themselves and support their initiatives.

About ICL Services
ICL Services operates in the international market since 2006 and is the largest IT company in ICL Group.

To date ICL Services has about 1,400 employees working successfully with over 80 major clients from 30 countries providing IT maintenance services 24 hours 7 days a week in English, Russian, French and German.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Why do companies with a strong marketing strategy go for it? We'll answer this question using the example of ICL Services, a large international IT company.

Kazan, Russia -- (ReleaseWire) -- 09/19/2019 -- More and more celebrities and large international and Russian companies are engaged in charity, developing their own and supporting other people's social projects. Charity marathons on social media, fundraising campaigns, even recreational activities focus on helping socially disadvantaged segments of the population. It is no longer a rarity when paying for an e-ticket for a business conference or a sporting event to see an offer to support a charitable foundation or donate towards the treatment of a specific child emerge.

Why do companies with a strong marketing strategy go for it? We'll answer this question using the example of ICL Services, a large international IT company.

1. To create a positive image for customers and partners.

Social projects help the company enhance its positive image in the eyes of customers and partners. First of all, it is an investment in the moral and ethical sphere. ICL Services provides services to more than 80 customers from 30 countries and increases the volume of services every year. Many customers are foreign and global companies from the financial and industrial sectors and retail. Their corporate ethics value socially responsible partners. There is also an economic element. The more often the company's charitable projects are mentioned, the more attractive a partner the company becomes. This is because the company can only allocate resources to social projects if it's performing well (remember the episode with the observatory in the book "The Titan" by Theodore Dreiser!).

2. To find talented employees

The image of a company that runs charity projects is important for young people looking for a job. Members of Generation Y and, to a larger degree, Generation Z aim to find an employer who will help impact the world and act as a volunteer or a social project manager. More than just routine business activities.

They find that kind of work at ICL Services. The company's main initiators of charitable and social projects are the employees themselves. They generate a project idea and implement it with a team of co-workers who are fellow volunteers. In 2018 and the first half of 2019 alone, about 30 social projects were implemented that had an impact on about 1,000 people.

Social projects in which employees of ICL Services participate

ICL Services' experience with social projects is large-scale. They include:

- supporting retirees and workers with many years of service (gifts on the 9th of May, hosting gatherings of retirees/workers, excursions);

- providing assistance to orphanages and nursing homes (New Year's gifts for the elderly, visits to the Duslyk orphanage, assistance to a correctional school in Derbyshki, Kazan);

- sponsoring a community kitchen in Kazan;

- providing assistance to an animal shelter in Stolbishchi, Tatarstan;

- holding Blood Drives twice a year;

- holding the charity fair in Gymnasium No. 19 in Kazan;

- and dozens of other events.

Every year, the company holds events around the New Year season to support orphanages and nursing homes. The offices post Christmas tree notes with the children's or seniors' wishes. Each employee chooses one and buys a gift. In 2018, two such events took place. ICL Services employees fulfilled the wishes of 100 residents of a nursing home and 100 children from an orphanage. The company's event coordinator was an engineer.

Popular events that have already become traditions are ones dedicated to helping animals, which were created by volunteers from the marketing department. They have a funny name—Sweets for Kitty Treats—but mean business. Employee volunteers prepare sweets at home and bring them to a bake sale at the office. The sweets don't have a fixed price, but all donated proceeds go to help the animal shelter in Stolbishchi, Tatarstan. In 2018, the shelter received donations of 30,000 rubles, 120 kg of food, and animal hygiene products. Hands-on help, such as cleaning the kennels and walking dogs, is very popular with the staff and is useful for the shelter, where there are never enough helpers.

Event initiators are not only ordinary employees but also company executives. ICL Services Executive Director Ruslan Vagizov ran a marathon distance to support children from Tatarstan undergoing treatment for cerebral palsy. The website Sdelai.Org helped draw attention to his deed. In a month and a half, it collected 320,000 rubles to help the children. Many of the 195 donors who participated in the fundraising are ICL Services employees and even some of the company's customers and partners.

3. To help future professionals find their path. This is doable at ICL Services

Social projects don't just provide direct assistance to those in need. After all, "Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime." Or, in other words, helping people to learn and choose a vocation. That's why ICL Services conducts free educational programs for students, schoolchildren, and even preschool-age children. Cooperation with leading universities, free educational projects, scholarships for talented students, and support for student IT competitions help develop the potential of the region's youth.

IT puzzles for preschoolers
ICL Services employees have developed a puzzle about IT professions. This is a unique project that tells children—in a playful way, using accessible language—what their parents do for a living. 1,000 sets of the puzzle were realeased, and they showed that the IT industry is not limited to programmers. It includes many other professions, such as system engineers, designers, information security managers, technical support specialists, project managers, and others. The company hopes this will help someone make the right choice for their future career path after school.

Project 19

In 2018, the company launched a project for the vocational orientation of 9th- and 10th-grade schoolchildren at Kazan Gymnasium No. 19. The goal of Project 19 is to show the diversity of IT fields and guide schoolchildren in choosing their future profession. As part of the curriculum, ICL Services employees give courses on information security, technical support, ITIL, lean manufacturing, HR processes, machine learning, system administration, and IT administration. They also organize field trips to the company's office, give presentations, play business games, and host meetings with employees.

Colleges and universities

The company partners with the region's leading universities to:

- organize free educational courses at KFU and KNRTU-KAI;

- annually sponsor the student projects competition I-TEAM (KNRTU-KAI) and the Information Security Olympiad (KNRTU-KAI);

- participate in university events (job fairs at KFU, KNRTU-KAI, Programmer's Day hosted by KFU's Institute of Computational Mathematics and Information Technologies), meetings with parents and applicants to suggest what they should do to get well-paid and promising work in the future.

ICL Services contributes to developing students' skills, which means developing the region as a whole.

ICL Services Schools

ICL Services Schools are free short-term educational projects for undergraduate students, graduates, and professionals who have decided to change their profession to IT. The goal of the project is to provide young specialists with basic IT knowledge sufficient to start working in the field in a short time (from 3 weeks to 2 months). Instructors are experts working at ICL Services, who are able to share knowledge and experience in popular technologies with students.

In 2018–2019, 13 Schools were organized focusing at various fields: Service Desk, Project Management, UNIX, information security, workplace infrastructure, etc. More than 200 young people studied there. Studying at Schools does not impose employment obligations. After studying, students can work at ICL Services or, having received a certificate, find a job at another company. However, more than 50% of the school's students come for paid internships or are employed at ICL Services.

Studies for seniors

ICL Services does not limit academic work to a youth audience. A team of ICL Services volunteers is currently working on a project to train pensioners in computer literacy. They will learn how to work with computers and the Internet, as well as protect themselves against fraudsters who often use retirees' lack of IT knowledge for financial crimes and stealing personal data.

4. Main goal

Any company is first and foremost the people who work there. ICL Services is committed to bringing the best people in the industry to its team, in terms of both human and professional qualities. The best people tend to make the world around them brighter and help others just because they need help.

Charity and social projects are gradually changing the world for children and the elderly, schoolchildren and students, people who need blood, and even animals rescued from the streets. That is why employee volunteers invest time and effort in them, and why ICL Services supports their efforts.

About ICL Services
ICL Services operates in the international market since 2006 and is the largest IT company in ICL Group.

To date ICL Services has about 1,400 employees working successfully with over 80 major clients from 30 countries providing IT maintenance services 24 hours 7 days a week in English, Russian, French and German.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Experience: how to support and improve the «green» movement in the company.

Kazan, Republic of Tatarstan -- (ReleaseWire) -- 09/27/2018 -- 2017 was declared the Year of Ecology in Russia. The state put issues related to environmental protection at the top of its priorities. Thanks to this initiative, an increasing number of eco-schools, eco-initiatives and eco-volunteers have started cropping up around the country, and citizens are learning more than ever about ecological and environmental issues. In other words, corporate eco-activities are now being implemented in the context of the country's general environmental policy.

Indeed, business is actually an effective tool for educating people about a more environmentally friendly lifestyle. Its influence encompasses employees, their families, the local and even global community. We believe there are two main motives spurring businesses to get more environmentally involved.

1. Potential savings or profits from implementing environmental standards (for example, preserving resources at a plant, factory, etc.). In this case, "environmental tasks" = "business tasks," and the company invests in them.

2. Solving problems without a direct economic benefit, because "the Earth is our home," or for PR purposes. This is often the case with non-production companies, such as auditing agencies, law firms, IT companies, etc. There are typically good reasons why resources for environmental tasks are limited: first they need to be found.

ICL Services is an IT service company of the second type. But we are currently developing a large corporate social responsibility program including environmental initiatives, as our experience shows:

— We don't need big investments or a financial incentive to develop environmental initiatives.

— The main goal of internal environmental initiatives is to engage employees with the issue, get them interested and support their activities.

— It is enough to have green enthusiasts on staff to support continuous environmental efforts.

The history of our eco-movement

Currently, we have an entire team of green activists, including 20+ permanent participants and up to 150 volunteers taking part in various events. Everything started five years ago thanks to two employees who contacted the company's management with the following suggestions:

— organize active leisure activities for the staff, including a bike ride and trash pick-up efforts around suburban lakes, with a picnic at the end

— put battery disposal containers in offices for their subsequent proper recycling.

The company supported both suggestions: the initiatives were announced through "official" channels, and the proper organization was arranged. When other progressive employees started noticing this support, they also began suggesting ideas: planting trees and plants, collecting waste paper, clothes, plastic bottles, etc. This led to the formation of an entire group of green enthusiasts inspired by the environment, charitable intentions and exercise. The team grew steadily via word of mouth, and new colleagues started joining after several events. As the team grows, the number and diversity of environmental initiatives grows along with it.

Easier is better, or how we support and improve our "green" movement

Time management teaches us that if you're procrastinating, try to find out what you don't like about what needs to be done. Once you remove that obstacle, it is easier to complete the task. We use the same method to organize our environmental activities. Employees are happy to take part because the company makes it easy, for example:

— buying and transporting trees and tools for planting events;
— putting out boxes for waste paper collection and battery disposal in the office;
— providing transport for trips out of the city, etc.

The initiator of an environmental event is free to delegate the most difficult organizational aspects to event managers from the HR department and employees from the administrative department. All the participants have to do is turn up to the event on time.

Our volunteer efforts in 2018:

— The "Environmentally friendly lifestyle" training series was developed and held, where employees told their peers about the rules and advantages of sorting waste and demonstrated how to easily and quickly sort in their everyday lives.

— We planted perennial shrubs area around Usady, where our company's new office is located. For us, planting campaigns are already a traditional event (we choose new areas almost every time). But this year we switched to a more "minor form," and for the first time planted perennial shrubs instead of trees. This is a more flexible option in terms of implementation, and is no less beneficial for local residents.

— We also joined the all-Russian Bike to Work campaign. On that day, 50+ employees opted to commute on bikes instead of by car.

— The team organized an 85-kilometer bike ride with a "green" excursion to the Kazan Observatory for more than 70 team members. The company helped promote the event and paid for tickets. We also showed how you don't need a car even for long-distance trips.

— We also developed and released an Android app for our corporate car sharing service. This helps employees who live near each other better organize carpooling schedules for their commute. Carpooling directly reduces the number of cars on the road: this is good for the environment and helps employees save on gas.

Environmental protection is not the only area we are socially active in. We also hold a regular Donor Day, where several dozen of our team members regularly get together to donate blood and plasma in the Republican Blood Center of the Republic of Tatarstan. We also organize a collection of school supplies for students in orphanages, hold a charity fair for a local animal shelter, and more. Yet we are proud to note that our environmental initiatives attract the most participants, including the families of our employees.

Green office

Not everybody has time to participate in outdoor events. To help everyone participate, our staff activists suggested putting boxes for waste paper, plastic and old clothes in the company's offices. Their easy availability make green recycling activities the most popular, with 200+ participants every month.

— We have also been collecting batteries since 2014. When batteries end up in ordinary landfills, they contaminate the earth, water and air with toxic agents. But when batteries are disposed of in our office, we send them off for safe disposal. Some colleagues approve of this initiative so much that they even bring in batteries from relatives and friends, so that they don't throw them out with the rest of their daily garbage. For the first half of 2018, we disposed of more than 100 kg of batteries.

— PET bottles from special containers are also taken in for recycling by our administrative service. This is an excellent example of an initiative supported by the company's internal departments.

— In summer 2017, our green enthusiasts brought in containers for old clothes. We send clothes that are in good condition to environmental markets or donate them to orphanages. We take clothes that are too worn out to wear for recycling: it is more environmentally friendly to recycle clothes than to make new clothes from raw materials.

— In addition, in the summer of 2018, we held our first campaign to collect waste paper and old clothing in our offices, and all the raised funds were donated to charity.

— By the end of the year, we will also install containers for separate types of waste in the office.

It is crucial that our eco-initiatives become firmly established in the everyday lives of as many companies and local residents as possible. We need a critical mass of people who are ready to pursue these opportunities and utilizee recycling points for waste, clothing, batteries, etc. in a particular location. A single company, even a large one, can't do it alone. To succeed, eco-initiatives must be taken seriously by multiple businesses at the same time.

Intermediate result: expenses and results

ICL Services invests in its environmental activities:

— 2-4 hours working time, 1-4 employees from HR and the administrative department every week (to organize environmental events);

— 1 hour working time, 8-10 permanent members of the green team every week (for a reporting and planning meeting, monitoring of activities in the city, and the organization of events);

— incentives for eco-activists, including annual awards for the top volunteers and eco-activists of the company, distinctive signs on the corporate portal, and regular team building activities for the green group. Here we're not talking about bonuses or any financial incentives. The company does not require eco-activists to achieve commercial goals, but rather comes together with them to work together and make the world a better place;

— small expenses, if necessary (trash cans for batteries, transport trees for planting by company van, etc.).

Results include:

— team bonding. Helping the world together is a powerful way to bring the company closer together. Participants are guided by non-financial motives. In fact, many of them are key experts, including experienced engineers, team-leads, sales managers and even department managers;

— bolstering corporate culture. Our eco-activities gets employees communicating more with each other, help facilitate new acquaintances with colleagues from other departments, and increase participation in corporate events;

— a ticket into the green companies club. Y-generation's numbers on the labor market are already growing, and Z-generation is on its way. Many of them would prefer working for a green company.

We support environmental and charitable initiatives because we believe that to promote environmentally friendly thinking and lifestyle at the national level, we need to start small by engaging individuals and companies like us. We like to see that we are making the world a kinder, greener and cleaner place. We lead by good example, and help inspire and motivate others to new accomplishments and initiatives.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Article about the implementation of a number of innovative projects in ICL Services, the implementation of which improves the performance of service teams.

Kazan, Republic of Tatarstan -- (ReleaseWire) -- 09/26/2018 -- All companies which seek to grow their business are using advanced technologies. There is ever more information, and they need to be flexible and able to change quickly: not only changing the services they provide to their customers, but also transforming internal processes, making them more mobile and dynamic.

All this allows the business to keep up with the times and provide high-quality IT services to its employees and customers. However, experts state that companies need new IT solutions to constantly improve their services. ICL Services has implemented a number of innovative projects to improve the performance of service teams, including KPI reporting automation, Service Desk performance improvement, and the more efficient management of field engineers.

Acceptance of requests in a few seconds

Despite the fact that the target problem-resolution time can be measured in hours in accordance with the SLA, any incidents should be eliminated as quickly as possible. The speedy elimination of incidents involves their primary processing and correct assignment to resolution groups.

These responsibilities are usually assigned to the first line of support in the Service Desk, resulting in delays of at least a few minutes, even when the request has been described in detail. How can we minimize this loss of time?

A few months ago ICL Services, along with the first-line operators, began to use the system for the automatic classification of incidents and service requests. The new system is a robot that determines the nature and classification of problems using machine learning and algorithms to process and understand natural language. This robot also assigns the task to specific engineers and suggests solutions to specific problems.

Currently, the robot can fully automatically assign 15–20% of requests.

This "robotic" approach has several advantages.

First, the average time loss associated with classification is reduced from 4–5 minutes to 21 seconds. Second, the workload of first-line operators is reduced, enabling them to reduce errors and better handle the rest of the requests even during peak periods. Third, automatic classification forms the basis for fully automatic problem solving.

So, machine learning and artificial intelligence are expanding the scope of automation to further reducing the time needed to resolve incidents and process service requests.

Automatic assignment of IT engineers to visit the customer

Any large company that has numerous offices or stores throughout Russia also has a global IT infrastructure that needs to be constantly maintained, updated and improved. The level and quality of services provided by the company directly depend on it. ICL Services and its partner have developed and implemented a field engineer management tool to quickly address the challenges and issues with the IT infrastructure of such large customers.

This tool is designed to respond as quickly as possible to customer requests. The system structure allows the near automatic processing of requests from customers and assigning of visits, if necessary. Technical support has already seen an increase in productivity and efficiency of nearly 30%.

The system consists of several components: interfaces for dispatchers and field engineers, hardware and a vast database that contains all the necessary information about the customer, its sites and SLAs.

In practice, this works as follows. The dispatcher uses the interface to receive messages directly from customers, create records for new requests, and take an appropriate decision: Does an engineer need to visit the customer? If the visit is necessary, the corresponding task (work order) is created for the field engineer. This task contains all the necessary information about the purpose and place of work, and documents that may be needed, for example, certificates of work performed or instructions. The following aspects are taken into account when selecting a specific employee: competences, availability, availability of the necessary tools and the distance to the place of work. As a result, each task is assigned only to an employee who can perform the work and get to the customer as quickly as possible.

Each work order "finds" its recipient thanks to the interface of the field engineer, which is installed on the employee's mobile device. Using the smartphone app, the engineer receives a timely notification of a new visit and comprehensive information about the request. Also, the application tracks the work and travel time, which later is used to calculate labor costs.

The most important and largest part of the Snaryad application is its database. It contains a huge amount of information that may be required for effective work: customer information – sites and working hours; field employee information – names, positions, service areas and competencies; SLAs – SLA indicators, levels and differences depending on the type of the site. So the engineer's visit is planned almost immediately after receipt of the customer request, and the task is assigned to the engineer who has the necessary competences. In addition, strict control is maintained of incidents and visits, which gives the customer the opportunity to receive comprehensive reports on the quality of services received. Benefits for the customer: the response time of the technician is up to 15 minutes; the arrival time at the equipment installation site is from 1 hour; and the equipment repair time is from 2 hours. In the near future, ICL Services plans to start using this visit management system for all projects and customers. As of August 2018, it was used by 97% of engineers.

Real-time KPI and SLA reports

Real-time KPI and SLA reports can be collected by the Pulse system. It was developed by ICL Services as part of a strategic initiative to automate the reporting and stack monitoring process for all commercial projects. This system provides the ability to quickly receive reports on the company's work without delays related to manual data collection, as well as analyze performance and take management decisions.

Pulse collects data from various ITSM systems and is based on OLAP cubes, multidimensional data arrays that enable the necessary information to be obtained (for example, by employee, day, etc.).

At the moment, the system contains statistics on the following four subject areas:

— Incident management (statistics on created, open, and closed tickets, as well as on the distribution of tickets among groups and the resolution of tickets);

— Change management (statistics on canceled, created, and implemented changes);

— Packaging (detailed information on labor costs by employee, statistics on packages in operation);

— Imaging (information on completed image requests and image processing details).

So, Pulse allows the company to create common criteria for all projects to evaluate the work of both engineers and project managers, as well as to generate various reports in a short time and maintain control over the provision of services and the performance of contractual obligations and internal standards.

In addition, Pulse helps the company analyze the current workload of employees, assess their performance, quickly escalate problems, take decisions about time off and holidays, and build a price model based on actual statistics.

This demonstrates that the new generation IT tools help companies not only to keep up with the times and offer customers the latest technologies to grow their business, but also to provide consistently high-quality services while reducing costs and increasing productivity.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

A proper approach to workflow management creates a basis for the introduction of other components of the "social platform" at the company.

Kazan, Republic of Tatarstan -- (ReleaseWire) -- 09/26/2018 -- We conduct the annual internal employee engagement survey. Recent results showed that 85% of employees are willing to recommend ICL Services as a preferred employer.

This indirectly confirms the effectiveness of the company's corporate social responsibility policy. One of the components of this policy is represented by work processes that have been designed and systematized in full accordance with the interests of the employees and the employer. Work processes provide maximum comfort, efficiency and sustainable development for both parties.

Reference point. When does the relationship between an employee and the company start?

We believe that the relationship between the employee and the company will be the most stable and mutually beneficial only when they are not limited to the scope of the employment contract. The high-level diagram of employment stages in ICL Services is shown below (on the first foto).

1. Occupational training

The capabilities of a large IT company allow us to add practical training to the university theoretical courses in the field of IT. According to the students themselves, not only the opportunity to improve their knowledge and skills is important, but also the experience of participation in processes and projects as part of a real IT team. As a rule, such experience is especially lacking in universities or small regional companies, where young professionals often start their career.

We have deployed the following training system for young professionals:

— career guidance and basic elements required for IT specialists (in featured schools);
— fundamental education at the premises of IT universities;
— short-term special IT courses (Database, IT Security, etc.) provided by the company;
— internships for students working on real projects.

The company's strategic policy decision is that the students are not obliged to work for ICL Services in the future. However, many interns and course graduates join the company. The rest of them become members of the local IT community, and the knowledge that they have gained from ICL Services increases its overall level.

2. Hiring

The main task of the company and the candidate at the hiring stage is to prudently assess the prospects for further cooperation. However, it is equally important to make the selection process comfortable for the applicant. This approach not only increases the probability of successful hiring, but also contributes to the company's reputation in the labor market and improves the efficiency of onboarding and subsequent work of the employee.

The following are the basic principles of ICL Services in respect of recruitment.

— Access to the company's information. ICL Services is present on specialized websites and job fairs, social networks and other job search websites; at the same time, the company provides quick responses to applicants.

— Impartial assessment that is understandable to the applicant. During the interview, applicants talk to HR, technical experts and their future managers. This reduces the risk of human error during evaluation and guarantees impartiality.

— Comfort and care. For example, ICL Services compensates 50% of transport expenses for applicants; new employees will get help in finding a home and handling registration.

3. Onboarding

After recruitment, new employees need help in onboarding at the company and getting acquainted with the team. Corresponding processes are deployed in ICL Services: 100% of new employees will have a buddy for the first 3 months. This is an experienced worker and "personal adviser" who will answer all questions related to work and associated issues.

4. Work

Apart from compliance with the Labor Code of Russian Federation, employees will receive:

— Clear performance evaluation. Personal KPIs decompose the company's strategic goals up to the level of individual experts. Automatic evaluation eliminates subjectivity. The evaluation system fully takes into account the interests of both business and employees, as a pilot project involving 100% of the team has been implemented before adoption, and then improvements are regularly made in accordance with the LEAN methodology.

— Safe workplaces reviewed by external experts.

— Comfortable workplaces. In 2018, ICL Group built a new ultra-modern Technology Park and moved some of ICL Services divisions to this business center. The eight-storey office building with an area of almost 13 thousand square meters is located in an ecologically clean rural area within 20 minutes drive from the center of Kazan and near the airport. There are roads, bus routes and a train stop in close proximity to the office building. The building has areas for passive and active recreation, sports grounds, a dining room and a cafe, a drinking water supply system, etc. Modern noise insulation materials are used to improve comfort and productivity, including sound-absorbing ceilings, wall panels, and acoustic baffles for workstations. High-speed Wi-Fi allows employees to solve tasks anywhere in the office (activity based), for example, on comfortable sofas or at special tables for standing at work.

— Opportunities for education: internal and external courses (technical, soft skills, foreign language), vendor certification, internal library, "labor pool", etc. Number of employees who annually undergo internal or external training is more than 90%; and number of employees who pass certification exams at least once a year is 84%. There are over 50 providers of external training services for employees. This is very important because ICL Services is a service provider that specializes in high-tech and rapidly changing IT field.

— Clear "game rules". Work processes are logged in internal documents. Each employee can study them and they are mandatory for all staff, including top managers. In non-regulated scenarios, you shall be guided by the company's code, and in critical situations (legal noncompliance, financial and reputational risk, etc.), contact the compliance manager and directors in person.

— Extended compensation package:

1. health care (voluntary medical insurance for 100% of employees, vaccinations, allowance for health centers for the children of employees, allowance for sports, free football, volleyball and basketball classes);

2. rest and entertainment (leave allowance, holidays for employees and their families, corporate recreation center, internal tournaments, corporate discounts in more than 30 coffee shops, stores, travel firms, etc.);

3. help in important events (interest-free loans, allowance for weddings, birth of children and funerals of relatives);

4. help with accommodation (relocation allowance or corporate apartment if moving from another city, housing communities for employees, allowance for mortgage interest).

The company's philosophy, both when providing services to customers and in relation to internal processes, is based on the principle of continuous improvement (on the 2nd foto)

The key tool for continuous improvement is communication, in particular via feedback channels. Each employee can ask vital questions and get answers (including from top managers), as well as influence events inside the company by suggesting improvements and changes.

ICL Services maintains 13 feedback channels, for example:

— Annual general survey. Results of such survey are taken into account when approving the annual action plan to improve all aspects of work within the company — from the development of competencies or interaction with managers to administrative and economic issues.

— Strategy Update – personal meeting of top managers with volunteering employees.

— Expert consultations – answers from field-specific employees (HR, administration, etc.) on staff questions.

— "Red button" – a way to communicate about privacy violations, reputational risk for the company and other critical situations.

— iC-SAT – internal Customer SATisfaction, a survey to quickly evaluate the performance of internal services.

— Change Processes service which allows employees to offer and justify the desired changes in any of the company's processes, from working with customers to the paperwork for a leave.

— An information terminal to collect feedback on the quality of food in the corporate canteen, etc.

According to the internal survey, 95% of employees do not have problems with information inside the company, and 77% are sure that they can address top managers, despite occupational hierarchy.

5. Termination of labor relations and further cooperation

The company keeps in contact with former colleagues, for example, we invite them on corporate holidays and tell them about new job openings. In turn, our alumni act as brand ambassadors and recommend our company to their friends, and sometimes they return to ICL Services.

Well-established work processes that take into account the interests of both the company and its employees are not the only factor that determines the business sustainability and the engagement of employees. However, this is one of the key features of a socially responsible company. And more than that, a proper approach to workflow management creates a basis for the introduction of other components of the "social platform" at the company, for example, the widespread implementation of the principle of observing human rights or fruitful interaction with the local community.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Let's consider the four stages that a team goes through when implementing Lean in our company.

Kazan, Republic of Tatarstan -- (ReleaseWire) -- 09/26/2018 -- In the 1980's, Professor Noriaki Kano invented a model that reflects the relationship between product qualities and customer satisfaction. He defined three categories of product qualities: basic, performance, and excitement. And then he explained how these or other qualities increase or decrease satisfaction from the use of the product.

This model demonstrates that the value of certain product qualities from the consumer's point of view changes over time. The qualities can transfer between categories. What originally created the WOW effect and belonged to the performance category is gradually becoming an integral (basic) attribute of this product or service. Let's take, for example, the first smartphones: cameras and color displays caused a lot of excitement. As of today, all customers expect to get these options by default in any smartphone.

To stay competitive, meet and anticipate customer expectations, companies have to keep abreast of and respond to changes in a proactive manner. Such methodologies and frameworks as Agile, Six Sigma, SCRUM, SAFe, etc. provide the required flexibility and help companies make decisions quickly. As for ICL Services, we use lean manufacturing (or simply Lean) tools and methodologies for this purpose.

Our Lean approach is based on a deep understanding of the customer needs and timely and even proactive response to requests.

How it works

Lean manufacturing tools and methodologies are changing the way the team works and helping to adopt the customer centric mindset. Lean offers to focus on getting rid of activities that do not create value for the customer. Using well-defined methodologies, the team learns how to cope faster with the changing expectations of the customer.

New philosophy

The new way of working entails changes that affect each employee. The team needs time to rebuild their processes and relationships and start using new tools. Therefore, we are implementing Lean in our teams in stages. First, a dedicated platform is deployed to discuss team performance. Then, we sequentially add lean manufacturing tools to this platform. In a few weeks, the team notices the first results and advantages of using the new approach. This is a good incentive to implement Lean in more complex tasks.

Stages

Let's consider the four stages that a team goes through when implementing Lean in our company.

The 1st stage: the team gets acquainted with the basic tools. Employees are imbued with ideas and get acquainted with the concept of continuous improvement. A platform is deployed to quickly diagnose the current level of team performance.

How we do it: the team allocates a certain period of time to evaluate its work, for example, an hour per week. During such meetings, the team analyzes the current situation and identifies areas for improvement. At this stage, employees talk about issues that prevent them from working productively, and then create a plan to eliminate the issues. Employees see that their problems are actually solved, and trust within the team is growing. In addition, general rules of interaction in the team are developed.

Example: the team holds one face-to-face meeting per week. Such meetings provide an opportunity for employees to express their ideas and suggestions for improvement. As a result of the first meeting, the participants formed an improvement plan, after implementation of which, the team was able to increase productivity. Employees' trust in the lean manufacturing approach increased.

The 2nd stage: the team evaluates its performance taking into account the value for the customer. The customer is in the spotlight, along with his/her needs. At this level, the requirements are transformed into indicators to be monitored by the team. The team focuses on those areas that increase customer satisfaction and gets acquainted with a comprehensive approach to problem solving.

How we do it: the team constantly monitors and anticipates customer expectations. Feedback from customers turns into new indicators of the team's performance. As a result, the team is always on the same page with its customers.

Example. During one of the meetings, the team analyzed the customer's current requests and expectations: the key point was the speed of response. It turned out that the problem was associated with the shifts overlapping. At an additional meeting, participants studied the problem in detail and revealed the root causes. They then prepared an action plan to address the causes and solve the problem. The tasks were redistributed among the employees, and a new position was introduced, which allowed to solve the problem with the shifts overlapping, reduced the load on employees and increased the quality of work.

The 3rd stage: the team introduces new Lean tools into their workflows, all activities are standardized, and processes and procedures are getting rid of inefficient steps. The areas where the team measures its performance are expanded.

How we do it: the team effectively manages its work depending on the customer's requests. All improvements are standardized, and agreements within the team are strictly complied with.

Example: the team began to systematically improve the current workflows. A dedicated working group studied one process in detail, then they removed unnecessary steps and ensured effective communications among other teams and units. As a result, they saved up to 5,000 man-hours per year within this project.

The 4th stage: the team is improving services and focuses on proactive work. The objectives are revised, and new challenges are identified. The team shifts its focus from what is already being done perfectly to what else can be improved.

How we do it: the team is ahead of the curve: the customer has not yet expressed his/her wish, but we are already implementing it.

Example. The team audited its project and began to optimize its core business processes. They began by classifying and assigning tasks to engineers. After several team meetings, new solutions were found and an action plan was prepared. As a result, the team was able to automate ticket analysis through machine learning and the subsequent assignment of task to engineers. Ticket resolution time was reduced by almost 2 times, and the customer noticed improvements very quickly. Resources that were freed up as a result of optimization were used to solve new tasks within this project.

Important considerations for implementing Lean in the teams:

1. You should not expect incredible success in a short time. Staged implementation provides stable results and ensures high employee engagement.

2. The active participation of managers is key to the success of the implementation of the tools. The better a manager understands the benefits of the new approach for his/her team, the faster such changes are implemented.

3. The entire team is collectively responsible for improving performance, which creates an enabling environment for generating new ideas and promotes greater employee engagement.

4. Lean methodologies make the work of the team more structured and allow using the best world experience and useful tools.

From the point of view of Lean, improvements do not necessarily consist in a complete revision of the team's processes. It is more important to ensure continuous improvements. Even small continuous improvements can enable teams to create a margin of safety to flexibly respond to changing reality.

We often have to question the usual approaches to work. It is unusual for a team, especially when its performance indicators are in the "green zone." However, every single day we improve our work a little bit. As a result, ICL Services is always ready for new challenges, and our team meets and even exceeds the expectations of customers.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Taking anticorruption measures may be not just a nominal following the letter of the law but also a philosophy of market activity.

Kazan, Republic of Tatarstan -- (ReleaseWire) -- 09/26/2018 -- According to the Russian economic crime survey 2018, prepared by PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers), one of the largest consulting companies, the most widespread economic crime is illegal misappropriation of assets. It is followed by bribery and corruption. Procurement fraud takes third position. Anticorruption efforts are being taken everywhere, but they have failed to reduce the amount of such crimes so far. This tendency is not typical for Russia but for the rest of world as well where the share of abusive practices among top managers of companies has increased in recent years.

To mitigate the impact of negative factors, companies strengthen their response and prevention measures. Years-long international practical experience of ICL Services indicates that taking anticorruption measures may be not just a nominal following the letter of the law but also a philosophy of market activity.

International business ethics

Being one of the Russian IT market leaders for many years, ICL Services has been honestly and openly fighting for clients offering high level of service, using the accumulated experience and global practices in the area of rendering IT-related services. ICL Services clients come from 30 countries. This has contributed to the development of a single approach to the compliance of the company employees with the anticorruption legislation of Russia and other countries of its presence. At the moment, anticurruption activities hold a hold a significant place in the social responsibility policy of the company.

The company has developed its own mandatory anticorruption policy which includes norms, principles, procedures for the interaction with government structures, political parties, charity activities.

The company has studied international approaches to fighting illegal activities. It uses the experience of global partners and operates a zero tolerance policy with respect to bribery and corruption. There is a Compliance Manager in the company whose duties include countermeasures to illegal practices and ensuring the operation of the internal corruption-related risk control and management system.

Consequences of economic crimes: analysis

The PwC survey demonstrates that 56% of corporate respondents increased their spending on economic crime fighting during the last two years. Mainly, this is the result of increased amount of crime in Russia. For example, the bribery and corruption level grew by 11% (from 30% to 41%) as compared to 2016. Meanwhile, the global corruption is also growing but its share in the total amount of economic crimes is 25%.

But why is corruption a big problem? Firstly, the damage is related to loss of finance and assets. Secondly, failure to comply with anticorruption ethic standards by partners and suppliers directly affects the positive image of a company. Therefore, corruption is impermissible in ICL Services practices. When making contacts, the company includes the clause on observance the requirements of the applicable anticorruption legislation. The following can be mentioned among other intangible consequences of economic crimes: low employee morale, deterioration of business relationships, as well as dealing with regulating authorities.

Fair competition everywhere

The anticorruption policy of ICL Services is aimed at the corporate culture creation not only with respect to its own employees but also to its partners. The corruption risk is real threat to business, and we are making all possible effort to respond and prevent it. These measures are of strategic importance for us", says Sergey Solovyov, ICL Services Director.

The company performs internal audit of suppliers that are allowed to deal with ICL Services. During the audit, the following criteria are applied: quality and price, reputation, as well as ability to comply with all applicable legislation requirements.

Corporate culture

15% of respondents in Russia and 12% worldwide expect that they will encounter corruption and bribery in future. This forecast underlines the importance of creating mechanisms for bribery and corruption risk control, as well as corporate culture development.

"All employees of our company are aware of business ethics and follow these rules in the work on a daily basis", notes Evgenia Solonina, Deputy Staff Director at ICL Services, "All employees receive training on anticorruption measures with a series of tests and information on such a concept as "conflict of interests."

In general, each company employee can inform the compliance manager about noticed violations. There is a special section on the ICL Services corporate portal for employees to notify about actions that constitute corruption and other illegal activities of their colleagues. At the same time, the anticorruption policy guarantees employee protection from harassment and threats. ICL Services practices based on anticorruption principles is the cornerstone of the company's activities that promotes its successful development both in international IT markets and in Russia.

About ICL Services
ICL Services operates in the international market since 2006 and is the largest IT company in ICL Group. To date ICL Services has about 1,000 employees working successfully with over 50 major clients from 26 countries providing IT maintenance services 24 hours 7 days a week in English, Russian, French and German.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

The description our approaches to the implementation of human rights protection practices within the routine operations of the company.

Kazan, Republic of Tatarstan -- (ReleaseWire) -- 09/26/2018 -- In 2018, it is very strange to ask questions like "Should a company be socially responsible?" or "What does the company get from this?" The experience of hundreds of companies, from Gazprom to Nestle, shows that your responsibility to society is a prerequisite for long-term and sustainable success.

At the same time, it is more important to answer the following question: "How difficult is it to implement the principles of corporate social responsibility (CSR) within the company's practices?" Or, if we put in other words: "Where to begin?" If your company has also started implementing CSR practices, our experience may be useful for you.

We are ICL Services, an IT company. We are among the top 100 global outsourcers and provide services to 80+ customers in 30 countries. 1,400+ ICL Services employees work in six offices.

We have repeatedly talked about our experience in the field of corporate social responsibility, including the principles of Realpolitik in CSR and the launch of internal environmental initiatives. And now we want to describe our approaches to the implementation of human rights protection practices within the routine operations of the company. To succeed in this area, we have taken four basic steps.

Step 1. Clarify the company's attitude to human rights protection

If you expect employees to share the company's vision of human rights protection, you should at least follow these steps:

— define the company's point of view;

— it should be defined so that it is clear and can be decomposed to the daily practices of each employee.

— ambiguously describe the company's hierarchy of values (for example, clearly show what is more important: "to respect basic human rights" or "to perform the task at whatever the cost")

— include all these provisions in a binding and generally available document

As for ICL Services, the principles of respect and observance of human rights, as well as the inadmissibility of getting benefits at the cost of their infringement, are described in one of the corporate policies. This is a high-level internal document which is mandatory. Any order that is contrary to the current Policy can and must be disputed. employees can address all issues related to the Policy adherence to the compliance manager or directly to the company's management. Thus, all employees understand the company's attitude and have everything they need to comply with it in their daily work.

Step 2. Find partners who share your ideas

Cooperation with partners who do not share your CSR principles is dangerous for three reasons. First, it can damage the company's image. Second, if your employees systematically observe a partner who violates the CSR principles, they can adopt the worst practices. Third, by choosing contractors who violate human rights, you support them and motivate them to new violations.

To avoid the possibility of such cases, we created the Code for Suppliers and Business Partners. We provide this document and all our contractors must comply with it. If they follow the basic principles of the CSR in the field of environment protection, working with communities and observance of human rights, this Code does not require additional efforts from them and therefore it is unchallenged. But if the counterparty refuses to follow the Code, it is an alarming signal and a reason to refuse to cooperate.

Step 3. Exceed requirements

There are mandatory requirements related to observance of human rights: Labor Code of the Russian Federation, as well as other Russian and international laws and regulations. This is the letter of the law. However, the spirit of the law, as we understand it, is different: expand the range of state-provided basic guarantees to the maximum reasonable and feasible from the business point of view. For example, some of the measures we have taken are as follows:

The right for health and well-being. ICL Services provides its employees with private medical insurance, vaccinations, and fluorography. Our employees can engage in competitive sports on specially rented sites for free and receive a partial refund of the cost of gym membership.

The right to professional development. The company pays for external training and certification required to perform professional duties, and also provides access to free internal courses (technical, soft skills, languages). Up to 90% of employees annually use the opportunity to upgrade their skills.

The right to recognition and self-fulfilment. 15+ recognition programs in various fields (from achievements in professional activity to volunteering and mentoring) allow our employees to engage and succeed in the most interesting activities.

Step 4. To turn the project into a process

Introduction of the CSR practices into company's activities is a project. But this project must eventually become a process that operates on a permanent basis and involves all employees. To do this, you need to lay a solid foundation for the CSR principles of CSR in the form of an unambiguous and clear attitude of the company. In addition, you should do the following:

— monitor compliance with the company's attitude at all levels of the corporate hierarchy.

— deploy feedback channels for consultations, escalation and process improvement.

— allocate resources to promote adherence to the CSR principles as a corporate process.

These four simple steps have helped us to create a system of practices to protect human rights and implement it in our company's business processes. Perhaps, our experience will also be useful to you.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

How to involve people in charity?

Kazan, Republic of Tatarstan -- (ReleaseWire) -- 09/26/2018 -- Is the crisis helpful?

Over the past four years, Russia has been suffering from a difficult economic and political situation. About 50% of the companies that took part in the survey of Zircon research group, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Donor Forum and CAF Russia have ceased to support charitable organizations or minimized their financial contribution to charity events.

Despite this, the number of ordinary citizens and companies that are actively involved in charity is gradually growing. According to the study of the British Charities Aid Foundation (CAF), conducted in January 2016, Russia entered the top 10 of 24 countries and took the 8th place in terms of private donations to charities in relation to GDP (0.34%). Many Russian companies have found a new model of behavior in the conditions of the economic crisis. After reducing their contributions to charities, companies have focused not on direct donations, but on motivating their employees to participate in charity. ICL Services, which is an international IT company, has also taken this path.

How to involve people in charity?

ICL Services, as one of the leaders in its market segment, not only successfully copes with its main role of the largest IT outsourcer in the region, but also makes a significant contribution to the social and environmental well-being of society and adheres to the international standards. ICL Services demonstrates that charitable projects are not limited to direct cash investments, but are also associated with active social positions of the company's employees. Each employee can choose an area of social activity of the company, which he/she is interested in:

— environmental projects;
— projects related to healthy lifestyle and sports;
— projects that help young people discover their talents;
— many small events to support dedicated children's institutions;
— projects to assist veterans;
— regional social projects.

Only in 2017–2018, ICL Services organized and participated in 50+ charity events uniting 1,400 of its concerned employees.

The projects are managed by about 20 volunteers who discuss initiatives on a weekly basis and implement quarterly plans within the framework of social projects. After preparing plans for each new initiative, the organizers publish news about the event and recruit a team of volunteers from among the concerned employees.

Employees can also propose their own projects and implement them. The company supports such initiatives and demonstrates that everyone can easily become an organizer and cope with this task.

Special charity

ICL Services strives for continuous development not only in relation to the workflows and results, but also regarding the social life of the company and the region as a whole. The company prevents possible violations of human rights, maintains total transparency in its relationships with partners and encourages innovation and the desire of employees to contribute to the life of the whole society by performing their work or by taking an active part in social life.

The corporate culture of ICL Services successfully combines Western and Russian approaches due to the unique history of the company, and this affects all its activities, including charity. The following principles and decisions have become especially successful for the company in the field of charity.

One-time events vs long-term projects

Over the past 10 years, corporate charity has included both one-time events (donation of computers to Beslan students in 2004, assistance to sick children in 2011–2017, purchase of new year gifts to patients of the psychoneurologic dispensary, etc.) and long-term sponsorship of children's and nursing homes of the Republic of Tatarstan, as well as assistance to veterans of labor (holding of meetings, sponsorship), fulfillment of children's new year wishes, etc. However, the company prefers one-time short-term events. This is largely due to the desire of employees to get a quick result that is to help the needy and get psychological satisfaction from a good deed here and now. The second reason is due to the fact that different events have different audiences with different interests. And the company itself thus easier facilitates the motivation of employees and the involvement of volunteers in projects, as it can use a lot of news hook.

Social activities of the company include various campaigns and events, from collecting clothes for the needy (2017), gardening and outdoor cleaning (The Memory Alley campaign, gardening in Usady, and cleaning of city parks) to long-term office activities for the collection and disposal of batteries and recycling of waste paper, followed by the allocation of funds for charity projects.

Only in 2017, the company's volunteers:

— collected 300 kg of waste paper. Money earned from recycling the paper was donated to the Fund of Anjela Vavilova.

— organized the collection of clothes for those in need and donated 60+ kg of clothes to the Freemarket and the Khoroshiye Ruki (Good Hands) charity warehouse. 

— delivered 30 kg of food to nurseries for homeless dogs.

Targeted Aid

Our colleagues prefer to help specific organizations and people they know personally. According to a survey conducted by the Center for Studies of Civil Society and the Nonprofit Sector (CSCSNS) of National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE), 57% of Russians do not believe in the selfless motives of most charitable organizations. 43% of respondents believe that charity is only one of the types of self-promotion. 39% believe that charitable organizations are a cover for unfair businesses. And finally, only 5% of respondents admit that very rich people can donate some funds selflessly.

Therefore, it is not surprising that our employees prefer to get acquainted with those who are assisted and supported:

— participation in the Million in Loose Change campaign, namely, crowdfunding, assistance with logistics, collection of donations, and internal information campaign.

— collection of donations for the Mothers of Kazan organization, which takes care of orphans.

— participation in the Kindness Fair, which was originally an initiative of the Kazan Gymnasium No. 19, and then turned into a city-wide event.

— blood donation to donor funds 2 times a year;

— visits to children's homes, correctional schools, and nursing homes.

Development

The company participates in joint educational programs with IT universities and invests in educational projects, scholarship programs, internships, and training courses. In addition, the company's employees are engaged in the professional orientation of young people, contribute to the professional development and help talented students to take the first steps to build a career in the promising and rapidly changing IT field. The company does not force the participants of such campaigns to compulsory employment and does not charge participation fees.

Last year, the company took part in 30+ job fairs, as well as projects and events for students and schoolchildren aimed at promoting IT as a promising and attractive field of activity in the region. On-site defense of diploma thesis, practical training and internship are part of a well-established mechanism of interaction between students and the company.

Anonymity

It is interesting that the company's employees often object to their names and photos appearing in the corporate media, especially when it comes to direct cash donations. At the same time, they actively support personal participation in events and targeted in-kind aid. We can assume that this is due to the Russian mentality and the fact that we do not like to discuss our good deeds widely.

Growth

The intensification of private charity in ICL Services during the crisis can be associated with the desire of specific employees to help those who really need their assistance, that is, to do a good deed. The company's task is to support such initiatives and promote their implementation. As for the corporate charity, where each initiative comes from the company itself, it is an excellent method to motivate employees and properly utilize their energy, as well as to assess the effectiveness of specific programs and choose the most effective ways to implement social programs with the participation of caring employees.

We are pleased with the fact that every year there are more and more such employees, which indicates the stable growth of the company even in such rough times.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

To keep ahead of the field, analysts recommend implementing new IT solutions as quickly as possible. Below we will discuss key technologies that will help save money, support business sustainability, increase operating speed and customer satisfaction.

Moscow, Tatarstan -- (ReleaseWire) -- 10/26/2017 -- All companies which want to develop their business use advanced technologies. Digital technologies are rapidly developing, and today there is nothing unusual about augmented reality, the Internet of Things, and other smart areas. Information volumes are growing, companies are searching for ways to adapt to changes, not only revising the set of services they provide to their customers but also transforming internal processes, making them more mobile, dynamic, and innovative.

To keep ahead of the field, analysts recommend implementing new IT solutions as quickly as possible. Below we will discuss key technologies that will help save money, support business sustainability, increase operating speed and customer satisfaction.

Software solution based on the Omnitracker platform

Everyone knows that it is necessary to plan and control company assets. This can be done using a software solution based on the Omnitracker platform developed by ICL Services, an international IT service company. The solution helps store and manage data hosted in the company's assets (such as network devices, databases and data storages, physical and virtual services). It allows companies to:

- organize and optimize storing and handling information about assets;
- control the existing infrastructure condition using reporting;
- use a unified convenient tool developed on the basis of current needs.

To ensure better control, this software solution is developed and implemented using the Omnitracker platform. Within this solution, every IT infrastructure component has a wide range of attributes necessary to provide the most complete and detailed information possible about a device. If additional information is needed, there is an option to add custom attributes and work with them. Then reports are created, which are configured taking into account the needs of a particular project. This makes it possible to control the environment in a user-friendly way and to work and make decisions at a higher level.

To provide the technical capability for data processing, as well as a general understanding of how to do it, ICL Services' specialists have developed a process to manage such assets. This helps to understand roles and responsibilities, rules and procedures, as well as necessary actions. This process is quite flexible, so it can be implemented "as is" or adjusted according to the company policy requirements.

Self-service portal

The self-service portal makes it possible to access the company's resources and services and quickly resolve IT problems without using the support desk, and if additional support is absolutely necessary, the portal provides the option to register a query. Unlike existing solutions, the ICL self-service portal is a one-box solution which allows a wide range of tasks to be automated:

- autonomous access to printers and shared access to files;
- autonomous installation of allowed applications (with one click);
- registration of different administrative and IT queries;
- resolution of standard technical problems.

The tool can always be accessed from the desktop, so you don't have to remember where to call or write to. The solution is created as a one-stop-shop service. Its interface combines many different existing systems, helping the user to find and access services without having to remember the addresses/names/titles of resources.

Access to portal functions is provided either via web interface or a desktop agent (specifically in the system tray). Such an approach ensures continuous access to self-service functions wherever you are: on the road, in the office, or at home. The web interface makes it possible to easily integrate the solution into any corporate portal, while retaining the company style. Automation is configured and managed on the server side (centrally) thus reducing solution maintenance costs and increasing system efficiency.

Also due to the centralization, system support can remotely perform different tasks, and this is crucial for automating IT department activities, especially for first support line and for First Call Resolution optimization. We should also point out integration with Microsoft System Center Manager (SCCM), which makes it possible to autonomously install corporate applications using advanced algorithms for approving and restricting access rights on the self-service portal. The system interface language is fully adapted to the user's needs, which can be very helpful for companies working in the CIS and other countries.

Such a tool would help the IT department of any company save a lot on "handling queries" from users. ICL Services estimates that up to 30% of queries can be resolved independently, which could lead to substantial budget savings.

Mobile personnel management system

Coverage area expansion and stricter requirements for the level of IT services in companies determine the need to introduce changes into approaches to mobile personnel management. The automated mobile personnel management system is designed to cost-effectively perform scalability tasks and to increase labor productivity.

Let's see how it works using the example of engineers from ICL Services. Work orders are delivered to the service engineer's smartphone. Using a mobile device, the engineer can report on tasks in real time or with little delay, receive service information, and notify about problems. The major task is to get rid of all useless and not valuable work and free up time spent on reporting and other paperwork.

The system also makes it possible to optimize the engineer's assignment to work orders based on location, estimated travel time to the site, and current workload. This approach will also be applied to subcontractor employees hired to perform service operations.

So, by using a mobile personnel management system, companies can:

- retain manageability with the same number of managers in the event of a large increase in work and engineering staff expansion;

- ensure management and management information quality through transition from "voice management" to "digital";

- control SLA and balance existing capabilities;

- reduce the human factor in coordination and planning tasks, and improve workplace discipline using geolocation tools;

- retain manageability in the event of business scalability;

- completely shift to the service model and stop using fixed teams, leading to a cheaper service and retaining service quality.

As a result, new generation IT tools help companies not only stay relevant and control the asset management process but also provide secure access to workplaces wherever the employees are located, reducing expenses and increasing labor productivity.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Moscow, Tatarstan -- (ReleaseWire) -- 10/24/2017 -- Until 2012, Russia's environmental movement had been spontaneous. In 2012, the government increased the priority of environmental issues by publishing "Foundations of Government Policy in the Sphere of Environmental Development of the Russian Federation to 2030". This emphasized the environmental contribution of government bodies, environmental organizations, societies and companies.

At the same time, business is a powerful tool for creating environmental habits among people. Its influence covers employees themselves, their families and the local and even global community.

We believe that there are two main motives for the environmental motivation of business.

1. Potential savings or profits from implementing environmental standards (for example, preserving resources at a plant, factory, etc.). In this case "environmental tasks" = "business tasks", and the company invests in them.

2. Solving problems without direct economic benefit – or because "the Earth is our home", or for PR purposes. This often happens with non-production companies: auditing agencies, law firms, IT-companies, etc. There are usually good reasons for why resources for environmental tasks are limited: they need to be found.

Our IT-company ICL Services belongs to the second type. But we are developing a large corporate social responsibility program, including the environment, and our experience shows:

- We don't need big investments or a financial incentive to develop environmental initiatives;

- The main goal of internal environmental initiatives is to attract the attention of employees to the issue, engage them and support their activities;

- There are enough green enthusiasts within the company to support continuous environmental activities.

How we launched the environmental movement

Now we have an entire team of green activists: more than 20 permanent participants and up to 150 volunteers who join events they are interested in. It was started four years ago by two employees who came to the company's management with the following suggestions:

- organize active leisure for colleagues – a bike ride together with clearing garbage from suburban lakes and a picnic at the end;

- put battery disposal cans in offices, and then take them for recycling.

The company supported both suggestions: initiatives were announced through "official" channels, and the organizers received the necessary help. When other concerned employees noticed this support, they also began to suggest ideas: greening activities, waste paper collection, etc. This led to the creation of a group of green enthusiasts – people who are inspired by the environment, charity and sports. The team grew via word of mouth: new colleagues joined after several events. If the team grows, then the number and diversity of environmental initiatives also grows.

How we support the environmental movement "simpler" = "better"

Time-management teaches us: if you're procrastinating while performing a task, try to find out what don't you like about it. When you remove an obstacle, it is easier to complete the task. We've used the same method for organizing environmental activities. Employees are happy to take part, because the company makes it easy, for example:

- it buys and transports trees and tools for greening events;
- it puts boxes for waster paper collection and battery disposal in the office;
- it provides transport for taking trips out of the city, etc.

The initiator of an environmental event can delegate the most difficult organizational tasks to event-managers from the HR department and employees from the administrative department. All the participants have to do is turn up to the event on time.

How it works. Examples

This is what our volunteers have done during 2017.

- They agreed on corporate participation in the regional event "Avenue of Memory" – planting apple trees in memory of heroes of the Great Patriotic War in city parks. The company helped to create awareness and provided tools. As a result more than 30 employees joined this activity.

- The team organized an 85-kilometer bike ride with a "green" excursion to an arboretum for more than 70 colleagues. The company helped to create awareness and paid for the tickets. We showed you don't need a car for long-distance trips.

- The team visited an orphanage and organized a celebration with personal interaction, active games and workshops for the children.

- They visited an animal shelter, helped workers and donated money and more than 30 kg of food.

- They developed a mobile application for internal car sharing. This helps employees who live near each other to give each other a lift to and from work. Give a colleague a lift and reduce the number of cars on the road: this is good for the environment and employees will save on gas.

Not everybody has time to plant trees. That's why enthusiasts suggested putting boxes for waste paper, plastic and old clothes in the office. They are easily available, so green recycling activities are the most popular – hundreds of people take part.

- We have been collecting batteries since 2014. When batteries end up in dump sites, they contaminate the earth, water and air with toxic agents. But when batteries are thrown away in the office, they are then sent for safe disposal. Some colleagues like this activity so much that they even bring batteries from relatives and friends, so that they don't dispose of them in their daily garbage. For the first 8 months of 2017 we managed to dispose of more than 100 kg of batteries.

- PET bottles from special containers are taken for recycling by our administrative service. This is a great example of an initiative supported by the company's internal departments.

- During summer 2017, green enthusiasts installed containers for old clothes. We send clothes that are in good condition to environmental markets or take them to orphanages. We take clothes that are in bad state for recycling: it is more environmentally friendly to recycle clothes than to make new clothes from raw materials.

- Also in summer 2017 we organized waste paper collection for the first time in the office.

Intermediate result: expenses and results

The company currently invests in environmental activities:

- 2–4 hours working time, 1–4 employees from the HR and administrative department every week (to organize environmental events);

- 30 minutes working time, 8–10 permanent members of the green team every week (for a reporting and planning meeting);

- insignificant funds – if necessary (purchase trash cans for batteries, transport trees for planting by company van, etc.).

Results include:

- a uniting effect. Helping the world together is a powerful team-building factor for the whole company. This is a non-financial driver for enthusiasts. By the way, many of them are key experts: experienced engineers, team-leads, sales managers and even department managers;

- ticket for the environmental companies club. The number of Y-generation people in the labor market is growing, and the Z-generation is on its way. Many of them would prefer to join a green company.

We launched and support environmental and charity initiatives because we like the results. We like to see that we are making the world a kinder and cleaner place. But even if we just look at environmental activity pragmatically, we think that we have found the right balance.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

ICL Services' experience shows that, in order to build a successful business based on social responsibility principles, you don't necessarily need transnational corporation assets.

Kazan, Tatarstan -- (ReleaseWire) -- 10/20/2017 -- Transnational corporations (Fujitsu, Nestle, etc.) build their businesses based on corporate social responsibility (CSR) principles: They create clear policies, apply them in production and monitor conformity, Why? Possibly, because "business can only flourish in societies in which human rights are respected, upheld and advanced" (Paul Polman, CEO, Unilever).

How to work with CSR, if you are not Nestle or Unilever? ICL Services experience

Our business (IT-company ICL Services) is approximately 150 times smaller than Unilever and 300 times smaller than Nestle. We are included in the top 100 of global outsourcing companies and work with Customers from 26 countries, but 90 % of our employees are in Russia.

Our experience shows that, in order to build a successful business based on social responsibility principles, you don't necessarily need transnational corporation assets.

ISO 26000 instead of a compass

CSR principles are regulated by ISO 26000. It focuses on 6 main aspects:

1) human rights;
2) compliance with labor practices;
3) environment;
4) fair operating practices;
5) consumer issues;
6) community involvement and development.

Usually everything is clear with labor and operating practices because they are regulated by laws. In a blog on CNews we discussed how to build environment and community development processes. Today we will share the experience of implementing human rights compliance in an IT-company.

Formulate and record the company's CSR position

To demand anything from its employees in the field of CSR, the company needs to:

- formulate its own goals;
- clearly explain them to its employees and allow for consultations;
- define requirements hierarchy.

We solved these problems when we recorded the CSR requirements in the corporate Policy. It is available for all employees. Everyone knows: an order violating CSR regulations can be disputed using the Policy. In a complex case you can contact the compliance-manager, deputy director of HR or the CEO in person.

The company's CSR Policy includes the principle of observing human rights:

"The Company respects human rights, understanding that they are inseparably applicable in the countries where the Company operates, in all cultures and in any circumstances; it takes all measures to observe them, and assumes that making profit from situations where legislation or its application does not guarantee the necessary human rights protection is unacceptable."

Note: do not violate and do not encourage others

Suppose, that company X produces high-quality products and observes the rights of employees and customers. Y is a supplier of raw materials for X and secretly uses child labor. X grows, requires more raw materials, and 12-year-olds are having to work longer shifts at Y's plant. X does not violate laws, but encourages violation by its own activity.

To avoid the possibility of such cases, we created a Code for suppliers and business partners and require that all our contractors to comply with it.

The letter of the law vs the spirit of the law

The letter of the law requires that companies comply with the Labor code of the Russian Federation and other Russian and international regulations. In our opinion, the spirit of the law requires more than that: to expand legal minimum guarantees to the extent of the company's capabilities. We focused on several areas:

- stimulate employees for continuous education and development;
- provide the opportunity for recognition and self-fulfillment;
- provide the opportunity for professional and career growth;
- invest in the health and well-being of employees.

Investments in health and well-being

We provide private medical insurance for our employees, including expensive dentistry. Our offices have medical rooms and every year we provide free vaccinations and fluorography. We reimburse the cost of gym membership, rent football, volleyball and basketball playing grounds for our employees and support participation in sporting events (Kazan Marathon).

These investments also cover the families of employees. For example, we partially reimburse expenses on sanatorium therapy for children of employees, we organize events for them, etc. On significant family events (wedding, birth of a child), employees get additional payments.

Education and development

We pay for the education and certification of our employees in full. They can develop their technical skills, soft skills and learn foreign languages on external and internal courses. As a result, every year 90–95 % of our employees take advantage of the education opportunities.

Recognition and self-fulfillment

We have more than 15 recognition programs: official and informal, for business results and volunteering, technical achievements and for helping colleagues. This means that anyone who performs something interesting and significant for themselves can receive company recognition.

Transparent growth system

Together with employees, we have built a system for evaluating performance: we tested it across the entire company and used feedback to improve it. We automated it to get objective results. We consider employees for management and senior engineering positions. The rules for performance evaluation, certification and position change are registered in public documents.

The process, not the result

Working according to CSR principles is not a one-time result, but a continuous process. It involves the company and every employee – from the director to junior specialist.

The company's task is to guarantee a "basis" for the employees: a well-thought-out, documented official position that is consistently observed and monitored. Our experience shows that it is quite possible to build such a platform. And we hope that more companies will join those that understand the importance of business responsibility to society.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Kazan, Russia -- (ReleaseWire) -- 10/17/2017 -- Do you have a "magic pill" that improves the performance of your team?

At IT-company ICL Services we have one. We use it to increase employee engagement, improve processes and teach the team to use every opportunity for improvement. In one team this pill helped decrease the number of incidents by 20 %, in another it increased performance by 28 %, and this is not the limit.

This pill is represented by a LEAN-approach that we have been developing for 4 years. We would like to share our experience in this short article.

What is LEAN?

The LEAN Production concept was formulated by Toyota in the 1950s. Toyota triumphantly entered the US car market in the 1960s: Japanese cars were better and cheaper than American ones. Other industries became interested in the LEAN concept: energy and trade, services and healthcare, the military, and later – IT.

The essence of LEAN is to do everything possible to really understand customer requirements and gradually remove everything that does not bring the customer value.

What LEAN gave us?

Let's begin with results.

We started to implement LEAN in 2013. Now, in 2017, most of our departments use it.

This is what we've achieved for some of our Customers:

- the department for the development of installation packages and corporate OS images reduced operating time per package by 28%. As a result, Customer orders are fulfilled much faster and always with high quality;

- First time fix on a software development and support project for a large retailer grew by 32%. Customer employees noticed that problem resolution time became faster;

- an IT-outsourcing project for a global manufacturing company reduced monitoring incidents by 50%. Engineers had more time for additional operations for the Customer;

- a project for a power generating equipment manufacturer helped reduce incoming incidents by 20%, and the Customer gained more sustainable IT-infrastructure.

Implementation of this methodology allowed several projects to half routine tasks and repeated user requests! Being free from routine, employees can develop, look for new opportunities for improvement and increase service value for the Customer.

Methodology implementation

A lot of areas and practices have been created as part of LEAN methodology over the decades. "Our" LEAN version requires focusing on three aspects.

1. Company employees.
2. Customers.
3. A culture of continuous improvement.

This means that (1) all company employees have to direct their activities at (2) providing better services for Customers and (3) continuously look for opportunities to improve existing services and business-processes.

LEAN implementation is a cultural change. Every employee has to take an active part. But cultural shifts are hard: people naturally resist change. At first, these changes seem distracting, useless and even harmful.

This is what helped us overcome skepticism.

- "Little by little". LEAN principles were implemented one by one: when one of them "settled down", we added another one. If any LEAN tool was not suitable for a certain team, they could refuse or modify it. Gradually we extended the number of teams where LEAN was implemented: we began with 5 projects, and now the whole company uses this approach.

- Management adherence. The decision to implement LEAN was made and supported by the company's directors.

- Community. In every team, LEAN-activities are implemented and supported by a dedicated employee – a Champion. The most active and competent employees of the team are invited to become Champions. Experts worked with them individually, showing the potential of the new concept. And when this person is "infected" with the idea, sooner or later he/she "infects" the whole team. The team-lead always supports every Champion, and every team's Champion shares his/her successes and failures with the community of Champions.

- Results. One employee admitted: "At first most of us didn't like this Quality Circle. But now we appreciate it, because we see that it gives us great results".

* The Quality Circle is a basic LEAN tool. We'll talk about it soon.

Briefly about the practical aspects of LEAN

The methodology requires following seven principles.

1. Understand Customer needs. Build every process from the point of view of the value it brings the Customer.

2. Involve every employee. We talked about this earlier.

3. Ensure transparency. Every employee should understand that colleagues take part in creating value for the Customer.

4. Learn from experience. Learn from your own mistakes and successes and from those of your colleagues.

5. Monitor significant KPI. Focus on those metrics that reflect the creation of value for Customers.

6. Remove waste. Waste is redundant actions that require resources, but don't create value for Customers. This is the cornerstone of LEAN. The major types of waste include unnecessary downtime, overproduction, etc. (the full list can be found in any article about the LEAN concept, including Wikipedia).

7. Standardize. Document Best Practices and implement them in all teams involved in this process.

Our basic LEAN tool is a Quality Circle, weekly/daily team meetings.

They have a strictly defined structure and agenda. A mandatory component of a meeting is to discuss and register successes and failures for the period, analyze the reasons for problems and find solutions. During the Circle meetings participants monitor the team's key KPI and analyze the changes. Data and takeaways are logged on a physical or virtual structured board where the project status is displayed. The discussed issues must be resolved by the next Circle meeting. All team employees exchange information, review work processes and look for opportunities for improvement.

The Quality Circle embodies all LEAN principles, and employees find this approach convenient. Using the Circles together with other programs and initiatives helps increase effectiveness by 28 % and even 50 %.

Not only LEAN

LEAN is not the only solution that helps us continuously improve service quality for our Customers. Additionally, for example:

- every quarter we survey Customers about service quality satisfaction (C-SAT survey – Customer Satisfaction). If necessary we implement changes based on Customer expectations;

- on every service project we launch a Continuous Service Improvement Plan (CSIP). By increasing effectiveness we ensure a planned reduction of service cost for the Customer;

- we added the Customer Voice role for active Customer cooperation inside ICL Services;

- we are developing and implementing technical solutions (Server Automation Tool – server infrastructure management, Colibri – application deployment and migration management, etc.) to improve service efficiency.

But LEAN has become our common operation methodology that helps us properly use all those practices and meet Customer requirements. Our experience shows: companies that strive to achieve better outcomes not by number (of employees, investments, etc.), but by improvement and development, should try this methodology.

About ICL Services
ICL Services operates in the international market since 2006 and is the largest IT company in ICL Group.

To date ICL Services has about 1,000 employees working successfully with over 50 major clients from 26 countries providing IT maintenance services 24 hours 7 days a week in English, Russian, French and German.

Being one of the leaders in its market segment, the company provides a significant contribution to social and environmental welfare of society and adheres to the principles defined by the international standard ISO 26000.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Kazan, Russia -- (ReleaseWire) -- 10/17/2017 -- According to Zircon research group, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Donors Forum and CAF Russia, corporate benefactors have felt the full extent of the economic crisis. About half of all surveyed companies reduced their budgets, some even stopped supporting charitable non-profit organizations and do not participate in charity events.

But there is another trend. Alongside with a reduction in charity budgets, growing attention is being paid to society's problems from the inside the companies – among the employees themselves. Employees initiate fund-raisers, they become their main assets and executives.

Companies should direct this energy in the proper direction, remove ineffective programs and help volunteering employees achieve maximum performance. If the company's budget is limited, this can save its social program. And when everything goes well, internal volunteers also need help.

IT company ICL Services can demonstrate how this should be done (it has more than 1000 employees, with headquarters in Kazan).

The company's charity events: from Beslan to Universities

For more than 10 years, ICL Services has been combining permanent charity programs with one-off projects. The company's social projects include:

- support for labor veterans (direct aid, organization of meetings);
- help for the AIDS-center of Tatarstan Republic;
- sponsorship support for a social canteen in Kazan;
- help for orphanages and care homes;
- support for Kazan school No. 15 (provision of furniture and equipment, renovation, etc.).

Some examples of one-off events – supplying computer equipment to schoolchildren in Beslan (2004), targeted support to an ill child (2011), a purchase of 200 Christmas gifts for young patients at the neuropsychiatric clinic who wrote a letter describing their dearest wishes (2015).

The company invests significant amounts of money in education: joint education programs with IT-universities in Kazan, scholarships for talented students (10 scholarship holders in 2016), internships (126 interns in the last year). These activities are focused on supporting professional development among young people, and the students are not obliged to work for the company in the future.

Activities by employees

Considering such strong charity traditions, it's not surprising that employees strive to take an active part in social life. And the company supports this desire.

The HR department, the organization development department and administrative department service of ICL Services are responsible for supporting volunteer programs. Employees usually raise funds for local societies or provide help in kind.

- Employees have participated in the "A million little things" event several times. The company helped with logistics, managing donations and the internal information campaign.

- In 2015, employees collected 75,000 rubles and transferred this money to the Mothers of Kazan – an organization, which takes care of orphans in hospitals.

- Employees have been participating in the "Kindness Fair" for 3 years in a row. Initially, this was a local initiative by Kazan high school No. 19, but now it is a city-wide event. The company helps participating employees, and the project is coordinated by a dedicated HR-specialist.

- ICL Services has employees who are honorable donors of the city and Republic.

- Employees regularly visit orphanages, give presents, spend time and play with the kids, and prepare creative events with them.

- In 2017, volunteers organized waste paper collection inside the company. They managed to collect 300 kg. Money earned from recycling the paper was donated to the "Fund of Anjela Vavilova".

- In the Kazan office of ICL Services, employees constantly donate clothes to those in need. This summer more than 60 kg of collected clothes were sent to Freemarket and to the Good Hands charity warehouse.

- Volunteering employees visit nurseries for homeless dogs, take them for walks, donate money and dog food. For example, on the last trip they brought 30 kg of specialized food.

How to find volunteers?

People will take part in additional activities if it is easy and pleasant, but, most importantly, it should inspire them.

ICL Services knows this.

- The company has more than 1000 employees. These are people with different interests: some of them want to take care of people, some of nature, some of animals, some want to a promote healthy lifestyle, and so on. That's why instead of 2–3 large charity acts, the company supports dozens of different small events for 10–30 people. So, in the first half of 2017 there were more than 15 charity events. Every event found its audience, and every concerned employee found an interesting activity.

- Anyone can take part in these charitable acts, it's easy and makes you happy. At the beginning of this year, the company published an event calendar on its intranet, and entries are added throughout the year. Every event has its organizer, and participants only have to come to the location on time.

From one event to another there are more and more corporate volunteers from ICL services, including employees and their relatives. Initially, volunteering was inspired by environmental initiatives, and through the years it has developed in several directions: helping vulnerable people, supporting sports in the region, the environment, events supporting family values, etc.

How to find volunteer organizers?

In ICL Services, charity acts are organized with maximum simplicity and transparency.

Does somebody have an initiative? Anybody can suggest an initiative, and he/she will get support and help in organizing it. Most organizational issues, which may seem complicated for a beginning organizer, can be easily resolved with help from event-managers and colleagues with more charity work experience. This removes the main barrier in the organizer's path: the fear to get stuck on organizational issues.

Transparency of the procedure, support for initiatives, openness to everything new and personalization – these are what make volunteering so popular. The success of every project depends on specific people: both the organizers and those who receive help.

Result: what does a volunteering employee receive

Volunteering employees are inspired by the desire to help and solve problems of certain people, charity organizations, and orphanages. Thanks to the company's support, volunteers achieve success quicker and see the result of their initiative.

What does company receive

By expanding charitable activities, the company receives employee engagement and active employee participation in corporate life. Charitable activities during an economic crisis can be an opportunity to demonstrate business sustainability and strengthen the company's reputation.

About ICL Services
ICL Services operates in the international market since 2006 and is the largest IT company in ICL Group.

To date ICL Services has about 1,000 employees working successfully with over 50 major clients from 26 countries providing IT maintenance services 24 hours 7 days a week in English, Russian, French and German.

Being one of the leaders in its market segment, the company provides a significant contribution to social and environmental welfare of society and adheres to the principles defined by the international standard ISO 26000

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Kazan, Russia -- (ReleaseWire) -- 10/11/2017 -- In any company, the necessary minimum for work processes is compliance with the labor code. But a company needs much more than that to attract high-skilled employees.

ICL Services, IT outsourcing company would like to share our expertise in building processes on staff relations. We don't claim that these are best practices, but these practices do work: 83% of employees are ready to recommend us as an employer (study by Hay Group, 2016).

Work processes start from recruitment

Relations between an employee and a company begin even before signing the labor contract Experience has shown: if you want effectiveness, build work processes from scratch. This is how we do it:

Stage 0/4. Vocational training

Specialists are usually educated in universities. However, a large IT-company has more opportunities to give students experience of working with state-of-the-art technologies. That's why we built our own system for talent development:

- fundamental education based on IT-universities in Tatarstan;
- short IT special courses (Database, IT Security, etc.) provided by the company;
- internships for students, working on real projects;
- scholarships for talented IT students.

126 people took our internship last year and 84 more studied on special courses. They are not obliged to work for ICL Services: the knowledge they gained can be used in other companies and even other spheres. Nevertheless, 52 % of graduates from our special courses decided to work with us. And every one of them is familiar with our working methods.

Stage 1/4. Recruitment

Cooperation processes with an applicant should provide:

- access to company information. That's why we are represented on job sites, at career fairs, in social media and on other platforms, and we respond quickly;

- objective and clear evaluation. During the interview, the applicant talks to HR, technical experts and their future manager;

- comfort and care. For example, we compensate 50 % of transport expenses for applicants; new employees will get help in finding a home and handling registration.

Stage 2/4. Adaptation

After recruitment, new employees need help in on-boarding in the company and getting acquainted with the team. We have built corresponding processes: 100 % of new employees will have a buddy for the first 3 months. This is an experienced worker and "personal adviser" who will answer all questions related to work and associated issues.

Stage 3/4. Work

Apart from compliance with the labor code of Russian Federation, employees will receive:

- clear performance evaluation. Personal KPI will decompose the company's strategic goals up to the level of individual experts. Automatic evaluation eliminates subjectivity. The evaluation system meets the interests of the company and of its employees: before implementation, the system was tested for six months by 100 % of staff, which allowed us to improve the system based on feedback;

- comfortable offices and safe workplaces, reviewed by external experts;

- opportunities for education — internal and external courses (technical, soft skills, foreign language), vendor certification, internal library, "labor pool", etc. Every year 90 % of employees undergo training;

- clear "game rules". Work processes are logged in internal documents. Each employee can study them and they are mandatory for all staff, including top-managers. In non-regulated scenarios, you shall be guided by the company's code, and in critical situations (legal noncompliance, financial and reputational risk, etc.) contact the compliance manager and directors in person;

- extended compensation package:

- health care (private medical insurance, vaccinations, allowance for health centers for the children of employees, allowance for sports, free football, volleyball and basketball sessions);

- rest and entertainment (leave allowance, holidays for employees and their families, corporate recreation center, internal tournaments, corporate discounts in more than 30 coffee shops, stores, travel firms, etc.);

- help in important events (zero-interest loans, allowance for weddings, birth of children and funerals of relatives);

- help with accommodation (relocation allowance or corporate apartment if moving from another city, housing communities for employees, allowance for mortgage interest).

Stage 4/4. Leaving the company

We keep in contact with former colleagues – for example, we invite them on corporate holidays and tell them about new job openings. In turn, our "Alumni" act as brand ambassadors and recommend our company to their friends, and sometimes they return to ICL Services.

P.S. Search, find, improve, repeat

The figure of 83 % (the percentage of employees who would recommend our company as an employer) is not only due to well-adjusted work processes, but on dozens of other factors. We work with those factors as follows:

Search (what to improve in the company)? Find (what brings most problems)? Improve (even if it's not related to work processes)? Repeat (skip this step if you are perfect)

An example of a factor that is not directly related to work but influences employee engagement is communication and feedback. Employees need the chance to:

- ask a vital question and get an answer in a timely manner and, if necessary, from the very top of the company;

- influence events inside the company, suggest improvements and changes.

Both issues are addressed using open feedback channels. ICL Services has 13 of these, including:

- Strategy Update – personal meeting of top-managers with volunteering employees;

- expert consultations – answers from field-specific employees (HR, administration, etc.) on staff questions;

- "Red button" – a way to communicate about privacy violations, reputational risk for the company and other critical situations;

- iC-SAT – internal Customer SATisfaction – a survey to quickly evaluate the performance of internal services;

- and even an information terminal to collect feedback on the quality of food in the corporate canteen.

Result: according to a general internal survey, 95% of employees don't have problems with information inside the company. 71 % are sure that they can address top-managers, despite occupational hierarchy.

Every year we survey employees and continuously resolve issues they encounter. Communications, recognition programs, office greening and many other issues are what we are trying to improve in addition to major work processes, in order to make working for ICL Services even more comfortable.

This approach is individual for every company. But we hope that our example will be useful for others.

About ICL Services
ICL Services operates in the international market since 2006 and is the largest IT company in ICL Group.

To date ICL Services has about 1,000 employees working successfully with over 50 major clients from 26 countries providing IT maintenance services 24 hours 7 days a week in English, Russian, French and German.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm