The award ceremony was preceded by the "Digital Time" Forum, where over sixty speakers addressed issues of digital transformation in various fields: the development of digital literacy, new tools for attracting customers in retail, secrets of digital marketing, digital analysis of investment strategies, and the growing influence of artificial intelligence. Participants had the opportunity to participate in master classes, speed dating, listen to expert presentations, and discuss current topics with colleagues.
The day concluded with the awards ceremony for the Digital Leaders-2024 winners. Recognition of their achievements and the title of laureate were awarded to more than seventy companies, including Home Bank, SBER, Gazprom Neft Filling Station Network, SberMarket, Samolet Group, Smart International Online Institute of Psychology, AlfaStrakhovanie - CHI, Avito, Rosatom State Corporation, Newton Investments, Bank St. Petersburg, LUKOIL, Glavbukh Assistant, RTK-TsOD, Alfa-Bank, BelkaCar, VTB Bank, Gazprombank, Absolut Bank, Lesta Games Group, Central Directorate of Passenger Facilities - branch of Russian Railways OJSC, VSK Insurance House, SberZdorovye, Pro-Vision Communications.
Digitalization of education has become one of the key trends in the modern world, opening up new opportunities for learning and development, regardless of location. Educational digital projects are sometimes striking in their scale and boldness. "We are very pleased to become a laureate of the Digital Leaders Award. We value people who are ready to develop, act, and achieve results. We adhere to these same principles in our work and in building our business, so it is valuable when our company receives high praise from the professional community," shared Evgeny Sveshnikov, founder and head of the Smart International Online Institute of Psychology.
Annually, over seven hundred digital innovations from businesses are submitted to the jury of the award, and only the worthy ones receive recognition. This year, the award experts noted a new format of gas stations unique to the Russian fuel retail market, with an expanded self-service area for quick payment for fuel, cafe goods, and the store. "Our efforts are aimed at ensuring that the digital transformation of business leads not only to increased operational efficiency but also makes our service even more customer-centric, personalized, and, ultimately, as convenient as possible for the consumer. These approaches are implemented in the new format of our gas stations, which has already been appreciated by thousands of motorists. By the end of 2024, such gas stations will appear in 12 regions of Russia," noted Oleg Kuzmenkov, head of the Gazprom Neft filling station network in Russia.
Digital transformation has also taken a firm place in the field of modern retail, providing companies with competitive advantages and improving interaction with consumers. The introduction of digital solutions improves sales processes, optimizes inventory management, increases the level of customer service, and creates a unique shopping experience. The Digital Leaders Award laureates place special emphasis on this.
"Many years of experience in the consumer lending market, deep expertise, and active development of the technological component of the business have helped us implement White label technology, with which several million customers already make their purchases on the largest marketplaces and from leading retailers in the country," commented Stanislav Alekhin, Director of the Digital Business Development Department at Home Bank.
"Digitalization in retail works wonders: even the most affordable tools, such as omnichannel communication or CRM marketing, allow small companies to compete with giants, and giants to provide individual and friendly service, characteristic of small stores. For successful competition today, it is very important to put the buyer and their experience with the store at the center of the digital strategy. Our solution, all the tools within it, as well as the development of new functionality, are aimed at meeting this particular business need," shared Dmitry Borozdin, CEO of RetailCRM.
"Since the launch of our digital services, thousands of insured individuals use them daily to issue a policy, update its data, or obtain an extract from the CHI policy. Our goal is to make free medical care more accessible and of higher quality and to develop the ability to manage CHI policies online," commented Andrey Ryzhakov, CEO of AlfaStrakhovanie — CHI.
"Purchases on credit from private sellers, implemented by the Avito and Home Credit Bank teams, are the first example of consumer C2C lending in Russia. We create products to align with Avito's mission to 'Help everyone improve their own lives and the lives of people around them.' C2C loans help manage finances by purchasing goods profitably and safely," said Alexander Kapustin, Head of Fintech Products at Avito.
Despite the increasing role of digital transformation, the main thing in business is people. "Technologies allow businesses to scale effectively without investing financial resources in building a team. In the pursuit of robotization, the most important criterion is forgotten – 'human service.' We try to find a balance between these two concepts so that the customer sees not only a clear interface but also feels the support of our agency team," emphasized Olesya Ivanova, Executive Director of AVIA CENTER Agency.
The Digital Leaders Award has been recognizing the best digital products and solutions for the fifth time, starting in 2020. The Expert Council of the Award includes recognized specialists in the field of science, innovation, and digitalization, authoritative public figures, representatives of business and government authorities.
The partners of the award and forum were BelkaCar, Spectrium, Event Rocks, Sergiev Posad Meat Processing Plant JSC.