Digitalization will make life easier for business

General Director of the Representative Office of Kommunikatsii Ltd (Communications LLC) in Kazakhstan Sabit Sukhanov expressed his point of view on the implementation of the state program “Digital Kazakhstan.”

What are the key aspects of the “Digital Kazakhstan 2020” program?

The program consists of five key aspects. These are the digitalization of industries, the transition to a digital state, the implementation of the digital Silk Road, the creation of an innovative ecosystem, and the development of human capital. At the moment, the digitization of economic sectors is the main direction of the program’s development. This implies the introduction of digital technologies and elements of Industry 4:0 in industry, transport, energy, agriculture, and others. The transition to a digital state is the provision of state services entirely in digital format, which will make life easier for ordinary people and businesses.

What is meant by the implementation of the digital Silk Road?

The development of digital information and communication infrastructure. In particular, carrying out broadband internet access; for example, in enterprises, or in remote rural areas. It serves as a foundation for building a digital economy, but one should not underestimate the remaining areas – namely, creating an innovation ecosystem and developing human capital. All of them are closely interrelated.

An innovative ecosystem creates the necessary conditions for the development of digital business at the start-up level. A well-functioning startup ecosystem will become a platform for progressive technological ideas generated by business innovators. However, there is a shortage of specialists with relevant competencies in Kazakhstan. Therefore, the development of human capital involves the dense training of highly professional specialists, ranging from school to regular training and retraining.

This leads to the conclusion that the digitalization program is a new driver of industry development?

That's not exactly true. Digital technologies are becoming the key driver when other components are already developed. For example, production has already been automated, basic infrastructure has been built, and high production load has been achieved.

Here we come to realize the need to move to the fourth generation Industry when intellectualized technologies become key, which is inextricably linked with the introduction of cyber-physical systems — when technology becomes “smart.” In turn, the smart technology brings the industry to a new stage of development and a new level of productivity.

What does the smart technology do in the first place?

The smart technology collects data, performs monitoring, and detects breakdowns

This is the basic direction of smart technology, when the equipment communicates about its performance to the staff. At the second – more advanced – level of development of smart technologies based on already existing equipment monitoring systems, such as function as control appears; that is, equipment can be controlled remotely. It can be configured in such a way as to effectively involve all systems that exist in the enterprise in the process.

Such as?

Such as products of our company, in particular, the intellectual lighting iVALO. The iVALO smart industrial luminaire can be remotely controlled using a tablet; you can change its brightness, power, turn off in certain workshops, optimize the entire lighting system.

Another key feature of smart technology is the optimization function. The equipment collects general and historical data. Based on these data, it can predictably indicate that some breakdowns are possible as well as draws attention to the fact that, say, we need to diagnose a different luminaire after a week. The optimization system is turned on when adjusting the brightness of the luminaires, based on the needs of specific shops and people who work there. Thus, if there is enough daylight during the day, the brightness may decrease, due to which the energy consumption will also decrease, and this means economy for the enterprise. In such a way, smart technology has the ability to self-optimize.

Returning to the levels of smart" technology development, it can be said that the most progressive one is self-organization and autonomy of equipment. However, there are few companies in the world that reach this level. The way things are going, over time, there will be self-realized equipment that will autonomously interact with each other and independently of a person.

Does this mean that in Industry 4.0, the role of the person assumes less importance?

Humans play and will in the future play a central role in this system. Undoubtedly, human functions are changing. If in the past, specialists worked directly on the equipment, now everything is shifting towards control. At the same time, the human factor remains one of the most important ones.

What is the value of digital technology for the manufacturing industry in Kazakhstan?

Digital technologies can minimize occupational injuries

Their introduction in production is necessary to reduce mortality and rate of accidents. In addition, digital smart technologies provide an opportunity to develop a new business – servitization– when in addition to the main activity and the main product, the company also offers a “smart” service. A simple example is when in addition to equipment, a supplier of agricultural equipment provides a service for precision farming for agricultural companies. The system allows to work with the ground more accurately and increase the efficiency many times.