Diebold Nixdorf, the world's largest banking equipment manufacturer, and Lithuania’s BS/2 (part of the Penki Kontinentai group) IT-company held an international conference IN TOUCH BAKU 2017, attended by over 100 bank and retail industry people from Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russia, Moldova, Germany and Lithuania. 

The purpose of this conference was to create a permanent platform for communication with partners and potential customers (both internationally and regionally), as well as the latest specialized equipment presentation. For this purpose, separate sessions on banks and retail took place. During the event, participants and guests could also be acquainted with the specialized solutions developed by Diebold Nixdorf and BS/2 in order to ensure the security of banking transactions; in addition, innovative technological projects successfully implemented in Azerbaijan, including the e-ticket sales system at the historical and architectural "Icheri Sheher" complex, were presented. 

Idrakas Dadašovas, Penki Kontinentai group Board Chairman, said that BS / 2, together with its subsidiaries in Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia and Estonia, has been working in the banking technologies market for a quarter of a century, and now operates in 78 countries. It has over 20 partners in Azerbaijan alone. 

"BS/2 specializes in providing outsourcing of IT services, software development, system integration, banking equipment supplies and maintenance. Years of successful experience in Lithuania and abroad, as well as an impeccable business reputation, made BS/2 recognizable by leading IT companies, and helped to establish close relations with industry leaders. We always strive to provide our customers with optimal solutions, and constantly improve our work with partners. One example of such cooperation is IN TOUCH conference, previously held in London, Stockholm, Bucharest, Warsaw, Prague and Riga; I am glad that this time it is held in my native city of Baku”, Mr. Dadašovas noted. 

Speaking at the conference, Emil Musayev, of the BS/2 sales department, presented the projects on equipping the Azerbaijani hypermarkets with specialized devices; Vyacheslav Chvanov, Russia’s VTB24 bank self-service network development department head, shared his experience in operating recycling ATMs – while Alexander Ketishvili of the Georgian Liberty Bank, and Kornelijus Šišla of BS/2 told about their joint projects. 

Joachim Struck, Vice President at Diebold Nixdorf CEE Partner Management, speaking about the 20-years’ experience of partnership with BS/2, noted that Diebold Nixdorf highly appreciates the high level of technological solutions and professional services offered by the Lithuanian company. "We ensure high efficiency of business processes in banks and retail trade, and we highly appreciate our relations with representatives of those industries. Our main goal is to optimize business processes, reduce their costs, and improve the quality of services provided to end-users. In this respect, we are very interested in relations with partners in Azerbaijan, which has become a regional leader, and has tremendous potential to become an innovation center", Mr. Struck said. 

In his report "Innovations in the financial industry," Struck discussed the advantages and opportunities of technological equipment and services designed to help businesses operate in new "digital" environment. For example, only 8% of transactions are now carried out using cash in the Nordic countries – and in 2008-2015, European banks have reduced their branch network by an average of 13%. Struck also spoke about projects done by Diebold Nixdorf in banks of the Czech Republic, Saudi Arabia, the Great Britain, Finland and Singapore – where all cash operations are outsourced. 

According to Global ATM Market and Forecasts to 2022 research conducted in more than 100 countries around the globe, in five years the total number of ATMs will increase to 3.7 million. Only in 2016, their number went up by some 3% to 3.3 million. The results show that by 2022 the ATM market will annually grow by an average of 2.2%, with 80% new units.