Yerevan /Mediamax/. Value Added Services (VAS), provided in the sphere of mobile communications in the course of the recent decade, have been present in Armenia for a few years##. To the voting, various quizzes and other projects, realized by means of four-digit numbers, today there are commercial projects added, directed to solving marketing tasks.

We are presenting to your attention the interview of Hovhannes Keshishyan, Director of “Mobbis” Company (www.mobbis.am), one of the leaders in the sphere of VAS-services in Armenia. The interview is provided to Mediamax agency and Banks.am portal.

- What place is occupied by commercial projects in the sphere of mobile VAS in Armenia, and what is the attitude towards them in business circles?

- The sphere of mobile VAS started getting formed in Armenia only 1.5 years ago, when our mobile operators allowed starting such activity. At present, in Armenia, probably, the most visible services in the sphere are the various SMS-voting, quizzes and etc., which are actively advertised in media. However, in reality those are the simplest entertainment actions, which do not solve corporate tasks.

As opposed to other companies, which provide VAS-services in Armenia and which center their attention on provision of entertainment services and content, and which are mainly imported from the Russian market, “Mobbis” advocates somewhat different principles.

“Mobbis” Company was established in 2006 and is the official partner of Russian “SMS Center” Company in Armenia. We consider the management of information flows, provision of interactive communication between organizations and target groups our main mission.

Before starting carrying out activity in Armenia, for nearly a year we had been studying the sphere, the experience of Russia and a number of other states. Today we stand out among the competitors if a favorable way, since we have a separate team of programmers, which is located in Armenia. Our main technical equipment is also located in Armenia. Such approach gives the opportunity in shortest periods of time to offer solutions, which fully meet the requirements of the customer, taking into account the technical peculiarities of each of them.

Our commercial projects are quite various: TV and radio projects, advertisement actions, organized by means of mobile technologies, provision of bank-customer interactive communication and so on.

Some time ago the business circles of Armenia avoided VAS-services. Nevertheless, things are moving, and more and more often the organizations, which only 2-3 months ago refrained from cooperation, become the ones to show initiative on using new solutions and new marketing instruments.

- Which of the realized projects do you consider most successful ones?

- Just recently, in Moscow “Mobbis” and Sputnik Labs Company announced a joint elaborated solution, which systematizes the contact data of customers through SMS. The solution was elaborated on the platform of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, which allows automating the notification of customers through SMS, registering and processing the SMS replies of the customers in CRM system, automatically checking the process of sending the SMS and making sure the message is delivered.

Cooperating with “Mediamax” and “Aviainfotel” Companies, we launched a project, by means of which the mobile connection subscribers in Armenia, sending an SMS to the short number 1500, can receive information on the arrival, departure and delays of any flight in Yerevan “Zvartnots” Airport. Here the technical systems of “Mobbis” and the information terminal of “Zvartnots” Airport work in integrated mode.

And again, due to the technically integrated systems, the subscriber, sending the required code to the short number 1500, receives the real exchange rate for dollar and euro from the Armenian Stock Exchange for the present moment, or learns on the process of purchase and sale of securities.

We consider one of the recent achievements the cooperation with “HSBC Bank Armenia”. The Bank, using our author international system www.mobipace.com for transmission of SMS, MMS and WAP Push, regularly informs its customers on the bank’s news and on new services.

Quite successful is also the “minimania sms auction” (www.minimania.am), realized in cooperation with the Second Armenian TV-Channel. Participating in the auction-game, any subscriber of mobile connection may buy various expensive products by the price, offered by the subscriber. For that, the price should be mentioned only by the given subscriber and should be the lowest of the prices offered.

Among our customers there are quite many salon-shops, which, with the use of our system, may constantly provide latest information to their customers on actions, discounts, new products.

- How does the financial sector of Armenia react to new communication opportunities?

- At present, the banking sector starts demonstrating great interest: we offer solutions, which allow banks making the work with customers more efficient, taking the bank-customer communication to a new technology level.

The main challenge is the establishment of an atmosphere of trust among financial organizations, which we seem to manage lately. It is not a secret that the assessment of risks is a priority in this sphere. I can say that we managed to suggest confidence for our work to such well-known participants of the financial market, as the “HSBC Bank Armenia”, and to one of the largest Russian investment companies – “Troika Dialogue”.

- What are the factors, existing in the business-sphere, which become an obstacle on the way of stirring up mobile VAS?

- There are technical and personnel problems. The main technical problem is the quality of internet connection in Armenia. The technical peculiarities and the price continue remaining at a level, which is not satisfactory. Another problem is related to the improvement of the activity of mobile connection operators. The basic technical components for realization of our services are closely related to the operators of mobile connection, which represent a very important link.

The problems are basically related to the technical equipment of the mobile connection operators, mainly the technology opportunities for the launch of various services, for modernization of the billing systems of the operators, growth of the level of technical responsibility, etc. Of course, in the course of the recent 1.5 years, certain progress is marked, the operators carry out work in this direction, since the mobile VAS secure quite serious additional gains for them, however the speeds of modernization are still lower than we would like them to be.

What concerns the personnel problems, if our company managed to form sufficient personnel resource, which is capable of planning and elaborating a range of services and solutions enjoying market demand, in business in general the lack of serious and trained marketing specialists is obvious. Very often quite large and successful companies simply lack such specialists, or these issues are dealt with by people, who have no idea about the new ways of solving marketing tasks, including with the use of mobile technologies. The companies, which pay serious attention to their marketing subdivisions, have specialists, educated and trained abroad, which much quicker react to the application of new information technologies, often realize their benefits and are ready to mutually-beneficial cooperation. We, of course, try to as long as possible help our customers, discussing information tasks with them, planning and elaborating more efficient projects, however the presence of such personnel in any company will undoubtedly increase the effectiveness of its activity.

- Are there spheres, the entry to which is unlikely in the nearest future for the companies, which provide mobile VAS?

- I do not think such spheres exist. At present, there are quite ambitious projects at planning stage, which we are going to present to consulting and audit companies, advertisement agencies, public and charity organizations.

We can present concrete offers for cooperation to organizations in any sphere, however we have determined certain priorities and spheres, which are of most interest for us.

One should also take into account the fact that certain spheres react to innovative solutions later than others, or those spheres are simply not yet ready to apply them because of presence of stereotypes, bureaucratic perception or lack of personnel. I should note with regret that here I mainly mean state organizations and political parties, where the problem is in the lack of personnel and poor arsenal of marketing instruments.

- What place do internet-projects occupy in the activity of “Mobbis” Company?

- As I already noted, “Mobbis” has formed and is developing a professional team of programmers, which allows us offering complex services, including ones in the sphere of web-programming. In this connection, www.banks.am is one of our successful works, which allows making judgment about our skills. Besides Banks.am, we have projected and maintain a number of other websites and projects, for instance, the official website of “Electronic Networks of Armenia” CJSC www.ena.am , as well as www.eerc.am, www.elections2008.am (functioning during presidential elections of 2008) websites.

At present, corporate websites for a number of companies are at the planning stage. By the end of the year we plan to introduce two new types of services in the market, which represent integrated systems of sms and web-technologies and do not have their analogue not only in Armenia, but in the whole world either. Initially, we will use them only in Armenia, and some time later – in Russia and Europe as well.