Information Technologies

NEK EAD invests in information technologies in order to achieve higher corporate efficiency. The approach that has been adopted to implement modern IT solutions results in better economic performance of the company and improved corporate-wide processes.

The implemented IT infrastructure conforms to the current business requirements and is based on up-to-date technological solutions of leading hardware vendors and software developers. Its architecture makes it possible to achieve more efficient use of all computing resources and ensures a high degree of failure free operation.

The installed information systems cover all business processes of the company and provide adaptability to dynamically changing economic environment. NEK has implemented corporate-wide information systems of high grade and specialized applications: ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning ­ SAP R/3), AMR (Automatic Meter Reading), Billing, GIS (Geographic Information System), SRM (Supplier Relationship Management), BW (Business Warehouse), etc., all of them are closely integrated and accessible by every workstation in the country via telecommunication and VPN (Virtual Private Network) technologies.

The efforts are mainly focused on the achievement of full system integration and high security of communication, based on current standards of data storage. The communication infrastructure developed over the years using modern technical devices can guarantee the security, high reliability and accessibility of data; and it is intended to meet the increased need for bigger throughput.

The technical infrastructure of the Data Centre at the NEK Head Office is based on 32 and 64-bit servers, sized according to the current business needs. Server consolidation is powered by virtualization technologies. The fully redundant network of data storage devices SAN (Storage Area Network) enables flexible and reliable operation of disk and tape storages as well as contributes to attaining the goals for higher efficiency and availability (on-line) of all systems. The regional sites (more than 50 branches) of the company located throughout the country are connected by means of IPSec VPN using IP transmission.

NEK has achieved the following objectives as a result of developing and upgrading its IT environment:

  • Reduced time for decision making by providing on-line the entire corporate financial and technical information;
  • A reliable communication environment between the Head Office and all regional sites throughout the country;
  • Access of all users to the full set of Internet services and applications;
  • Workflow automation systems including the field specific functionality of ERP;
  • Data reliability and accessibility based on modern solutions of storage and archiving systems;
  • Solutions for user authentication, reliable data encryption and compression in transmission;
  • Guaranteed accessibility to data during business and non-business hours by means of modern technical solutions and highly reliable hardware and software;
  • System security against illicit interferences by means of adequate security solutions.