The 2U Tech Forum has become a platform for discussing digital solutions for business, as well as for debating the regulation of artificial intelligence (AI) and the possibilities of its application. The event brought together market leaders in IT, finance, agriculture, logistics, retail and other sectors. The forum was organised by Diia.City Union and UNIT.City.
Sergiy Detyuk took part in the “Digital Revolution in Ukrainian Business: Company Showcase” panel. The discussion featured executives from Credit Agricole Bank, Kyivstar.Tec, Fozzy Venture Studio, OKKO GROUP and ASBC Ukraine | iSpace. Participants agreed that technology and innovation are no longer an additional advantage, but a basic prerequisite for a modern company’s competitiveness.
The Metinvest CIO spoke about the idea behind the creation and development of Metinvest Digital, which initially aimed to build a technology platform within the Group for implementing, scaling and supporting digital solutions. Today, it is a separate IT company that serves as the sole IT provider and digital partner for more than 30 Metinvest enterprises worldwide, including in Ukraine, Italy, the UK, Poland, Bulgaria and the US. It employs over 770 specialists in IT, analytics, security and automation. Metinvest Digital develops, implements and supports comprehensive IT solutions for technological infrastructure, information systems, strategic outsourcing, data migration, system integration, cybersecurity and information protection.
Sergiy Detyuk said that the company has come a long way in developing its products and IT services, progressing from hypotheses and minimum viable products to large-scale solutions and implementation. Metinvest Digital ranks among the top five IT service companies in Ukraine. It has its own R&D department and develops data science, computer vision, the ‘internet of things’ for industry and machine learning (ML)/AI, as well as cooperates with SAP, Microsoft and other major vendors.
For over five years of operation, Metinvest Digital experts have developed numerous modern solutions. In particular, the Group’s manufacturing enterprises have implemented computer vision systems that analyse hazardous work areas, detect safety violations and even record attempts to smoke in prohibited areas. In addition, industrial drones, operating under current restrictions, monitor raw-material stocks.
Among the company’s landmark projects, Sergiy Detyuk highlighted an ML system for monitoring silicon levels in pig iron at the blast furnaces of Azovstal. The solution, implemented before the start of the full-scale war, helped Metinvest to save over US$1 million a year.
Metinvest Digital’s R&D centre is working on process automation, analytics and visualisation, as well as testing the integration of large language models and AI into production management.
Company specialists have been developing solutions in the field of robotic process automation for several years, enabling the automation of repetitive and routine operations using software robots. These robots mimic human actions by interacting with digital systems and applications — enterprise resource planning, client relationship management, databases and web applications — without the need to change existing infrastructure.
Metinvest Digital ‘s large-scale projects include one of the largest digital transformations based on SAP solutions in Eastern Europe. The company has automated Metinvest’s business processes across nearly all areas of its activities and has implemented and effectively supports dozens of plants and thousands of users. SAP partner status enables Metinvest Digital to enhance the quality and efficiency of implementing IT solutions based on SAP products for both the Group and external clients.
Overall, Metinvest Digital combines around 100 services, dozens of live projects and its own technological infrastructure, as well as ensures that a major industrial group can operate during the war. External clients include Ukrtelecom, First Ukrainian International Bank and the Medical Procurement of Ukraine.
Sergiy Detyuk stated: “Our main focus is, of course, on internal clients and the transformation of Metinvest Group’s enterprises. But we are ready to scale our experience and solutions to other Ukrainian and European customers. We have been doing this for several years now and understand very well that there is demand for our solutions on the market.”