Websites, intranets, electronic newsletters and online polling are just a few of the interesting products and services of our global IT and Interactive Media Department. Information technology and interactive design are part of virtually every PBN client initiative. As a result, PBN’s IT and Interactive Media Department has been steadily increasing our capabilities, capacity and creativity.

In Moscow, where the global IT and Interactive Media Department is managed, our team consists of three highly talented and innovative PBN veterans — Radu Betsiu, Mark Slater and Igor Kisil. As part of the department’s expansion, Radu was promoted last month to be the Director of Department. Radu has been with the firm for more than four years, including work in both the Moscow and Moldova offices. A Moldovan native fluent in Russian, English and Romanian, Radu supervises technology and information operations, including security issues, in all seven of the firm’s offices, working closely with Sonia Park in Washington and Valeriy Chubukin in Kyiv.

Mark is the firm’s creative guru, with a range of talents spanning sophisticated advertising campaigns and video and film production, to web-based communications. Every day he juggles numerous creative balls, without letting any fall to the floor. Right now he is managing the Pharmacy Chain 36.6’s 2003 Annual Report, including new photography, the Alfa Capital English-language website, a special e-newsletter for a Ukraine client, an on-line survey for PBN employees, and many other exciting client projects. Mark comes from an advertising background, having worked at and owned successful advertising and media companies in the US and Russia prior to joining PBN.

Igor is PBN’s go-to guy on advanced presentations, e-newsletters and other technology-based communications. Igor also began his career at PBN in our Moldova office in 1995, but has been based in Moscow for the past four years. He provides services to many of the firm’s clients, including PricewaterhouseCoopers, Anheuser-Busch Companies, Boeing, the Coalition for Intellectual Property Rights, MCTrustCo and Pharmacy Chain 36.6.

In addition to the traditional offerings of extranets, corporate instant messaging, e-newsletter management, hosting and web design, the department has added custom databases, group scheduling, online research surveys, and contact management systems to the mix.

Earlier this year, PBN put online a proprietary, multi-lingual contact management system. By integrating local information accumulated over the years by all its offices into one global database, PBN now has sortable, detailed listings on more than 11,000 of the world's business and political movers and shakers which can be accessed in seconds from its protected intranet.

The firm also designs and manages a number of electronic newsletters (in addition to Access PBN!), a highly effective communications tool for both the firm and our clients. This technology allows the firm and our clients to track reader interest and generate direct responses. Readers can link to websites or send emails to the authors directly from the e-newsletter. E-newsletters are also extremely cost-effective (expensive printing is eliminated) and timely (a newsletter can be written and sent in a matter of days, rather than weeks).

Interactive research surveys are another exciting new area. Recently, a client asked to have more than 100 of its senior managers polled in an effort to measure their depth of knowledge on an urgent matter related to a change of government. The PBN Company responded by creating a detailed questionnaire and posting it as a web site. An e-mail with a link to the form was sent to the managers, and within 24 hours the client was able to view the information it sought – all available online via a password-protected results page. A similar survey technique is used within PBN for our employee questionnaires, training and feedback initiatives.

Email our Moscow IT team: radu.betsiu@pbnco.com, mark.slater@pbnco.com, and igor.kisil@pbnco.com