10th Anniversary of Portbilet

A cordial meeting of old friends – this is how Vipservice Holding celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Portbilet online system on the 30th of August. Former employees who launched the project back in 2009, the current project team, the company's all-time partners from Sabre, and the most loyal customers got together to celebrate the first milestone anniversary and congratulate their colleagues. This "extended family" is the reason why Portbilet has achieved an extraordinary success: more than 50,000 users, more than 3 million transactions per year, and more than 15 million services sold for RUB 108 billion!

 

"Today, we are celebrating the anniversary of the system which we are proud of and which we regard as the flagship product and the trademark of Vipservice. For many people, 10 years is a long period in life; for an innovative solution, it's even more than that, it's the retirement age. But we know for sure that our system is not growing old. It has been updated every three years and it still is. We realise that if we want to keep the lead, we have to change in response to changes around us and even be one small step ahead," said Irina Solovyeva, Managing Director of Vipservice Holding, opening the festivities. She thanked the most loyal customers who have been working with Portbilet almost from the very moment when the system was launched in 2010. 

 

After that, Yulia Braginskaya, Head of Portbilet, took the floor. She reminded the audience how the project was born and developed: Portbilet 1.0, Portbilet 2.0 and … Portbilet 3.0! Yes, this year marks a new milestone in the history of the online system, bringing new achievements. Thirteen countries of operation and three languages is only the beginning. The developer team of Vipservice Holding is ready to update the system to 3.0 on their own. "The most important thing is the team, the group of people sharing the same ideas, who help improve the system year after year. Today, the project team consists of 25 people, but when it all started, there were just three people responsible for system development and support. I would like to thank them for the team spirit and the incredible atmosphere they created right from the start, which motivated and inspired all newcomers," said Yulia Braginskaya. Grateful colleagues and customers gave the team of Portbilet 1.0 and its manager Mikhail Shalayev a thunderous round of applause.

The system would not have been possible without Sabre, the company's technology partner. Alexander Shcherstyukov and Tatiana Shchepeleva from Sabre not only got presents from the company but also sprang a pleasant surprise on the team by giving an electric sign, Portbilet Avenue. "First of all, I would like to thank the company's shareholders who were brave to give a go-ahead to this project almost 11 years ago. I am happy to see it moving ahead. Please accept my heartiest congratulations. It's an honour to work with your professional team, your family," said Alexander Shcherstyukov.

  

At the end, the Portbilet team got wristwatches to count the new decade for the system. After that, it was time for the "family get-together". A huge berry cake was ceremoniously brought into the room. A hearty talk of all who took part in creating the system made a wonderful end to the evening.