On September 15, Astana hosted AWS Cloud & AI Day Astana 2026, the premier enterprise conference uniting cloud architects, engineering leaders, and data scientists across Central Eurasia. RAEM attended the summit to examine real-world cloud architectures and production AI deployments implemented by Kazakhstan’s leading banking, media, and telecom enterprises.
ForteBank: Slashing SME Loan Approvals from Three Days to Five Minutes
One of the most compelling enterprise case studies was delivered by ForteBank’s digital engineering team. By migrating core credit-scoring workloads to cloud microservices and integrating automated machine-learning pipelines on AWS Bedrock, the bank transformed its small-and-medium enterprise (SME) lending workflow:
- Previous Protocol: Manual verification of corporate tax returns, bank statements, and collateral registries took 3 business days of underwriting labor.
- Current AI Architecture: The automated pipeline analyzes corporate accounting databases, legal registries, and transaction history in real time, issuing loan decisions in just five minutes without human intervention.
Qazsport: Cloud Elasticity Preventing Broadcast Crashes
National sports broadcaster Qazsport shared its journey to cloud streaming resilience. During peak international sporting events (such as World Cup matches or Olympic finals), concurrent viewership spikes by tens of thousands of connections in seconds, previously crashing on-premises physical data-center switches. Deploying AWS autoscaling media clusters enabled dynamic load balancing, delivering uninterrupted high-definition streaming to millions of viewers.
Inna Ozhogina: AI Is Redefining the Role of the Enterprise CIO
In her keynote, tech leader Inna Ozhogina emphasized that artificial intelligence is fundamentally restructuring enterprise IT hierarchies. The chief information officer (CIO) is no longer a passive custodian of server hardware and software licenses, but a strategic orchestrator deploying autonomous AI agents that optimize business operations and automate routine corporate workflows.
Startup Incentives: Up to $100K in Cloud Credits
Amazon Web Services reaffirmed its commitment to Central Asian founders, expanding the AWS Activate program for Astana Hub residents. Early-stage AI startups can access up to $100,000 in promotional compute credits and technical architectural mentorship, accelerating regional deep-tech innovation.
