The guests also discussed what new business areas Russian fast-growing companies are developing and how to become that technological leader, not to drop out of the race under the pressure of internal and external challenges, and to ensure the efficiency of all business processes.
Among the guests of the discussion were: Igor Kirichenko, Executive Director and Member of the Board of Directors of Naumen, Alexander Miskaryan, General Director of RZD Technologies, Sergey Yakushkin, Head of the RISC-V Alliance Technology Committee, Anna Sharipova, Managing Partner of RT-Iridium LLC of the Rostec State Corporation, Dariy Khalitov, Senior Vice President for Information Technology of Rostelecom, Vladimir Sukhorukov, Managing Director of Sk Capital, Dmitry Lakontsev, General Director of Irtei.
The session was moderated by Anna Telitsyna, Director of Special Projects at Forbes Russia, who invited the speakers to discuss whether the current situation in IT hinders or helps further progress in the industry.
The session was opened by Dmitry Titov, First Vice President of Aquarius Group, who said that there is currently a lack of opportunity to work closely with customers in the IT sector. According to him, it is difficult to conclude offset contracts, on which the state is placing big bets.
According to Dariy Khalitov, Senior Vice President for Information Technology at Rostelecom, these are the best of times for high-tech: "The mechanism of forward contracts provides guaranteed demand. Nevertheless, the main challenge is that there are many manufacturers and competition is growing."
His words were confirmed by Vladimir Sukhorukov, Managing Director of Sk Capital: "There will be consolidation, there will be fewer players. To develop, you need to use bank money. At the same time, export potential is an existential thing. The market should not be limited, you need to strive to occupy new niches, this is a sign of quality," he commented.
As Anna Sharipova, Managing Partner of RT-Iridium LLC of the Rostec State Corporation, noted, it was difficult for Russian software to compete with American counterparts, so the sanctions benefited the market. "Human biology is an obstacle to change, and changing software, among other things, causes discomfort. Therefore, solutions that do not require retraining and copy familiar programs are now in demand. Iridium, in particular, has such solutions: the Iridium PC virtualization system and the DeepMail mail system," she added.
Andrey Klimov shared another opinion: "Companies need to look ahead and offer the market what it will want tomorrow. We are lucky that today we are creating a product with professional teams consisting of qualified specialists trained by Western vendors."
Dmitry Titov, First Vice President of Aquarius Group, disagreed with him: "Today it is important for us to close the segment of mass-produced products and the basic needs of customers, only then offer more complex solutions. However, intelligence and competition will help the IT market solve all problems."
Dmitry Lakontsev, General Director of Irtei, noted that a partner, especially a manufacturing partner, is very important for the development of a small company in order to launch mass production and not stop in its development.