Evgeny Stepanov, General Director of ICL Group
Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2025 8:22 am
Russian IT vendors had it tough even before February 2022 : the tough competition from global A-brands alone was worth it. After the start of the SVO and the introduction of large-scale restrictions against Russia, things did not get any easier — except that the range of challenges became noticeably more diverse. Nevertheless, domestic IT vendors are working, developing, setting new tasks for themselves, responding to requests from customers and partners in the IT channel — how could they not? Who, if not them? Evgeny Stepanov , CEO of ICL Group , spoke about the prospects for the development of Russian IT production and building cooperation in the channel .
IT Channel News: You spoke in detail about your malaysia company email list joint achievements with partners at the recent ICL Partner Connect forum . What can you say about the current problems and challenges that you are overcoming?
Evgeny Stepanov: Indeed, if there are achievements, then we also have to deal with overcoming them.
I would call the main challenge the general instability, because we are in a general economic trend: and we as a business are primarily negatively affected by the increased cost of money. . For example, difficulties with payments to China: recently, the result of each payment has been unpredictable and unstable. And if a payment does not go through today, then in a few months this may lead to a shortage of a number of components, which means interruptions in the production rhythm, failure to meet deadlines for the release of finished products, penalties, fines. That is why it is important for us now to find solutions and cope with such challenges quickly.
At the same time, we are firmly confident in the future. Here is the dialectic: despite the fact that right now we have to maneuver, look for and invent workarounds, counteract the dark forces that are constantly trying to oppress us in some new and evil way, we see the enormous potential of the Russian IT market for years to come.
But overall, there is nothing that goes beyond the normal business situation: in my opinion, the market has leveled out in this regard over the past year. I don’t know how everything will develop further. It can be assumed that we will see some calm, because 2024 is an election year, i.e. a change of personalities in the government, which leads to a delay in making a number of important decisions at the federal level. But I think that the market will start to accelerate again in the summer.
IT Channel News: You spoke in detail about your malaysia company email list joint achievements with partners at the recent ICL Partner Connect forum . What can you say about the current problems and challenges that you are overcoming?
Evgeny Stepanov: Indeed, if there are achievements, then we also have to deal with overcoming them.
I would call the main challenge the general instability, because we are in a general economic trend: and we as a business are primarily negatively affected by the increased cost of money. . For example, difficulties with payments to China: recently, the result of each payment has been unpredictable and unstable. And if a payment does not go through today, then in a few months this may lead to a shortage of a number of components, which means interruptions in the production rhythm, failure to meet deadlines for the release of finished products, penalties, fines. That is why it is important for us now to find solutions and cope with such challenges quickly.
At the same time, we are firmly confident in the future. Here is the dialectic: despite the fact that right now we have to maneuver, look for and invent workarounds, counteract the dark forces that are constantly trying to oppress us in some new and evil way, we see the enormous potential of the Russian IT market for years to come.
But overall, there is nothing that goes beyond the normal business situation: in my opinion, the market has leveled out in this regard over the past year. I don’t know how everything will develop further. It can be assumed that we will see some calm, because 2024 is an election year, i.e. a change of personalities in the government, which leads to a delay in making a number of important decisions at the federal level. But I think that the market will start to accelerate again in the summer.