On the state border – Newspaper Kommersant No. 36 (7481) dated 03/02/2023
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Against the background of foreign sanctions and other restrictions, Russian software companies reduced their export revenue by 12-17%, calculated in Russoft. Software developers are trying to work with relatively friendly regions, such as Latin America and Southeast Asia. But in parallel, companies are trying to keep supplies to Western partners through formally independent third parties.
At the end of 2022, the total volume of export sales of Russian software companies decreased by 12–17%, to $8.4 billion, Kommersant was told at the Russoft Association. Its representatives explain the decline by the fact that software developers were forced to leave the European and American markets due to sanctions. SearchInform agrees with this assessment of the situation: the European and American markets for Russian software companies were not easy to sell before, and over the past year, interest in them from Russian companies has cooled even more, says Sergey Ozhegov, CEO of the company.
A top manager of one of the major market players clarified that at least some European counterparties continue to show interest in buying Russian software, despite the sanctions: “I will not name the companies and categories of this software, but I can say that a number of Russian developers have already established structures abroad that are not formally related to them and continue to supply their solutions.
However, mostly software companies are reconfiguring export channels, note in Russoft. First of all, we are talking about strengthening the role of the CIS, South and East Asia, and the Middle East. “South and East Asia attracts with huge national markets. The largest markets in this macro-region are India and China. Interest in the markets of Africa, as well as South and Central America is also growing, but the chances of significantly increasing sales there in a short time are small,” says Valentin Makarov, head of Russoft.
Russian developers retain opportunities for international expansion, Alexei Bogomolov, director of the Transformation Strategy practice at Reksoft Consulting, confirms: “First of all, we need to focus on the most promising technologies. For example, Russian players have the opportunity to prove themselves in the niche of platform software for industrial artificial intelligence solutions: in global markets, the growth of this segment has exceeded 30%.
The Ministry of Digital Development claims that Russian solutions in the field of “digitalization of transport logistics, agricultural, and mining industries” are in demand abroad. But the ministry admits that “there are difficulties with transactions to open and support businesses, as well as withdraw profits to Russia.”
According to the estimates of the Center for Strategic Research, presented last fall, 18 countries are interested in buying Russian products and services, including in the field of security.
Among them are China, Brazil, India, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. But each market has its own specifics, for example, legislative ones, and the key problems that impede the growth of exports still lie in the political plane and require “administrative support” (see “Kommersant” of September 6).
The Russian authorities have repeatedly assured that they will help Russian companies establish contacts in friendly regions, in particular, with the help of “digital attaches” – specialists who will act as lobbyists for Russian IT solutions in export markets. Last year, they were prepared by the Russian Foundation for the Development of Information Technologies together with the Ministry of Digital Development and the Ministry of Industry and Trade. The authorities assumed that digital attachés would start working in 16 countries as early as 2022. But Kommersant’s interlocutors in the IT market say that the mechanism has not yet worked. “No digital attaches help companies to export locally, enterprises manage on their own,” says one of Kommersant’s sources. Sergey Ozhegov says that attachés should start work in March, and it will be possible to give the first assessment of their work after six months of presence in new regions.
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