The IT industry plays a significant role in the economic growth of Eurasian countries, bringing millions of dollars to national budgets, creating thousands of high-paying jobs, and being a stable source of foreign exchange earnings. In many countries of Eurasia, including Ukraine, the IT sector has become a mainstay of national economies. That is why keeping the IT sector in Eurasian countries during the period of turmoil at least partly operational is proving ever more important.
How is the IT industry in Eurasia responding to black swan events such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and how are companies adapting to new realities – these issues were discussed at the StrategEast.Live panel discussion “IT Industry in Eurasia during Period of Turmoil.”
Opening the discussion, Artiom Kontsevoi, CEO, dev.media (Belarus) talked about the changes in the IT market during the period of turmoil. “The market has changed dramatically since the start of a full-scale Russian invasion to Ukraine. It is interesting to compare Ukrainian and Belarussian IT industry. According to IT Association, Ukrainian IT industry in terms of IT services shrinks in March comparing to February by 40%. There is no data for April yet, but as we see from job openings, the fall stopped and the market is stabilizing. In Belarus, the situation is different. We don’t have any data for exports. In February, IT services in telecom sector was $250 million. No data for March and April yet. But if we look at the number of IT job openings, the peak was in January; it dropped down in March and continues to fall in April and there’s no sign for recovery.”
Emiliano Ramos, Partner, Emerging Europe (UK) told about his efforts within Tech for Ukraine initiative: “We at Emerging Europe see three grounds for tech growth: sustainability, entrepreneurship and innovation. The last issue is of utmost importance, we are trying to shift the perception of the region from only as an outsource destination to global partners. That’s why we launched Digital Ukraine initiative, which has three main goals: promote the image of Ukraine that has great tech capabilities, restore trust among international buyers and investors, and be in touch with the media across the world to help them understand what is happening. We still see some constrains when it comes to people’s ideas of how capable Ukraine still is and we inform investors and other actors that Ukraine is delivering, although 75-80% of its capacity, but is still capable.”
Tanat Uskembayev, Director of Corporate Innovations and Digital Competences Office, Astana Hub shared Kazakhstan’s efforts in ensuring smooth and easy relocation of IT specialist during unstable times. “I can not say that the situation in Ukraine has changes IT industry in Kazakhstan dramatically as we are still at the stage of its development, and not so much integrated to the international market. At the same time, our local companies try to hunt specialist who relocate because of the war, and this led to competition in Kazakh labor market. We in Kazakhstan have simplified visa regime, developed good tax preferences, but haven’t launched any marketing campaign for that.”
Konstantin Vasyuk, Executive Director, IT Ukraine Association had shown some figures on how the Ukrainian IT industry is working in the times of war. “Before the war, IT export in Ukraine accounted for $6.8 billion. This February, IT services export reached $ 839 million, which is the highest rate in the market history. During the war 96% of contracts were maintained. Some 52% of companies maintained 100% of the contracts. As you can see, the industry demonstrates high sustainability.”
Answering the question by the panel moderator, Olga Afanasyeva, PhD, Head of ELEKS Kyiv on how IT companies adapt their operation to new realities, the participants agreed on having an anti-crisis plan for businesses, instructions for every employee on how to act, being flexible to new circumstances and open to inform all partners of what in going on.