5-th Annual Survey of the Software Development Export Industry of Russia

Dear friends,

Let me share with you the results of the 5th annual Survey of the Russian software export industry prepared by RUSSOFT Association, the major and the most authoritative amalgamation of software development companies from Russia as well as a number of leading companies from Belarus and Ukraine.

The full-scale in-depth survey of the software export industry has been done for the fifth consecutive year. The consistency of results obtained from this survey with the actual state of affairs in the industry is ensured by the continuity of analytical methodology as well as by the use of rather big samples from the most comprehensive database on export-oriented software development companies, which already includes over 1,200 software companies.

The survey is based on the polling of software development company managers (C level), which has been carried out in January-March 2008 by the RUSSOFT analytical department with the support of a professional call-center. Furthermore, the results of the research were completed with personal interviews of several company directors and analyzed by RUSSOFT experts with participation of Mr. Dmitry Zhelvitsky, analyst from the Computer World Publishing House.

The report contains 44 pages of text with 52 diagrams and tables representing the current situation in the Russian software development industry from different aspects. It covers both actual data on the state and growth of software exports as well as their evaluation by main market players, including representatives of service providers and software products producers.

The results of the survey reflect important system changes which have been taking place in the Russian software development industry as well as in IT industry in general in the last two years:
– the Russian market is becoming more and more attractive for software developers shifting their resources, wholly or partially, to service provision or product development and sales in Russia;
– there has emerged a leading group of cutting-edge IT service providers expanding the range of their services via system integration and integrated solutions. This group of companies has rapidly entered the international elite of high-tech IT service providers and is now successfully coping with competition on the global market, at the same time occupying a niche of major service providers on the Russian market;
– the success of the Russian service industry is primarily determined by a high level of staff education, ability to deal with non-standard issues in case of uncertainty, and availability of specialists able to work in related areas of expertise;
– growing salaries force major companies to find cheaper resources for routine development first in the neighboring countries and deep Russia and then far abroad. Middle and small companies have either to specialize in technological or vertical niches or create their individual solutions, develop service-oriented products based on them or align their business with the product model;
– the development of technological parks and special economic zones as well as venture capital fund networks inevitably leads to the further growth of business activity in the software development and products segment that is already prevailing over the service segment by export volumes;
– it is expected that both these areas (services and products) would grow in parallel, complementing each other and establishing partnerships for joint promotion on the global market.

The report is intended to give insight in the Russian software export industry, current trends, opportunities and challenges a foreign partner may face while selecting a provider of technology and solutions or investment projects in Russia.

We express sincere gratitude to those who have participated in the survey and thus provided a comprehensive, reliable and trustful source of information on the situation and development prospects of the Russian software export industry.

Editor-in-chief of the 5th edition,
President of RUSSOFT Association
Valentin Makarov