Interview with the marketing director of DIRECTUM Vasily Babintsev

TAdviser: How do you estimate a present condition of the Russian market of EDMS?

Vasily Babintsev: The most active consumers of the EDMS/ECM market are the industries which create profit and save a trend of long-term development both in country scales, and in the world market. Traditionally for our country like those are the oil and gas sector, power, a number of sectors of real production. Also, on an automation wave, projects in public authorities proceed. The banking sector and retail since the crisis phenomena affected these directions stronger became more reserved.

Our main product, electronic document management system of DIRECTUM, it is focused on the large companies, and c of their party of all 10 years we observe not fading interest in scope of automation of office processes. During this time the companies already tested development of own automation systems of office-work, implementation of local management systems for electronic documents, but this subject "is eternal" and the problem of further development remains.

Now customers got up before the choice: develop solutions based on opportunities of the current systems or pass to new. For example, in terms of scalability, many "old" solutions, remain niche, and cannot support work of several thousand at the same time working users. Or are not so flexible, and cannot cover new business challenges. And if earlier the choice remained behind the developed western ECM systems, then today in the market domestic goods actively compete with them. They successfully solve as basic problems of classical document flow, and cover end-to-end processes of approval of contractual and accounting documents, purchase managements, personnel document flow, intercorporate electronic exchange and also transfer of state services to an electronic form, integration about SIEI for state agencies. And at the same time their cost of ownership and support remains lower.

TAdviser: How do you estimate dynamics of the market of EDMS last and this year?

V. B.: The end 2014 and the beginning of 2015 can be characterized as a crisis development latent period: the market stood and followed the developments. And only in the second quarter 2015 the economy was relatively stabilized, and the companies continued investments into own development. At the moment the market gains former steam, and our indicators reflect a positive trend on projects of 1 half-year 2015/1 half-year 2014.

We also expect preserving of positive dynamics and for the end of 2015.

TAdviser: What impact does the subject "import substitution" have on the market?

V. B.: Certainly, import substitution has an impact. But it is a subject not only the last 1.5 years, it returns wavy to the crisis periods when the cost of domestic goods and services becomes more attractive, than world. The country and business community are naturally focused on internal consumption, including internal reserves for increase in efficiency are found.

You should not forget that the country leaders set a task not on tough, and on selective import substitution – what we can do at the level of world analogs is substituted, the rest continues to arrive from abroad.

Import substitution is the reason to think of development of product quality and services in the long term. For example, the market of electronic document management in our country is in active study more than 20 years. Domestic solutions during this time reached qualities the high level. And the subject of import substitution became only the catalyst of natural attention of customers to updating of the applied systems constructed on the western platforms on domestic.

TAdviser: What trends have the greatest impact on development of electronic document management at the enterprises now?

V. B.: From significant technology trends it is necessary to select "clouds". They allow the companies of medium and small business which have no possibility of single serious investments in IT infrastructure and the powerful staff of IT employees, quickly to start implementation of a scalable electronic document management system.

The problem of processing of the saved-up data bulks is relevant for the large companies. Possibilities of semantic search, powerful analytics are of interest.

One more trend – mobility. Together with change of generation of users also traditional understanding of a working space about "the computer + the premises" to "only the computer" changes. The mobility becomes time regulation, and the paper document – an archaism. People get used to consume content from smartphones and tablets, and to create – from more mobile notebooks. Even more often use the mobile Internet (even for our extended country it is not a problem).

In addition to technology drivers drivers of a business environment are selected. It and development of the legislation in a question of electronic exchange of documents, electronic signatures, and emergence of services of legally significant exchange, such as Synerdocs.

TAdviser: Your largest customers in 2013-2015?

V. B.: First of all it is JSC Surgutneftegas. This project is unique by the number of the covered processes and users (20,000 registered), on complexity of implementation, and on the scale of complex implementation of an ECM system has practically no analogs in Russia.

The project in the Government of the Udmurt Republic proceeds. Powerful development was gained by Automated information system of the multifunction centers (AIS MFC) and also the Regional portal of public services and functions (RPGU). Today 173 services are available to citizens on RPGU of the Udmurt Republic. In the Electronic document management system of state bodies UR (EDMS GO UR) 34 departments and 18 local government authorities, in total more than 8,000 users work.

Also projects in the companies of United Aircraft Corporation, Slavneft-Megionneftegaze, the Ministry of Taxes and Tax Collection of Republic of Belarus, TMH-service, T Plus, Toyota Motor became sign.

TAdviser: What new opportunities in the products DIRECTUM attract the interest of customers now?

V. B.: Unconditional demand is on basic opportunities: management of electronic documents and business processes and also office. Our clients also actively use solutions on contract management, invoices for payment, managements of meetings. Interest in financial archive and intercorporate exchange of documents grows. State bodies using solutions of DIRECTUM actively transfer public services to an electronic form.

In 2015 we brought the cloud ECM solution DirectumRX for medium-sized companies to the market. We continue development of mobile applications for heads and non-management employees with a possibility of local work and use of the electronic signature.

TAdviser: Whether there is in the market a pent-up demand when the companies postpone implementation of EDMS for the future for one reason or another? What forecasts for the future?

V. B.: For the end of 2014 – the beginning of 2015 the period of strong jumps of currency rates had, and the companies held budgets, did not invest in long-term investment projects. Now the situation is aligned, and demand for solutions which directly affect internal "health" of the company renews.

First of all this operational management and control: management of business processes and meetings for the anti-recessionary commissions, mobile and web access thanks to which the head can have "finger on the pulse". ECM together with the accounting systems allows to control financial activities of the company, including to help to build a transparent budgeting system, to reduce receivables, to manage purchases.

One more important point – active employee involvement in increase in efficiency of all company. We propagandize implementation of lean-culture based on reduction of current costs in places of their emergence and gradual small improvements. Thus employees become initiators of improvement in the workplaces, and through it affect also efficiency of the company in general.

All this leads to replacement of model of implementation of ECM systems to traditional Fix Price by flexible (agile) approach to its development. Reorientation to the solution of the most problem processes and leaving from a miscalculation of the general economic payback. General long-term "improvement" of the company, and competent embedding of an ECM system is estimated at a business environment of the company.

It is a signal on the future to integrators and customers, development of professional implementation teams on client side is required.

TAdviser: What functions / technologies are most demanded at a stage of upgrade of the EDMS systems?

V. B.: More than 4 years ago the strategy of development for the DIRECTUM system – Extra ECM was formulated, with a main goal to expand a framework of classical idea of opportunities of an ECM system and to show 5 integrated directions of development.

<li> Platform is development of scalability of the platform for ensuring work especially large (tens of thousands of simultaneous active connections) and the geographically distributed companies.
• Extra Corporation is intercorporate interaction, including legally significant. End-to-end processes in holdings and expansion of interaction on a business environment, the accessibility to corporate information of partners.
• Extra Business Task is an exit for a framework only office-works, the solution of a wide range of applied tasks of work with agreements, invoices for payment, financial archive, purchases, specialized solutions for state bodies.
• Extra Access is ensuring convenient work of employees at any time: web client, native mobile applications, integration of systems (BPM + ERP + ECM).
• Extra User is involvement of users in work: modern interface, built-in subsystem of independent training, gamification.

The main postulates of strategy are based on studying of waiting of customers to an ECM system. We estimate the shift in demand on separate solutions, according to them we adjust also strategy. But the general vector of 5 directions remains invariable and demanded.

TAdviser: Tell about work with professional community of clients of the company, development of communications with users of the products DIRECTUM?

V. B.: The professional community DIRECTUM exists from the moment of foundation of the company, and officially was registered from creation of the educational online magazine ECM-Journal 9 years ago. ECM-Journal is regularly replenished with quality materials (their more than 2000 now). It works for deep understanding of opportunities of electronic document management for a wide range of persons, including for students and normal users of electronic state services, EDMS, services of exchange. The total quantity of unique visitors of a resource makes 15-18 thousand people a month that znakovo for narrow-purpose subject.

Creation of a resource for users, developers and system administrators – DIRECTUM Club became the next step. Within it the sixth year in a row we hold a competition of IT projects and solutions based on opportunities of DIRECTUM – DIRECTUM Awards. Every year the number of participants grows, for example, in 2014 tender collected 83 requests - it is the excellent knowledge base and valuable experience. Also we support groups on social networks and social services (VKontakte, Facebook, SlideShare, Twitter, Instagram). In general, the community DIRECTUM totals more than 10,000 people.

Work with community – rather traditional form for the IT companies as soon as the Internet appeared – forums on IT products appeared. Including, they also urged on well-known sociality, virality, User Generated Content, crowdsourcing. We use these elements and the phenomena and in work with our communities.

The general statistics about a company performance of DIRECTUM

The number of the implemented projects
For 2014
The fact for the second half of the year
All 475th project (from them 203 new projects and 272 – development of projects in the current clients)
For 2015
The fact for the first half of the year
Only 535 projects (from them new-102 and 433 – development of projects in the current clients).

The number of the implemented licenses
For 2014
The fact for the second half of the year 2014
16,169 licenses (from them 8156 licenses at new clients, 8013 licenses are sold within development of projects in the current clients).
For 2015
The fact for the first half of the year 2015
17,392 licenses (from them 4901 licenses at new clients, 12491 licenses it is sold within development of projects in the current clients)

Large projects (it is more than 1000 buses of workplaces)
For the second half of the year 2014

• TMH-service (service, transport) – the new project, about 1,000 jobs are automated (integrator – MiTek).
• Slavneft-Megionneftegaz (oil and gas industry) – development of the project, about 1,000 jobs are automated (integrator – MiTek).

For the first half of the year 2015

• The Ministry of Taxes and Tax Collection of RB (public sector) – development of the project, is automated 1150 jobs (Integrator – Novak Proyekt (Novacom)).
• JSC Surgutneftegas (oil and gas industry) – development of the project, 5000 jobs are automated (Integrator – DIRECTUM).
• PJSC T Plus (the former Volga TGC) (power engineering specialist) – development of the project, automates 1750 jobs (Integrator – Akelon).