Interview with the CEO and founder of New cloud technologies company Dmitry Komissarov

Dmitry Komissarov: It seems to me that in a case with ASCON after all the situation in 2016 will be better, than in 2015. A talk on import substitution, really, goes two years, but the law on the register of the Russian software became effective only in January, 2016, and products in the register appeared only in February-March.

While products in the register were absent, it was unclear how to carry out competitive procedures. Therefore as it seems to me to calculate that something quickly will occur, it is impossible. Besides there is rather big resistance of Chief information officers, well and partners who work with Chief information officers, first of all, of classical system integrators. They, as a rule, do not want to depart from the adjusted products.

The term of entry into the market of a new product – rather long. As our history looks, for example. The first pilots we began to do even in the spring of 2015. Conditionally speaking, to contracts we came somewhere to an end of 2015. At the same time year after all ended, and the law began to work since January. In the register as we already spoke, software products appeared in February-March. Therefore now it is only possible to look and try. The cycle of the big client is a year and a half, at best - half a year. Therefore two years of a talk – are not a lot of.

Dmitry Komissarov: Good question …

Dmitry Komissarov: We have good examples of the IT companies – Kaspersky, Kraftvey and others. But generally Russian IT market is "boxing-muving" with a small pokrasochka of boxes. So as a matter of fact, the main part of the market is that part of integrators which are engaged in setup of finished software products, setup of infrastructure, in design of infrastructure. The most part of our market makes nothing. It performs only work of employees, dear employees. In principle, it can be even more interesting, than software development outsourcing, in terms of a margin. Nevertheless, the most part is a boxing-muving.

If to speak about Chief information officers, there is known history, at you it too many times repeated. Nobody will dismiss the Chief information officer for the fact that he selected SAP. At the same time the percent of successful SAP implementations to you is well-known too – it does not exceed even a half. Someone selected SAP to come for the IPO. But, nevertheless, the choice of SAP even at unsuccessful implementation does not lead to dismissal of the Chief information officer. Well, because it "best world practice". The choice of 1C and the unemployed of 1C precisely lead to dismissal of the Chief information officer. Therefore, certainly, very few people want to undertake risks, it is the first moment. And the second – a habit, maturity, a smazannost of the channel. So everything is usual, everything is good. Why to twitch?

Dmitry Komissarov: Certainly.

Dmitry Komissarov: For example, implementation of Postgres Professional in the Moscow region - the good project. I hear many stories about what is heavy to replace Oracle. But we in due time as I devoted a lot of time to the free software, dealt with a situation with Postgres. And, really, it is rather difficult to consolidate the Russian tax administration entirely on Postgres. Or, for example, Ministry of Defence. But to consolidate territorial educations quite perhaps. Moscow area showed it – they have on Postgres 42 thousand users, from them 12 thousand online.

Perhaps, Postgres will not pull one million such users, but it will pull 90% of the market. When we speak about office software, we understand that there are jobs which we cannot replace. But 90% precisely we can. For them do not make any transactions. Also there is no sense to buy expensive where it is possible to do a mix.

The same story with 1C in the Ministry of Defence on which salary was considered. Nothing prevents to consider it, figuratively speaking, in the field, in parts on 1C and to do consolidation in some other way. We cannot announce yet, but, I hope, at us projects of transition of the whole regions to our mail system will be started soon.

Dmitry Komissarov: If we speak about state customers, it is security and economy. I will give an example of a classical conversation. We have a potential client who has 100,000 computers. He has an inventory of what occurs on these computers. And when we come to this client, we hear, for example, that in Excel pivot tables, heavy charts and so on are necessary. Further we know as we work with this client long ago that from 100,000 at him only 1500 computers on which Excel is started. It is started. I.e. files are not edited, and Excel is just started. Conditionally speaking, 98% of computers of this specific customer are intended for text documents, and, generally for viewing these text documents. Not for their editing.

Therefore we speak to the customer: why not to make a mix? Yes, we understand that there are employees who do the heavy presentations in PowerPoint. OK, how many them at you? 100? 1500 people start Excel. Well, let at them will be Microsoft Office. And you can quite equip 98000 computers with the product "MyOffice", and we will achieve that all basic documents, including Excel and PowerPoint-files in is mute will open and be edited.

Yes, there is that functionality which is not available to us yet, but 98,000 jobs can be saved on these twice. It is what yet not reaches all. We forget how it seems to me that we long enough sat on an oil gold flow. If to look at other countries which, generally, richer, they not always use the latest version something. Very many work 10 years at the same SAP which was implemented, god knows when and which continues to work.

There are systems absolutely ancient, on the same Postgres, by the way. In Europe they are used quite often. In France all state procurements sit on Postgres 10 years. At the same time in France of state procurements it is more, than at us because they control in general everything up to small purchases of municipalities. For example, if the municipality wants to lay a bordyurchik around the fountainlet, it takes out it on the website of purchases. Moreover, locals, as a rule, still discuss it. Functionality such is that they can select – we spend money for a border or we spend for something else.

Dmitry Komissarov: There was a big discussion that all programs which should be in the register of domestic software should have certification of FSTEC. What this discussion was based on? On the fact that there is a law on data protection. Practically all information which is used in state structures should be subjected to protection. Proceeding from this law, first, information cannot be placed outside the territory of Russia, and secondly, really the software with certification of FSTEC should be applied to a considerable part of this information. I.e. there is a regulatory part, and responsibility for it is born by heads of specific bodies, but not solution providers. Another thing is that at us it did not reach the level of municipalities and so on. Common Russian story – severity of laws is compensated by their non-compliance.

And if to speak about real danger, I will cease to read the presentations soon on this subject because will be to look enough at the press how issues are mixed with Google, etc.

Dmitry Komissarov: I will ask a seditious question. If global corporations are noticed that on the instructions of own government do that they are asked why their software which is placed with us and constantly exchanges huge traffic with the producer why it does nothing? In this connection? Due to the good will? All, probably, for the last few years understood that corporations are not afraid of anything. I remember how some market participants made a claim to Natalya Kasperskaya when she told that the cameras iPhone independently photograph persons. Snowden just appeared in a year after that. I remember how people, without assuming that similar is possible, even shouted: is that so! They will lose everything!". It is a lie, corporations lose nothing.

There is very interesting story. Provide municipality about 30,000 or 60,000 population. Actually in municipality there is a lot of information. In addition to personal data, information on discontent, performances, the average salaries, military units and so on comes down there. Take any department – Rosreestr, for example. It has information on all state-owned property of different function. If in the territory of municipality there is a military unit, means there is information how many people in it are registered and so on. All this information – it, in principle, sensitive. And a story about traffic which constantly sends Windows 10, it is absolutely tremendous …

In the office software, text documents are stored in Exchange or SharePoint. It is clear, who edited them that changed and so on. I.e. it is a problem of level of the state.

In my opinion, there are two states which, generally, are more or less sovereign from the point of view of IT - it is China and the USA. China, apparently, reached before when it is able to release everything by own efforts.

Dmitry Komissarov: Microsoft has strong positions, but at China, nevertheless, first, there are supercomputers which are constructed completely on own technologies. They have almost complete analog in terms of performance of our Lomonosov. Yes, they do top computers on Intel. But a question – that is considered on the top computer. If weather, it, generally, much less sensitively. Nobody knows what the Chinese army works at. They are closed as much as possible. Well and plus a story that the Chinese version of Windows 10 was released by some joint company for 51% belonging to Chinese and only for 49% - Microsoft it too interesting. In my opinion, it as with the National Payment Card System, VISA and MasterCard. All shouted that now world payment systems will leave us, but nothing terrible occurred. Yes, problems were, failures were. But in a year, for two they will debug this story, and nobody will leave. Well, because it is business which brings money.

Why such steps need to be taken? Yes exactly because foreign vendors will begin to behave absolutely in a different way. It is possible as with China. But we strongly left aside …

Dmitry Komissarov: Let's tell fairly: a considerable part of regional departments does not pay anybody. So piracy level in regional departments, I think, makes 70%.

Give I to you I will tell on the example of the most active, interesting negotiations which at us go. The region of X comes to us. The average Russian region, which at us in the country 85. On average lives in them one million people. In departments of such subject about 20,000 - 30,000 computers, including the housing and public utilities enterprises, medical institutions, etc.

They want to obtain not limited license for all this quantity. At the same time not only office software, but also mail, because with mail now in regions a breath-taking situation. To cover all this mass of jobs, ideally, of course, it is advisable to place a cloud solution not to reach each desktop. The budget in such situation can be 60-100 million rubles a year.

Dmitry Komissarov: These are the annual payments including technical support and so on.

Dmitry Komissarov: The single payment will keep within the first year. Fun is that there is no Exchange. Migration of mailboxes, as a matter of fact, does not exist. If from mailboxes any documents which for any reasons are not processed by us are unloaded, then, certainly, works will be required. But proceeding from our experience is 2-5% at most. Serious migration appears if there is a document flow integrated with office products. But besides such it is not enough.

Dmitry Komissarov: I would tell that practically all regions aim at rather tough centralization. Activity in the region is very strongly started on the hierarchical reporting. So all this pyramid – it should share the reporting. And in case they sit in a single mail system and in the uniform messenger, the situation strongly becomes simpler. Therefore desire is. I would tell that there is almost no separatism in regions.

Dmitry Komissarov: At the level of deputy governors supervising IT and IT ministers.

Dmitry Komissarov: Half a year - year

Dmitry Komissarov: On gradual migration. It is necessary to migrate all the same segments. So it is necessary to isolate bushes of the organizations. Besides, if not to do sharp movements. It is rather simple to translate bushes and, respectively, it allows to undertake less risks.

What Sasha Golikov tells … In my opinion, just at Askona of waiting were a little overestimated. The problem Askona, probably, is similar to our problems about 2-2.5 years ago. Just we began to develop a product on private money. But investors such in the country are not enough. And Ascon thought that the state will help it to make PLM who is necessary for it. To substitute all cycle, they need all the same management of chains, production management. And we several times discussed it in ARPP. All dissuaded Sasha since practice shows that not to take money in the state. But it seems to me that Ascon after all it is a little bit disappointed exactly that it did not turn out. I do not know whether it will turn out now.

Dmitry Komissarov: I will give an example. We have a principled stand which, of course, complicates to us life, but we consider what cannot be done it. We do not support macroes in Microsoft Office. Why? Because actually in many organizations macroes are prohibited, proceeding from security reasons. In macroes it is possible to make anything. Including to destroy data. Also there is a mass of viruses for this purpose. It is what we will not support. And we consider that automation of some actions can become on other means, which safer. Now in operating systems the mass of scripting languages in which it is possible to do it.

If we speak about officials, what we aim at, so it is a full support of requirements of state standard specification of documentation. For example, in Microsoft Office there is a drop cap - capital letter, in books it is often used. There are no drop caps in state standard specification. In white papers of it does not happen. It happens only at imposition of books. Respectively, we say that we are not guided time for imposition of books and for similar things at the moment. If to speak about the text editor, we do not do, for example, difficult flows of drawings in the text. At imposition of some difficult things it is possible to do not rectangular flow, but in state standard specification there is no it. In state standard specification the drawing should be inserted into the rectangular area.

If to speak about tables, we do not do pivot tables yet though, probably, we will complete them until the end of the year and we will start. We definitely do not do a complex financial analysis in the tabular editor. First, it is very often tied on settings. It is, as a rule, incompatible between versions of the Office. So it requires additional efforts. We do not do difficult statistical 3D - charts, for example.

And we increase some things. For example, for us reviewing of documents is critical. We release it in June, and it increases customer satisfaction level rather strongly because reviewing is used in workplaces actively. In the nearest future we will make the table of contents though it is used rather seldom.

Dmitry Komissarov: I would tell that the specifics depend on extent of informatization of department more likely. For example, in FTS, owing to existence IT shnika at the head, probably, in automation many advanced things are used. Perhaps, you know what our Tax in the world very strongly is quoted because of the level of the automation. There are business companies which have absolutely dense level.

Dmitry Komissarov: Kazan, the Leningrad Region and St. Petersburg, the Moscow region is Maksut Shadayev's role there, it seems to me, is big. Nizhny Novgorod, Astrakhan, Omsk, Tomsk, Khanty-Mansiysk.

Dmitry Komissarov: No, first, we have a road-mep almost for the year ahead on functionality which is built from wishes of clients. Previous year we piloted products. Secondly, we this year start not only products for B2B and B2G. We start our initial ideas on joint work on mobile devices. Closer to summer, I think, we will already announce. Therefore we recruit developers further. Frankly speaking, in the market it is less of them, than there is a wish.

Dmitry Komissarov: Now – it is exclusive from customers.

Dmitry Komissarov: Everything is simple. From where did reviewing arise? Reviewing arose from requests of 50% of customers – all of them want to receive it. From where does conditional formatting arise? Besides, because a certain pool of customers wants to receive it. Plus we do studies and in mobile direction. We are going to release the messenger integrated into document handling. We do it, proceeding from own views. And the functionality of office products is only a feedback. It is simply ranked on clients.

Dmitry Komissarov: Both officials, and state company, and some commercial.

Dmitry Komissarov: Now it is small. But from business companies there are already about 4000 unrealized requests. Why? First, all of them need a cloud. So the desktop interests them less. Ourselves not provider of service. So we are in an arrangement stage now to produce by summer under ten, probably, public services. As soon as they come out, percent of commercial customers will be strong more.

We raise at very big piece of the market and are forced to prioritize the activity. Now a priority - state customers. As soon as we start publics in the summer, there will be more business companies. Plus besides by summer big OEM stories will be started. We on the verge of signing of the first big contracts.

We, probably, would manage to reach Brazil by this time, but we will reach only somewhere by the fall - exactly because there are just not enough resources.

Dmitry Komissarov: Well, we feel.

Dmitry Komissarov: There is a testing of mobile stories in several countries. We will begin to tell a bit later. But it is not the B2B-shny market. It is B2C.

Dmitry Komissarov: Samsung is purely corporate story. Nevertheless know who big clients of Samsung on mobile stories …

Dmitry Komissarov: Well, for example and. Therefore, certainly, it is just large business market. Corporate. So in this case it is not so important, state it or not state. Large corporations want to have the platform, the device, the protected perimeter.

Dmitry Komissarov: We consider that somebody the scale of Google, Microsoft or Facebook should be the partner.

Dmitry Komissarov: We hope that Facebook or large telecom providers will be it.