Aeroflot abandoned Microsoft office software in favor of Russian products

2023: Purchase of 2 thousand licenses of MyOffice software

February 20, 2023 it became known about the refusal of Aeroflot"" from office software Microsoft in favor of Russian products. The airline buys 2 thousand licenses for "" MyOffice for installation on stationary computers of a number of structural divisions.

As Vedomosti writes with reference to a letter sent to the heads of these Aeroflot divisions, MyOffice will be installed on computers of the IT unit, medical center and other divisions as part of a text editor, spreadsheets and presentation editor. As follows from the document, the transition to Russian software is carried out "in pursuance of the digital transformation strategy" in the Aeroflot group. It is assumed that by the end of March 2023, 50% of the air carrier's employees will be transferred to domestic office software, and 100% by the end of 2023.

Aeroflot abandoned Microsoft office software in favor of Russian products

Aeroflot opted for Moyofis because it "most fully meets the requirements," a company representative explained to the publication. Microsoft has stopped supporting the office suite, so updates and new product installations are not available.

According to Mikhail Burmistrov, General Director of Infoline Analytics, Aeroflot could pay from 25 million rubles for 2,000 licenses "depending on their configuration." "The transition to domestic software is an inevitable decision," Burmistrov said.

According to the expert, it is no longer possible to renew the license for a number of Microsoft products. Therefore, the expert continues, the transition to Russian software "Aeroflot" could perform faster. According to Burmistrov, taking into account the increase in sanctions pressure, other airlines will also have to use domestic software.

Alexandra Zalmanova, head of the department for the development of domestic IT products at Softline, noted that in the case of the purchase of the MyOffice Professionalny 2 product, the cost of 2 thousand licenses could amount to 40-50 million rubles.^[1]

2018

At the end of September 2018, Aeroflot summed up the results of the tender for the purchase of the MyOffice Standard suite of office applications. The corresponding protocol was published on the public procurement portal.^[2]

Aeroflot has chosen a license provider for Russian office software

Applications for participation in the tender were submitted by 3 companies: Rostelecom, Softline Projects and Comparex (Comparex). At the same time, the application of the Russian telecom operator was rejected due to the lack of certificates confirming partnerships with copyright holders, or other documents confirming the right of the participant to sell the required rights and software.

As a result of evaluating the applications of the remaining companies, Comparex scored the most points, reducing the cost of delivery by almost 1 million rubles. from 11,100 to 10.118 million rubles.

As part of the delivery, the Russian air carrier will receive the MyOffice Standard package, which includes editors of text, tables, presentations and applications for managing mail, calendar and contacts. "MyOffice Standard" allows you to work on Windows, Linux operating systems and does not require an Internet connection. 1 thousand annual licenses will be transferred to the customer with the possibility of renewal.

Simultaneously with the purchase of Russian office applications, Aeroflot acquired another lot of solutions for almost 4 million rubles. We are talking about licenses for Oracle Crystal Ball, Oracle BI, CorelDraw Graphic Suite, ABBYY Lingvo x6, CIPZ CryptoPro CSP, Nero Platinum, NanoCAD, Adobe Acrobat Occupational and Screen Master. Comparex has also been selected as the supplier.

Comparex is a global software supply company. The head office is located in Leipzig, Germany. The Comparex group has 80 branches in 36 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas.

It is noteworthy that this company also supplies Aeroflot with licenses for Microsoft software, including Office 365 office packages. However, the amount of this supply is an order of magnitude higher - almost 1 billion rubles.

As noted earlier in the Russian air carrier, the transfer of operated applied information systems to the use of domestic software is economically impractical and inefficient, since it requires large time and financial costs incomparable with the cost of Microsoft licenses.

Aeroflot has historically been a supporter of global IT brands - SAP, Oracle, Microsoft, IBM, using domestic software only in highly specialized tasks (for example, protection against leaks or business analytics).

Russian Post also announced plans to switch to MyOffice among the largest state-owned companies. In March 2018, it became known that the pilot testing of the domestic office suite was successful, and according to its results, the postal operator presented the developers with additional requirements for making improvements to the product.

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