Assessment of SW import substitution dynamics

Most of the surveyed experts agree that the main stage of import substitution in 3-5 years will approach the situation of significant saturation with domestic decisions that satisfy market demands. 2024 should be a turning point for the active involvement of those who have hitherto taken a wait-and-see attitude. This is especially true for commercial enterprises.

The share of Russian software will continue to increase. After explosive growth and rush demand, the intensity of the process will begin to decline, there are already prerequisites for this. In the future, market growth may be reduced to conditionally moderate, at the level of 15%. Also, in the long term, up to 5 years, a decrease in the volume of state support can be assumed. However, in some segments, on the contrary, growth may accelerate, since import substitution, for example, in applied, highly specialized niches, began later.

Mergers and acquisitions, restructuring, the departure of individual manufacturers, large business collaborations with suppliers, the growth of fierce competition - all this internal dynamics will significantly change the IT landscape. The scale of complex projects will grow.

The constant need to improve Russian systems in the field of information security will remain a background factor.

Qualitative aspect of transformation

Many experts note that the effectiveness of import substitution should not be measured by the number of solutions launched on the market.

Assessment of the level of import dependence should not be limited to quantitative indicators. In 2024, we see a request from customers to improve the quality of products, "said Gleb Kalkutin, Development Director of Quillis.

According to the expert, there is a growing demand for improving the quality of data protection by deploying software inside the customer's IT infrastructure or on the corporate cloud. More in demand is the option of online team work on one task, as well as self-service for configuring software so that you do not have to attract programmers.

Not knowing the methodology by which the quantitative share of penetration was estimated, it is difficult to project it at the moment - especially given the fact that the share and level of maturity of Russian IT solutions vary greatly depending on the class of solutions and the industry, - said the Stanislav Shilov director of product development at the Center for Digital Solutions for the company's business. BSS

The expert believes that regardless of the assessment methodology, the level of import independence has increased - at least, many IT solutions over the past year have been "tested" not only R&D in the laboratories of vendors, but also in real projects, thanks to which their level of maturity has increased.

If we are talking about software, now in the Russian market, domestic solutions, according to my estimate, account for about 80% of sales. Everything is exactly the opposite with iron: we still have more than 70% of Western iron, "said Dmitry Slobodenyuk, commercial director of ARinteg.

According to the expert, in assessing the saturation of the market with import-substituting products, it is the number of implementations that better reflects the reality.

Ivan Panchenko, co-founder and deputy general director of Postgres Professional, agrees with him. He believes that the real level of import independence achieved should be judged not by the presence of analogues of foreign solutions, but by the number of implementations of Russian products.

It is on this indicator that you can simultaneously assess the maturity of domestic developments, the competence of vendors, as well as the level of customer confidence and their readiness for migration, the expert emphasized.

Actual implementations show which solutions actually work and benefit organizations. Our flagship product OCAstra Linux, for example, is installed on 2.6 million devices, - said Anton Shmakov, CTO of Astra Group.

The qualitative aspect of the transformation of the supply on the software market was highlighted by Elvira Gilmanova, Deputy General Director of Bars Group. She said that domestic software is being finalized, becoming better.

Import independence has reached a high level in key industries: finance, health, education, telecommunications, public administration. Many state-owned companies and organizations have completely switched to using Russian software as part of a digital sovereignty strategy, she said.

In the private sector, it also sees a shift towards domestic software, but some specialized and high-tech tools still require analogues.

According to Elvira Gilmanova, currently the ratio of the use of domestic and foreign software varies depending on the specifics of the segment. A significant number of tasks that were previously solved by foreign products are now carried out at the expense of domestic development programs, but the issue of infrastructure remains more difficult. Despite significant efforts to develop and use Russian-made infrastructure, some equipment is still dependent on international supplies and technologies.

The software import substitution program, according to Bars Group specialists, is a complex and multifaceted process that implies not only the creation of new products, but also the formation of an ecosystem for their full support and development. And on the one hand, some progress has been made here: interest in domestic developments is increasing both from the state and from private business. On the other hand, a lot of tasks to normalize the quality of software have yet to be solved. In the future, success will depend on the ability of the Russian IT market to provide competitive products not only for support services, at a price, but also for the quality of performance of certain specialized tasks.

Progress in public structures and private companies

Over the past year, the level of import substitution in the Russian software market continues to grow, the Kirill Timofeev head of the department stated information technology. " Upholstered According to him public sector , domestic solutions already occupy a significant market share. For example, information security Russian vendors already have about 70% in the sphere, although in other segments their share is lower.

As for the commercial sphere, the situation here is more complicated, - said the specialist. - We observe that most often companies do not have a clear understanding of the capabilities of the solutions presented on the market and competencies for the development of a phased plan for migration to the relevant solutions.

At the same time, it can be difficult for industry professionals to carry out an assessment cut, because some companies have successfully launched import substitution projects, while others continue to support foreign products on their own or on an outsider basis.

We assume that about 60% of commercial companies in Russia have made a transition to Russian solutions to one degree or another, "summed up Kirill Timofeev.

The level of import dependence is steadily growing, but in different industries - at different rates. This opinion was expressed by Artem Kostryukov, General Director of Test IT.

For example, in information security, it has historically been high, and there the dynamics are low, although sales themselves break records. In other areas - project management, CAD, VKS - there was a dominance of international vendors, and now they are being quickly replaced. However, their share is still high, - he said.

According to the expert, in the public sector and related companies, the share of Russian software is expected to be high, and has already exceeded 50%, but commercial companies are often either looking for open source/free replacement software, or remain on "parallel imported" foreign software.

Government organizations are demonstrating significant progress in the field of import substitution thanks to the ban on the use of foreign software in critical infrastructure. For example, in regional KII systems, domestic software has already been replaced by 90%, - said Ilya Gorshkov, Managing Director for Information Technology at VESNA.

In the public sector and companies with state participation, the highest percentage of the transition to Russian software is observed. This assessment was given by Anton Shmakov, technical director of Astra Group. In accordance with the requirements of the law and the general course towards IT sovereignty, many of these organizations are obliged to use local software, and its share in this segment now exceeds 70-80%. In private business, according to the expert, the situation is different. Large enterprises from strategically important industries are actively switching to Russian developments, given the risks of dependence on foreign technologies. However, small and medium-sized businesses can still use foreign products if this does not contradict the law. In general, the share of domestic solutions in this sector is estimated at about 50-60%, but it is constantly growing.

Import substitution in certain industries

Retail

Recall that in 2022, 35 industrial competence centers (ICCs) were formed in the Russian Federation. Each is overseen by one of 16 industry committees on key sectors of industry and social. The government has taken this step to coordinate the efforts of market participants to replace overseas "industry digital products" as soon as possible.

As commented TAdviser in the press service of the Magnit company, the retail chain chairs the ICC Trade"," which is engaged in the creation of an appropriate IT landscape.

ICK "Trade" unites leading retail players. During the work, the center identified 34 industry requirements for Russian replacement software, registered more than 50 domestic software companies providing more than 60 relevant products. For each of them, specialists have determined the level of compliance with the functionality and quality of leading foreign developments.

Now we can say that the needs of small and medium-sized businesses in the industry are already largely covered by domestic solutions, - experts shared.

By the end of 2024, taking into account the accumulated expertise, it is planned to form a list of "white spots" - priority areas in which domestic systems do not have at all or there is a significant lack of functionality.

The total percentage of coverage of critical retail functionality by Russian developments is about 85%, the press service said. - Of course, the needs of the industry remain, which are not completely closed or solutions of insufficient maturity, so it is necessary to find and implement projects that meet the needs of the business.

Within the framework of the ICC "Trade," the companies implemented the first projects. For example, on the transition to domestic solutions for automating strategies for interacting with customers and managing customer loyalty (Magnit and X5 Group), the Hoff project is being implemented to develop a Russian platform for interacting with suppliers.

Projects of the second stage have already been formed: management of business processes of e-commerce, loyalty management, robotization of warehouse logistics, construction of a platform for integrated automation of contact centers and others. All of them have high potential for replication in the industry.

As noted in the press service, the work of the ICC "Trade" is an important direction in terms of the formation of the current IT landscape, the creation of industry requirements for products, the selection and verification of domestic solutions, their replication. The development of information technologies, hyperautomatization of enterprises require the introduction of fundamentally new information systems using AI, robotization, digital twins. These solutions can be obtained only from Russian suppliers or developed independently. In addition, as the largest companies switch to domestic software, Russian vendors will need to meet the requirements, which will be an additional incentive for their development. In the meantime, Russian retail traditionally uses its own inhouse developments, especially in terms of solutions to ensure processes in companies.

According to the press service of the SberKorus company dated August 6, 2024, this electronic document management operator transferred 174 Russian retail chains and more than 3,000 retailers to a system for exchanging data with SPHERE EDI contractors. According to SberKorus analysts, in the first half of 2024 alone, the volume of electronic document management in the system exceeded 72 million digital documents, and the EDI SPHERE accounts for 20% of all EDI document traffic in Russia. The decision of SberKorus works for 70% of companies in the list of top 50 FMCG companies in Russia at the end of 2023, according to the information and analytical agency INFOLine. Among them are the largest retail chains: AUCHAN, Dixie, OKEY, Lenta, Magnit, Miratorg, Lemana PRO, Krasnoye & Beloe, Detsky Mir.

Fintech

The financial sector has achieved high import substitution rates by 2024. This was told by Svetlana Markova, chief consultant at Neoflex. According to her, the replacement has already affected up to 70-90% of applied systems, and the main players in the segment have achieved high rates.

The assessment of the share of Russian and foreign solutions used by customers in the financial sector varies from organization to organization. For large systemically important banks, the share of Russian solutions is close to 80-90%, for smaller banks - in the region of 50-60%. Achieving 100% of Russian software in the landscape of financial organizations is a matter of time and partnership between customers, software vendors, as well as system integrators, the expert believes.

The increase in the level of import independence in the financial sector can be judged by the increase in the number of migration projects for business applications, data warehouses, and reporting systems. The number of requests for migration projects in only five months of 2024 has already exceeded the same figure for the entire 2023.

We assume that such activity is associated with the approaching deadline for the transfer of critical infrastructure facilities to domestic software, which also includes financial organizations - by January 1, 2025, the specialist shared.

In the segment of applied IT solutions for digitalization of customer interaction with banks, the share of Russian solutions is close to 100%, said Stanislav Shilov. According to the expert, this situation has developed historically, due to the presence of strong local vendors, the large volume of specifics of Russian legislation that made it difficult to adapt foreign solutions, and in general the leading positions of Russian fintech.

The dynamics of import substitution in the segment is positive, and the practical implementation of projects to achieve technological sovereignty has accelerated on the part of many customers (especially in the banking sector).

The dynamics are certainly positive - although it is difficult to give quantitative assessments, there has been a qualitative significant shift in the availability of a proposal for Russian solutions, the expert noted.

According to the expert, the speed of the replacement process depends on many factors, the key of which will be the degree of regulatory pressure - if the Bank of Russia pursues a tough policy to control the implementation of import substitution plans by banks, then banks will inevitably provide it within the required time frame.

I expect that in the IT banking segment, on the horizon of 5 years, the import substitution process will be fully and successfully completed, "predicts Stanislav Shilov.

According to the observations of Kirill Timofeev, head of the information technology department of Obit, Western products are being replaced actively in banks and financial organizations, and the share of Russian software here will be significantly increased due to the introduction of specialized solutions and business process management systems within 3-5 let​.

Telecom

Telecom is the most active industry in the field of import substitution, since it belongs to critical infrastructure in many aspects, and those solutions that are used by companies are subject to fairly tight regulation. This was told by Maxim Nartov, Business Development Director Nexign.

According to him, work continues on one of the most priority and capital-intensive areas - replacement in terms of radio network equipment. However, focus has shifted towards the core of the network and key business systems such as BSS.

First of all, interest arose around solutions for managing network policies and routing signaling traffic. In Russia, there are several suppliers working in this direction, including Nexign. And we see that competitive procedures are actively underway here, - the expert shared.

In the near future, you can expect to either classify the components of key IT systems as critical infrastructure, or, in any case, great interest from customers in replacing them.

We also assume that on the horizon of two or three years, this market will reach a turnover of hundreds of millions, if not billions of rubles. Similar projects have already been launched. The readiness of the suppliers of business solutions themselves and the maturity of their products, in my opinion, can be assessed at a good level, - Maxim Nartov is sure.

In general, in the field of IT solutions for telecom, there is a high degree of readiness and emerging demand, which was postponed due to higher priority investments in physical infrastructure.

We expect an increase in this indicator and healthy competition. The Russian telecom business is characterized by high requirements from operators in comparison with many other countries. And in this case, we can talk not only about technological sovereignty, but also technological leadership in the future, "the expert noted.

In other segments of Nexign's presence, the number of Russian suppliers is also growing. For example, the market for infrastructure solutions is quite saturated, while the process of forming a line of leaders is underway.

If we consider another area in which we work, namely HRM systems, this market is being replaced by import at a faster pace. But, as in other industries, the question of budgets and key tasks is open, - summed up Maxim Nartov.

As for telecom, for the future of several years, import substitution will continue actively here due to the large volume of investments necessary to change the infrastructure.

As you can see, now operators are choosing different strategies: some are leaving for the creation of an ecosystem, others are trying to focus on the quality of communication services. Therefore, it is expected that import substitution will also acquire various colors, but will become part of the promising development of the business, - said Maxim Nartov.

Industry

In accordance with the plan of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia for 2023, it is assumed for the industrial sector that the share of Russian software at critical information infrastructure facilities in industries such as mining, metallurgical, rocket and space, defense and chemical should be from 40% to 60%. In the nuclear industry, these figures reach 80-100%, and all enterprises are obliged to completely switch to domestic software this year. This was recalled by Ilya Gorshkov, Managing Director for Information Technology at VESNA.

Subsoil Use and Exploration

According to Pavel Solovyov, Information Technology Director of Rosgeo JSC, the main task of the ICK "Subsoil Use. Exploration "is the creation, implementation and replication of a fully functional album of domestic software solutions that automate the entire range of solid mineral exploration processes.

Based on the current and promising needs of the industry, the IC developed a targeted IT landscape that not only copies the functionality of the "dropped" foreign solutions, but implements the automation of all geological exploration processes with an emphasis on improving the geological result and improving production efficiency.

Note that it turned out to create a comprehensive, integrated landscape covering the entire range of business processes "from the field to the delivery of reports," the expert emphasized.

According to him, the specialists managed to create an open system, organically growing due to the integration of new software products and functional blocks.

At the same time, two particularly important projects are being implemented at the ICC site with the support of RFRIT: the Geological Data Documentation Platform and the Field Design Platform. Within the framework of the projects, market solutions of domestic vendors are being finalized. According to the first project, the decision of the domestic developer Geomix LLC was functionally finalized, the anchor customer was Rosgeologia JSC. The project was successfully completed in December 2023, and the software product has already been put into commercial operation at the holding. Within the framework of the project, a significant evolution of the software product took place, and the result was a solution functionally identical to the foreign software complex Micromine. Joint testing and parallel application operation showed absolute convergence of results.

The project "Documentation of geological information" is carried out strictly within the approved schedule and has no risks of deviation either in terms of timing, functionality, or project budget, - said Pavel Solovyov.

He noted that the improved functionality of the solution developed by AGR Software has already been implemented and is used in the field in more than 10 field projects. In addition, the system is integrated with domestic drilling equipment (Geomash, ZBO, AlmazGeoBur). The projects were highly appreciated by industry experts and received the first prize at the international competition Minex Digital 2023, and were also awarded an award in the nomination "Applied Import Substitution" within the framework of the forum "Mining Industry 4.0."

In the near future, in the ICC "Subsoil Use. Exploration "plans to complete and replicate especially significant projects, and in the future there will be a functional evolution of software products that make up the target landscape of the industry. The expert highly appreciated the potential for replicating the developed solutions, both on the domestic market and abroad.

Products being refined as part of our initiatives are already being actively implemented both in our country and in neighboring countries and even on the African continent, "he said.

The expert noted a significant increase in the use of AI tools. In his opinion, this will have a positive effect on the operational efficiency of geological exploration processes, will make it possible to qualitatively improve the results of geological research.

Construction industry

Russian vendors began to create their own software solutions in advance, so by the time Western companies left the Russian market, there were already a number of domestic developments in the construction industry. TAdviser was told about this in the press service of the Ministry of Construction of the Russian Federation.

On behalf of the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation Mikhail Mishustin, following the results of the TsIPR-2022 conference in Russia, industrial centers of competence for import substitution of software (ICC) and centers of competence for the development of Russian system-wide and applied software (CDC) were created.

To date, a domestic IT landscape has been formed, 11 complex software products are being finalized within the framework of the Construction IC, and a list of "second stage" products is being formed together with key industry players.

In addition, we note that import substitution and technological sovereignty of the country at the moment are one of the priority tasks and are under special control of the President and the Government of the Russian Federation, the press service of the ministry emphasized.

Electric Power and Utilities

Import substitution has become a real task, not a political slogan, "said Alexander Pestunov, Deputy General Director of Sigma. - Russian IT solutions are implemented by customers not for reporting, but to support business development in new conditions and for the long term.

According to him, it is very important that today customers have the opportunity to choose the necessary functionality from those presented on the Russian market. At the same time, the current level of import substitution in state-owned companies does not yet allow us to talk about real import independence.

As for the key IT solutions segment for the company, and now these are key business processes for generating, distributing and selling electricity, managing housing and communal services infrastructure - here it is appropriate to consider the dynamics of import substitution based on the importance of business processes and the scale of tasks, Alexander Pestunov believes.

The specifics of our customers and projects are on their scale. We began to solve a number of tasks related to the digitalization of power and housing and communal services even before the import substitution rate appeared, "he said.

The expert cited two examples of Sigma projects implemented in 2023. Based on the SIGMA.IVK solution, automatic secure collection of energy consumption data is implemented in 11 regions of the Russian Federation. As for the grid segment of the electric power industry, a single geo-information system was developed here, which combines a large amount of data on electric grid facilities and consumers connected to them with a visual and accurate display on maps. This allows you to more quickly and in detail monitor the state of electrical networks and connections to them, plan repairs and prevention of equipment, the work of field teams and the associated costs of vehicles and other resources. The system was created on the basis of the SIGMA.SUS solution (network management system) and is already used for situational management and decision-making support in a number of subsidiaries of PJSC Rosseti.

Import substitution of individual software classes

Infrastructure Software

Evgeny Shishkov, Managing Director of Orion soft, states that today the share of Russian products that repeat the entire range of functions of foreign market leaders does not exceed 80%. At the same time, the share of analogues that can close the basic needs of customers is approaching 90%. In the field of infrastructure software, according to the expert, it is very important to make a reservation for the industry, the current share depends on this. But almost all industries have 2-3 mature domestic solutions. At the same time, the average estimate of the share of Russian solutions here reaches 40-45%. In state-owned companies, this percentage is higher, and, for example, in retail, the transition is relatively slow.

At the same time, an interesting picture is emerging in the key segment for Orion soft virtualization: there are more than forty solutions, but most are not ready for use by enterprise customers - so far there is a lack of functionality, reliability and fault tolerance, "said Evgeny Shishkov.

According to the expert's forecast, in the field of infrastructure software in five years there will be no segments where there will be no worthy domestic solutions. At the same time, global market leaders will not sit idly by and release new versions of products, but the gap will definitely narrow.

The level of import independence in the Russian infrastructure and system software market has grown significantly over the past few years, says Anton Shmakov, technical director of Astra Group. According to the expert, the strengthening of sanctions and the departure of a number of large foreign software suppliers stimulated the active development of domestic solutions and the import substitution process. The expert also said that Astra Group occupies 76% of the Russian operating systems market and is actively working towards consolidating resources for the development of its own ecosystem of solutions against the backdrop of fierce competition.

DBMS, Data

In 2023, the overall pace of import substitution slowed down somewhat, nevertheless, the process is quite active, said Ivan Panchenko. For example, in the DBMS segment, experts note a significant increase in interest from the banking and oil and gas sectors, and the number of requests from private companies has increased.

About 80% of the DBMS market is still used by Oracle and Microsoft solutions. Nevertheless, migration is proceeding rapidly and, according to Postgres Professional experts, the active phase of import substitution here will last until 2027-2028.

According to Daria Verstelle, Director of Business Development at Arenadata, the main wave of replacement of foreign products in the data solutions market will last until 2027.

If we talk about the market for data solutions, then, in our opinion, the level of import independence in state-owned companies and private business will only grow. The milestone to which foreign vendors could still return lost positions has already been passed. Now this is no longer possible, since they will have to face competition with the mature decisions of Russian players. Moreover, such a return can be significantly hindered by the policy being pursued, states- said the expert.

According to her, now Western software accounts for no more than 10% of the market, taking into account all the components (license sales, support, integration and consulting). Basically, these are the costs of support by the Russian teams.

We expect that the growth rate of the market for Russian data products in the next couple of years will remain at the level of more than 30% per year. Moreover, according to analysts, the market has already restored volumes and reached pre-crisis levels, - predicts Daria Verstelle. - In the future, growth may slow down, but in the horizon of five years it will be at least 15% due to organic growth. In individual segments growing from a small database (for example, data directories, database protection systems), growth can be significantly higher.

Currently, we are seeing how Russian solutions in the field of data management and processing of large amounts of information (Big Data) already demonstrate a faster speed of work compared to monolithic Western counterparts. Nevertheless, they remain quite expensive, - said Ilya Gorshkov, Managing Director for Information Technology at VESNA.

EDMS/ECM/BPM/CRM/ERP

In the last year, the level in the Russian software market, especially in the large business segment, has grown significantly. This is not only due to the need to ensure the reliability of the IT infrastructure, but also the risks of financial losses due to the lack of access to updates and technical support. This opinion was expressed by the general director of BPMSoft (part of the IT holding LANCOFT) Yuri Vostrikov. According to him, SMB still prefers foreign licenses or Open Source solutions, but successful domestic products are beginning to change this trend.

We expect an increase in the migration trend to Russian software in the segment/ BPM, CRM- predicts Yuri Vostrikov. - Users will evaluate the platforms according to the level of service, integration capabilities, speed of implementation of new functionality, as well as the availability of innovative tools, including ML and. AI

Also, according to the expert, the development of models of flexible licensing, microservice application architecture, and at the same time ‒ an increase in the volume of niche solutions is predicted. More and more mass and large migration projects to Russian CRM systems are expected, although at the moment only a quarter of Enterprise companies have replaced the products of the departed vendors. BPMSoft predicts that by the end of next year this figure will be more than 50%, which will significantly expand the domestic IT market and give an additional impetus to the capabilities of both vendors and integrators.

Sergei Kuryanov, director of strategic marketing at Docsvision, said that Microsoft's public procurement in Russia has almost zeroed out: since 2022, it has decreased by more than 70 times. The expert observes approximately the same picture in the procurement of private enterprises or enterprises with state participation with a critical information infrastructure, but industrial software is more difficult to replace than office software, therefore, compared to the public sector, the changes are not so obvious here. As for private traders without CT, for whom import substitution is not regulated by law, tightening sanctions is becoming more and more relevant for them, and the level of substitution can be less than 50%. According to Sergei Kuryanov, the correct assessment of dynamics is the measurement of market share.

We work with the largest customers at the RBK-500 level. Among them, the share of domestic EDMS was lower than in the average market, and was probably 20-30%, now it is about 50%, it should increase to almost 100% within 5 years, the expert predicts.

He stressed that the level of import substitution in the EDMS/ECM/BPM segment is low. By mid-2024, 1/3 of the ongoing implementation projects are being done here on the domestic stack, while the demand for 4/5 is focused on the domestic stack. This ratio was formed in about six months (this is the average Docsvision contracting cycle).

Our EDMS/ECM/BPM segment is just beginning to be replaced. That's understandable. Enterprises replaced primarily infrastructure - servers, workstations, OS and DBMS, industrial software, - said the expert. - Now they have approached the software of auxiliary processes, which include document management and content management.

Docsvision expects a multiple increase in sales over 2-3 years and a complete displacement of Western software of the profile class, because there will definitely not be enough funds for the development of systems on the western stack with a multiple reduction in demand.

Houlmont General Director Alexander Zotkin said that in the EDMS segment, a choice of high-quality Russian software tested by experience has been available for several years. In his opinion, an additional driver of import substitution, in addition to the desire for technological independence, is to take into account the specifics of Russian companies. Manufacturers of EDMS do not copy foreign software, but actively develop their products. For example, in the EDMS THESIS, an artificial intelligence module is implemented, the functionality of the HR module is actively expanding, ongoing work is underway to improve UI/UX and performance.

We are also often faced with projects to replace the server OS, migrate DBMS, integrate with office software. Customers have a large choice among Russian products, and the cross-platform inherent in our technologies from the very beginning helps to implement these projects, - said Alexander Zotkin.

In those segments where world producers used to dominate, the situation is more complicated. In particular, the ERP corporate standard used to be SAP. Russian analogues are now in the process of development, and for many customers the best option is to create a bespoke system. In particular, Holmont is conducting an ERP development project for Gazpromtrans.

Ivan Skorodumov, General Director of EOS Group of Companies, also speaks about the positive dynamics of import substitution. According to him, if several years ago in some segments of the IT market there were no domestic analogues as a class, now they are actively developing. In general, like other experts, he notes that the situation varies greatly from one segment to another.

As for our segment, it is safe to say that Russian EDMS/ESM and archival systems have existed for a long time and are successfully used by customers, the expert said. - They can 100% replace foreign analogues, and - and this is no secret - some specific problems are solved only by our systems (the difference in business processes from Western practices affects here).

More and more large EOS clients are carrying out comprehensive import substitution measures, which include operating systems, DBMS, office packages, text recognition systems and intelligent services. The level of import independence in the segment is characterized by a specialist as "quite high."

He notes that many domestic solutions have already grown into the CSP platform class. Office packages, communication tools, intelligent services have received serious development and all this is in demand among customers in various segments. There are also "white spots" in terms of highly specialized components and utilities, analogues of which are inferior to foreign solutions in terms of performance or quality, but work is underway in this direction.

These are really small things that you can already do without or start using the emerging Russian analogues, "the expert noted.

The opinion of Ivan Skorodumov coincides with the opinions of many other specialists, and this can be called a firm and obvious expert consensus of the entire market: import substitution is much more active in the public sector than in business. The process cannot be called simple, moreover, it requires significant financial injections. As for private companies, many organizations either continue to be at the waiting stage, or have already developed an import substitution strategy, but have not begun to fully implement it. At the same time, in addition to financial risks, the psychological factor cannot be discounted here.

The specialist states that some customers are trying to preserve some foreign systems, especially those in which significant investments have been made, large-scale adaptations have been made to the needs of organizations, and that customers themselves create technical support groups. However, in general, in the EDMS/ECM segment in terms of import substitution, everything is "very good," high competition allows you to choose high-quality solutions and do it without compromising quality.

I think that in a few years only domestic decisions will really work in state structures, in business the share of foreign decisions will remain, but in a very small percentage, "Ivan Skorodumov summed up.

Anton Varfolomeev, General Director of Digital Design, spoke about the significant difference between the public sector and business in terms of penetration of BPM solutions.

In the public sector, the company implemented the first implementations of its own BPM solutions on Russian or free system software almost 10 years ago. Back in 2015, the Priority documentation management system on the PostgreSQL DBMS was deployed in one of the federal authorities.

Currently, it can be stated that the level of import independence of public sector enterprises in terms of application software, such as EDMS, BPM and ERP systems, is close to 70-80%, and system and office client software - 30-40%, - the expert shared.

As for commercial structures, the company estimates that about 80% of new projects in the EDMS and BPMS segment include the rejection of foreign software in one form or another - at least in the server part (DBMS, application server).

At the same time, with regard to client jobs, everything is much sadder: the bulk of them continue to function on Microsoft software, the use of domestic products here is still more an exception than regular practice, - said Anton Varfolomeev.

An important criterion for the replacement process is the requirements for performance and fault tolerance, - said Vladimir Egorov, Deputy General Director of Consyst Business Group, TURBO vendor (part of the product line of IT holding LANSOFT). - For us, these are also priority areas in the development of TURBO ERP.

According to the expert, in the commercial sphere, where there are fewer regulatory requirements, with the replacement of imports, not everything is simple: business does not experience prejudice only if it sees the expediency of introducing Russian products.

In this regard, we are very encouraged by examples where industrial leaders are beginning to replicate domestic solutions created as part of the roadmap for new industrial software. This will inevitably grow, - the expert predicts. - We expect growth in our ERP segment, which is due to an increase in attention to it. This is evident both in the initiatives of the ANO CKIT to update industrial and system-wide landscapes, and in the tasks discussed at the highest level. It is enough to watch the plenary session of the CIPR. As pilot projects are implemented, Russian software is put into commercial operation on large-scale tasks, confidence in the maturity of domestic products on the market will grow. This will speed up decision-making and the start of new projects.

Today, there are already alternatives to foreign CRM systems, accounting programs, platforms for electronic document management, mail services, cloud storage, video communication services and corporate instant messengers, antiviruses, and so on, said VESNA expert Ilya Gorshkov.

BI

Quillis believes that in terms of data visualization, the presence of foreign products on the Russian market is a significant share. These are companies that in some way can renew licenses or are divisions of foreign companies. At the same time, in the last year, interest in domestic developments has been growing, especially on the basis of Open Source, including software for analytics and data visualization.

Engineering software

According to official statements, in 2023, about 80% of IT solutions already had Russian analogues. Then it was about software, which is being finalized and implemented within the framework of particularly significant projects of industrial centers of competence (ICC). These large-scale projects were launched in 2022 to ensure the technological independence of industrial enterprises. This was told by Pavel Shcherbinin, director of strategic marketing in mechanical engineering "ASCON."

This year we are releasing a line of our software products with the new functionality necessary for enterprises participating in particularly significant projects. The statuses of the work are publicly presented twice a year at the demo days of the ICC, - the expert shared.

ASCON, like other companies, is finalizing its systems at the request of industrial enterprises as part of particularly significant projects, and is already reporting significant results. From quarter to quarter, the difference between foreign and domestic engineering software is decreasing, given the departure from the Russian market of foreign engineering software developers, the introduction of sanctions for enterprises, a ban on the use of such software in structures with state participation.

The company has been implementing import substitution projects for engineering software for more than a dozen years, and naturally, from 2022 there are more and more of them, said Pavel Shcherbinin. According to him, the increase is measured by dozens of large-scale projects. The largest enterprises of the Russian industry have yet to engage in frontal import substitution.

Launched projects or those close to completion replace only part of the engineering software, the expert noted. - The next logical step will be to expand the range of products to be replaced - for other tasks and departments.

Information modeling

As of the beginning of 2024, depending on the industry, Russian companies replaced from 10 to 50% of foreign solutions. This assessment was given by Mikhail Bocharov, Deputy General Director for Science of SiSoft Development JSC. He also notes that the process is most actively underway in the public sector and KI enterprises. This is because state-owned companies have more resources and opportunities to adopt new technologies. In addition, they can receive support from the state in the form of subsidies and grants. The possibilities of private business are limited. It is often difficult for them to choose a product suitable for functionality. In addition, the influence of the uncertainty factor, which further complicates planning, is great. Russian developers offer more than 20 thousand various products, but many of them require refinement according to customers. At the same time, domestic IT companies have the potential to create full-fledged ecosystems of solutions that can meet any needs.

But this may take 5-7 years, as some experts note, - said Mikhail Bocharov.

According to him, Russian decisions are beginning to actively conquer the segment of information modeling, since the ground for this is prepared by law. Companies are expected from the state to scientifically support their own solutions for digital construction vertical. They need a clear message on import substitution in three main directions: software, standards and data models (formats). Decisiveness and unambiguity will contribute to an optimal and less painful transition to the figure.

It is not yet possible to completely abandon foreign software. Many companies and organizations continue to use foreign products, citing their convenience, functionality and reliability. But this is not always true, since domestic analogues are no worse in information modeling, - said the expert.

If we talk about specific segments of import substitution, then expectations of dynamics will depend on their specifics, the prospects in the sector of information modeling technologies look more than optimistic. According to Mikhail Bocharov, this direction is becoming more and more relevant in the context of anti-Russian sanctions and its own path for the development of digital construction, which gradually, but goes to more effective principles of data management than foreign concepts and solutions created for them. So far, the prevailing stereotypes, motley standards and large funds invested in digital ecosystems built for Western products interfere.

The expert noted that the state can support domestic developers through the scientific development of domestic information modeling technologies, which will contribute not only to optimal digitalization, but also to the creation of new jobs in areas that have not been fully digitalized, for example, in construction or housing and communal services.

Information security

Information security is a "end-to-end" industry that affects the entire market. The need for robust and resilient systems that are protected from cyber attacks is only increasing.

According to the commercial director of ARinteg Dmitry Slobodenyuk, the average proportion of the presence of information security products of domestic vendors in Russia in annual sales in 2024 may be about 95%. And the volume of this market by the end of 2024 may reach 313 billion rubles (+ 34% by 2023).

At the same time, there is great competition in the segment. It is especially noticeable in those niches that were vacated with the departure of Western vendors, and where the market was not fully formed.

Take the next-generation firewalls, NGFW. The Register of Domestic Software for July 2024 contains a dozen such solutions from vendors of various scales, - said Dmitry Slobodenyuk. - And new solutions will continue to emerge, as there is still an opportunity to capture a noticeable share of this market.

In addition, in the field of information security, the trend towards partnerships is intensifying: companies are entering into collaborations in order to be able to offer their customers the most optimal solution for them, which best solves the tasks facing them.

Recently, our company ARinteg, together with InfoWatch, integrated its products: the ARZip archiver and the InfoWatch Traffic Monitor DLP system, so that our customers can 100% solve the problem of confidential information leaks through password-protected archives, the expert shared.

ARZip allows DLP to automatically check password-protected archives, which means to exclude data leaks through them. In order for the ARZip archiver to allow DLP systems to control all password-protected archives, the client organization decides that ARZip becomes its only corporate archiver.

Password archives are one of the common channels for leaks of confidential information and a source of constant headache for information security service employees who have to deal with quarantine files manually, because DLP itself cannot open such archives. ARZip automates this work and unloads resources that can be switched to other tasks.

See also

• Import substitution of software in the public sector
• Import substitution in state-owned companies
• Import substitution of software in higher educational institutions
• Import substitution of information technologies in banks
• Import substitution of information technologies in industry
• Import substitution of software in the public sector
• Import substitution of computer equipment and microelectronics
• Import substitution in Russia
• Import substitution in the field of information security