Vladimir Vigura, NOTA: Integrators can implement the most ambitious implementations with our CRM

Vladimir Vigura: According to our research, two and a half years ago, enterprise companies, unlimited in choosing software with the requirements of regulators, used Western solutions. At the same time, Russian CRM systems, which historically focused on small and medium-sized businesses, actually remained outside of large statistics. 

However, knowing even the number of large implementations, it was impossible to fully estimate the amount of investment. This is due to the fact that the transition to a new system does not mean that they began to invest in the project less: any large organization is constantly improving IT solutions. For example, the customer continued to develop the system implemented back in 2008 in 2022, and spent three times more on this budget than at the implementation stage.

In 2022, a sharp decline followed: domestic companies stopped investing in foreign solutions, but the time has not yet come for import substitution projects. Its effect became noticeable a year later - in 2023 the market returned to the indicators of 2021, but with domestic decisions.

Vladimir Vigura: We were one of these companies, and even before 2022 we saw three development options for ourselves. The first is to support foreign solutions from customers, knowing that sooner or later it will cease to be in demand. The second is to engage in custom development and supply employees for large customers who create their own systems.

An alternative is to develop a replacement product for SAP CRM, Oracle Siebel, and Microsoft Dynamics. What we chose, and in 2020 we began to convert almost 20 years of experience with foreign products into creating our own CRM system. 

Vladimir Vigura: Mature solutions have appeared on the market that can functionally replace the previously used imported software. These are real corporate products that have dealt with issues of peripheral development - the lack of requirements for flexibility, customizability and performance. As a result, demand for them is growing, and a vast market has already formed in which integrators play an important role, since they provide a quick and seamless transfer of a critical system for the company to a new one.

As a vendor, we rely on partnerships: this is a classic win-win situation. For example, an integrator expert in the pharmaceutical industry can create a vertical solution based on our NOTA MODUS CRM platform and supply licenses. In other words, right now the integrators have an excellent opportunity to work with Russian vendors on truly large projects. This is both a challenge and great prospects.

Vladimir Vigura: Regulators oblige IT customers to switch to domestic solutions. For example, the Central Bank with a clear frequency asks the system-forming banks for import substitution indicators. The import substitution process is difficult, and it is important for business to make sure that the company does not suffer, and its client does not feel any changes at all. Therefore, customers have been preparing for the transition for a long time and, if possible, support Western CRM in the "crystal vase" mode: they minimize improvements, try not to do anything that can become fatal for the system without vendor support.

At this time, the process of building an alternative solution is underway. That is, the option of replacing CRM with a ready-made Russian solution without a long implementation cycle is simply not considered. Large customers are looking for a flexible product - they need to easily adapt CRM to their needs. Ideally, repeat everything that was developed on the previously used platform, as well as remove the old restrictions and gain additional benefits.

Vladimir Vigura: The most common question is how quickly you can deploy the product and train employees to work with it. No one wants to distract specialists for two to three weeks of training. Inside the system there are low-code and no-code tools that allow you to quickly implement the user interface and process logic. More complex tasks can always be solved using add-ons using the popular Quarkus and Angular frameworks.

Vladimir Vigura: I am sure the market will grow and, most likely, reach a peak by 2026. I think large integrator projects at this time will start with a budget of 30 − 40 billion rubles - taking into account inflation, of course. It should be borne in mind that companies from the enterprise segment are focused on inhouse development. According to our assessment, this situation will last another couple of years. But in 2026 − 2027, the strategy may change, which will give the next impetus to Russian vendor products. By this time, we will probably observe a trend not for import substitution, but for choosing the most developed domestic solution from all available options.

In addition, growth opportunities in foreign markets are opening up for Russian IT developers. Note MODUS has already proved this: we have 4 projects in the CIS countries, in which we successfully compete with foreign solutions. This makes it possible to include in the development strategy an annual growth of 30 − 40% in neighboring countries.