Hancom

Founded in 1990, the South Korean company Hancom is developing office software (applications for working with text, tables and presentations), which is a competitor to the Microsoft Office package. Hancom programs use their own file extension (HWP), but documents can be saved in more common formats, including Doc, PDF, PPT, XLS, etc.

As of July 2016, Hancom controls 30% of the South Korean office program market, and in the world the company's share is 0.4% compared to 90.8% for Microsoft. At the same time, the company plans to increase its shares in the native and international markets to 51% and 5%, respectively^[1].

2017: Agreement on the sale of software in the M.Video network

May 10, 2017 it became known about the cooperation of Hancom with the chain of electronics stores "M.Video." Such information was distributed by Kommersant with reference to the representative of the retailer and director of business development Hancom Di Kei Kim.

The distributor of Hancom for a joint project with M.Video chose 1C-Softclab. At the same time, M.Video noted that the retail chain acts as an agent for the sale of software and receives a commission. We are talking about the Hancom Thinkfree Office NEO package. Like Microsoft Office, it includes programs that work with texts, tables, and presentations.

The price of an indefinite Thinkfree Office NEO license in M.Video is 2450 rubles against 5,000 rubles for a similar package of Microsoft Office Home and Student.

According to Nikita Tikhvinsky, director of content development and digital services at M.Video, by May 2017, the network accounted for about 35% of Microsoft Office retail sales for PCs and 50% for laptops. He estimates the degree of penetration of licensed office software in the Russian portable computer market at about 25%.

According to RB.K. research, the vast majority (73%) of Russian users use Microsoft Office on working computers. The share OpenOffice is 11.8%, - LibreOffice 6.7%, - Apple iWork 3.5%.

The appearance of a new player in Russian retail in Microsoft itself is called the "healthy development of the market." Experts believe that the success of Hancom in the Russian Federation will depend on marketing capabilities, as well as on the ability to circumvent the requirements of the registry of domestic software.

The retail software market of the Russian Federation is not very large, but the main buyers are budget organizations and large commercial companies. If we talk about the public sector, then there are questions related to the registry, "said Alexey Smirnov, adviser to the general director of Basalt ACT[2]

2016: Distribution agreement with Asbis

In November 2016, Hancom signed a partnership agreement with the IT solutions distributor Asbis^[3]. It assumes that Hancom will begin supplying Asbis with its office product for Thinkfree Office NEO PCs in December, and later plans to also supply its products for business and the public sector.

Asbis declined to comment on TAdviser's agreement with Hancom and the prospects for its products on the Russian market.

Гендиректор Hancom Lee Won-pil Asbis CEO Vladimir Levakov at the signing ceremony

Asbis is not the first partner of a South Korean company in Russia. In 2014, an agreement was concluded between Hancom and New Solutions, based in Saransk (see below).

According to "New Solutions," Moscow State University named after N.P. Ogarev acquired 2.5 thousand licenses ThinkFree Office. The company told TAdviser that since then they have not had supplies of Hancom software to other customers.

It is still difficult to assess Hancom's chances in the Russian market, according to New Solutions, associating this with the fact that its software has not yet received enough PR. Judging by its region, New Solutions believes that if Hancom gives more advertising or through distributors organize several marketing activities, such as seminars, webinars, print advertising and outdoor advertising for customers, then it has a chance. In the meantime, an analogue - "MyOffice" is much more popular, the company added. It is planned to launch its "New Solutions" in Penza and in some organizations of Saransk.

In July 2016, Hancom said that they consider Russia to be five new emerging regions along with China, India, South America and the Middle East^[4]. In these markets, the company intends to focus on more active marketing.

Hancom CEO Lee Won-pil at the same time noted that Russian companies are looking for an alternative to Microsoft products. As of July 2016, Hancom was testing its software at several universities in the Russian Federation and hoped to replace Microsoft Office there with its solutions.

At that time , Microsoft's Russian office could not comment on the plans of the Korean competitor. Dmitry Komissarov, general director and founder of New Cloud Technologies, the developer of office applications MyOffice, noted that he welcomes competition in this market.

At the moment, this is not the first Asian company to come to Russia, and it is noticeable that they will need a number of efforts to translate the product into Russian, localize technical support for customers and partners. When all these steps are completed, and it will also be possible to evaluate the distribution network, then it will be sense to talk about the potential share of the market, "he told TAdviser.

2014: New Solutions Agreement

In 2014, an agreement was concluded between Hancom and New Solutions, based in Saransk. Then "New Solutions" implemented, together with another partner, a comprehensive project at Moscow State University named after N.P. Ogarev - the largest educational institution in Mordovia. It included the supply of hardware and software, which included Hancom - ThinkFree Office software in combination with Zimbra, TAdviser told the company. To deliver Hancom software as part of the project, New Solutions has entered into an agreement with them.

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