Industrial Procrastination Fight: Strategies to Increase Productivity in the Workplace
At the 10th edition of the Digital Industry of Russian Industry (CIPR) conference, IT holding T1 announced the release of a domestic automation system for technological processes (PAK ASU TP) named "Syllaron". This system consists of software and hardware components, including sensors, controllers, mechanical actuators, networking equipment, operator workstations, server systems, and more.
T1's management also declared that they would be producing next-generation servers on the Izhaven Radio Plant in partnership with Rostec's subsidiary, "Azimuth", within the Azimuth-T1 Multilect joint venture. This move reflects T1's strategy of developing a vertically integrated ecosystem for industrial automation – from software to "iron", promising to close customers' needs under one roof.
Kirill Bulgakov, managing director of the vendor NOTA and deputy general director of IT holding T1, discussed the evolution of the Russian IT market at the CIPR-2025 platform.
- Considering this decade, how has the Russian IT sector changed?
- Substantially. Mathematicians have always been strong in both Russia and the Soviet Union, requiring just paper and pencil for development. So in the field of software development and implementation, there have been numerous possibilities, but in the last few years, there has been a significant leap. The Russian culture of higher education and advanced programmers have given rise to a Russian school of development – meticulous, scientific, now recognized and in demand worldwide. Unlike India's IT industry, which primarily works on outsourcing, we have established our own niche. A new class of players emerged, producing and delivering domestic solutions.
A good indicator is the success of Russian solutions adapting to local conditions and gaining traction in foreign markets. This achievement is a result of understanding what solutions will be competitive in a competitive environment.
- What exactly did we learn to do?
- We excel in domestic software production. In Russia, vendors have learned not only to strategically plan and create viable software but also to market it effectively.
In the past, investments in promotion and marketing were as considerable as – or even more than – those in development, and sometimes the solutions themselves could be raw. Today, that is no longer the case. Players on the domestic market now have the opportunity to save resources on promotion and develop cutting-edge solutions meeting the highest flexibility and scalability requirements.
- How do these new products differ?
- These new products have no "unorthodox" print sources (foreign source code). Additionally, developers have learned to deal with data leakage through payment systems. Consequently, vendors have become adept at growing markets, building partnership networks.
A good indicator is the success of Russian products penetrating foreign markets. This accomplishment is a result of understanding what solutions will be in demand in a competitive environment.
- In which foreign markets do we see domestic developments?
- T1 has partnered on several projects with countries within the CIS. One example is the CRM platform "Modus", which we implemented in Russian banks and airports. We have now extended this platform to Belarus, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan. This is significant as these products are being adopted not only in Belarus where restrictions are fewer, but also in intensely competitive markets like Uzbekistan. It is clear that we have a "home advantage" in Uzbekistan, but even so, it's not the same as competing in an import substitution environment with local players.
We are also working on an expansion program for distant markets. This year, we will share an example of a specific deployment in Southeast Asia, where there is no common language. Currently, Southeast Asia is rapidly developing with relatively low starting points and will undoubtedly adopt numerous IT technologies.
Another region attracting our attention is South America. There are possibilities for local partnerships there, and there is room for products packed with a high level of functionality. In summary, while there are many encouraging trends regarding software, hardware is a different story.
- So import substitution in IT is happening slowly?
- Software is almost completely replaced, but hardware is not. The next step – transition to domestic technologies, components, and equipment – is in response to strengthening legal requirements and meeting growing business demand for domestic products. There are producers of components for large products in strategic industries, but what is needed for the industry as a whole is still not available.
The government has identified a list of critical information infrastructure assets, but no one has been penalized for failing to comply with the requirement to transition to domestic software.
- Aren't there many potential industrial software customers who don't want to do anything?
- There are indeed many organizations. In general, it is understandable for companies that have poured billions into SAP implementation and have no immediate plans to replace their existing system. Thus, large non-governmental companies may adopt slowly.
- "Fosagro" is replacing Oracle's ERP from the USA with Russian Global ERP...
- This is a small implementation, which may be delayed due to objective reasons: the market lacks enough specialists familiar with new systems, and there are few experienced partners.
The challenge lies in the fact that as the level of specificity in the object area increases, so does the development complexity of the industrial IT solution. Complex industrial IT solutions can be created, but mainly due to subsidies. Some companies in Russia, such as "Aeroflot" and others, have switched to domestic systems due to security concerns.
However, there is a systemic problem with ERP (enterprise resource planning) import substitution. Our partner "1C", on which millions of organizations rely, demonstrates strong points in terms of accessibility, familiarity, and integration with government systems. But it shines best on small projects.
Other vendors promise solutions, but lack the resources – labor, technology, or financial – to compete with the likes of SAP and Oracle, who left behind a vacuum in complex ERP keystones: production chains, Big Data analytics, AI integration.
- Are Russian companies capable of providing the economy with the necessary IT solutions?
- Major players can. However, there is a peculiarity: the Russian industry has been underfinanced for the past four decades. Exceptions are high-income industries like metallurgy or oil, but they have traditionally relied on Western solutions. The domestic IT industry has primarily focused on business services – finance, communication, government services, retail – while the market for industrial IT solutions remains fragmented among established niche players and new platform developers. However, there is a slow but consistent process of reallocation of roles on the market. Today, the challenge is to bring together fragmented IT solutions into a coherent system.
T1's industrial automation system for manufacturing processes "Syllaron" – a classic distributed system management solution with anti-failure protection features, suitable for various technological processes.
- How does a typical customer's request look?
- They usually approach with complaints about a failed project. Most often, the problem is that the prime contractor cannot cover all tasks, subcontracts to other contractors, but they too cannot handle the tasks. Even if a new team is brought in, history often repeats itself. The key issue is that all players initially underestimate two critical factors: Change Management (Managing Changes) and socialization. Initially, I was skeptical about excessive spending on training, communication, and adaptation of processes. However, when the project begins, it quickly becomes apparent that employees do not understand how to work with the new software, managers do not see its value, and business processes are not adapted.
- What products for industry has T1 developed?
- Our flagship project "Modus" is a corporate retail CRM system. It offers class-leading functionality to organize the entire sales chain. We already have successful deployment cases.
The "Sphere" platform is a universal tool for organizing software development processes. It aims to replace foreign IT systems, such as the Atlassian ecosystem.
The universal communication platform DION – video conferencing, chats, email – is a Zoom alternative, operating efficiently even on thin network channels. It is popular among both wholesale and retail customers, such as the Russian Post, Fesco (a transport group affiliated with Rosatom), and Russia-24 TV.
Other interesting cases include the development of a solution for moving to a tax monitoring regime for the public sector. They have high documentation requirements and information security needs.
Monitoring provides a certain level of transparency without the costly process of checkpoint inspections: the Federal Tax Service gains access to financial records that clients create themselves within the system.
- How strong is competition among Russian software developers? There seems to be a sense that companies offer similar solutions, competing with each other.
- On the surface, there seems to be more startups than necessary. I am confident that, in the near future, the situation will change, as there will be a series of mergers and acquisitions. Additionally, there is a slight imbalance on the market, which the Ministry of Digital Development, Telecommunitications and Mass Media is trying to correct. Major state-owned corporations – govcorps – can hire a large number of developers and manage the process independently.
For us as a vendor, these govcorps are no longer just customers for our services but competitors who have created their own platforms. On the other hand, govcorps, as a rule, do not understand the market well and struggle to promote their products. Consequently, platforms remain within the confines of their own ecosystems.
As a result, they don't pose a real threat, but they contribute to the creation of an unfavorable information environment. The Ministry of Digital Development, Telecommunications and Mass Media recognizes this problem and will not accept such solutions in the Russian Software Register, as they are not designed for the entire market. If these were private investments, there would be no problem – the market self-regulates. However, the issue is that these are state resources wasted on developing these solutions.
- In the field of software development and implementation, the Russian IT sector has seen a significant leap in the last few years, resulting in a Russian school of development – meticulous, scientific, now recognized and in demand worldwide.
- The Russian culture of higher education and advanced programmers has given rise to a homegrown class of players who produce and deliver domestic solutions, not just focusing on outsourcing like India's IT industry.
