Russian IT Seasons: a Unique Matchmaking Event Took Place in Chicago
Sep 25, 2005
The 6th US-Russian IT-Season was held on September 22nd, 2005 at the Palmer House Hilton Hotel in Chicago, IL, and was a great success. The conference focused on enhancing cooperation in IT outsourcing, staffing, software development legal aspects and sales between Russian and American companies. 9 Russian software development companies, including Luxoft, Fortess, SoftAge, IBA, Bonus Technology, Intetics, VDI, Business Computers Group, BORLAS Group – took part in the event, organized by the leading Russian Software Development Association RUSSOFT and it’s marketing and event agency, Fort-Ross Ltd. Over 30 US IT-Executives from medium size technology companies have formed the US part of the audience. Over 80 B2B pre-set meetings have been arranged in the second part of the day aimed at forging potential business relationship. The overall results of which were considered by both sides as a real success.
The Russian IT Seasons became the unique meeting place for Top-managers of IT companies from Russia and IT-Executives, CEOs and CIOs of US companies who are considering using offshore as part of their IT services sourcing strategy or exploring the opportunity of expanding their businesses to Russia and CIS.
The seminar included presentations and case-studies on current situation, latest trends and forecasts over Russian IT-market, prospects and challenges of US-Russian cooperation in the field of IT. The list of speakers proved to be another reason for the success of the whole event.
Mr. Barry Mason Rubenstein, senior analyst for application outsourcing and offshore services at IDC Research gave an overview of offshore IT services market dynamics, including 5-year forecasts and a review of offerings from Russia and Eastern Europe. He helped to demystify the wide array of options available today. He has also presented detailed recommendations to companies investigating the opportunity of outsourcing to Russia, including such questions as how to choose the right engagement model and vendor, and how to ensure that an offshore services engagement is as successful as possible.
"During the past few years, the offshore delivery of IT services has rapidly evolved from a destination for low-end, low-cost services to an integral part of most vendors' service delivery strategies. Given that offshore is generally considered as a standard part of most any IT services contract, vendors will need to further distinguish themselves by growing their global delivery capabilities and building a broader range of transformational services. It is only through this maturation process that offshore vendors will continue to enjoy the extraordinary growth rates of the first half of this decade," said Barry Mason, senior analyst for Application Outsourcing and Offshore Services at IDC Research.
Mr. Arthur L. George, partner in the Chicago office of Baker & McKenzie, who heads the Firm’s CIS and Eastern Europe practice in the US devoted his presentation to the principal legal issues of software development in Russia (Intellectual property (IP) rights, Trade secrets protection, Labor law, Taxation, especially VAT, Currency regulation, Civil (contract) law). In 1989 Baker & McKenzie became one of the first international law firms in Moscow and Mr.George who was one of its first bosses, shared his wide experience with the participants.
After the coffee-break participants were able to learn case-studies and get some advices from companies which already have good examples of software-outsourcing and US-Russian cooperation in the field of IT. Mr. Steve Heuston, VP of Consulting Services at VariTRAK focused his presentation on evaluating the cultural fit of the two companies, on scope, skill, costs, and the business model.
Sushant Upadhyay from Hewitt Associates touched upon global trends of talent availability and quality, the challenges of talent management in context of off-shoring, particularly managing cultural alignment in case of off-shoring initiatives.
Sergey Zhmako, IBA shared his company’s experience in collaboration with the US in frames of outsourcing projects.
The US participants shared their impressions after the seminar:
"Russian IT Seasons was a great experience. The companies we met were perfectly suiting our expectations. We look forward to starting a long term relationships, but the problem is that we love them all", said Mr. Jack Sand, CEO at Intrep company after successful matchmaking.
"Excellent, very informative! RUSSOFT has presented an opportunity for US based companies to see beyond the older media representations and myths. Central and Eastern European vendors have made strides towards meeting the needs of western corporations. We need to see more efforts and open dialog, as this event presented, to continue raising awareness of viable opportunities and advances in Central and Eastern European capabilities", Steve Heuston, VP Consulting Services, VariTRAK
"Russian IT Season did a great job presenting interesting and valuable materials. The selection of companies presented was great. Overall, very good experience", shared his impressions Mr. Roman Kaplun, Director of QA at Hotwire Inc.
"We were able to make several interesting introductions. The event was great for getting started in international development", Ted Elsas, President of Interlign US company, comments.
Mr. Sawan Deshpande from oDesc Corporation said: "Very interesting market-making approach. The seminars were very informative and touched on a lot of the key challenges in outsourcing. We look forward to partnering with RUSSOFT for future events"
Russian IT Companies thoughts about the event:
SoftAge, Chris Maner: "From the Service providers point of view, the presentations and information that was provided to the participants was accurate and helpful. I think that it was helpful for them to understand the "myths" and realities of joint business with Russian companies. Overall I found that about ½ of the B2B meetings were very effective. Overall, my experience was very good and I will participate in future conferences"
IBA Group, Sergey Zhmako: "I would like to thank organizers of this event for the opportunity to meet IT companies in Chicago area and as it appeared to be not only Chicago. Some of our new US contacts flew from across the country to participate in the event. It is a good opportunity to have our services presented to the US companies. Presentations provided to the audience good insight into reasoning for outsourcing to Eastern Europe. Matchmaking format of the event allows getting maximum return on the invested time. We would like to thank Russoft for the good organization of the event."
Dmitry Rastopchin, CEO of BORLAS Group IT Outsourcing: "Format of the event is quite creative and provides a good working atmosphere for meetings and discussions. I liked the seminar part as well, that provides a good insight into generic issues and common trends in the industry".
Luxoft, Michail Minkevich: "Russian IT Seasons event is one more chance to deliver for the US companies, that Russian outsourcing capabilities and potential is a great alternative to the Far East countries. The event provides US participants with the most up-to-dated information about working with Russia in frames of software development."
VDI, Ezhkov Sergey: "Russian IT Season is a matchmaking event that brings together Russian software development companies and decision makers from business companies of different industries. It’s an effective tool to establish relationships"
The Russian IT Seasons became the unique meeting place for Top-managers of IT companies from Russia and IT-Executives, CEOs and CIOs of US companies who are considering using offshore as part of their IT services sourcing strategy or exploring the opportunity of expanding their businesses to Russia and CIS.
The seminar included presentations and case-studies on current situation, latest trends and forecasts over Russian IT-market, prospects and challenges of US-Russian cooperation in the field of IT. The list of speakers proved to be another reason for the success of the whole event.
Mr. Barry Mason Rubenstein, senior analyst for application outsourcing and offshore services at IDC Research gave an overview of offshore IT services market dynamics, including 5-year forecasts and a review of offerings from Russia and Eastern Europe. He helped to demystify the wide array of options available today. He has also presented detailed recommendations to companies investigating the opportunity of outsourcing to Russia, including such questions as how to choose the right engagement model and vendor, and how to ensure that an offshore services engagement is as successful as possible.
"During the past few years, the offshore delivery of IT services has rapidly evolved from a destination for low-end, low-cost services to an integral part of most vendors' service delivery strategies. Given that offshore is generally considered as a standard part of most any IT services contract, vendors will need to further distinguish themselves by growing their global delivery capabilities and building a broader range of transformational services. It is only through this maturation process that offshore vendors will continue to enjoy the extraordinary growth rates of the first half of this decade," said Barry Mason, senior analyst for Application Outsourcing and Offshore Services at IDC Research.
Mr. Arthur L. George, partner in the Chicago office of Baker & McKenzie, who heads the Firm’s CIS and Eastern Europe practice in the US devoted his presentation to the principal legal issues of software development in Russia (Intellectual property (IP) rights, Trade secrets protection, Labor law, Taxation, especially VAT, Currency regulation, Civil (contract) law). In 1989 Baker & McKenzie became one of the first international law firms in Moscow and Mr.George who was one of its first bosses, shared his wide experience with the participants.
After the coffee-break participants were able to learn case-studies and get some advices from companies which already have good examples of software-outsourcing and US-Russian cooperation in the field of IT. Mr. Steve Heuston, VP of Consulting Services at VariTRAK focused his presentation on evaluating the cultural fit of the two companies, on scope, skill, costs, and the business model.
Sushant Upadhyay from Hewitt Associates touched upon global trends of talent availability and quality, the challenges of talent management in context of off-shoring, particularly managing cultural alignment in case of off-shoring initiatives.
Sergey Zhmako, IBA shared his company’s experience in collaboration with the US in frames of outsourcing projects.
The US participants shared their impressions after the seminar:
"Russian IT Seasons was a great experience. The companies we met were perfectly suiting our expectations. We look forward to starting a long term relationships, but the problem is that we love them all", said Mr. Jack Sand, CEO at Intrep company after successful matchmaking.
"Excellent, very informative! RUSSOFT has presented an opportunity for US based companies to see beyond the older media representations and myths. Central and Eastern European vendors have made strides towards meeting the needs of western corporations. We need to see more efforts and open dialog, as this event presented, to continue raising awareness of viable opportunities and advances in Central and Eastern European capabilities", Steve Heuston, VP Consulting Services, VariTRAK
"Russian IT Season did a great job presenting interesting and valuable materials. The selection of companies presented was great. Overall, very good experience", shared his impressions Mr. Roman Kaplun, Director of QA at Hotwire Inc.
"We were able to make several interesting introductions. The event was great for getting started in international development", Ted Elsas, President of Interlign US company, comments.
Mr. Sawan Deshpande from oDesc Corporation said: "Very interesting market-making approach. The seminars were very informative and touched on a lot of the key challenges in outsourcing. We look forward to partnering with RUSSOFT for future events"
Russian IT Companies thoughts about the event:
SoftAge, Chris Maner: "From the Service providers point of view, the presentations and information that was provided to the participants was accurate and helpful. I think that it was helpful for them to understand the "myths" and realities of joint business with Russian companies. Overall I found that about ½ of the B2B meetings were very effective. Overall, my experience was very good and I will participate in future conferences"
IBA Group, Sergey Zhmako: "I would like to thank organizers of this event for the opportunity to meet IT companies in Chicago area and as it appeared to be not only Chicago. Some of our new US contacts flew from across the country to participate in the event. It is a good opportunity to have our services presented to the US companies. Presentations provided to the audience good insight into reasoning for outsourcing to Eastern Europe. Matchmaking format of the event allows getting maximum return on the invested time. We would like to thank Russoft for the good organization of the event."
Dmitry Rastopchin, CEO of BORLAS Group IT Outsourcing: "Format of the event is quite creative and provides a good working atmosphere for meetings and discussions. I liked the seminar part as well, that provides a good insight into generic issues and common trends in the industry".
Luxoft, Michail Minkevich: "Russian IT Seasons event is one more chance to deliver for the US companies, that Russian outsourcing capabilities and potential is a great alternative to the Far East countries. The event provides US participants with the most up-to-dated information about working with Russia in frames of software development."
VDI, Ezhkov Sergey: "Russian IT Season is a matchmaking event that brings together Russian software development companies and decision makers from business companies of different industries. It’s an effective tool to establish relationships"