The Fifth Annual International Conference Russian Outsourcing & Software Summit (ROSS2005) took place in St. Petersburg
Jun 25, 2005
Saint Petersburg, June 25th 2005 - The Fifth annual Summit "Opportunities of Russia in the area of exporting products and services in the sphere of software development" (Russian Outsourcing & Software Summit (ROSS), took place in Saint Petersburg in the Pulkovskaya hotel from June 15th-18th 2005. The organizers of the Summit were NP "RUSSOFT" and its marketing agency "Fort Ross" through the support of the IT Ministry in connection with the Russian Federation and the Administration of Saint Petersburg.
"In the past few years the Summit has proved its ability to serve as an important indicator, by which foreign companies – potential clients of Russian software exports – judge the progress, which the Russian IT branch made in the year. Domestic vendors at the Summit can obtain an idea about the interests, which European and American potential customers try in Eastern Europe," said Arkady Dobkin president of EPAM Systems.
"You can say that our Summit ripened together with Russian industry. I am sure that in the near future the growth of company leaders will continue, possibly, vertical specialization of services will deepen, and as a result, Russia’s position in the global outsourcing market will strengthen. Except that, a larger amount of companies in the world will realize the need of outsourcing IT-services, including software development and potential, which Russia possesses. So we will soon see a further widening of clients portfolios of Russian companies – exporters of demanded software," said Nikolai Puntikov general director of StarSoft Development Labs, adding his opinion.
One hundred and eighty companies and around five hundred people took part in the Summit, including more than 200 foreigners from almost 20 countries, of which the largest were representatives from the USA, Sweden, Finland, Germany, and Taiwan. Thirty-four members of the media attended, both from Russia and abroad. Two press conferences were conducted within the framework of the Summit: one – with the participation of Summit VIP guests, and the second – with the presentation of the "White Book RUSSOFT about Russian Outsourcing" and the first results of the export software market in Russia study, conducted by RUSSOFT together with the portal Out-sourcingRussia.com. At the exhibition, 25 companies presented their stands. During the Summit 18 section meetings and "round tables" (including the Saint Petersburg CIO Club meeting; a meeting of representatives from the Russian-speaking IT association from the CIS, the Baltic region, the USA, and Eastern Europe; tutorials with the participation of leading experts from Carnegie Mellon University and the law office of Duane Morris, and one of the leaders of the outsourcing industry of Eastern Europe – Arkady Dobkin from EPAM Systems). The entire second half of June 16 was devoted to conducting previously booked business meetings between clients and service providers, for which more than 100 tables were reserved in the common square of 1000 sq. m. The guests and Summit participants were invited to a welcome ceremony at the new residence of the President of the Russian Federation – Constantine’s Palace.
At the plenary session, the president of the World IT Services Alliance Harris Miller (USA) greeted guests of the Summit. Besides him, Lance Travis (AMR Research), Arkady Dobkin (EPAM Systems), Oleg Byakhov (director of the Department of strategies for formulation of the information society Ministry of IT and connectivity). At the Summit representatives from world known companies like Motorola, Intel, Hewlett Packard, Nokia, TietoEnator, Vodafone, and many others took part. EPAM Systems, IBA, Luxoft, StarSoft, Borland sponsored the Summit. Separate sections were sponsored by Intel, ITCI, Reksoft, and Artezio.
On the first day of the Summit, the "Russian-Swedish IT Forum" was organized with the Swedish Chamber of Commerce, which was lead from the Swedish side by the head of the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Russia Mr. Nore Kamoun. "We are witnessing a large interest of Swedish companies in the area of IT and telecommunication in the Russian market. In its turn, the fast growing sector of information-communication technology in Russia demonstrates the most positive trends and large potential. We decided to conduct Russian-Swedish IT Forum within the framework of the Summit first to show the Russian-Swedish cooperation, and to take advantage of the synergetic effect by taking part in ROSS 2005 and working with all of its numerous companies-participants from the CIS and all over the world," – noted one of the members of the Swedish Chamber of Commerce Thomas Kerner.
During the Summit the exhibition was constantly on display, at which company-developers presented their technologies and solutions. "As before, the exhibition at ROSS helped us strengthen our contact base in quantity as well as quality of the expression, - marked in the Digital Design, - investment of Digital Design in the formulation and introduction of a management quality system going far in the frame of conforming with existing standards, and interests of exhibition guests to the achievements of the company in this area was really evident. But even more surprising to the foreign guests was that with this high level of quality the company’s price for the services is two and a half times lower than in Scandinavia! According to the results of the exhibition, we crossed the stage of agreements about possible cooperation with 10 companies and began to plan working together with the Technology Centers."
The exhibition at ROSS confirms the tendency to mix emphasis on the side of company specialization of service suppliers in vertically divided segments of the market, such as the banking sector and telecommunications. The last ones widely lit up at the first appearance in the framework of the Summit of separate conferences, dedicated to programming solutions in the area of telecommunications – SoftTelCo. "The Russian engineers are rightly thought to be one of the best providers in the world for the telecom branch. So, for example, software, developed in SPIRIT, is used by the leading worldwide companies. Therefore, SoftTelCo was placed in a separate conference within ROSS – logically and conforming to the fully developed specialization of Russian engineers," – noted Anna Chistyakova, director of marketing for SPIRIT, having participated in SoftTelCo. This conference also attracted the attention of a delegation of Finnish businessmen from the mobile telecommunication sector, which KarelTeck brought (the IT Park from Finland).
More attention was given to the analysis of international experience of government participation in developing the IT-branch. Representatives from the largest world IT Associations from the USA, Israel, and Germany told about their interactions with the government. Except that, a round table was conducted called "What the Russian Government Undertakes to encourage investment and development of the software export branch," in which representatives from businesses and the government enterprises and the Ministry of IT and Connection.
More attention was attracted to the round-table "The Strong and Weak Sides of Russian IT Resources in the Eyes of Analysts." Its moderator, Aleksandr Egorov, the general director of Reksoft, noted that the was interesting for Russians as well as for foreign participants: "In this year we came forward with the organizers of the analytic panel at the Summit, in which representatives from AMR Research, Forrester Research, and the consulting company Trestle Group took part. The round table became of large interest from the side of the conference visitors and gathered more than 90 participants. Many questions were asked about the position of the Russian IT services producers in the western market, about the necessary steps, which will lead to making a domestic company that will become notable in the IT outsourcing markets in the USA and Western Europe. Except that, by the analysts review, participation in ROSS was useful experience for them, which they definitely use in creating future accounts in our segment of the market."
It is becoming a tradition of the presentation shows the results of key research in the branch of Russian software exporting at the Summit. This year two annual studies were presented. The first of them, under the name "IT Destination Russia" – "The White Paper of Russian Outsourcing," opens a series of official publications by the association "RUSSOFT" for foreign customers. The second one – "The Study of the Software Export Market in Russia" – is orientated as much for foreign partners as for Russian market participants. This year it was jointly conducted by "RUSSOFT" and "Fort Ross" with the portal Outsourcing-Russia.com First of all, the products export market is looked at separately in the study, which underwent serious changes in the last few years, when it included wide masses of developers, selling their products through the Internet. At the Summit preliminary results of the study were presented, which should be finished by October.
"IT Destination Russia"(White Paper) – this is the fruit of the combined strengths of RUSSOFT’s participating companies, directed at bringing to the International IT-association more adequate and objective information about the state and perspectives of the market development for software development on demand in Russia. The latest data on the Russian software product and services market is presented in the study, and also case studies of successful cooperation between Russian companies and foreign clients from different branches. The White Paper also gives the general characteristic of the state of Russia’s economy, in order to enable a potential client to assess all the risks of work in Russia. It is assumed that the White Paper will be published regularly, tracking the dynamics of the IT development industry and the conformity of the legislative space in Russia.
In all, the Summit received a high grade from Russian as well as foreign participants. The company Lanit-Terkom has taken part in all five Summits, and I am pleased to note that the size of the level of organization of plans and changes in quality in the composition of the participants, said Andrei Terekhov, general director of the company, - At the first Summits, foreigners, especially former Russians, took part simply out of curiosity, is there really something happening in the IT sphere in Russia? It is pleasing to witness the warmer relations toward Russia from the side of the leading consulting agencies, although in this plane there is still a lot of work that stands before us. But we relate to actual customers with competing offers and clearly, they look at Russia already as a serious partner in outsourcing, especially our northern neighbors."
For more details about the program and the participants of the Summit go to the website www.soft-outsourcing.com. Key presentations and reports from the Summit are located on the site.
For additional information contact:
Valentin Makarov, President, NP "RUSSOFT", [email protected], tel. +7-812-331-7561
Galina Kuznetsova, public relations manager, [email protected], tel. +7-095-745-4447
"In the past few years the Summit has proved its ability to serve as an important indicator, by which foreign companies – potential clients of Russian software exports – judge the progress, which the Russian IT branch made in the year. Domestic vendors at the Summit can obtain an idea about the interests, which European and American potential customers try in Eastern Europe," said Arkady Dobkin president of EPAM Systems.
"You can say that our Summit ripened together with Russian industry. I am sure that in the near future the growth of company leaders will continue, possibly, vertical specialization of services will deepen, and as a result, Russia’s position in the global outsourcing market will strengthen. Except that, a larger amount of companies in the world will realize the need of outsourcing IT-services, including software development and potential, which Russia possesses. So we will soon see a further widening of clients portfolios of Russian companies – exporters of demanded software," said Nikolai Puntikov general director of StarSoft Development Labs, adding his opinion.
One hundred and eighty companies and around five hundred people took part in the Summit, including more than 200 foreigners from almost 20 countries, of which the largest were representatives from the USA, Sweden, Finland, Germany, and Taiwan. Thirty-four members of the media attended, both from Russia and abroad. Two press conferences were conducted within the framework of the Summit: one – with the participation of Summit VIP guests, and the second – with the presentation of the "White Book RUSSOFT about Russian Outsourcing" and the first results of the export software market in Russia study, conducted by RUSSOFT together with the portal Out-sourcingRussia.com. At the exhibition, 25 companies presented their stands. During the Summit 18 section meetings and "round tables" (including the Saint Petersburg CIO Club meeting; a meeting of representatives from the Russian-speaking IT association from the CIS, the Baltic region, the USA, and Eastern Europe; tutorials with the participation of leading experts from Carnegie Mellon University and the law office of Duane Morris, and one of the leaders of the outsourcing industry of Eastern Europe – Arkady Dobkin from EPAM Systems). The entire second half of June 16 was devoted to conducting previously booked business meetings between clients and service providers, for which more than 100 tables were reserved in the common square of 1000 sq. m. The guests and Summit participants were invited to a welcome ceremony at the new residence of the President of the Russian Federation – Constantine’s Palace.
At the plenary session, the president of the World IT Services Alliance Harris Miller (USA) greeted guests of the Summit. Besides him, Lance Travis (AMR Research), Arkady Dobkin (EPAM Systems), Oleg Byakhov (director of the Department of strategies for formulation of the information society Ministry of IT and connectivity). At the Summit representatives from world known companies like Motorola, Intel, Hewlett Packard, Nokia, TietoEnator, Vodafone, and many others took part. EPAM Systems, IBA, Luxoft, StarSoft, Borland sponsored the Summit. Separate sections were sponsored by Intel, ITCI, Reksoft, and Artezio.
On the first day of the Summit, the "Russian-Swedish IT Forum" was organized with the Swedish Chamber of Commerce, which was lead from the Swedish side by the head of the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Russia Mr. Nore Kamoun. "We are witnessing a large interest of Swedish companies in the area of IT and telecommunication in the Russian market. In its turn, the fast growing sector of information-communication technology in Russia demonstrates the most positive trends and large potential. We decided to conduct Russian-Swedish IT Forum within the framework of the Summit first to show the Russian-Swedish cooperation, and to take advantage of the synergetic effect by taking part in ROSS 2005 and working with all of its numerous companies-participants from the CIS and all over the world," – noted one of the members of the Swedish Chamber of Commerce Thomas Kerner.
During the Summit the exhibition was constantly on display, at which company-developers presented their technologies and solutions. "As before, the exhibition at ROSS helped us strengthen our contact base in quantity as well as quality of the expression, - marked in the Digital Design, - investment of Digital Design in the formulation and introduction of a management quality system going far in the frame of conforming with existing standards, and interests of exhibition guests to the achievements of the company in this area was really evident. But even more surprising to the foreign guests was that with this high level of quality the company’s price for the services is two and a half times lower than in Scandinavia! According to the results of the exhibition, we crossed the stage of agreements about possible cooperation with 10 companies and began to plan working together with the Technology Centers."
The exhibition at ROSS confirms the tendency to mix emphasis on the side of company specialization of service suppliers in vertically divided segments of the market, such as the banking sector and telecommunications. The last ones widely lit up at the first appearance in the framework of the Summit of separate conferences, dedicated to programming solutions in the area of telecommunications – SoftTelCo. "The Russian engineers are rightly thought to be one of the best providers in the world for the telecom branch. So, for example, software, developed in SPIRIT, is used by the leading worldwide companies. Therefore, SoftTelCo was placed in a separate conference within ROSS – logically and conforming to the fully developed specialization of Russian engineers," – noted Anna Chistyakova, director of marketing for SPIRIT, having participated in SoftTelCo. This conference also attracted the attention of a delegation of Finnish businessmen from the mobile telecommunication sector, which KarelTeck brought (the IT Park from Finland).
More attention was given to the analysis of international experience of government participation in developing the IT-branch. Representatives from the largest world IT Associations from the USA, Israel, and Germany told about their interactions with the government. Except that, a round table was conducted called "What the Russian Government Undertakes to encourage investment and development of the software export branch," in which representatives from businesses and the government enterprises and the Ministry of IT and Connection.
More attention was attracted to the round-table "The Strong and Weak Sides of Russian IT Resources in the Eyes of Analysts." Its moderator, Aleksandr Egorov, the general director of Reksoft, noted that the was interesting for Russians as well as for foreign participants: "In this year we came forward with the organizers of the analytic panel at the Summit, in which representatives from AMR Research, Forrester Research, and the consulting company Trestle Group took part. The round table became of large interest from the side of the conference visitors and gathered more than 90 participants. Many questions were asked about the position of the Russian IT services producers in the western market, about the necessary steps, which will lead to making a domestic company that will become notable in the IT outsourcing markets in the USA and Western Europe. Except that, by the analysts review, participation in ROSS was useful experience for them, which they definitely use in creating future accounts in our segment of the market."
It is becoming a tradition of the presentation shows the results of key research in the branch of Russian software exporting at the Summit. This year two annual studies were presented. The first of them, under the name "IT Destination Russia" – "The White Paper of Russian Outsourcing," opens a series of official publications by the association "RUSSOFT" for foreign customers. The second one – "The Study of the Software Export Market in Russia" – is orientated as much for foreign partners as for Russian market participants. This year it was jointly conducted by "RUSSOFT" and "Fort Ross" with the portal Outsourcing-Russia.com First of all, the products export market is looked at separately in the study, which underwent serious changes in the last few years, when it included wide masses of developers, selling their products through the Internet. At the Summit preliminary results of the study were presented, which should be finished by October.
"IT Destination Russia"(White Paper) – this is the fruit of the combined strengths of RUSSOFT’s participating companies, directed at bringing to the International IT-association more adequate and objective information about the state and perspectives of the market development for software development on demand in Russia. The latest data on the Russian software product and services market is presented in the study, and also case studies of successful cooperation between Russian companies and foreign clients from different branches. The White Paper also gives the general characteristic of the state of Russia’s economy, in order to enable a potential client to assess all the risks of work in Russia. It is assumed that the White Paper will be published regularly, tracking the dynamics of the IT development industry and the conformity of the legislative space in Russia.
In all, the Summit received a high grade from Russian as well as foreign participants. The company Lanit-Terkom has taken part in all five Summits, and I am pleased to note that the size of the level of organization of plans and changes in quality in the composition of the participants, said Andrei Terekhov, general director of the company, - At the first Summits, foreigners, especially former Russians, took part simply out of curiosity, is there really something happening in the IT sphere in Russia? It is pleasing to witness the warmer relations toward Russia from the side of the leading consulting agencies, although in this plane there is still a lot of work that stands before us. But we relate to actual customers with competing offers and clearly, they look at Russia already as a serious partner in outsourcing, especially our northern neighbors."
For more details about the program and the participants of the Summit go to the website www.soft-outsourcing.com. Key presentations and reports from the Summit are located on the site.
For additional information contact:
Valentin Makarov, President, NP "RUSSOFT", [email protected], tel. +7-812-331-7561
Galina Kuznetsova, public relations manager, [email protected], tel. +7-095-745-4447