Why should companies accelerate their efforts to switch to international management products?
Today we will discuss the issue of migration from Russian software and why Ukrainian companies should accelerate the implementation of alternative systems. According to various studies, 80-95% of Ukrainian companies build their management and accounting systems based on the outdated Russian 1C system. However, Ukraine has long declared a Western course, our country is establishing effective cooperation with the Western economy, and Ukraine has been focusing on Western business standards for many years. In particular, Ukraine is implementing international accounting standards and other progressive approaches to doing business.
Therefore, it is high time for progressive companies to abandon Russian software. If Ukraine has chosen the path to the West, then it is necessary to abandon technologies that have the opposite effect. Besides, by using Russian software, Ukrainian businessmen are financing the aggressor. Ukrainian businesses are well aware of the general trend, and the demand for Western systems has grown significantly. Since it takes about a year to implement a new ERP system, I predict that in 2024 we will see an active transition of Ukrainian companies to international management products.
Who wants to migrate?
According to our experience, the greatest interest in implementing international ERP, BI, and CRM systems is shown by medium and large companies that need new technologies to ensure further business development. IT companies, agricultural companies, manufacturers, and representatives of the food industry are also interested. The most active are those who export their products or services outside Ukraine and have the resources to implement modern management systems. It seems that they have decided that it is time to significantly improve the internal efficiency of their business.
We also see a shortage of contractors in the alternative systems implementation services market. However, there is a trend in the market that teams that previously implemented the Russian 1C and BAS platforms are starting to retrain. And, by the way, we already have partners in this area with whom we are doing fruitful training work. However, it is not as easy as it seems, because Business Central and 1C are architecturally and ideologically very different platforms.
The migration trend
Recently, the press has been actively discussing a bill to ban the sale of 1C licenses and other related software. Therefore, we understand that the simultaneous demand for the implementation of international management systems can be very high, and there are not many integrators with relevant experience in the market. For this reason, we advise you to plan the implementation and allow approximately one year for a quality project.
Qualified specialists
Given the current demand for our key product, Business Central, we are actively recruiting new business consultants, analysts, and developers to join our team. We see three main sources for finding the right people. One is 1C and BAS specialists who do not want to deal with these systems. The second group of potential candidates are accountants and financial managers, including those from the eastern and southern regions of Ukraine who have lost their jobs there. The third group is students of domestic universities. Our company is ready to consider candidates from the third year of study. We believe in the national education system. We are convinced that Ukrainian students receive a good basic education. That is why our company actively cooperates with domestic universities. Unfortunately, at present no university trains ERP consultants, and we have to train a lot of people ourselves.
The candidate must have a systematic way of thinking, knowledge of accounting and business administration, and a good command of development basics and English. By the way, 1C specialists who are potential employees for us often do not have even an intermediate level of English. This is essential for learning Western products because you need to study the documentation and functionality in the original language. I would like to take this opportunity to urge everyone to improve their English!
It is also important that a person is responsible, ambitious, and sociable. There must be a desire for continuous development and a willingness to overcome challenges. The company can prepare a candidate with such a base of qualities to work as an ERP consultant or developer.
Recommendation
We recommend that Ukrainian companies pay attention to the transition to modern Western technologies. You don’t have to start large projects right away if you don’t have the necessary resources. However, you can gradually retrain your staff by creating internal competence units for the new ERP system. Or you can negotiate with integrators for hybrid implementation approaches, where certain work can be done in-house. Then Ukraine will quickly gain independence from Russia in this digital direction as well.