The volume of the Russian IT services market in 2014 declined by 15% in dollar terms to $6.57 billion. In ruble terms, the market grew by 2.2% due to the depreciation of the Russian currency, according to an IDC report cited by CNews.ru.
The largest segment of the Russian market of IT services is system integration, representing 42% in value terms in 2014. Outsourcing services represented 18% of the market.
In terms of expenditure on IT services, the leading players were financial institutions, followed by government organizations and enterprises in the telecommunications and media segment.
Another trend is the transition from the building up of ties with Western palyers to the reorganization of the industry as a means of import substitution.
As noted last year by East-West Digital News, the sanctions allowed many Russian developers to make their way into segments where it was not possible to compete with foreign companies. An example was the implementation of a video conferencing service by Transtelecom in a market which was previously dominated by Cisco, Avaya, Microsoft and others. The sanctions resulted in a delay in equipment supply, system updates and so on.
2015 will be a difficult year for most IT suppliers in Russia, according to IDC. “The current economic downturn is likely to be longer than the one of 2008-2009. However, the crisis is a time of opportunity for those IT service providers who are able to respond quickly to the changing market, optimize processes and attract new IT teams.”
In the crisis year of 2009, the Russian IT services market declined by 31.2% in dollar terms to $3.6 billion, according to IDC.
