Why Russian Business Prefers Domestic Software

How the government is helping companies switch to homegrown software is explained by Vadim Glushchenko, director of the Center for Global IT-Cooperation.

We all know that the reputation of foreign software is far from what it used to be. Its reliability and security are becoming more and more questionable. Therefore, in the current conditions, the transition of business to domestic solutions is the logical and only right way out. And we see that the government is taking effective measures to support Russian software developers and help companies find import substitution options.

One of the initiatives was the creation by the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia of a special industrial platform "Efficiency.rf", where Russian customers and software developers can find each other and join their efforts to develop solutions to replace foreign software. In addition, the Russian government has allocated more than 140 billion rubles for the implementation of 100 projects for the creation and implementation of original Russian developments. It is planned to attract a further 90 billion robles in the form of own investments.

The work on import substitution continues, and the results can already be used by both ordinary users and entrepreneurs. For almost every category of foreign software there are already several analogues, both paid and open source. Migration to another type of software is a labor-intensive and slow process. Therefore, a number of companies continue to use foreign software to a greater or lesser degree. But by 2025, this will be impossible for government agencies - according to a decree by Russian President Vladimir Putin, the use of foreign software in critical information infrastructure facilities will be banned from that year.

Relying on parallel imports may also prove too risky. Therefore, many representatives of large companies have already switched to domestic software. Sber and AvtoVAZ, for example, actively use domestic developments. All schools in Russia are already using fully Russian software.

And it's not just software. Russian industrialists have replaced one-third of imported equipment with domestic products.