Vadim Glushchenko, Director of the Center for Global IT Cooperation, Alexey Pulik, Head of the Legal Department of Sinoruss Consulting, Rumia Rakhimova, Development Director of SITIC Telcom SPS, Mikhail Trinoga, Development Manager of e-legion, and Vitaly Mankevich, President of the Russian-Asian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, took part in the discussion.
"Today, the cooperation in the IT sector is very promising for our interaction with Asia, including China. Entering the Chinese market is very difficult for IT companies in our experience. However, Chinese companies find it equally difficult to enter Russia. However, the Chinese market is very large and there are almost no bureaucratic procedures, but there are certain difficulties in coordination," - said Vitaly Mankevich in his welcoming speech.
Mikhail Trinoga emphasized that in order to work with the Chinese target audience, you need to adjust your own thinking and understand how the Chinese think. Without it, it would be impossible to create a design for an application, for example, that would be popular in the Celestial Empire. He emphasized behavioral peculiarities, including differences in how Chinese and Russian users perceive visual imageries.
In addition, in order to communicate effectively with Chinese partners, it is important to know the rules of local business etiquette. "For example, the Chinese often host business dinners to build trust between colleagues in the industry, and a refusal to attend can be perceived as an insult. It is interesting to note that they do not use e-mail for business correspondence, but mostly communicate via local messengers such as WeChat," says Alexei Pulik. He added that it is also necessary to take into account the legal intricacies associated with national contracting procedures and intellectual property rights.
In her presentation, Rumia Rakhimova explained why the market in the Asia-Pacific region is so attractive to foreign players. This is due to factors including high purchasing power, large market capacity and large population. However, there are also barriers, including fierce competition, linguistic and cultural differences, and IT-related regulations. "We should try to occupy the new niches that are created due to the growth of the country's wealth and the demand of solvent people. For example, the number of millionaires in China is expected to double from 5 million to 10 million in the next ten years. One of these promising niches is the ICT sector. As the demand for quality services and products in various areas of life increases, so does the need for disruptive technologies and knowledge-intensive industries. Separately, I would like to highlight AI and IoT technologies, which are being actively used in the production of mass-market electric cars," she concluded.
Vadim Gluschenko summarized the results of the round table by saying that despite the differences in mentality and approach to business, Russia and China have many points of convergence and excellent opportunities to become successful business partners, including in the IT sector. He also reminded that interaction with the business community and assistance in finding foreign partners is one of the key activities of the Center. "The Center for Global IT Cooperation organizes business missions to Asian countries on a regular basis, so we are always ready to support domestic IT players who want to enter foreign markets. And this is especially relevant in light of the current pivot to the East and increased cooperation with countries in the Global South," he concluded.
