Consultants and software developers in Ukraine continue to grow despite the war, now in its fifth month, and the resulting mass movement of thousands of IT professionals.
Ukraine has become a software outsourcing destination in Eastern Europe in recent years, as businesses look for ways to address the IT talent shortage. Russia’s invasion on February 24 caused companies operating in Ukraine to move operations to safer areas within the country or help employees move to other countries.
Custom development consultations, however, are ongoing, opening up an economic front to the ongoing conflict.
The customer wins
Softjourn, a California-based software developer and consultancy with an R&D center in Ukraine, has seen current clients sign on for additional projects with the company. Those promises have “provided more revenue growth in these months than in previous years,” said Sergiy Fitsak, managing director and technical director of Softjourn.
In addition, Softjourn reported 150% year-on-year growth in new client signatures since the war began. Fitsak said he believes it may be because companies want to partner with Ukrainian R&D teams to support the country’s economy.
New sales are coming in, and many current clients are expanding.
Alexei MillerCo-founder and managing director, DataArt
DataArt, a New York -based software engineering firm, has significant operations in Ukraine and other parts of Eastern Europe. Alexei Miller, the company’s co-founder and managing director, also directed the expansion.
“DataArt continues to grow,” he said. “New sales are coming in, and many current clients are expanding.”
Customer demand for development services, amid a shortage of IT talent, keeps the business flowing. “Everyone still needs to undertake projects,” Miller said.
However, the ongoing war has created challenges for hiring consultancies and employees. Software developers continue to experience worker relocations, as happened in the first weeks of the war. DataArt not only saw Ukrainian employees move, but also its Russian developers move to Armenia and other countries. DataArt ended its operations in Russia in mid -June.
“The big migration is going on,” Miller said. “Some people are moving more, some are staying, some are going back to Russia.” DataArt has people in 62 countries, from approximately 20 countries before the war.
Alexei Miller
The transition of DataArt workers to a higher cost of living is influencing pricing. The prices charged at DataArt are directly related to labor costs and business operating costs, such as offices, infrastructure and taxes, Miller said. “Costs are going up, so prices are going up too,” he said.
DataArt’s job is to make price increases transparent to customers – and show how high rates are in their best interest.
“We need to help clients see that paying more is a good idea, not the inevitable evil, because it reduces risk,” Miller said. “This idea of paying more for less risk has always been part of the decision -making process, but now it’s much clearer.”
Service delays, security issues and worker relocation are among the risks that DataArt intends to mitigate customers. Other location -level risks include whether employee background checks and local authorities can be trusted, Miller said. Meanwhile, reducing risk at the supplier level, addresses customer concerns that developers assigned to a project may be reassigned to a higher bidder and leave their job.
Sergiy Fitsak
At Softjourn, Fitsak said the company has not raised prices as team members adapt to working in other countries. That’s because team members were working remotely before the war. Employees work in teams distributed around the world and have the option to work on a flexible schedule in any time zone, he said.
Softjourn’s employment levels, meanwhile, rose during the war, with the company growing 14% in Ukraine and 28% overall, Fitsak added.
Gartner raises cloud consulting growth to 17.2%
Cloud consulting continues its rapid rise, leading the broader IT services sector and inspiring a steady flow of acquisitions.
Gartner predicted last week cloud consulting and implementation, along with cloud managed services, would grow 17.2% in 2022, reaching $ 255 billion worldwide. The market research firm expects IT services in general to grow 6.2% this year to $ 1.3 trillion. The shortage of IT skills is fueling demand for IT services, Gartner said, noting that it expects the shortage to ease by the end of 2023.
Meanwhile, the demand for professional cloud services remains high. MSPs and consultancy hire cloud specialists to satisfy the customer’s appetite for cloud assistance. In a recent example, Ensono, an MSP and technology consulting firm based in Downers Grove, Ill., Bought AndPlus, a cloud-native development firm in Southborough, Mass.
MSPs have been an active segment for mergers and acquisitions in recent weeks.
Deloitte is expanding its cybersecurity platform
Deloitte on Monday added modules to its managed extended detection and response (MXDR) platform, providing what the company calls “more targeted intelligence” to prevent cyber attackers.
The consultant’s MXDR SaaS platform consists of intelligence capabilities and several integrated modules. New features include Cyber Security Intelligence, an expansion of the platform’s core intelligence offering that now includes data from Deloitte’s proprietary tools and CrowdStrike Falcon X automated threat intelligence. Deloitte also launched four additional modules: Dynamic Adversary Intelligence; Digital Risk Protection; Active Hunting and Response; and Mobile Prevent, Detection and Response.
Using the MXDR platform, Deloitte can easily add its own modules and those of its alliance partners, said Curt Aubley, MXDR Deloitte’s head and Deloitte risk and financial advisory managing director. The platform’s reference mesh architecture, based on standards such as JSON, RESTful API and OAuth 2.0, helps the company integrate third-party technology, he said.
The company’s technology alliances include relationships with AWS, CrowdStrike, Exabeam, Google Cloud Chronicle, ServiceNow, Splunk and Zscaler. Additional alliances are in the works, according to the company. Deloitte also pursued acquisitions to strengthen its cybersecurity offerings.
Microsoft gained new channel leadership
Microsoft has appointed Nicole Dezen to lead the company’s partner strategy. Dezen will become chief partner officer (CPO), a newly created position, and will retain his previous role as corporate vice president of global partner solutions.
Dezen is taking on the role of CPO at the right time for Microsoft Inspire, the company’s annual partner conference, which will run July 19-20. Dezen replaces former Microsoft channel leader, Rodney Clark, who joined Johnson Controls as vice president and chief commercial officer in June 2022.
Other news
Accenture has agreed to take over The Stable, a Minneapolis-based digital marketing agency. Stable provides omnichannel commerce services. The company’s 400-plus employees will join Accenture Song, formerly Accenture Interactive.
Selected by American Honda Motor Co. Kyndryl, an IT infrastructure service provider, to center its operations on IT. Kyndryl, headquartered in New York City, will create an integrated on-premises and cloud-based environment that supports operations such as sales, finance, manufacturing and R&D. In another customer deal, Kyndryl is pursuing a digital transformation project with Motiva Enterprises, a Houston -based oil refinery company.
Jungle Disk rebranded as CyberFortress, a San Antonio company that provides managed data backups. The name change follows the merger of KeepItSafe, LiveVault and OffsiteDataSync assets, all of which Jungle Disk acquired in 2021 from J2 Global.
IT professionals view strengthening IT security, using automation to increase productivity and moving to the cloud as their three top priorities, according to a Kaseya survey. The company, which provides software for MSPs, polled close to 2,000 people worldwide.
Sada, a Los Angeles -based business and technology consultancy, has appointed Sandy Hogan as global chief revenue officer, a new role for the company. Hogan is former senior vice president for global commercial and partner sales at VMware.
Bitdefender, a cybersecurity company with U.S. headquarters in Santa Clara, Calif., Has launched a managed security service for MSPs. MDR Foundations provides ongoing threat monitoring and response, threat hunting, and security experts, according to the company.
GroupSense, a digital risk protection company in Arlington, Va., Has entered into an MSP partnership with ProVelocity. Headquartered in Colorado, ProVelocity offers managed and professional IT services.
DoiT International, a Santa Clara-based MSP and multi-cloud software provider, now offers its automated cloud cost optimization product, Flexsave, to companies without a full partner or MSP relationship with DoiT .
Martello Technologies Group, a digital experience monitoring provider in Ottawa, has partnered with Datacom, a New Zealand -based IT services company. The relationship allows Datacom to offer Martello’s Vantage DX as part of its Microsoft Teams managed service. The deal also covers the resale of the software.
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Alexei Miller
Sergiy Fitsak