- In 2017 I graduated from the Moscow State University with a journalist degree. I was lucky to work for specialized publications, related to aviation, and to do marketing, among other things. Moving forward, my professional preferences led me to an idea to set up Core-IT agency. I started my business in partnership with Sergei Chernomashentsev. He graduated from the Bauman Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology with a relevant degree, Sergei is an IT technologies professional. Thus, we divided our spheres of responsibility: I have profound marketing expertise, and Sergei is an IT industry expert.
Have the goals and objectives of your agency changed since 2021, the time of its foundation?
Early on we focused on identifying our specialist field in the IT industry, we thought over which services would be primarily in demand with the domestic business. We studied the market for a long time and considered, whether to go into placing direct advertisement or to make recap videos and podcasts for IT people. And now we have come to IT company image and brand development as the global direction of the agency’s activities. If we break down Core-IT operations into subtasks, then there is building brand awareness, so, for example, customers in search of a class of solutions would immediately realize, that they should go to this specific vendor (seller).
The second area of our team’s operations is lead generation. Keeping it simple, lead generation could be described as a process to draw and retain potential business customers. The primary goal is not only to get new contacts for potential buyers, but to turn a lead (a person interested in your services) into an actual customer. Core-IT experts also prepare publications for industry media, related to IT, manage social media and support personal brands of corporate founders.
Which areas have been the most successful for your company?
In the IT industry it would be IT security, by all means. But I would like to note that the is a very fine line between IT and IT security. Many IT experts hate it when these two notions get mixed up, and a security expert would always say: “Mind you, I am not and IT expert, I am an information security professional”. These are two areas, seeking to differentiate their goals and tasks.
Core-IT full service agency works with IT security system developers, including integrators. Integrators take an off-the-shelf system or information protection tools and implement these in a customer business. This is because usually in the IT security sphere there is a developer who created this product, and then this product is handed over for installation and implementation to a different company, which would do it faster and more efficiently.
What do you think of the level of Russian software technologies, are they competitive with foreign software?
I believe it would definitely make sense to learn from the experience of some foreign colleagues, but at the same time now Russia has indeed reached a very remarkable level in IT technologies. Let us, for example, look at IT security system makers, and we will see that over the latest two years our IT companies have made an incredible leap forward by adding multiple new modules. So, for instance, over a few years a whole range of world-class NGFW (Next-Generation Firewall) products has been developed in Russia, made by Positive Technologies, a major Russian IT company. I am sure that this product will be present on the foreign markets of friendly countries in future. Now they are waiting for NGFW in Asia and in African countries.
The global situation is visibly changing, at least, as for American companies, then many of these would obviously want to come back to the Russian market when the sanctions are lifted. Do you think they will be made to use Russian software here, in our country?
IT-security related software developers, will most likely have trouble coming back to the country, because relevant laws have been passed in Russia. The issue here is that a transition to a different software with major corporations, let’s say, oil-and-gas sector ones, will take about half a year. All of their data has been already transferred to Russian SW, and it would make no sense at all to move it all to foreign-made SW.
As for Western IT companies, then, let’s say, Google, as it is known now, has indeed paid some of the fines imposed on the search engine corporation by the Russian authorities, and is looking to bring back to Russia its Google Maps and Google Ads services. It seems likely that foreign IT companies will be given this opportunity, because they do not have any access to any supersensitive information. But Russian IT security sector companies have already gained a strong foothold on the domestic market and would hardly let go of their positions. The only condition of the national authorities is strict compliance with Russian laws.
Are you looking at going beyond Russia in future, let’s say, to the Middle East or CIS markets?
Generally, our agency primarily works with start-up companies in Russia. But many of these companies would want to go out to foreign markets. These companies are actively supported by Skolkovo Innovation Center and the Russian Internet Initiatives Development Fund. Correspondingly, these companies have available financing and opportunities to participate in accelerators, enabling going across the borders of the Russian Federation. Usually, with our help they get to the markets of Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Oman and to Pakistan, Indonesia or to African countries.
One of the most prominent cases that comes to mind is UVL Robotics company. This a drone operator, working in Russia on large warehouse inventory surveys. Aerial drones fly in warehouses, scan all QR codes and transmit the obtained data to a system. By the way, UVL Robotics is currently successfully operating at the UAE market. It is known that the corporate management signed contracts with major companies of the Emirates. Moreover, UVL Robotics is the first manufacturer of aerial drones that has launched drone testing in Oman.
It is curious that prior to the Russian startup entry the local authorities had completely banned any use of drones in their territory. But the Russian company has shown itself to good advantage, and the local authorities even changed their domestic laws. We, on our part, actively highlighted the event, when Qaboos bin Said, Sultan of Oman, personally attended a drone operation demonstration event. Soon after this, UVL Robotics corporation was permitted to operate drones in logistics over specific routes. This is why we could say that Core-IT is already working on a foreign market to a certain degree.
In more exact terms, we help those Russian companies, that start operating abroad, to develop an adequate marketing strategy, communications, to identify specific commercial needs of a country.
Does the agency work with foreign companies?
We do not have any foreign companies in our portfolio, we do not have any operations with them. If a Russian company seeks to enter the global market, then we would actively help it. We have accumulated a lot of very interesting proposals.
Elizaveta, you know the conditions of the global IT market very well. What’s the situation with Russian software there? Is it true that domestic products today are competitive with US and European IT companies?
The Russian IT market is undergoing an explosive growth phase – companies are actively ramping up their expertise, compete with each other, create alternatives to foreign SW and try to make up for the shortage of skilled specialists in Russia. However, it would still be hard to compare Russian SW with American or European one just for one reason, because we are not always present on their market, we have no access to it. But Russian IT technologies are recognized and widely present in Asian, African and South American countries. This is where Russian software is extremely competitive and enjoys great demand. And our companies are selected by customers in a competitive selection process, often getting ahead of Americans and Europeans.
What can you say about the Chinese IT industry level?
China is actively developing its IT industry, but it won’t let any competitors, including Russia, into its own backyard. One has to admire the leadership of the PRC, massively supporting their domestic IT technology suppliers. This is the very reason, according to many experts, why Chinese software is at world-class high level.
Let me give you just one example of how the Chinese got extremely successful in developing unmanned aerial vehicles. Just recently they made in China a model of a drone which isn’t equipped with GPS sensors. When there are several such drones in the air, they are aware of their position and distance from each other, and they start interacting, building a scheme, launch 3D visualization of their surroundings. It also involves artificial intelligence.
Why did many software developers leave Russia and where did they go?
The IT industry has always been quite fluid, and many IT developers had worked remotely even before COVID. When air travel limitations were introduced, direct flights to Europe were cancelled and it became harder to get visas, moreover, there is a demand for Russian IT specialists abroad. But many of them, while being abroad, keep on working for Russian companies today.
How did Russian authorities respond to this?
There were intensive attempts to change the situation right after Western IT companies had left Russia. Back in the summer of 2022 Rostec state corporation came forward with the initiative to adopt laws to introduce draft deferment for young IT specialists, provide subsidized mortgages, reduce taxes on IT companies... At the same time, they urged to extend the list of these measures — for example, compensate up to a half of housing rent to IT specialists and establish a minimum salary, guaranteed by the state. The state corporation also proposed to expand the list of companies, eligible for preferences, and to include SW vendors and developers, training centers, system integrators, research and development entities.
Were there many IT professionals who heeded to the call of Moscow and came back home?
These attractive preferences had a huge effect on IT experts, and many came back to Russia. We have some of them as our customers.
In your opinion, does the word “hacker” today sound offensive for an IT professional?
The thing is that there are two notions – “white- hat hacker” and plain “hacker”. White- hat hackers are people who quite officially hack third-party systems at a customer request. Corporations pay them a fee for this. Everything is done legally.
Are “white hats” united under any organizations?
White hats rarely operate as individuals. As a rule, there are standalone white-hat teams. By the way, IT specialists of this level make very good money by identifying vulnerabilities in corporate security systems.
Moscow has several large online platforms, where white-hat hackers go to look for work. This is where companies of any size go and place orders, and, for example, post: (I’m exaggerating): “Try and hack my mail system! There will be a reward to those who hack the system”. And a hacker should find and describe a vulnerability in the system, pass on the “intelligence data” to corporate management and get a money reward.
Why would companies need test hacks?
Ultimately, real black-hat hackers may come, hack the system, encrypt everything and get access to classified data, and then start demanding money for content decryption. This is why you need preventive test hacks, it would be better for any company to get its server hacked by white-hat hackers, than pay big money to blackmail fraudsters. As a matter of fact, such amounts could range from ₽5 million to infinity. These amounts usually remain undisclosed.
If you don't mind me asking, how much money do white-hat hackers make?
Some companies would pay up to ₽10 million to find vulnerabilities, but this helps them sleep with a peaceful mind.
How often do your customers ask you to introduce them to such specialists?
Quite often. Moreover, a Core-IT partner has his own pentest (penetration, vulnerability testing) agency.
“Black-hat hackers” operate illegally and they should be behind bars …
They mainly operate individually, underground. Across the world, black-hat hackers are considered criminals, because they are a threat to national security of this or that state. They are hunted by the Interpol.
Do you think there are many black-hat hackers in Russia?
According to experts, and I would agree with them, there are indeed many of these, and for this very reason white-hat hackers are much more numerous.
You have just come back from Munich: did you provide support to any businessmen?
At the capital of Bavaria, we visited a vending machine expo. These are machines that give you a can of Coca-Cola for a coin. Young businessmen have developed vending machine software. They are already supplying their product to Russia and are seeking to enter the European market. Our customers are from Russia, they are Russian entrepreneurs, who have registered a legal entity in Latvia.
Is this even possible during the period of anti-Russian sanctions and rampant Russophobia?
The European business industry does not display any openly negative attitude toward Russia. Business people show their interest in cooperation with Moscow. They are interested in solutions, currently offered by the Russian market, at least, in the vending sector.
Sergei Kron.