General Director of Microsoft Ukraine Nadezhda Vasilyeva: “Today we have something that was important in Europe 2-3 years ago”

You switched to Microsoft Ukraine in 2012, and before that you managed Amway Ukraine. What is the reason for such a cardinal change in the sphere of activity? Why IT?

In fact, IT is not a new type of activity for me. I worked for 12 years in the telecommunications business and these areas are interrelated. At the same time, my previous company gave me an understanding of how the commodity market works in contrast to the services market, and also what small business in Ukraine is, how it works, what interests it and how it interacts. In such a business, there is an informal leadership that can create a large system business mechanism from a small family business. However, the direct sales business is not as competitive, and therefore not as dynamic as IT. I was always drawn to the dynamics and complexities. Therefore, I quickly accepted the offer from Microsoft Ukraine to take the position of director for work with government agencies. It was a challenge that interested me.

What are the fundamental differences between your previous and current position?
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The principal differences are that in Amway, a business is a big marketing and distribution flywheel, which is formed mainly by distributors, and they create it first, and the company only serves and supports. Microsoft, on the other hand, forms the ecosystem long before the partnership channel is formed. The company actually provides network availability for the sale of new technologies. This is a completely different scale. Amway has more turnover and management of 7 product categories - from FMCG to durable goods. But at Microsoft, there are many product groups, an expanding range of services, and the emergence of new technologies. There is also a legal aspect, new for Ukraine, - intangible asset management, which coincides with my interests and legal education. If earlier my tasks were related to the continuous improvement of customer service processes and distributors, the strategic development of key training systems in Ukraine, optimization of the logistics model, creation and development of retail, now I have a very strong challenge - to manage the business during the crisis in the country and at the same time transform the company from product-oriented to service.

What are the first steps you are planning on a new post?

First of all, focus on new priorities in accordance with our strategy. We are a company that creates solutions for any platform that allow you to work more productively for business, government, and users. We live in a world where mobility and cloud services have come to the fore. Soon in the world, the number of users with Internet-connected devices and cloud-based applications will exceed 3 billion.

The combination of so many devices and cloud services used to create and use data creates unique opportunities for all. And above all - the opportunity to work more productively and the opportunity to find more time for the family.

We are also faced with the task of introducing a transparent model in the sales channel and strengthening cooperation with partners. We want to see more cloud-based offers, so we will focus on partners who are ready to develop and build new business models, and also pay attention to the introduction and use of services by customers.



Have there been any significant changes in the personnel management of the company lately? Are there any plans for the near future?

The team is transformed in the same way as the business itself. Some of the directors on the Board moved into new roles, thereby taking on new tasks and taking responsibility for something new. Three new directors have also joined us, one of whom is from Hungary. At the same time, we are still looking for a candidate for my previous position - a director for working with government agencies and institutions of education and science.

Tell us a little about the company's plans and about the future business development strategy in the domestic market.

Our task is to teach business and people to work optimally, using the necessary technologies for this. There is an erroneous opinion that you can do more if you work more. In fact, we have more time to do when we work smarter, more productive, and also find time for a harmonious and fulfilling life.

What is the peculiarity of the Microsoft strategy in Ukraine compared to other countries?

In Ukraine, we are adjusting the global strategy to the Ukrainian realities in order to help partners and customers solve their business problems. For example, there are priority areas that were previously not easy to develop, but today they are becoming more relevant than ever. These are cloud technologies. Over the past year, the demand for Microsoft Azure has grown by 300%, because the solution helps businesses bring processes to the cloud and continue working despite difficulties.

At the same time, in Ukraine, we are still catching up with technology. Today we have something that was relevant in Europe 2-3 years ago. The problem of poor quality of project management and implementation of changes still remains in the country. In this regard, we focus our efforts more on learning, introducing new practices, solutions, IT consulting.

We have long been not a company of desktop software only. But we cannot open our gaming business in Ukraine - due to the high level of piracy, nor the high-quality Hi-end Tablet Surface Pro due to customs and certification difficulties. However, we do not give up. And now we are working on a long-term strategy for the development of the Ukrainian IT market and the launch of new products on the market.



To what extent does the average Ukrainian customer seem to be “equipped” in terms of the availability of corporate systems? What kind of IT solutions are still lacking domestic companies?


In our companies, virtualization is still very weak, which means that IT equipment is not fully utilized, the main part of the capacity is idle, and capital investments are spent for risk moments. Security is also badly thought out, and today it is no longer just a matter of protecting the business, it’s a national security issue.

Are cloud solutions, such as Azure and Office 365, required by Ukrainian companies today? Is the percentage of domestic customers using these products different from the global total, and how much?

Over the past year, we have recorded a 300% growth in demand for the Microsoft Azure cloud platform in Ukraine. In our opinion, now the market has already gained that critical mass in order to make a bold and deliberate step towards the cloud. More and more companies are realizing the benefits of the cloud - scalability, security, mobility, and savings on maintaining their own IT infrastructure. Recently, a number of companies have fully or partially switched and successfully use Microsoft Azure and Office 365 cloud services: the Sushiya restaurant chain, the Leroy Merlin chain of construction hypermarkets, Ferrero Ukraine, and others.

There is a demand in various business sectors - in the conditions of the economic crisis, companies are looking for ways to optimize costs, so they make a choice in favor of clouds, where savings come from the ability to pay only for the resources used, there is no need to maintain physical servers, and to bear depreciation costs.



In Ukraine, 85% of small and medium-sized businesses use one or another cloud service - the highest figure in the countries of central and eastern Europe. And this number will grow, because today the cloud offers virtually unlimited resources to businesses of any size at a cost that is incompatible with capital investments in its own infrastructure.

Interest in the clouds is not only in business, now both government agencies and educational institutions are adopting cloud technologies. For example, Sumy State and Donetsk National Universities use Microsoft Office 365 to organize collaboration of more than 35 thousand students and teachers. All schools, and this is about 160, and most of the kindergartens in Dnepropetrovsk are combined into a single information system based on Microsoft Office 365.

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