Natalia Ochalsalskaya: About AMI Marketing in the System Integration Market

The Ukrainian information technology market remains one of the fastest growing and is committed to global trends. Natalya Ochosalskaya, director of strategic development at AMI, was invited to the blogogue to talk about marketing in the system integration market.

How big, in your opinion, is the difference between the world level of technology development and the willingness to consume such solutions in the Ukrainian market?

N. O .: There is no global difference, as technologies, in particular information, now have no boundaries and penetrate any more or less developed market fairly quickly.
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The information technology market in Ukraine is still one of the most dynamically developing, ready to consume and produce the most advanced technologies and solutions. We can judge about this both on the projects of the AMI company and on the requests of our clients. The past year has demonstrated significant qualitative growth in projects and, so to speak, “maturing” of consumers. If earlier many clients were willing to pay only for the equipment, now many of them have realized the importance of professional development, implementation and maintenance of the project. Today they are ready to pay not for “hardware”, but for system integration.

The Ukrainian IT market is moving toward global trends: in projects, the share of services is increasing, and they, in turn, are becoming more intelligent. At the same time, the boundaries between IT systems and other infrastructure solutions are often blurred, for example, intelligent security systems become part of a single IT infrastructure.

Entry into the WTO will give a new impetus to the Ukrainian IT market. It can be expected that major foreign system integrators will enter our market, first of all, integrators from Eastern Europe. Since large Eastern European companies (banks, insurance, etc.) began to enter our market, their arrival will automatically lead to the arrival of IT companies involved in their service in their “home” countries.

The main stop factor hindering the development of the Ukrainian information technology market is a strong dependence on the political situation in the country. Re-privatization instability, frequent changes in the legislative field, administrative pressure force business owners to save on investments in IT infrastructure. I would like more predictability of the development of the political situation in the country.

Is the possibility of transforming AMI into an international company? Is the development of foreign markets part of the company's strategy? Are there any time frames for the implementation of such plans?

N. O .: At the moment there are no such plans, as the Ukrainian market still offers enough ways for growth and development. Of course, AMI is considering working in foreign markets, primarily in the CIS markets, but this is not a strategic task.

The company has a number of its own unique solutions that may be of interest to foreign partners. First of all, these are developments for the enterprises of the mining complex, since AMI has extensive experience in working with enterprises in this field. At the moment, AMI specialists are implementing their own time-keeping system ASTU-AMI at the Russian Sherlovskaya-Naklonnaya mine. A number of enterprises in Russia and Kazakhstan are interested in this development.

Cooperation and partnership with international companies is considered as an option to promote a product or solution. There is no clear strategy for entering the international market.

Has the marketing strategy of AMI changed since the company was founded and before becoming one of the leaders in the Ukrainian system integration market? Are the goals of doing business at the stage of its foundation achieved?

N. O .: The company's marketing strategy has undergone a number of changes since its foundation, because AMI has grown from a small local IT company into an all-Ukrainian player with big ambitions. Modern business is very dynamic, so the management of change and change in the company is becoming increasingly important, and marketing is an integral part of this process. AMI is an actively developing IT company, which has already undergone several stages of change in its development, and at this stage is undergoing the most global changes. We are building a diversified company that manages the portfolio of its business units.

When a company was created, the usual goal in such cases was to set a profit, all global plans and goals appear with each company over time. So we move from one goal to another, from one peak to another.

How does the company solve the strategic task of expanding and increasing profitability?

N. O .: One of our problems in the desire to develop and expand all of our businesses is to increase competence in all available areas. We have not yet come to the conclusion that it is better to diversify businesses or to focus on certain areas more clearly. The company "AMI" has extensive experience and knowledge in many areas of activity, and we would be sorry to lose them. Therefore, at the moment we are looking for the most optimal business development model. Now the company is restructuring and the allocation of individual areas in the business unit with a sufficiently larger share of independence. At the same time, AMI plans to maximize the synergy of all businesses.

What tactical tasks do you set for the company at this stage?

N. O .: The AMI company is making great strides in reorienting the business towards service and IT consulting. At present, earnings on ready-made solutions are minimal, therefore, service and services are becoming increasingly important. Therefore, the company seeks to increasingly offer and provide services, looking for ways to apply their experience in IT consulting.

Work is also underway to increase business transparency. The management of “AMI” strives to ensure that the results of the work are clear and clear to every employee of the company, so that everyone understands their contribution and their place in the company. This requires the construction of modern and technological business processes throughout the company.

Our corporate sales policy focuses on trade, finance, industry and the public sector. The AMI plans to expand the list of its expertise and competencies in these industries.

Due to the fact that there are not always products on the market that are sufficiently satisfying to consumers and integrators, the company is developing its own products. For example, by the level of technical solutions in the field of digital video surveillance systems, the company's development, the Drakar system, is ahead of many foreign solutions, and in the foreseeable future, development of this direction is planned. Last year, AMI launched the Actima universal access control and personnel management system based on the Microsoft .NET platform.