A new association of Ukrainian IT companies
UA Tech Network is a new association of domestic IT companies. The project's founders were UA Tech Club, Sigma Software, and IdeaSoft. Its goal is to support small and medium-sized businesses operating in the IT sector.
The new association aims to develop Ukraine's IT brand in order to attract more lucrative financial contracts by consolidating the resources and efforts of businesses of varying strengths.
Let's explore the main areas of collaboration within the project. We'll also discuss who can become a member of the UA Tech Network.
UA Tech Network
UA Tech Network is an informal association of IT businesses (not an association or club). There is no membership fee. According to Anatoly Klepach, founder and CEO of UA Tech Club, the project's initiators aim to create a community of companies willing to:
- help others develop their businesses and provide mentoring support;
- to facilitate marketing promotion of small companies in the international market;
- enter into collaborations to create new products and service areas.
Facts about Sigma Software
- Experience in the IT market - more than 20 years
- Expertise in 10 different business domains
- Contracts with foreign clients (in particular, large ones – Boeing, Volvo, etc.)
- Sigma Software Group's contact database is available for sharing.
- Desire and opportunity to provide mentoring support to small IT companies
Facts about UA Tech Club
- A community of IT entrepreneurs and technology company executives
- Our mission is to take UA Tech Club members' businesses to a whole new level.
- A community that unites the technical minds of IT entrepreneurs and businessmen
- The company is ready to provide the tools necessary for the company's development: from assistance in building processes to meetings with embassies and investments
Facts about Ideasoft
- A Kharkiv-based IT company specializing in financial technologies, telecommunications, and related fields.
- Member of Sigma Software Group, independent software development partner of Sigma Software
- Develops and implements innovative blockchain products
- Staff: 200+ highly qualified developers
- The creator of the blockchain service for verifying the origin of cryptocurrencies, Global Ledger Protocol
The benefits of creating UA Tech Network
Since IT is an accessible and highly flexible field, starting a business here is not a problem. Most small IT companies are created spontaneously, ad hoc.
There are many examples of experienced developers or web designers deciding to go it alone and start their own business. Many, due to circumstances, move to the IT business from another industry.
Open a sole proprietorshipIt's not difficult to get started, but at a certain stage of business development, responsibilities and demands increase. Consequently, problems with effective company growth and team management arise.
The new association aims to support small companies and help them:
- study the experience of large and successful IT businesses;
- build processes correctly;
- easily move from one stage of business development to another.
UA Tech Network's Tasks in Wartime
Even before the war, few small and medium-sized businesses could allocate a significant budget to marketing. Furthermore, not every Ukrainian IT company had representative offices abroad, and therefore, the opportunity to collaborate with enterprise clients.
Those who had established such connections faced challenges in securing new foreign contracts due to the war. One of the main goals of UA Tech Network is to facilitate the advancement of small companies into the international market.
The main areas of cooperation within the association
UA Tech Network aims to implement effective collaboration formats for IT companies in the service industry. Companies with multiple projects and open positions (like Sigma Software) can establish partnerships with other network members through subcontracting or outstaffing (hiring temporary employees to work on projects).
The benefits of this type of collaboration for small companies:
- the opportunity to receive more profitable orders;
- access to successful experience in building business processes.
For example, a small IT company with potential collaboration with a potential client may engage developers and managers from a large partner company to negotiate and sign a lucrative contract. The parties agree on which company will be responsible for managing the overall project.
What's available to UA Tech Network member companies:
- seek mentoring support from Sigma Software and collaborate on developing business processes;
- use the merger as a sales funnel;
- Get more new orders through joint marketing.
Partnership within the UA Tech Network
An example of a successful collaboration case within the framework of the association's work is the cooperation between Unicsoft and Whimsy Games.
Unicsoft is a powerful company specializing inblockchain, attracted Whimsy Games, which works in game development, to collaborate and signed a million-dollar contract with them.
Thanks to the partnership within the IT consortium, Whimsy Games joined a lucrative project, and significantly increased funding was received by the Ukrainian budget.
UA Tech Network's areas of work
The new association plans to collaborate with product companies and startups.
The founders of UA Tech Network have a strong network of connections and clients, meaning they can validate a large number of ideas and help startups enter the international market.
Moreover, every service company dreams of its own product, and UA Tech Network intends to help small businesses create it.
The association also plans to identify similar requests from different customers and create a product not only for them but also for sale to customers around the world.
Who can become part of the UA Tech Network?
More than 30 companies (each with an average of 75 employees) have already joined the association. These are primarily studios with experience working in the international market.
Some participating companies are based in Ukraine (primarily Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Dnipro), while others are based abroad. Therefore, UA Tech Network can provide the client with contract performance guarantees.
For example, if a team of specialists physically located in Ukraine is unable to work for some reason, their tasks will be performed by those located abroad.
In this way, the founders of the association diversify the risks of project failure, since, if necessary, they can attract resources from other companies.
3 main requirements for candidates
- Willingness to collaborate with other companies
- Proven technological expertise in your field
- Reliable reputation
The management of the association's founding companies continues to review applications from representatives of the Ukrainian IT industry and conduct interviews with candidates. Membership decisions in the UA Tech Network are made weekly.
Latest news about UA Tech Network
- Once the first pool of business contracts has been agreed upon, the association will publish possible cooperation models.
- Plans include various types of cooperation with Sigma Group companies (including the purchase and sale of options in synergistic businesses)
- UA Tech Network will spend its income on marketing and promoting the association and domestic businesses on the international market.
The war accelerated the creation of the UA Tech Network
According to Anatoly Klepach, the idea of creating an association was discussed even before the onset of large-scale Russian aggression. However, the industry was developing steadily, so there was no immediate need to implement the initiative.
With the outbreak of the war, small IT studios began losing clients, and it became clear that the time had come to act. Unfortunately, for tragic reasons, interest in Ukrainian brands increased, opening up new opportunities for the industry's development.
In this situation, IT businesses should make the most of the opportunity. IT is an industry that can quickly recover, grow, and significantly support the domestic economy.
The Power and Social Responsibility of the Ukrainian IT Industry
According to a study by the IT Ukraine Association, IT companies generated $2 billion in export revenues in the first quarter of 2022 (last year's figure for the same period was $1.44 billion). Export volume increased by 28%.
It is also known that during the war, 77% of Ukrainian IT companies attracted new clients.
In March 2022, the industry maintained 96% of its computer services export volume ($522 million) compared to the same period in 2021 ($546 million). In a context of instability and heightened risks, the domestic IT industry has demonstrated significant resilience.
During the two and a half months of the war, companies participating in the IT Ukraine Association study transferred UAH 806 million to charitable foundations.
Examples of financial support
For example, SoftServe (an international IT company based in Lviv) allocated over 12 million UAH to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the humanitarian needs of the population.
In addition, the company paid taxes in the amount of UAH 24 million in advance to provide additional resources to the Ukrainian economy.
The use of digital assets is being actively implemented. For example, advertising technology developer Admixer—an authorized partner of Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Xandr, and Viber—has enabled the transfer of donations to Save The Children Ukraine. cryptocurrency.
Conclusion
The UA Tech Network, a unification of domestic IT companies, opens up exciting opportunities for collaboration, business scaling, and international market penetration.
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