We are happy to share our story that was published in an interview with Yuriy Sivitsky, prepared by Minfin (the original article).
The story of Softengi is the story of Intecracy Group, the group that makes Ukraine famous in the world as the center of top-notch software engineering. The Intecracy Group has wide geography of presence and works for both public sector and private customers.
The Intecracy Group is now an association of 14 IT companies that work in the Information & Communication Technology (ICT) field in numerous countries around the world.
The main areas: BPM/ECM systems development, IT outsourcing, national-level IT consulting, B2B IT startups. In addition, another interesting area—the creation of unmanned aerial vehicles.
Financial result for 2020: growth in the group is about 20%. Clients are corporations from FORTUNE 500 and governmental organizations in different countries.
Work in International Corporation vs. Ukrainian Small Business
Yuriy remembers the start of his career as a combination of regularity and randomness. After graduating from Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, he was surrounded by scientists and engineers. Every day brought new opportunities.
“I’ve been working in American corporations for some time. Then the moment came, and I got tired of being a cell in a company where someone decides for you, and your initiative is limited,“ says Mr. Sivitsky.
As a result, Yuriy started working in a small Ukrainian company called Softline. Thanks to a clearly defined strategy, he helped to attract the first significant investments in 2000—about $20 million, which at that time was an incredibly huge amount.
“This was probably the first American venture money in Ukraine for programming companies,”
recalls businessman.
On Creation: How the Group of Companies Emerged and Developed
Working with Western corporations helped to grow faster. “There are a lot of good things in their work—financial discipline, rules, training, HR; they are innovative, they pay a lot of attention to development. We wanted to embody the best in the Ukrainian business, and I think we succeeded. At the same time, I wanted to get rid of bureaucracy, excessive reporting, and restrictions on the initiative. We’ve also achieved this over time.”
“Our first customer in 1996 was the Ukrainian Agrarian Сommodity Exchange, and the second was the Tashkent Commodity and Raw Materials Exchange. Representatives from Tashkent learned about the introduction of an automated system in Ukraine and invited us to launch a similar solution from them. These were the very first online biddings when all transactions were carried out on the screens, and it was unique for the post-Soviet countries,” mentions Yuriy.
But the real breakthrough in international markets began in the 2000s when the company attracted American investments:
“Part of the money went to business development in the United States and Europe. We opened a company with American partners from large corporations at the level of vice presidents. We launched joint businesses,” explains Yuriy Sivitsky, founder of the Group.
In 2007, Intecracy Group was launched, and the whole business was divided into niches as the company grew. Each of the companies is independent and has its freedom on the market. It was the year of great transformation, as it was already difficult to provide the necessary flexibility and independence within one structure. After all, the total staff reached 1200 people.
“Therefore, we divided the business into niche companies and launched the Intecracy Group,” explains Yuriy, “then we had management partners, options, and companies gained complete freedom in the market.”
Thus, a group was formed, which at that time consisted of 5 companies, among which there were specialists in document management, software tools for personnel management, process improvement. Now, there are also service companies, integration, outsourcing companies. The group is focused on developing large-scale solutions for large and medium-sized businesses in Ukraine and abroad. Among the key clients are large corporations and governments from different parts of the world.
“Over the past few years, we took part in the launch of several startups, in some, we are minority shareholders, in others, we are majority shareholders.”
Today, Intecracy Group includes 14 companies that work with customers from all over the world.
“We created everything from scratch,” says Mr. Sivitsky.
The experience of this case proves that Ukraine has a good reputation in the international IT market, while products and services are cheaper than in Europe and the United States.
Tips for Business and Specifics of Work
“It is necessary to communicate as much as possible, and for this, one has to speak foreign languages, without this the communication is difficult. And it requires a lot of meetings with clients, at conferences,” Yuriy advises, “now a lot goes through social networks, but live meetings are very important, as well as a personal presence in specific markets, understanding the culture of other countries”.
Who is the easier to work with?
“Americans are the easiest way to work with,” he answers without hesitation. “It’s all about how they do business, their straightforwardness. They don’t like to criticize, discuss, they always have a very friendly atmosphere; usually, they get straight to business. If they like the product, we just agree on the price and start!” – Yuriy smiles.
How about exotic countries?
“We are developing the system for the public sector in the Caribbean region. We have a lot of experience in this sphere. When Softline was launched, everything belonged to the state. All the large systems we created were for the government. Public projects are 10-15% of all projects in our portfolio, and earlier it was the main direction of the business,“ specifies Yuriy.
Among his most unusual trips, Yuriy Sivitsky recalls his business trip to Haiti in 2016. The Republic of Haiti, which borders on the Dominican Republic is now popular among Ukrainian tourists, turned out to be very different from a tropical paradise.
“I was met at the airport by a bodyguard with a driver. There is no lighting on the streets; there were situations on the way in which the bodyguard was useful. People from gangster groups came to the hotel, found me, said that the project would not work without them. I had to stay in American and French missions and talk about how to avoid gangster showdowns, and at the same time, successfully launch the system. All this reminded us of our 90s,” says the businessman.
Representatives of the American mission, who financed the project to build a civil servants management system in Haiti, told Yuri that they chose his company after assessing its experience in Ukraine. Their guiding principle was: “If you managed to launch many complex projects there, you could do it here too.”
But before that, this project was launched twice by American and French companies and failed. And difficulties arose at every step. For example, it turned out that out of 30,000 civil servants, about 10,000 actually worked, the rest died or left, and ministers received a salary for them. In addition, it was necessary to create IT solutions compatible with American border systems.
“On the other hand, after such a trip you understand that our Ukrainian experience is universal, suitable for both extreme countries and highly developed countries. And Haitians are cheerful and very pleasant people.”
No Wish to Move Abroad
Yuriy decided that Ukraine was the most exciting place for him, and so far, he has no plans to move abroad. For the first time in many years, Yuriy hadn’t taken a flight due to the pandemic. He says that domestic travel isn’t less satisfying.
“I love traveling, yet here I can see the value of my actions more than anywhere else. I could have moved abroad, but why? Looks like I’m connected to Ukraine through my friends and ancestors. The place is the people who inhabit it. Our nature may not be as rich as in the USA, Switzerland, or Turkey, but we have the Carpathian mountains, deserts, forests, Dnipro. For example, I like participating in a bike trophy through the Kaniv hills and along the Dnipro — it’s great. “
For Yuriy, Ukraine is a home you have to attend to, a home that needs to be interesting for other countries. The country needs subjectivity and something to offer the world. After all, some interesting sprouts are already here.
Plans for Development
There are several directions, and each company plans its own year. Two companies have a great interest in Africa, projects in Asia and Australia are now developing very quickly. One company plans to launch a pilot project in Europe.
“For example, one of the companies of Intecracy group works with the world corporations, which are now pulling it to Europe, because there is no such service there yet. We are talking about specific work in bonus programs for staff and consumers. We do a lot of interesting things that stimulate sales. The client gets high business efficiency using our product and service based on the cloud technologies“.
We think that the Ukrainian market also remains very interesting for various companies, innovative from the perspective of IT. Some things that are accessible in Ukraine, don’t exist in Europe. It’s no secret that Ukraine has become a kind of testing ground where you can roll out new ideas, come up with pilot projects to launch successfully on the Western markets later.
As for the long-term plans, the group has many ideas, especially those related to B2B startups.
