Andrey Vratsky, CEO of eXpress, answered TAdviser’s questions on qualitative changes in the market of unified communications (UC), video conferencing, customer requirements, as well as on the eXpress UC platform.
TAdviser: What qualitative changes have occurred in the Russian market of unified communications systems over the past year and a half?
Andrey Vratsky: The logic of movement in the unified communications market is determined by Microsoft and its leading product in this segment, Microsoft Teams. We can say that this product showed everyone what a platform for unified communications should be, and today all UC vendors want to make “Russian MS Teams”. Those who positioned their product as videoconferencing add chat, the creators of instant messengers add videoconferencing functions. And customers want the same, because they are now experiencing some pain when they switch to Russian analogues, which lack the functionality characteristic of advanced Western systems.
TAdviser: That is, Russian vendors and customers both focused on MS Teams and continue to do so. There have been no qualitative changes in the market?
Andrey Vratsky: On the contrary! Qualitative changes have occurred because a new market segment, previously inaccessible, has opened up for Russian vendors - commercial companies, including corporations, which Western manufacturers have abandoned. According to my assessment, the size of the potential market for Russian vendors in the field of unified communications has more than doubled.
TAdviser:MS Teams - the only leading product that a large Russian customer was targeting?
Andrey Vratsky: The second example was Skype for Business - for example, Rosatom used it before. This product is more archaic compared to MS Teams, so there are no increased demands on the quality of Russian developments from its former users, there is no such pressure in this regard. Those who have worked on the best examples of Western products demand that Russian vendors catch up with them in both quality and functionality. Before the departure of Western vendors, there was no such demand from the market for Russian vendors, and this is another qualitative change.
