The recent events in Ukraine are making the heart of any IT market player beat faster: a bill laying the foundation for the system of e-commerce regulation passed its first reading, the former Microsoft Ukraine General Manager Dmytro Shymkiv has become a member of the Presidential Administration, the successful election of the modnaKasta creator to the Kiev City Council, the emergence of numerous national startups, and the rise of new communication platforms -conferences, forums, etc - with current ones improving. These confirm that Ukraine is an IT-driven country, an ambitious player with a huge potential.
The activation of the IT sphere and its increasing
impact on the various aspects of the offline life of the country and society
has become the major recent trend for our country. The acknowledgement of this
accomplishment is simply a logical step for public authorities. When such an
acknowledgement is made both by the head of State and the Minister of Economy,
it means that the wheels are indeed already in motion: IT guys are no longer
viewed as castaways by government officials, but are now treated as a community
with legislative rights. Most “red-tape”, State officials have realized that
they now have to learn to co-exist with this Internet business thing, sometimes
hard to understand but mentioned everywhere.
The most important, although unexpected challenge the
Ukrainian IT community is facing is the necessity to quickly and efficiently
take advantage of this acknowledgement from the government and their cautious
but friendly attitude, so as not to be left behind the processes now taking
place.
In my opinion, it is now time to create a platform
that could act as a place where representatives of the Internet business sphere
could get together and discuss their initiatives on managing the industry,
gradually create legislative initiatives, develop the rules of conducting a
competitive struggle in the market, and exchange their knowledge and skills.
The IT Entrepreneurs Association that has recently begun operating is an
obvious candidate for this. The association’s purpose is to act as a social
organization meant to put things right in the IT sphere, and to moderate
communication in the market by the hands of the players themselves – the latter
being especially important. Meanwhile, there is plenty of work to be done in
the IT sphere itself: from lobbying and editing the new legislation (which is
so far to be questioned on many issues), to the herculean task of cleaning up
tax reporting. Besides, there are many technical loose ends that are easier to
deal with as a team – cloud solutions, remote offices, and licensed software.
Further, it is no secret that these days a lot of (not
the fast majority, but many!) Internet entrepreneurs work either in the “grey”
tax zone completely or are balancing on the very edge of it. However, they so
believe in the prospects of the industry and in their country’s future that
they are willing to “step out into the light”, though often without knowing the
best way to do it. This legalization process is a task to solve for the newly
created union.
Apart from cleaning up the current mess, we have
decided to put development on the agenda as well. The Ukrainian IT market
already knows plenty of professionals who can share both their successes and
failures, and who possess the unique skills of survival, development,
competition and the ability to make alliances. The master classes they have
conducted for the Association members will spur new achievements in the market,
and active support from colleagues in the union will encourage them not to stop
halfway, to create their unique proposals and overcome the resistance of fiscal
and inspection authorities, competitors playing dirty, and greedy suppliers.
Finally, we all know that operating in a cohesive way,
feeling the shoulder of your friend or partner next to yours always makes
things easier and is more efficient than fighting the whole world on your own.
Our Association believes that the times of single players are over. Now the
world seeks bright leaders who command not with charisma, but with talent and
skill – these two resulting from constant development, self-improvement and
finding a top-level team.
Dmitry Cherniy, IT Entrepreneurs Association,
President
