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April 2020 www.intellinews.com I Page 4
companies are already revising and optimising their operations costs, focusing on strategically important goals."
"We could estimate scenarios of the crisis' impact on Ukraine's IT industry in a few weeks' time," adds Lyubinets."The impact could be significant."
EPAM is already working on cost optimization, such as negotiating discounts on rent, as some of the company's offices are currently not used at all.
Another Ukrainian tech major, Ciklum, is also looking at ways to save on overheads amidst the lockdown regime.
"Our teams are re-distributing members between projects," the company's spokesman told nv.ua.
While most companies are unwilling to say if
they have cut employees' wages or plan to do
that in the short term, they hint at possible cuts as the volume of orders they receive is likely to decline against the backdrop of a global economic downturn.
Strategy: survival
As the global economy is projected to shrink as
a result of the coronavirus pandemic, Ukraine's IT companies are likely to face a decline in demand
for their product and services, which, in turn, makes the segment's prospects uncertain.
"The IT business could successfully cash in under three main scenarios, which are the development of new projects, maintenance of existing systems and resolving short-term urgent issues for their customers," IT entrepreneur Alexander Kardakov was quoted as saying by nv.ua, adding that many investment projects are being put on hold, which is expected to have a negative impact on the IT industry.
The lockdown measures have also hit IT companies' component supply chains, and many are having troubles obtaining imported components for hardware.
A massive switch to remote work may at first sight look like a major opportunity for IT firms, but potential customers are often too cash-strapped to invest in remote-work solutions.
"True, the [Ukrainian] IT industry is facing fewer problems than other service industries, like, tourism or restaurant business," Kardakov concluded. "But we have to understand that, by the end of the year, problems will imminently arise. The majority of investment projects linked to business development and automatization have been put on hold already."
Slovenia's crypto payment developer Eligma expands amidst pandemic restrictions
While companies around the world are closing their doors temporarily to reduce the risk of spreading the coronavirus (COVID-19), Eligma, the developer of the GoCrypto payment system that supports cryptocurrency payments at bricks and mortar retailers, is expanding.
The Slovenian company has sent many of its staff home to work, but is still going ahead with
a planned expansion into Latin America, and stresses that its technology is more relevant than ever at a time when minimising human contact has become top priority.
The company’s main product is the Elly mobile app and POS solution that makes it easy to pay online or in store with several cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin and Eligma’s own GoCrypto.