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How coronavirus (COVID-XX) can help 1C take over the world?

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A crisis is a time of opportunity, a time of the launch of new business models. The ineffective ones die, the strongest survive and grow. I think that the time has come to rethink the 1C behavior and promotion model in the Western market and try out a new strategy, where the Russian Federation will be a “factory” for the development of software products, and our Western partners will collect orders and send them to production.

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Outsourcing, outstaffing, transfer of production to other countries is a common practice. Tesla opened a factory in Shanghai, Apple has factories in China. Google and Microsoft also localized part of their production and technical support in India, China and other countries. The reason for such divisions lies on the surface: labor costs, qualifications, infrastructure, proximity to markets.

Can a 1C company apply this experience, this business model, is it viable for products on the 1C: Enterprise platform ?! In my opinion, “yes,” with certain adaptations, but definitely “can.” Let's see what is needed for this. Let's start with a review of how and due to which 1C products maintain leadership in the Russian Federation and the CIS countries, is it possible to mirror this in Europe, USA, Asia.

1C Company began its journey with the development of software in the field of accounting automation, payroll, etc., all that is somehow related to compliance with the laws of the Russian Federation. Today, the areas and directions of automation have become much wider - this is automation of planning and accounting in production, management accounting, budgeting, b2c segment, etc. At the same time, of course, the fact that 1C products were already used in companies, and 1C: Franchisee began to gradually solve problems that went beyond accounting and tax accounting, allowed to enter and occupy a niche of automation of managerial / production tasks. In other words, regulated accounting became the door through which 1C entered other niches of enterprise automation.

Is it possible to repeat such a scenario? A scenario in which 1C solutions will automate accounting / tax accounting in other countries? It is unlikely, difficult, will require high competencies and resources. The 1C company, of course, understands this and for this reason, first of all, it promotes management accounting solutions abroad - 1C: Drive and 1C: ERP WE, does this through his 1Ci company, and also creates a network of 1C: Franchisee partners in the image and likeness of the experience of the Russian Federation, trying to repeat success. The path is long, difficult and thorny, and even the times are not the same, the competition is much higher. In new markets you need to create infrastructure (network of partners; take into account the legislative aspects of different countries), create / translate training courses, documentation, forums, promote the 1C platform as a programming language (including through competitions, for example, WorldSkills ), etc. . etc. Is there enough strength for this? And if enough, will we be in time? The world is changing rapidly, competitors are on the alert.

In 2018, Google released the App Maker, a designer for creating business applications for those who cannot program. See what a motivating and cheerful video:



And then this constructor? Despite the fact that Google followed a different business model, creating a cloudy and simple constructor (service) that allows you to create your own application, accounting system. Does it resemble anything in 1C? On the one hand, nothing, but personally reminds me of -1C: Enterprise in that, in comparison with other development environments, 1C: Enterprise makes it easy to create an application, both desktop and mobile. It is precisely because of the simplicity and speed of 1C: Enterprise development that it has spread so quickly and to this day competes with world development environments. I emphasize once again: accessibility, speed and simplicity are one of the key success factors.

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* 1C configurator logo was created in 2005, Google App Maker logo in 2018 :-)

1C had an advertising slogan: "Available and seriously." In the modern world, 1C does not seem such an affordable tool as before. You can’t download the platform quickly and easily, you need to install it on a PC, activate a license, know the basics of programming, ACS, etc. 1C was and remains a tool for programmers, and App Maker - for everyone, thanks to which the entry threshold is reduced, everything becomes simpler, easier, faster, more visual. Of course, imagine that 1C: Configurator and / or 1C: EDT will suddenly start working in a browser, become cloudy and light - you don’t have to, and they aren’t created for this, you need something else. While this - the “other” - is not there, you need to find a solution, you need to lower the threshold for entry of partners and customers.

How, in what way? I propose changing the business model by dividing the tasks:

  1. Partners (1C: Franchisee) abroad should popularize 1C solutions, collect Leads, communicate with customers, summarize requirements, receive feedback, and train. Keeping programmers there is expensive, and show me a programmer, for example, in Germany, who will develop 1C rather than SAP?
  2. Partners in the Russian Federation and the CIS should take on tasks, quickly and efficiently develop business applications, integrate with various equipment and services. This requires IT infrastructure, data centers, virtual servers with deployed 1C applications for programmers, demo stands, etc.

We will call this model the “division of labor”.

I will give an example from the field of website development and mobile applications. The scheme of work is as follows:

  1. , , ( ) ..
  2. .
  3. — UX;
  4. , – UI;
  5. ;
  6. ;
  7. , ..

Stages 5 and 6 are performed by programmers and, returning to world giants such as Google, Apple, are performed on a "remote site". The works of stages 1–4 inclusive do not require programming skills, a business analyst, consultant and even the Customer himself can easily cope with these tasks (remember the App Maker, because Google knows what it says ). Someone will say that designers are needed for stages 3 and 4! True, designers are needed (required), but for web \ mob development (although this is not always the case, remember Tilda and other no-code platforms), and for applications on 1C: Enterprise this is not so critical, or at least it’s easy to master UI \ UX design skills for applications on 1C: Enterprise due to the fact that 1C already has a pre-configured design system ( this is the strength and weakness of 1C: Enterprise at the same time) Another question is that we again rest against the heavy 1C: Enterprise platform, which requires installation on a PC, a license, programming knowledge, etc. It is impossible to quickly and easily draw the objects you need in it, as, for example, web designers do it in Figma .

In any case, the model in which the front office will collect requirements and communicate with the Customer in the same language (both literally and figuratively), and at that time the back office will conduct development on a remote site, will allow foreign partners to keep fewer programmers on staff, at the same time, develop other competencies and skills: sales, communication, personal relations, PR, project management, etc. If you may, develop more “soft skills” instead of “hard skills” in the company. Of course, you will need to know the basics of the 1C: Enterprise platform or the basic points in the field of local legislation, but this is much simpler, the entry threshold is much lower, there is less competition for such specialists.

What is needed to implement such a business model, and where does COVID-XX, and why “XX” and not “19”? XX because it is possible that after "19" followed by "COVID-20, 21 ... ..". The future that has come today accustoms us to work on a "remote", to communicate on a "remote", to new models of life and behavior. To implement the “division of labor” system, we need tools for effective interaction between remote teams, we need an infrastructure that allows all participants in the chain to work on-line in a single ecosystem. On-line tools for projects on 1C - there are, not in a single ecosystem, but still there. They are at different stages of life, development, popularization and content:

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Of course, the matter is not only in the presence or absence of tools, it is in partnerships, chains between companies that promote and sell 1C products abroad, and development companies in the Russian Federation. The point is in the policy and business model dictated by the vendor (1C company) in promoting its products and technologies. The point is the distribution and licensing of the 1C: Enterprise platform on the international market, in the localization and translation of circulation solutions, etc. There are more questions and tasks than answers, but you need to move now, in my opinion, the most successful time. There are excellent examples when 1C: Franchisees enter the international market through exhibitions, contests, conferences and demonstrate worthy products, for example (no advertising, only those I personally know):

  1. CenterProgramsystem introduced its product AG Data Integrator in Hanover (Germany) .
  2. Absolute-Soft and its solution 1C: Meat processing MES was awarded the International FoodTec Award 2018 silver medal (Cologne, Germany) .

Also, solutions based on 1C come to Western and Asian markets along with representative offices and branches of Russian companies, such as Rosneft, Gazprom, etc.

Assessing the current situation, you understand that at such a pace expansion will last forever, you understand that you need to try new approaches, and the crisis is the best time to introduce a new one. So, what is needed for 1C solutions to capture, if not the world, then at least a significant market share of the USA, Europe, Asia:

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  3. , , , . , , 1: ( ), «» \1C:EDT.
  4. online .
  5. Do not develop from “0” (or promote solutions translated into a foreign language that have been tested in the Russian market), but develop analogs that have proven themselves in foreign markets and business applications. Imitation is one of the honest ways to compete.

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