Software Panel Speech Revealing Russia’s Intellectual Potential To the World (V.Kapustin, RDA)

Ladies and Gentlemen:

I would like to start my speech by emphasizing the THREE (3) basic elements that are required for any business transaction to take place:

1. Value proposition
2. Awareness of availability of products and services, and
3. Convenience of access and use of such products and services

When describing the Russian IT industry in general and the software industry in particular, we can notice that out of the above mentioned 3 elements:

The First Element, Value Proposition, is DEFINITELY there: There is a lot of existing statistical and anecdotal evidence about a strong value proposition: competitive pricing, top-notch problem-solving capabilities, highly educated workforce, etc.

The Second and the Third Elements, however, are NOT as well established:

1. Very few companies and very few people in the US are aware that Russia has a lot to offer in terms of software and IT capabilities

2. Out of thousands of Russian IT companies only a handful have some sort of presence in the US in the form of a couple of representative offices, and maybe 1-2 distribution partners

• The value proposition provided by a Russian software vendor is strong: good price, excellent technical solution, BUT…
• The US company is NOT aware that such services and products exist, and
• Even if and when such a US company becomes aware of such services and products, the probability of the business transaction taking place is very slim…

Why? Because… It is inconvenient…

• Russian vendor has NO representation in the US
• Difficulty in communicating and dealing with the vendor 10,000 miles away
• Lack of the English language skills

So, the Russian Digital Alliance, a US-based non-profit organization, is created to bring Elements 2 and 3 to the equation:

Our objective is to create awareness about existing capabilities - promote Russia Inc if you will - and we are here to help Russian IT companies establish physical presence in the US through a network of Sales Partners, Representatives, and Offices.

RDA is a member organization - currently having 16 Russian IT company-members and 6 Russian software associations as members and partners, who in their turn have more than 100 Russian software companies as their members. RDA is devoted to help Russia become a major player in the world IT, engineering and applied sciences services. We are striving to become a single-point of reference for the Russian IT industry in the US. You may ask "How are we going to do that?"

Well…

1. This conference is a good example of how we are planning to create awareness of the existing Intellectual capabilities in Russia
2. Our second step will be to work with the US Mass Media by providing interesting and exciting success stories from a country offering more and more opportunities that could be of interest to the US business community
3. Some programs we are working on would help establish the physical presence of the Russian IT companies in the US:
   1. The AMBASSADOR™ is one of such programs - it would help leverage the entrepreneurial drive of American IT professionals, many of whom are of Russian descent, by making them Representatives, Franchisers, and Sales Partners of Russian IT companies in the US

   2. Neil Godick and Brian Phelps, who have just spoken highly of the Russian technical capabilities, became partners with Russian IT companies. They are a good example of the bridge, which is necessary between the remote capabilities in Russia and the local presence in the US. So, RDA has two options: either to clone Neil Godick and Brian Phelps or to help Russian IT companies find similar American partners for their businesses. So far, we have decided to go with the second option, that is to find more goodwill AMBASSADORS™

So Who is behind RDA?

Today, RDA is a non-profit organization, driven by a group of entrepreneurial individuals, graduates from the top US business schools, with a successful track record in the United States. Everyone on our Management Team has a sincere desire to help Russia and Russian people, many because we come from that country or share the same heritage.

RDA is also supported by a growing group of experienced corporate executives, legal advisers, and US Government organizations.

Today RDA has Representation in 5 US and 2 Russian cities. You can refer to our marketing materials for more information.

The question we are often asked is "Who is funding RDA?"

We currently have one philanthropist with in-kind donations - Ajay Goyal, the publisher of The Russia Journal and a number of other publications in Russia and the US, who is also the organizer of this conference. He provides resources to support our web site.

After setting up the initial infrastructure we are planning to start raising funds from government and non-government grants and corporate sponsorships.

We would like to invite you to ask questions at the end of this Panel from anyone in our Management Team who is present today.

Thank you very much for your attention!

Russian Digital Alliance

6943 Lerwick Court

Alexandria, VA 22315

USA

Ph. (703) 395-6846

Russian Digital Alliance