IT trends: the impact of the pandemic and other trends

“Flat World” becomes a popular expression in the IT environment, investment and innovation.

Maksym Prokhorov, founder and managing partner PM PARTNERS

This characteristic is used when talking about “blurring” borders between countries in terms of working with projects and customers, as well as hiring employees. What is happening now on the IT market in Ukraine and in the world? I’ll tell you about the main trends.

Ukrainian IT is growing, but how

The number of companies in the IT market in Ukraine is really growing, which can definitely be attributed to positive aspects. But so far not sufficient support from the state is at the top of the list of shortcomings. The participation of government agencies is important here, because IT is not just an industry where they actively create jobs and keep people from leaving the country. IT is also the advertisement of the country in the international arena. And the recent visit of the official Ukrainian delegation to the United States headed by the President of Ukraine is another confirmation of this.

If we compare government assistance to IT hubs, say, in India, the Philippines, Colombia or Mexico with Ukraine, we are still inferior to them. Accordingly, when the independent growth of the Ukrainian IT market is supported by the state, this process will accelerate and open up new opportunities.

I can also refer to the level of wages as the problematic moments of the industry at the local level. In IT, it is higher than the average in Ukraine, because some people come to the profession not for the sake of programming, but only because of their salaries. This often has a negative impact on the quality of their work. To change the situation, the state needs to correctly tell the younger generation about the industry (after all, there is far from everything about money) and to push young people to get higher education in technical areas.

Systematic training at the university is especially necessary when it comes to complex technological developments, where engineering culture and outlook are needed.

COVID-19 and IT: what has changed

There are markets that the pandemic and the quarantine restrictions it caused have had a rather negative impact. However, I can’t say that about IT. On the contrary, the coronavirus has given the sector a number of opportunities. One of them is to hire employees where they are, since specialists can now work remotely. Due to the fact that some office workers do not want to return to their offices, companies, including Ukrainian ones, have significantly reduced costs. And the freed up financial resources were directed to innovation. Therefore, now the demand for innovative services has increased.

Also, the pandemic has increased the demand for outsourcing services. A number of companies realized that it doesn’t matter where the employees are, because everything works. Accordingly, the demand for outsourcing will continue to grow in the near future.

On the other hand, not all employers are ready to give their employees the right to choose between office and remote work. An example of this is Google, which recently announced its intention to cut by 10–15% the salaries of those who stay to work at home. One of the possible reasons for this decision is that a remote employee is more difficult to control, and he may well take orders from a competitor. And by cutting salaries, tech giants are trying to bring specialists back to the office.

An interesting future with IT

AI, IoT, blockchain are trends that are being talked about a lot and many now. This is true, since these directions will significantly affect our life, but not only them.

Already, the number of startups, technologies and innovations is increasing, which will soon make it possible to automate a fairly large number of processes and people will no longer need to stand behind a machine or a conveyor.

A large list of personal services will emerge. And the emergence of an IT system that supports the People to People industry seems to be quite real, because society is still moving in this direction.

An interesting area that adjoins AI is now wearable technologies. One example is smart clothes that change color depending on the mood of the wearer. Similar projects appear in medicine and other industries.

Also, a clear tendency is the “splicing” of a computer with a person. And here we will see many interesting projects.

If we look in the direction of simpler and more mundane trends, then I will put the mathematics of data processing in the first place, because it is it that becomes the basis of virtually all large-scale technological applications that are now on the market.

In addition, I will highlight the communication protocols, since the entire infrastructure, any interfaces between different systems depend on them.

So, we have an interesting future in which IT will play an important role. The demand for IT pros will continue to grow, but the best places in projects will go to those with a “shining eye,” and it also goes well with talent.