It technology business ideas. How to choose a business idea for an IT startup

Having your own business is the dream of many who are tired of working "for their uncle" and getting little money for their work. Owning a business allows you to get freedom of action and broad prospects financially and personally. Today, the most dynamic business in the field of information technology. A lot of ideas appear, old tricks easily acquire updated features, and the efficiency of previously unprofitable sites increases.

The main idea of ​​the information business is aimed at a highly developed infrastructure of the Internet, here it is worth adding the transition to trading in goods and services through websites. Another noticeable passion for household preferences. Industrial and commercial enterprises actively use Internet services. Comfortable, interesting leisure, cost-effective, promising project that sells information goods through the site, it seems easier with it.

Advantages and Features

Trade in information goods is attractive for entrepreneurship, but there are exceptions that can turn a profitable idea into a failure on paper. Otherwise, the market will be overflowing with offers, and the prospects will be vague.

Among the advantages it is worth noting:

• Ease of providing information services.
• Constant growth of demand for information projects.
• Minimum initial investment (some directions do not require them at all).

In addition to direct merits, it is easy to find a lot of indirect ones. IT technologies in the current business, subject to the universal availability of the Internet, have completely smoothed the boundaries between Russia and foreign companies/partners. When building a business with the idea of ​​using a global network, distance does not affect its effectiveness in any way.

It is also worth considering the existence of certain requirements for the business system. In the IT field, they are no less important than in other areas. Of interest are:

• High mobility. It concerns decision-making, fulfillment of tasks, analysis of the profitability of the old site.
• Maximum productivity. The requirement applies to employees. They must be proficient in the specific area of ​​IT activity in which they propose to operate.
• Ultimate flexibility. High profitability is possible under the condition of a dynamic business structure, quick connection of new directions, refusal of sites with services, goods that have become unprofitable, bringing a minimum of money.

The idea to shift the focus to the information space of the Internet today has the potential due to the wholesale transition to online. State, commercial organizations, domestic, foreign enterprises - on the Internet, in the opinion of search engines, they all look like "one person". The only difference is the interest in one or the other, shown by the query entered into the line of Internet search sites.

IT Development Trends

Before launching an IT site aimed at online business, you should carefully look at previously open projects. Many of them are supposed to be profitable. Is that just how it is? The recent crisis has had a negative impact on online business. A significant number of projects with goods and services disappeared from the market.

Fresh ideas have appeared that can make new projects as sustainable as possible in various crisis phenomena. The following projects have become more active:

• Sale of services. No costs, except for renting a landing page site. That's all there is to it. It is enough to come up with a demanded project and promote the site.
• Online consultations. Spend time communicating with customers. In practice, in fact, it turns out "business on the couch."
• Intermediary services. One of the big ideas. Attractive because of the prospect of developing information projects, with the parallel sale of services, goods, ready-made sites, projects, manuals.

Separately, it is worth mentioning the state organizations. Procurement of products and services for municipal/federal needs is mainly carried out through Internet portals. Many entrepreneurs dream of reaching the state level, which means that there is a stable volume of orders, plus the volume of purchases of goods is rather big.

A remarkable trend in the IT business is the absence of pronounced seasonality. In the case of the sale of a specific product, it is enough to launch directions that bring profit during periods of revenue failures on the main project. On the Internet, ideas are born out of the blue.

Starting from scratch options

It is much easier for established businessmen to talk about the simplicity of implementing ideas with high profitability. Only they usually require investments. For example, launching your own social network requires resources in the form of servers, software, and trained support staff. Information technology is more cost-effective for business than offline stores.

The vast majority of newcomers are more interested in business ideas from scratch. The IT market offers:

• Create training courses. Ideas are different, the most popular of them will become more profitable (“make money quickly”, “sale of services”, “website project from scratch”).
• Open a job site. It offers opportunities to provide services for money. Both parties will pay for the site's services: employers with job seekers.
• Launch bulletin board. Sites with information projects are designed to pay for intermediary, related services (products are a cost-effective product, but have some drawbacks).

There is also an idea to participate in numerous affiliate programs. It’s hard to call it a business, it’s more like a simple part-time job, because. the remuneration is low. When chasing high profitability with little time wasted, it is worth opening your own line of business with a website offering goods and services.

Is it easy to sell air

The most advanced Internet users independently began to invent new ideas, services in online business. The leaders are traditionally Americans, but Russian business, with due zeal, is ready to offer good ideas. A typical example is dropshipping (direct deliveries of goods through an intermediary website). If desired, in the IT field, business ideas are born literally on everything.

The most interesting direction for the "sale of air" were the ideas:

At first, it is worth using a free platform to open an online business, since such offers are easy to find on the Internet. There are constructors where it is enough to add unique content, the owner of the service takes care of the promotion, so the referral will cost the minimum amount.

In the future, when a significant number of visits to the page are received, they switch to the sale of advertising space. Of course, the information business requires a lot of patience and sometimes a long wait, but certainly no direct costs will be required for it.

virtual assistant

One of the most developed ideas of the information business is the creation of websites. And not selling goods, offering the services of visiting specialists. The emphasis is on providing services completely online. No one immediately requires payment for services, the idea involves free service (at the initial stage of cooperation).

Information services of specialists are provided there: in the field of jurisprudence, medicine, veterinary medicine. In business, activities are covered that require specialized knowledge. The presence of the Internet allows you to work with anywhere in the world, fully justifying the idea of ​​an information business.

It turns out that some enterprising businessmen transferred the information business to the Internet. The idea is justified in small towns, especially in remote regions. It is difficult for them to provide a flow of customers. But on sites on the Internet they are "a dime a dozen". It becomes profitable to reduce prices for goods, increase the efficiency of services. The idea implies that the flow of customers from the site will easily pay off the initial costs.

Some of these business ideas include sites that apply for loans. They send questionnaires to several banks, MFIs at once. When a cash loan is approved, a commission from the loaned amount will be transferred to the partner site. There are no costs, it remains to organize the proper promotion of the page.

Sale of clouds

Cloud services have made a contribution to the development of the information business on the Internet. They are used to store user, business data, host software and work files on remote servers.

There are several ideas for profit. The owner of the software and server capacities will easily go for a partnership with the service of paying a commission for attracting customers. It remains to launch an information site on the Internet with the offer of services: hosting, software rental, disk space. Information support is provided by the owner of the site of similar services.

There are many examples where cloud services have proved to be a profitable direction. In the rental mode, 1C products, photo and video content processing programs, Microsoft text editors are sold. A separate idea is the issue of protecting remote sites from unauthorized access. A profitable business, the idea is especially beneficial in cooperation with large holdings, companies that store “white” accounting and other valuable information in the clouds.

It is easier for programmers to create an information business. In addition to the direct offer of their own services, other people's projects are easily sold. When you need to edit the site, it's easier to do the work yourself, eliminating the cost of specialists in programming.

The concept of dropshipping in the IT industry

The information business on the Internet has led to a whole stream of fresh ideas. In particular, it led to the emergence of a new direction - dropshipping. Selling with him has become much more profitable.

Distinctive features of the information business with elements of dropshipping:

• The online store operates from the warehouse of the manufacturer of the goods.
• There is no maximum mark-up for goods/services.
• An unlimited number of titles are sold through one site.

The IT intermediary business is given priority over conventional stores and even more so production. Entrepreneurs follow the path of cost reduction and choose online trading, including information products.

Chinese products are the most demanded in the market. The buyer is attracted by the lowest possible cost for products of acceptable quality. The business idea is based on this - the purchase price is several times lower than the retail price. If the advertisement is interesting, the customer will ignore the opportunity to look for a product cheaper.

As a result, the information business leads to the dominance of sites with offers to buy, and no one pays attention to the true manufacturers. Often the latter do not have a website or it is too simple and unattractive. It cannot be ruled out that the owners of wholesale depots and factories benefit from such a scheme for the sale of goods.

Cooperation with the state

The issue of information business with the participation of state-owned enterprises requires special attention. While private companies are active on the Internet, the sector of municipal and federal institutions is still underdeveloped. So far, the theme of trading on electronic platforms has managed to develop.

It should be borne in mind that state-owned companies need not only goods. Seminars on accounting, financial management, changes in legislation - such areas are in demand. Professional development is always interesting for managers. Therefore, with proper adaptation to the peculiarities of the market, it is possible to earn decent money in cooperation with the state.

Important. Working with a state institution raises the status of firms, regardless of the profile of activity.

The situation can be viewed in a different way - the state will easily help the information business in promoting the idea. It is enough to take part in socially significant events, to cover them on your own website on the Internet. Along the way, sell advertising space on it and engage in the offer of goods in the dropshipping mode.

Project development stages

Despite the idea of ​​the vast majority of newcomers to the information business to immediately make a profit, in practice it is rarely implemented. Basically, you have to wait and not stop working on a business idea until you get a financial result. It becomes easier to estimate the time from the start to a stable profit with the advent of skills to split tasks into smaller ones.

The main steps in the development of the idea of ​​​​information business are distinguished:

The last step indicates a profitable moment when launching a fresh startup. Such an attitude towards business will bear fruit over time, when two or more projects will work in parallel. Any financial crisis will be unimportant, because at the same time all areas will not suffer.

Underwater rocks

Before starting the preparatory actions, it is worthwhile to clearly imagine that the business gives a chance to earn a lot. But it’s also easy to burn out on the Internet on several projects at the same time, and direct competitors will flourish.

Common mistakes:

• Trying to implement the idea on my own. If this is acceptable in the beginning, the early stages of expansion should begin to build a solid team.
• Ignoring trends/fashion. Choosing an outdated idea as the main business, even if the entrepreneur likes it, is not the best option.
• Projected receipts of money are considered net income. It's a delusion. Every business has costs.

The way out of the situation is simple: when planning, take into account the minimum of the expected income levels. Getting additional profit will be more joyful than monthly achievement of inflated plans.

Ideal workplace

The attractiveness of working on the Internet lies in the minimal cost of starting a business. An entrepreneur can work at home, at the same computer, where only gaming programs were launched yesterday.

The income stream allows you to rent an office. In the field of information business, this is considered a thoughtless waste of funds. It is quite enough to pick up a team working via the Internet. As a result, the business will become profitable regardless of external factors: seasonality, global crises.

If there is no demand for goods / services, and there are no costs for storage, wages, rent, the home computer will continue to be a center of leisure. If sales resume or the entrepreneur has "groped" for a unique profitable niche, the workplace again becomes a means of profit.

For a rapidly developing market with its multifaceted infrastructure, business information technologies are perhaps the most in demand, universal, ensuring the progress of the entire market.

You will learn:

• How information technology affects business development.
• How information technology has evolved in business.
• What information technologies are applicable in small and medium business.
• What are the prospects for the development of information technology in the business environment.
• How to ensure the protection of information technology.

How the development of information technology affects business

Information technology in business is one of the main trends in the implementation of the information bank of modern society. Technological progress and new technologies, accelerating the collection and led to several stages of IT evolution. At present, there has been a change in the direction of IT development from the improvement of technical means for working with information to an increase in business efficiency.

More recently, the information resource was not so significant for the development of the company. For effective management, the personal participation of the leader of the company was enough. It did not require an extensive network of managers and systematic data research. Significant decisions were made by company leaders based on experience and intuition. The analysis of information data on the activities of the company did not play a decisive role. Only large companies introduced analytics centers to the staff, which prepared generalized data for decision making. The rapid development, improvement in quality, and increase in the reliability of computer technology have led to the fact that the role of information technology in business has increased dramatically.

The diagram shows the main reasons for improving IT, which are based on computer and telecommunication technologies:

General interaction and mutual penetration of various areas of the world economy has a beneficial effect on the integration of business processes. Business information technology (IT/IS) facilitates rapid mobile access with rich analytics, trade interoperability and business management needs both within a country and across continents. Sometimes this can create difficulties for regional and national enterprises: a client who has promptly received the necessary information about a product with all its characteristics and prices can instantly make a decision and make a deal around the clock, regardless of location. The main thing is that access to the Network is continuous and of high quality.

Factors that dramatically influenced the business environment by the end of the 20th century

The market has become open on a global scale. Therefore, in a tough environment, without systematic continuous information support and modern means of communication, none of the companies, regardless of its profile and scale, can feel secure.

Stages of development of information technologies in business

The evolution of information technology in business is divided into several stages, which have their own characteristic qualitative features. Undoubtedly, the main goal that led to the emergence and development of IT is to satisfy the individual and corporate interests of business people. The current stage of IT development is rooted in the early 90s of the 20th century. That time can be considered a breakthrough in the field of IT: IS rapidly developed, local, regional and global networks appeared and rapidly progressed. Characteristic signs of IT development in the specified period:

• formation of standards, agreements, protocols in the field of computer development and telecommunications;
• development of distributed IS;
• emphasis on shaping access to strategic information;
• work on the means of protecting and organizing the security of corporate information.

At present, the main goal of promoting information technologies in business is to create IT of such a level that will allow solving any strategic tasks, implementing process management information systems (PMIS) and supporting business decision making (IDSS).

The advent of personal computers has become a significant milestone in the development of IT. When creating new information systems, the main guideline is the possibility of the most complete satisfaction of the individual user, comprehensive support for his decisions. The user in this situation is an active figure in the promotion of IT. With his direct contact with the developer in the development of IT, a high result is achieved that satisfies both parties. In this case, both centralized and decentralized data processing takes place, focused on solving local problems and interacting with the database at the workplace of an individual user.

Currently, the use of information technology in business is aimed at mass and rapid processing of information. They should help the head of the company in making rational decisions, protect him from possible surprises of the changing market, create conditions for competitive struggle and success in the end.

The most famous and widespread technological means of IT development in the present period are "Internet / Intranet" ("latest") technologies. Distributed systems, global, regional, local networks are actively used in various fields of technology, science, production, and business. The modernization of the internal structure of the IS and the creation of a microprocessor core led to a serious evolution of communication facilities for both domestic and cultural purposes. The speed of response to external changes is closely related to the coordinated interaction between specialized departments and services. In the case of two-way continuous communication and information exchange, they can act effectively and efficiently in various areas.

The use of information technology in business creates the conditions for managing and coordinating large amounts of information. This qualitatively improves the performance of the manager. By managing a continuous flow of information, receiving information from primary sources in a timely manner, a progressively developing company can make a breakthrough in any business area, unlike companies that do not pay due attention to IT development.

Changes in the main positions of business under the influence of IT

At present, IT is characterized by:

• the use of powerful platforms and hardware complexes for organizing a management system and information support for business and production, the use of databases and a knowledge repository with a huge amount of information in all areas of the development of society, the presence of specialists who create programs to perform certain tasks of a particular company;
• the availability of technological capabilities that provide interactive access for any user to information resources: open (Free) and corporate information retrieval systems (Information Retrieval Systems - IRS), government and commercial communication systems, global (Global Network Systems), national (NNS) and regional ( RNS) information and computing networks;
• availability of international agreements, standards and data exchange protocols;
• the rapid progression of IT, through which the work of databases, information repositories for various purposes, multifaceted systems and objects, hypermedia is structured;
• the formation of local and problem-oriented IS based on high-performance servers and local computing systems;
• inclusion in the IS of specialized user interfaces for interacting with expert systems (Expert System - ES), decision support systems (Decision Support System - DSS), execution support systems (Executive Support System - ESS), machine translation systems (Translating Computer System - TCS ) and other technologies and means.

What information systems and technologies are suitable for small and medium-sized businesses

Small and medium-sized businesses, in comparison with large holdings, have a number of features that play a positive role in the competitive environment:

1. Ability to quickly respond to customer requests.
2. The ability to make a management decision in a short period of time and implement it.
3. The ability to quickly and flexibly adapt to changes in the business environment.
4. Instant reaction to the risk of information leakage.

These prerogatives are most typical for firms engaged in customer service in the restaurant and hotel business, tourism, services, trade (shops selling household appliances and tools, food, pharmaceutical products), consulting (services in the field of finance and law) and various small industries.

The impact of information technology on small and medium businesses is embodied in solving a number of typical problems:

Information technologies that give advantages to medium and small businesses (by industry):

1. CRM system

Practitioner tells

Information technology helps to manage business

Alexander Volchek,

commercial director of Megaplan, Moscow

Through information technology in business, we have the opportunity to accumulate all the information about the activities of the company and debug the relationship of business processes. But most importantly, we can delegate to computers a significant part of the work previously performed by people. As a result, with the help of information systems, we managed to reach an unusually high level of organization of the company's work.

The most important division is between departments (for example, between the procurement service, the financial department and the administrative department). In addition, the information system can analyze any data (starting with information about goods and services and ending with information about the time spent by each employee on a particular section of work) and predict future performance. Also, through the information system, it is convenient to conduct planning - both strategic and tactical. The manager sets the task, assigns responsible persons, sets intermediate and final dates, determines performance indicators. All tasks can be combined into a single project, linking them to each other, and setting a time frame for it.

In addition, information technology in business provides transparency of work. The information system contains information about who is responsible for what, what has been done for each task. This is important not only for top managers. Such a system stimulates ordinary employees to improve the quality of work, personal development, the implementation of plans and the achievement of goals.

With well-conducted automation, the client will get the impression that it is he who is given the most attention. A good IT system is open to the customer: he can work in it, see the company from the inside, express his opinion or influence some decision. All this will increase the confidence of the client and convince him to purchase your products. By working with partners and contractors, you'll save time sharing information, keep accurate records of revenues and costs, and much more.

Trends and prospects for the development of information technologies in business

Information technologies in business processes have five main areas that meet the requirements of the time:

1. Globalization. Opportunity to conduct business using IT on a global scale, with the receipt of operational information without restrictions. Interstate integration in the production of a software product and the creation of an information services market. Additional prerogatives in the increasingly widespread distribution of IT to geographic regions as a predictable business strategy.
2. Convergence. Universality and universality of the information product and the means of its creation for professional, domestic use, in the field of goods and services. Consolidation of all IT capabilities (transmission and reception of digital, audio and video signals) in one system and devices.
3. IP improvement towards the complication and expansion of the functions of the information product and its carriers: hardware and software systems, databases, groups that create, test and promote IS. However, despite the continuous expansion of the range of tasks that are solved in the process of using IT, a trend is being realized aimed at simplifying the visible part of the software product. Communication between the user and the system is becoming more and more friendly, intuitively predictable.
4. Interoperability. The exchange of data between information systems, between the system and the user, online processing of data of almost any degree of complexity with the issuance of the finished result have become the leading trends in the development of IT. And modern hardware and software systems are able to solve the tasks assigned to them with virtually no restrictions.
5. Elimination of intermediate links (Disintermediation). The developed physical and software infrastructure of the IS simplifies the ability to transfer information to the consumer. When offering a product and getting customer feedback is easy with the help of IT, there is no need for intermediaries.

Thus, the impact of information technology on business involves:

• implementation of data processing tasks, if there is access to the source of information and IS for its analysis;
• the availability of modern communication systems that ensure the interconnection and interaction of user workplaces for the prompt transmission of information;
• the availability of open access to the global information space, the elimination of any obstacles to interaction in the business environment;
• availability and continuous improvement of the system of electronic orders and sales;
• comprehensive use of social networks.

The presence of a certain interest of the business environment in the development of IT and the improvement of the information culture of companies are due to the general trends in the evolution of the external environment and the improvement of the forms of organization of production. All this leads to progressive changes in the management system.

The most significant trends in improving enterprise management and their impact on the use of IT are presented below.

Leading companies in the most significant sectors of the economy seek to ensure the implementation of IT at every stage of their activities: in the interaction between the internal links of their structure and between the company and the consumer. Let's present the main directions of development in the field of IT.

Production. The enterprises themselves working in the field of IP production can form up to 25% of the demand for software and IT services. It should be emphasized that the most innovative, industry-focused, and most intelligent projects are generated in this segment.

The highest percentage of IT projects that have already been put into practice are associated with SAP activities that develop software systems, outsource users, upgrade physical devices and systems, test analysis, and create and promote dynamic applications.

Understanding the importance of IT for the rapid development of the market, leading companies in Russia and the West seek to control the key processes of IT evolution. Let's highlight some of them:

• "Internet of things". This is a direction in the information space, when production establishes an online connection with employees, computers, sensors, machines. At the same time, continuous (24/7) access to the production management system and analytical information is provided. About 40 Russian enterprises use the domestic system for monitoring operating equipment. This allows you to build machine-to-machine interaction and, in addition, control the quality of equipment operation, the degree of its workload, create and analyze reports in real time.
• Robotization. Using the automation of leading production processes, entrepreneurs seek to minimize the number of employees. And this is understandable, since such a step leads to cost reduction. According to research conducted by a Boston-based analytics company, over the next 10 years, the level of robotics will grow by an average of 10.4% per year. According to the structure of demand, the leading positions are occupied by robots engaged in welding, assembly, loading and unloading and other similar works. This is approximately 10.1% of all robots sold in a year.
• Virtual and augmented reality. These are technologies designed to simplify the process of testing and promoting unique products on the market, including their post-sales support. An example of application is the creation of an understandable step-by-step guide to the operation and support of a product based on a 3D model. At the same time, it is possible to visually present the perspectives of a product that has not yet been created or produced.
• 3 D-print. Even in the recent past, this technology allowed the production of only small parts. In recent years, 3D printing has already been used in the most critical and expensive areas of production. The well-known major aviation corporations Boeing and Lockheed Martin have widely introduced laser sintering and melting techniques into the production of ventilation systems, load-bearing components and a number of jet engine assemblies. Another major firm, Local Motors, is successfully producing car bodies using 3D printing. 3D printing technologies significantly increase labor productivity and reduce the cost of production.

Trade. The crisis has significantly stimulated the development of IT in retail. Currently, in this sector, the role of information technology in business is most obvious. By applying IT, retail businesses are able to reduce costs and communicate effectively with consumers. However, traditional outsourcing for small trade enterprises is still costly. Therefore, they often use more dynamic models of IT services, focusing them on specific areas of their activities. And yet, the tendency for retailers to use more expensive, but time-tested Western software products to the detriment of domestic manufacturers of software and equipment, unfortunately, still persists.

In Russia, the most significant trend in recent years in the field of trade automation is the introduction of an online cash register. The information generated by online cash desks for all transactional processes must be submitted by trading companies to the tax service. The transfer of this information is regulated by the new version of the Federal Law of May 22, 2003 No. 54-FZ “On the use of cash registers in cash settlements and (or) settlements using electronic means of payment”, which entered into force in 2017.

The main areas of trade automation are: the creation of personal recommendation services for customers, the launch and widespread use of self-service terminals, the use of cloud archives and CRM solutions to control the work of warehouses and organize logistics activities, and the introduction of a biometric payment system. Recently, the Azbuka Vkusa chain of trade enterprises, together with the Sberbank of Russia, has introduced a system for accepting payments by fingerprints at one of the sites.

The largest Russian and Western locomotives of the market at the current stage assign a decisive role to information technologies in the business sphere for the following areas:

• Creation and promotion of mobile applications. These developments contribute to the establishment of operational interaction between company employees and customers. In the summer of 2017, the Perekrestok chain of stores launched a mobile application to optimize its activities. As a result, now customers can accumulate points for purchases in the application and pay with them at the checkout. To do this, the cashier scans the card directly from the application on the client's phone.
• Combining online and offline data collection formats using BigData, which creates additional conditions for increasing the number of sales. In the Metro Future Store shopping center, each customer is offered a store discount card. When a customer comes to shop, he puts this card in the "smart basket". Taking into account past purchases, the system issues recommendations or visualizes the list of purchased goods, which was previously formed by the client in his personal account. Approximately five years ago, Perekrestok gave the details of the transactional activities of 2 million cardholders to the British agency Symphony EYC for analysis. The recommendations that emerged as a result of the research were applied by the trading network in ten targeted marketing campaigns, during which 1.5 million customers received personalized sms, emails, and flyers by mail. The target audience of Perekrestok increased purchases by a quarter.
• Promotion of payments for purchases through mobile devices. Wherever there are PayPass or PayWave marks, contactless payments are made. This is most common in Moscow and cities with large populations. For example, contactless payments are widely practiced by the L'Etoile retail chain.
• Mastering the format of online stores without completely abandoning traditional offline forms (for example, in Russia, household appliances and electronics stores M.Video and Eldorado are developing both formats).
• The use of cloud information banks in their activities. For example, in the Czech fashion retail chain Reserved and Cropp, camera data is integrated with the cash register system and stored in the cloud. Cloud storage not only quickly finds data on individual stores, but also records the time of visits by customers and cash transactions.

How companies save with IT. Let's take a look at the economic benefits of outsourcing IT functions with a specific example of supporting user workstations. Let's compare two possible options for organizing the process - creating conditions for obtaining licenses and supporting jobs on our own. Licensing of 1,000 jobs will require nearly 15 million rubles. in year. 7 million rubles will be required to improve the infrastructure. in year. As a result, the cost of supporting one workplace will be approximately 1850 rubles. per month.

At the same time, depending on the implementation technology, it will take approximately 1-1.5 thousand rubles to organize a virtual workplace. per month.

It turns out that by delegating the job support service to outsourcing, the business owner will save 350-850 thousand rubles. per month for every thousand jobs.

How to ensure the protection of information technology in business

Understanding the great role of information technologies in business, its representatives want their use to be reliable and safe. The elementary actions that small businesses take are to install protection against email spam and computer viruses. The viral problem on the Internet is now perhaps more acute than the problem of catching a cold in the winter. Moreover, in contrast to the stage of the emergence of virus programs, when they clung to sites with pirated or frivolous content, now infection can occur immediately after a user enters the global network. At the same time, virus attacks are far from the last threat to the information security of companies. Hackers - that's who you really need to be afraid of. And, of course, it is necessary to pay the most serious attention to the physical safety of data that can disappear if the components of a personal computer and storage media break down or if unauthorized persons (sometimes your employees) act incorrectly.

IT threats for small and medium businesses

Increasing the role of information technology in business processes requires more and more attention and control over the work in the IT infrastructure. Measures taken to protect information should be applied systematically, continuously, and concern all links and activities of the company.

It must be taken into account that protection should not be excessive. There are often two extremes:

Position 1. "So that the fly does not fly." Employees are blocked from accessing the Internet. The launch of most programs is possible only after the personal participation of the system administrator. All electronic documents are encrypted. Of course, in such a company there is no reason to be afraid of virus attacks, but business processes will not be able to develop normally due to constant overestimation of control and high costs of maintaining security.

Position 2. "Now it's not up to safety." A casual visitor in the office can view almost any document, even confidential ones stored on digital media. Nobody uses passwords for access. As a result, the computers of this company are constantly infected with viruses and Trojans. In such an organization, there is always the risk of an “unexpected” loss of the database and, accordingly, the loss of customers (all contacts of the latter will migrate to competitors). Moreover, money may disappear from bank accounts.

The optimal way out of these extremes is as follows:

• Before choosing a security strategy that will operate in your company, understand in detail the existing security systems.
• When considering the recommendations of the head of security and the head of the IT department, keep in mind that in order to secure and save themselves from unnecessary work to combat virus threats, they can impose on you a product that is very expensive, but not always useful.
• Collect proposals from the heads of functional departments, their opinions on the necessary structure of information security. Ultimately, you will be able to more objectively assess which of the systems is the most suitable for installation in your structure, so that information protection is effective, but does not interfere with the main activities of the company.

Depending on the degree of risk of occurrence and the severity of possible consequences in the field of IT security, four groups of threats are distinguished:

1. high threat - big damage. In order to be sure to protect yourself in this situation, you need to create and constantly maintain the backup database stores of the entire system.
2. High threat - little damage. The probability of a threat in this variant is normal. No additional action is required.
3. Low threat - high damage. Purchasing an insurance policy covering all possible losses is a fairly effective way out.
4. Low threat - little damage. There is no need to respond to these risks.

Practitioner tells

Every third small company is attacked on the Internet

Julia Grekova,

Head of Representative Office of Check Point Software Technologies in Russia and the CIS, Moscow

The Internet Security Alliance (USA) analyzed the frequency and risks of virus threats. According to her data, one in three small firms and only one in six large ones are exposed to attacks on the Internet. Other data provided by the Yankee Group is as follows: 40% of small businesses understand the need to protect computers from attacks by hackers and viruses as an important aspect of business. However, almost half of them, due to a lack of financial resources, do not update their protective equipment in a timely manner. But with such a high level of cybercrime, ignoring data protection systems can lead to serious consequences for small businesses.

Information about experts

Sputnik Labs founded in 2001. The main specialization is consulting in the field of customer relationship management (starting with strategy development, technology selection and ending with user adaptation, motivation and training). Among the clients: Ingosstrakh, Renaissance Insurance, Impexbank, Moscow Credit Bank, MDM-Bank, etc.

"Protek" company is a Russian distributor of pharmaceuticals and health and beauty products. Founded in 1990; The regional network of the company includes 40 branches, 39 representative offices and 24 depots. Protek works with more than 900 leading pharmaceutical manufacturers from 46 countries. Permanent partners - more than 18 thousand pharmacies, pharmacy chains and medical institutions. Protek is a six-time winner of the highest award of the pharmaceutical market professionals in Russia - "Platinum ounce" in the nomination "Distributor of medicines", as well as professional awards in the field of IT and logistics.

Evgeny Kurin, individual entrepreneur, Tutaev (Yaroslavl region). IP Kurin E.V. Field of activity: insulation works. Number of employees: 10. Gross income for the first five months of work: 3 million rubles.

Julia Grekova head of the representative office of Check Point Software Techologies in Russia and the CIS in Russia and the CIS, Moscow. Check Point Software Technologies in Russia and the CIS. Field of activity: information security. Form of organization: LLC. Territory: Moscow, Kiev. Number of personnel: 13 (in representation). Seniority of the head of the representative office in the position: since 2004. Participation of the head of representative office in business: a hired manager.

Every year new offices are opened in the regions of Russia. We have opened offices in Caucasian Mineralnye Vody and Rostov-on-Don to be close to our clients. The opening of new offices helps us to quickly solve the problems of clients.

Certified Professionals departments of automation of operational accounting; information technology support; electronic document management and office work solve problems 24/7 * days a week. Confirmation of their qualifications - more than 230 certificates from 1C, EOS, Microsoft, Expert Systems, Bitrix, etc.

Numerous testimonials from satisfied customers - another confirmation of the quality of work of the company "Business IT".

Every day, Business IT specialists accompany, advise, provide information and program support: in the Southern Federal District on 7000 workplaces and in the North Caucasian Federal District on 6000 workplaces.

*In some emergency cases, we are available 24 hours a day for key clients.

Areas of work

1. We consult and automate work processes

Public sector institutions, companies, holdings

Business IT generates and implements projects to optimize and automate business processes. Managers will help clarify difficult points and choose a solution for enterprise automation. We are an implementation center that offers management and IT consulting services.

Organize the work correctly - this is 90% success!

2. Professional enterprise automation

Projects from 1 to 9,000 jobs

In "Business IT" they easily take up the revision of their own accounting system; or for an ambitious plan to reorganize the accounting department. We will provide mobility and improve the quality of service, if necessary. We solve 99.9% of emerging issues!

3. We solve issues with 1C: Enterprise

Warranty service, updates, assistance and consulting support

Maintenance and technical support with us are not standard 1C updates. The company's team consists of people with practical experience in 1C, so you also get a conscientious assistant in your work.

4. We train and issue certificates

Programmers, accountants, estimators, schoolchildren, students

The training center of the Business IT company has been a leader in the field of IT education since 2007. The only Training Center in the region that has protected the quality of its educational services according to three standards: the Russian Federation (License No. 3507 dated July 1, 2013 of the Ministry of Education of the Stavropol Territory), the developer of programs - the company "1C" (Certificate of 1C: Center for Certified Training) , international quality management standards ISO 9001:2008.

5. We train, implement and accompany the estimate. Software complex GRAND-Estimate

Implementation and maintenance, training courses

We develop a turnkey solution for construction organizations and estimators.

6. We develop and implement 1C, WINDOWS, IOS applications

Setting up links with 1C products, solving narrow tasks

The development of the company entails the development of information systems. Do you have many ideas and projects? Remember: new technologies open up new possibilities. We love interesting software development challenges!

7. System integration

We design and implement turnkey telecommunications solutions from furniture to business process automation that cover various departments.

8. Sale of licensed programs

Programs for solving business problems and home use. "Business IT" works only with licensed software providers. Choose!

Quality

ISO 9001:2015- Since 2008, we have implemented a quality management system of international standard. In 2012, the system was certified. This tool helps us manage a business that has become a corporate standard requirement and is included in the category of an employee of the Business IT company.

Company's mission- to provide Clients with the highest quality information technology-based organization or business management tools, to be a reliable and profitable partner and IT service provider.

The main goal in the field of quality

Continuous improvement in the production of products and the provision of services that meet the requirements and expectations of Customers, in accordance with international and national standards, using the latest global and national information technologies.

Company statuses

EOS Gold Partner since 2012

1C: Franchisee

Franchisees employ specialists certified by 1C, which guarantees high quality of a typical set of services, ranging from simple installation and elementary configuration of the application configuration to program integration with other packages, user training and accounting at the enterprise in full.

Competence center 1C according to 54-FZ

1С:ERP Center

The status means that the partner has competencies in 1C ERP solutions for enterprise management, including: specialists in all subsystems, consultants, certified project managers, successful implementations, quality management system, etc. Partner with the status of "1C: ERP Center ” has the right to regularly sell 1C ERP solutions to customers, to implement implementations, as well as to supervise projects conducted by other partners. Clients are recommended to apply for the implementation of 1C ERP solutions primarily to partners with the status of "1C: ERP Center" to ensure a high-quality range of consulting and implementation services.

Support Center 1C:ITS

The status confirms that Business IT is a leading partner of 1C recommended for technical and consulting support of 1C programs.

1C: Certified Training Center since 2006

The status of a training center is assigned to those companies whose employees have been certified in accordance with the requirements of 1C when organizing the educational process. A company that has received this status must have several employees on its staff who have not only deep knowledge, but also experience in conducting training courses.

Competence center for budget accounting "1C" since 2006

The highest status of a 1C partner. Certification of the company as TsKBU indicates that Business IT can implement 1C systems in federal, regional and municipal structures and has extensive experience in such work.

Competence center for the production of the company "1C" since 2007

1C:KORP candidate status

The status confirms that the company is able to provide the required performance of information systems of enterprises in conditions of simultaneous and intensive work of a large number of users, and also has highly qualified specialists on staff and has extensive experience in the successful implementation of large automation projects.

Competence center for trade 1C

This status means that when choosing a contractor for the implementation of trading solutions on the 1C:Enterprise 8 platform, 1C recommends contacting CCT first of all.

Competence center for construction "1C" since 2007

The highest status of a 1C partner, assigned by Business IT for a solid experience in the successful automation of construction enterprises, knowledge and implementation of modules for managing construction projects, the availability of highly qualified specialists certified by 1C. In the rating of the company "1C" among the centers of competence in the construction of "Business IT" occupies a leading position.

1C: Consulting since 2006

The status confirms the ability of specialists certified by 1C to fully implement accounting, planning and management at the enterprise.

1C: Authorized training center since 2006

The status of the ATC gives the right to develop and conduct copyright courses developed by our own specialists. During the work of "Business IT" has accumulated a unique experience in teaching the programs of the "1C:Enterprise" system, on the basis of which a number of author's training courses have been developed and successfully conducted.

Real Automation Center

This status confirms that Business IT employees have been trained and certified according to the work technology developed by 1C and can help conduct a competent preliminary examination of business processes to be automated, and then offer ways to improve the client's business efficiency.

Network Competence Center for 1C: Fresh

This status is assigned by 1C to partners promoting the 1C:Enterprise 8 service via the Internet. A company with this status is ready to provide services for connecting to popular products in the "clouds".

1C: Document Management Competence Center (CKD)

The status of the Document Management Competence Center indicates a full set of competencies to provide customers with high-quality services for the installation, implementation and maintenance of an electronic document management system, as well as for the provision of consulting services for setting up document management in an organization.

Certified Partner of Doctor Web

Certified partner of 1C: Bitrix since 2006.

ESET Corporate Partner

The official ESET Corporate Partner status is assigned to companies that supply ESET solutions to corporate customers.

Microsoft

Microsoft Volume Licensing

Volume Licensing Competence

Small and Midmarket Cloud Solutions Gold

This competence confirms that Business IT specialists have a high level of qualification and extensive experience in implementing Microsoft cloud solutions in small and medium-sized businesses to solve their specific problems.

Business in IT: advice for aspiring entrepreneurs

Information technology is a widely used concept in the modern world. In a general sense, it is understood as everything related to the creation and processing of data. Officially, IT spending includes equipment purchases, software development, and IT services.

Classifying IT is a very difficult task. Modern high-tech is able to offer solutions for almost any sphere of human activity: work and leisure, creative tasks and routine operations, oil and gas giants and individual entrepreneurs, finance and production... Perhaps, OK VED - the All-Russian Classification of Species can be used as a classification scheme economic activity - and OK PDTR - classifier of occupations of workers and positions of employees.

IT at the global level

The widespread use of IT also determines the size of the market: in 2012, analysts at IDC and Gartner predict its volume at 3.6 trillion. dollars The most profitable direction is telecommunication services. According to Gartner, in 2011, telecom services earned nearly $1.7 trillion. dollars, and more than 300 billion were spent on communication equipment, which is a total of 2 trillion. The remaining 1.5 trillion. dollars in 2011 IT business received in the sectors of computer equipment, software development and IT services.

The data on the capitalization of the giants of the IT industry are impressive. In mid-2012, Apple became the world's largest company: its value is $559 billion, which is 37% more than that of the world's second-largest corporation representing the oil and gas sector. On the 4th place in the global ranking - Microsoft, on the 5th - IBM.

The richest person in the world is a representative of the IT business. And the most encouraging thing for aspiring entrepreneurs is that the youngest billionaires have made money on IT - these are the founders of Facebook. The creators of the Japanese social network Gree and several Japanese online stores are a little older.

Russian IT market

Information technologies in Russia, despite all the difficulties, are actively developing: IDC assumes that by the end of the year the growth will be 11%. In monetary terms, according to IDC, the market volume in 2011 exceeded $32 billion. The Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications names a more modest figure - 649 billion rubles, but it does not take into account telecommunications, which are included in the statistics of world analytical agencies.

Russian IT companies are largely underestimated. An hour after the IPO, Yandex's capitalization increased by 40%. True, within a few months there was a correction. But when compared with Facebook, Yandex looks advantageous. In the corporate sector, Chinese and Indian firms are much more valued than Russian ones: their capitalization is equal to 2-5 annual revenues, while for Russian organizations it barely reaches the annual one.

All this indicates that starting a business in IT on Russian soil is quite promising. Various analytical agencies suggest that Russian companies' spending on IT will increase by 8-11% in the coming years. Many large organizations are outsourcing part of their information services from their organizational structure.

Your IT business

The advantage of IT business for start-ups and small businesses is that information technology does not require much financial investment. It is quite possible to combine them with work for hire at the initial stage. They often do not need to look for office space, and in Russia this is a problem. IT is as democratic as possible: you can open your own business, regardless of age, gender, education, place of residence.

When creating a business in IT, you can use ready-made templates, such as online stores, or ready-made Internet marketing recipes. Currently, there are many opportunities to start a business in the IT field from scratch and earn about the same as office colleagues. This includes website development, 1C support, custom software development, and other options.

It should be understood that in this case it will not be possible to become either Bill Gates or Sergey Brin. It is quite possible to repeat the success of Facebook: in the last decade, the IT industry has been a generator of billionaires and largest companies. However, the success of a startup is ensured by the creativity and preparedness of the founders - and these qualities are not common to everyone.
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The post was created with the support of infotell.ru, if you need http://infotell.ru/uslugi/output-marketing/marketing-research for your business, contact the professionals.

To assess the market, you must first determine the volume of planned investments and the niche that is most interesting to you.

It is highly desirable that this interest be supported by some theoretical, and even better, practical knowledge about the development process, available tools and methodologies. You can analyze the demand and the level of competition in the chosen niche based on the data provided by the rating agencies. In almost every segment, even such a highly specialized one as the development of online stores, there are fairly detailed ratings that compare flagship companies in terms of turnover, average bill, number of projects, and other parameters that give a fairly clear picture.

Competition

Our niche is highly competitive only at first glance. In fact, this is the same level of competition as between BMW and AvtoVAZ - segmentation is primarily determined by the price of services and the class of customers. It's no secret that the price range for the same site development can be from 5 thousand to 5 million rubles. It all depends on what needs to be done, what level of quality to ensure, what tools to use, how big a name the IT company has, how well-known clients are present in its portfolio.

As a result, if you work in the price range of 5-25 thousand rubles, companies with projects from 1 million rubles will obviously not be your competitors, and vice versa.

To get ahead of competitors, you must first determine in which price segment you will provide services. Then it is worth analyzing direct competitors from the same price segment that provide the same services: see what development tools they offer, what additional services they include in the development cost, what clients and projects they work with.

At the same time, it is quite important to objectively evaluate your own strengths - will you be able to ensure the quality is not worse? Can you offer similar services at the same price? Next, it's important to highlight your unique advantage over your competitors: how are you better? Why should clients work with you?

If you have formulated such an advantage on an intuitive level, without external confirmation, it is better to check it in advance: conduct a survey of friends, acquaintances, random interlocutors. Find out if they really care about this advantage, or if your hypothesis is untenable. The sample should be large enough to give the most accurate representation possible.

How to decide on a set of services that the company will provide?

It depends primarily on your level of knowledge about the field and technology, as well as on the level of initial investment. For example, the average salary of an experienced Symfony programmer is 80-100 thousand rubles, i.e. 3 months of his work will cost the company 240-300 thousand rubles. At the same time, projects of this level, as a rule, are complex, expensive and require not only a programmer, but a full-fledged team: a designer, tester, project manager, analyst, etc. It is highly desirable that the owner of the company has at least one of the key competencies, otherwise it will be difficult to control the processes.

The most common situation on the market is when an experienced developer opens his own company, and rightly so. He already has an understanding of what pitfalls await him, what difficulties the company may face, how to properly build processes.

It is important to remember: additional services are good, but only when they do not divert most of the company's resources.

Sometimes occupying a narrow niche is more profitable than offering customers the widest possible range of services.

Who is the main target audience?

If we talk about the IT services market in general, then the target audience is almost any business, without restrictions. But to determine the target audience of your company, you need to create the most accurate portrait of the client:

• how much money the client is willing to spend on your services;
• what is the main service he needs;
• what additional services he may need;
• if you have a regional link, most companies from another region are most likely to be eliminated from the target audience;
• in what area your client works (often clients choose a developer who has projects in the portfolio made for the same industry);
• who makes the decision in the client company (if you work mainly with small businesses, these are usually the owners; if you work with enterprises, these are middle managers, and they have a completely different level of motivation to start development and finish the project quickly );
• whether there are requirements for the tools used in the development (some clients indicate as the main requirement what the development should be done on, for example, which programming language should be used, which graphic editor, which CMS).

Beginners should remember that reaching large customers without prior preparation is a very difficult task. Our target audience immediately became a medium-sized business that needs some kind of non-standard solution for automating processes.

The key difference between companies operating in a higher price segment is that customers stay with them for a long time.

The thing is that products in this segment are complex, they require support. Moreover, they rely on business processes, and this is a flexible thing, and over time it changes. Therefore, the product usually evolves with the company.

Investment size

To optimize the cost of an office, you can rent it in a place that is not very accessible, because. its location is not very important - customers rarely come themselves. Or you can act radically and abandon the office altogether, transferring employees to remote work.

But this option is not suitable for everyone. We decided to take this step only after we were 100% convinced that all our clients prefer meetings in their office or in a cafe, and also after realizing that all our employees have been working in the company’s staff for more than 2 years and are quite capable of doing their job responsibly without binding to the office chair.

Saving on salaries, if you want to ensure high quality projects, is definitely not worth it. But it is possible to reduce costs if employees are involved in additional services on a project-by-project basis, paying them only for the work that was actually done, and using KPI to evaluate the work of full-time employees. All of our employees are somehow tied to the profits of the company.

The lack of an office and the use of part of the staff on a project-by-project basis allowed us to minimize equipment costs - most of the employees use their own computers, and we only bear the cost of their depreciation.

Step-by-step instruction

Having decided on a niche, having studied competitors, recruiting the first customers and renting a room, you can already proceed to the next stage of opening - the purchase of equipment. Mandatory equipment, without which we cannot imagine work:

• The company's own server (including for demonstrating work to clients and the operation of the project management system);
• Virtual PBX;
• Laptops or desktop computers of employees with sufficient power for the type of work performed;
• Office equipment.

It was quite easy to find suppliers, since many of them were eliminated at the stage of the first request - they did not answer for a long time, they issued an invoice for a long time, they could not competently answer our questions. As a result, those suppliers of equipment and services with whom we constantly work do not change for years.

For example, we maintain our own company server in the provider's data center, which has not been changed for 4 years. His prices are not the lowest, but the speed of response to our requests is no more than 10 minutes.

Thus, the main criteria for choosing suppliers for us are:

• The speed of response to our request (especially if these are permanent services);
• Equipment quality;
• Cost of equipment.

Of course, no equipment will work without specialists. For an IT company, they are the foundation of success. The number of employees of the firm depends on what services are key and how many projects are being carried out simultaneously. For example, we are a technology company, and this means that programmers must have a high level of training, while there should be at least two of them on the staff, and preferably 3-4, in order to ensure interchangeability and speed of project implementation. But only one designer is enough.

At the moment our staff consists of:

• sales manager;
• project manager;
• technical writer;
• Designer;
• Three programmers;
• tester;
• Copywriter and content manager.

Depending on the direction of the projects, the ratio of designers and programmers in the company may change, and some employees may combine several positions.

Often there is a situation when the project manager also performs the functions of a technical writer and tester. And HTML-layout can be performed, depending on the company and its business processes, by a designer, a programmer or an individual employee.

There is a big problem with highly qualified employees in the labor market.

It is very difficult to find such employees “from the street”, and the process of infusing them into the team is quite painful. You should always keep in mind that regardless of the skill level of a newcomer, he will fully join the work process only 1-2 months after the start of work. When hiring such employees, they go through several stages of selection. At the beginning, we look at resumes and study portfolios, then we give a test task. According to the results of the test task, the applicant is interviewed by the lead programmer, and after it - an interview with the director.

The final hiring decision is made on the basis of the results of each of these steps, with the opinion of the lead developer taking precedence, since it is with him that the new employee will interact in the first place.

Low-skilled employees are much easier to find. We usually work with them on one or two test projects and only after that we hire them. The selection process in this case is different from the first option. At the first stage, we also look at the resume and portfolio, if any, after that the project manager conducts an interview and decides on cooperation. If the cooperation was successful, the employee remains on the staff or is entered into the database of remote employees and is subsequently involved in projects as needed.

The working hours of an IT company are determined depending on the working hours of the main clients.

The bulk of our customers are located in Moscow, so our working day is from 10.00 to 19.00 Moscow time, regardless of where our employees are located. Some employees can vary their work schedule, observing the rule - at least 8 hours a day, and some employees are deprived of such a privilege. If clients work from 10 to 19, sales managers and project managers must be in touch at the same time.

The execution time for one order varies from several days to several months, depending on the complexity, urgency and scope of the task. At the same time, you need to understand that not a single person will be able to work 24 hours a day, no matter how much the director of the company or clients would like. In order to avoid missed deadlines, overlapping tasks and constantly switching employees from one task to another, we use a planning system. Thanks to this, each employee knows exactly what he will do tomorrow, has a fairly clear work plan for the next week and an approximate work plan for the month.

All tasks received from clients are formulated in the system, assigned to a specialist and scheduled by date and time. The only exceptions are very urgent tasks:

if a client has something broken in a running project, this is a very good reason to postpone all other tasks and throw resources into fixing the problem.

Our practice has shown that the location of the office does not matter for clients, it is much more convenient for them to meet on their territory. The presence of an office in the center can confirm the high status of the company, but it is definitely not worth incurring huge costs because of this. Therefore, when choosing an office, one can only take into account how convenient it will be for employees to get to it, and it is quite possible to place it on the outskirts, but within transport accessibility.

If employees work in an office, it is also advisable to consider how convenient it will be for them to go to lunch - are there canteens, cafes and restaurants nearby, or is it easier to arrange lunch delivery to the office. It is highly desirable to have a cooler, tea, coffee and sweets in the office. The presence of a microwave and a multicooker is also not a direct necessity, but adds convenience.

We have given up the office and our employees are happy because they do not need to spend time on the road, and they are free to choose a place to work. ​​​​​​​

There are no requirements for IT companies in terms of layout and ceiling height, but the room should be bright and spacious enough so that employees do not sit on each other's heads. It is advisable to plan the placement of specialists in such a way that they have a sense of isolation from each other.

The maximum area depends on the number of employees simultaneously in the office and common sense. The office should be spacious and comfortable enough for all employees to feel comfortable in it. At the same time, people working on the same project should be directly accessible to each other.

As for contracts and documents for the premises, as a rule, an IT company chooses an office in the office center, and there the owner of the premises or the management company deals with these issues. Therefore, an IT company only needs a lease agreement. However, this contract must be carefully considered at the conclusion to avoid the pitfalls of a sudden increase in rent or an unexpected request to urgently vacate the premises.

Documentation

EmployeesIT companies produce an intellectual product, so it is necessary to resolve the issue of copyright for it.

When it comes to working with a customer, there are two options. In the first, we reserve copyright. And in the second, if an individual design or individual visualization elements is being developed, we transfer non-exclusive rights to them to the customer. That is, he can use them, but cannot resell them. In this case, the authorship remains with us. This is necessary so that we can add the work to our portfolio and put authorship on the client's website.

Opening checklist

Is it profitable to open

In order to determine the cost of fulfilling an order, you first need to understand exactly what the cost of an hour of a company's work is. It consists of fixed and variable costs divided by the average number of working hours per month.

Knowing the cost is important, first of all, because at the initial stage of work, without a good portfolio, it will be very difficult to receive expensive projects and you will have to be content with little, and sometimes even give additional discounts. Knowing the cost, it will be possible to rely on it, understanding exactly how much you can move in price, incurring allowable costs.

The order fulfillment price is determined based on the costs that the company will incur for its implementation, the risks involved and the desired profit. With a long-term existence of the company and work on standard orders, some types of work can later be included in the price list, since the average cost of these works will be known in advance.

In general, the calculation is performed based on an estimate of the projected time for the project. For the most accurate estimate, it is important at the design stage to break the project into small tasks so that each of them takes no more than 8-12 hours. This will keep the chance of error to a minimum. ​​​​​​​

In general, our calculation looks something like this: the number of estimated hours * the cost of an hour of the company's work * 1.3 (corrective risk factor; may vary) * N, where N is the profit factor. The owner of the company determines it independently, guided by common sense and his own greed.

A very important aspect of the company's work is the preparation of technical specifications for projects. Determining the exact cost of a project without a detailed technical specification is the biggest mistake that company employees can make.

In our company, the work on the project is built as follows:

• Getting a problem statement
• Preparation of a proposal with a preliminary assessment
• Conclusion of a contract for TK
• Design, development of detailed TOR and project prototypes
• Coordination of technical specifications and prototypes
• Signing of closing documents for the development of technical specifications
• Preparation of a detailed budget for the project
• Signing a contract for the development of the project
• Execution of project work
• Signing the closing documents for the project.

Depending on the scope of the project, the work can be divided into additional stages performed under separate contracts.

When developing projects, we try to follow the rule: "A big elephant should be eaten in small pieces." The more pieces, the less chance of error.

If you do not attract any additional investments and reduce investments to a minimum, you can reach the “zero” point with the very first 1-2 contracts.

The main thing is not to work without prepayment, no matter how you are persuaded. ​​​​​​​

The absence of an advance payment automatically reduces the degree of responsibility of the customer for the project, and as a result, a situation may arise when you have done all the work, and the client has disappeared. We take an advance payment of 50%, and this amount includes most of the costs of the project.

It is very difficult to orientate by the number of orders and the average check, since projects can be of very different levels. Theoretically, 3 projects with a check of 150 thousand rubles will be equivalent to 30 projects with a check of 15 thousand rubles. But in fact, 2 projects of 300 thousand rubles each can be in operation at the same time. with a scope of work for 2 months and an even distribution of project amounts for this period, 3 projects for 100 thousand and 5 projects for 25 thousand each. All of them can be at different stages, performed by different specialists and form receivables that accumulate over time.

The payback period depends on the costs at the initial stage, as well as on the amount of operating expenses of the company, including the level of salaries of specialists.

It is important to realistically assess opportunities in terms of the number and level of projects that can be contracted at an early stage.

If you hired an employee with a salary of 100 thousand rubles, and sign 2 contracts per month for 25 thousand rubles, you will definitely not last long.

Another important point: the more complex projects you want to receive, the higher the cost of attracting a client and the longer the period from the moment of the first contact to the conclusion of the contract.

In this case, with the same employee on a salary of 100 thousand rubles, the following situation may arise: you have a potential client with a project for 1 million rubles, you happily hire an employee, pay him a salary of 2-3 months while you are negotiating with a client, and only after that you receive the first tranche from the client. Well, if he covers the costs incurred, but what if the deal falls through? This probability also exists exactly until the money arrives in your current account.

Risk reduction occurs due to more thorough preparatory work with the client before the conclusion of the contract. We do not set ourselves the task of concluding an agreement at any cost. Our main task is to build long-term relationships with each client, and this is possible only when he trusts us as professionals, and we trust him as a customer.

There are several risks, we faced all of them:

• Insolvency of the client - the client starts a large-scale project, but in the middle of the project he runs out of funds, or the project becomes irrelevant. To minimize this risk, we break large projects into many stages with payment tied to them. This allows you to understand in time that funding is stopping, and to lose a minimum of time and money.
• Lack of technical specifications - sometimes sales managers have a great temptation: "Guys, we have a client for 500 thousand, let's work as soon as possible, sign an agreement, to hell with it, with technical specifications." And then it turns out that the client has a million Wishlist, and he refuses to pay for them, arguing this as follows: “But your manager promised me that everything would be as I want.”
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