The list of technology consulting companies and MSPs exiting Russia and/or halting operations in the country continues to grow. The exits come as many -- though not all -- technology businesses worldwide protest Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The fallout so far includes...
- Accounting firms with MSP, MSSP expertise: The Big Four accounting firms -- Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG and PriceWaterhouseCoopers -- all are leaving Russia, according to The Wall Street Journal. The departures represent roughly 16,000 employees in the pariah country. Each of those four businesses also operates Top 250 Public Cloud MSP and Top 250 MSSP business units, though it's unclear if those cloud, managed and cybersecurity operations have footprints in Russia.
- Global IT consultancies and systems integrators with MSP and MSSP expertise: Accenture (2,300 employees in Russia) and DXC Technology (4,000 employees in Russia) both vowed to leave the country.
- Software, hardware and cloud companies that have IT consulting arms: Apple, Cisco Systems, Dell, HP, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Oracle and SAP -- among other technology giants -- vowed to halt sales in Russia.
Russia and Ukraine IT Services Markets
Even as foreign IT services companies exit Russia, major local IT service providers remain in place. Indeed, the top five IT service providers in Russia are Lanit, T1, I-Teco, CROC and Jets Infosystems, according to TAdviser. Russia's overall IT services market was $6.75 billion in 2020, up 4.9 percent in 2019, according to IDC.
Meanwhile, Russia's invasion of Ukraine also threatens the overall Ukraine IT market -- which generated $6.8 billion in export sales in 2021, up 36 percent from $5 billion in 2020, according to the IT Ukraine Association. Moreover, the number of IT specialists in Ukraine rose to 285,000 in 2021 — up from 244,000 in 2020, the association indicated.
Of major note: 13 of the world’s Top 100 outsourcing service providers are headquartered in Ukraine, and eight additional companies have offices in the Ukraine, according to the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP). Key companies to know include Elitex, Softserve and Fiverr, according to FastCompany.
Moreover, some major software developers, application providers and technology companies emerged from Ukraine. Examples include Grammarly, MacPaw and Readdle, notes FastCompany.
