Modern digitalisation covers four key areas, each of which demonstrates unique challenges and opportunities in the current conditions.

Business
Automation of routine tasks, optimisation of logistics, and inventory management become critical in the context of limited resources. CRM systems help to track customer interactions, analyse their behaviour, and personalise offers in the new market realities. ERP systems automate key business processes, such as financial management, production, sales, and inventory management, which is especially important when it comes to quickly adapting to changing conditions. Recommendation systems based on algorithms that analyse customer purchase history and preferences help to offer relevant products and services, optimising marketing budgets.

Education
Personalised learning, where materials are tailored to individual learning styles and pace, has taken on new significance in the context of the need for rapid staff retraining. Adaptive learning platforms present the material in a way that makes it easier for a particular student to absorb the information. Augmented and virtual reality technologies allow for a full immersion in the learning process, which is especially valuable in complex disciplines that require practice. Gamification and microlearning using game mechanics make learning visual and motivating, while breaking down the material into short modules of a few minutes increases the efficiency of learning.

Healthcare
The implementation of artificial intelligence is becoming a strategic focus, with systems involved in disease diagnosis and chatbots assisting in initial patient consultations. Intelligent agents prepare medical records for doctors in advance, including patient history, test results, prescribed medications, and ambulance calls. Augmented reality technologies allow doctors to visualise a patient's internal organs in real-time and access contextual medical data during interventions, improving the accuracy of diagnosis and treatment.

Industry
The transformation of traditional manufacturing processes into digital ones, including the conversion of analog data into digital format and the creation of virtual production models, has become a matter of survival for the industry. The Internet of Things connects equipment into a single network, enabling the collection and analysis of real-time data. Digital twins, which are virtual models of physical systems, allow for the testing of changes without risking real-world production. Automation, which uses robots and specialised software to perform routine tasks, can significantly reduce operational costs.

The legal landscape is undergoing significant changes. The current Presidential Decree No. 322, issued on May 27, 2022, has established a special procedure for settlements with rights holders from unfriendly countries. At the same time, Article 146 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation remains in effect, and the use of unlicensed software remains risky, although law enforcement practices demonstrate different approaches to companies based on their size and industry.

Market analysis shows that companies are divided into four strategic groups regarding the transition to domestic software: some are looking for workarounds to legally acquire licenses, others are switching to Russian alternatives and open-source solutions, while others are temporarily using unlicensed versions with subsequent legalisation, and still others are considering piracy as a permanent business model.

The most difficult situation is in industrial automation, where the share of imported software in some industries reaches 90%. According to expert estimates, 10-15 foreign products form the basis of critical systems at 200-300 leading industrial enterprises in the country.

Key problems include the loss of access to technical support and regular updates, the inability to quickly adapt systems to changing production conditions, and significant risks of disrupting production chains when replacing equipment or sensors. Integrating new components into existing technological processes without access to source codes and documentation is particularly challenging.

Experts estimate that it will take 10-20 billion rubles over the next 1-2 years to fully replace imported software. However, the potential economic impact of import substitution in the industrial sector exceeds 470 billion rubles annually due to several factors.

• The reduction in response time to emergencies reaches 50%, which significantly minimises potential losses.
• The time required to reorganise logistics chains is reduced by 3-4 times, ensuring flexibility in unstable conditions.
• The cost of service support for information systems is reduced by 50% due to the use of local solutions and the elimination of expensive foreign contracts.

Successful examples of a complete transition to domestic solutions have already demonstrated their effectiveness in a number of industrial enterprises, where global leaders in their respective classes have been completely replaced by Russian developments.

The market is experiencing a shortage of 1-1.5 thousand highly qualified developers capable of working with complex industrial systems. The optimal solution is to train implementation engineers from among the graduates of industry-specific universities, followed by accelerated training in IT competencies. The opposite approach — training IT specialists in industry-specific specifics — is generally less effective.

The current crisis presents unique opportunities for the Russian IT sector: creating solutions tailored to national specifics, developing technological partnerships between developers and industrial enterprises, and focusing on micro-service architecture instead of monolithic systems.

Government support through the national project "Labor Productivity" has already reached more than 4,000 companies, and grant programs are encouraging the development of domestic alternatives to critical software.

The transition to Russian software is not just a technical replacement of one software with another, but a strategic restructuring of the entire ecosystem of digitalisation in key sectors of the economy. The success of this transformation will depend not only on the technological capabilities of domestic developers, but also on their ability to create sustainable partnerships between business, government, and the scientific community.

The experience of leading enterprises in various industries demonstrates that where there is a will for change and effective management of the transition process, Russian IT solutions can be competitive even in the most challenging segments. The gradual replacement of imported solutions with domestic alternatives creates a foundation for sustainable technological development in the new economic realities.

“ROOT CODE” JSC is a Russian developer of software and other IT solutions for business. Our qualified team of specialists can help you implement information technology in your company!