On Thursday, July 17, 2014, Intetics President and Founder Boris Kontsevoi spoke about impacts of geopolitical crises on global business at DePaul University during the IAOP Chicago Chapter meeting. The presentation compared the current situation in Ukraine to other geopolitical events worldwide and discussed its potential impacts, risks and opportunities.
In the face of the current conflict in Eastern Ukraine, global business leaders are returning to discussions about managing global operations during geopolitical crises. Geopolitical risks arise often and global companies need to develop solid risk management plans to mitigate potential loss. Boris’s presentation raised several comparisons with previous geopolitical crises, discussed the geopolitics of the Internet, as well as impacts of geopolitical conflicts on several economies, including Ukraine. After a brief overview of the recent events in Ukraine, he explained the potential risks companies may be facing, but also discussed some future opportunities.
The presentation suggested a few strategies towards managing geopolitical crises, as well as reviewed business objectives when outsourcing. When companies outsource they do not do business with the country, rather, they do business with another company – their chosen provider. This fact was something that seemed particularly relevant as Boris analyzed impact of Indian geopolitical problems on their IT outsourcing industry, as well as the rising stock prices of leading outsourcing providers in Ukraine.
The IAOP Chicago Chapter meeting was focused on discussing geopolitical instability and outsourcing management. The meeting also featured a panel discussion about Ukraine and introduced best practices for writing outsourcing agreements.
Prior to the crisis, the IT industry sector in Ukraine was growing at a 25% rate. Ukraine has over 30,000 ICT graduates annually and is the 4th country with the largest number of certified IT professionals. The new Ukrainian government has expressed its commitment to improving the IT industry in the future. The global community has also taken steps towards protecting the Ukraine IT sector, with initiatives such as Tech4Ukraine. In his presentation, Boris seemed confident that the industry will recover if the conflict is resolved soon.
You can view Boris’s presentation below or download it here.