IT import substitution: installing Russian software is only half the job

On 9 September I spoke at the ICC Chemistry & Pharmaceuticals demo day during the Technology Congress at Patriot Expo. The talk was about virtualization in industry — not from vendor catalogues, but from plants already running Russian hypervisors in production. The main takeaway: Russian solutions already work and can replace foreign platforms. But migration is far harder than it looks at the product-selection stage. In practice you hit limits in network setup, security perimeters, legacy OS support and moving existing VMs. Sometimes it is cheaper and more reliable not to migrate a system, but to rebuild it. Staying on the old stack is risky too: support ends, vulnerabilities pile up, hardware and compatibility issues appear. That leaves an unpleasant fork: not migrating is risky; migrating is hard. So the approach is pragmatic: start before migration becomes an emergency; pilot on non-critical systems first; budget for rebuilding part of the infrastructure; do not decide from slides and datasheets alone; share real operating experience between enterprises. In industrial digitalization I keep seeing the same thing: real operations are far more interesting than a neat architecture diagram. Only in production does it become clear whether a technology is ready for industrial scale.

AI starts with data, not a model

I spoke at the TAdviser conference about how we are building the holding's IT landscape at Roskhim. The main idea: all systems are gathered around a single core. The core is not a "fashionable platform" but three boring things: an MDM system, a data bus and a corporate data warehouse. They provide a reliable integration foundation on top of which AI and RPA are layered. Everyone argues about which model to choose, but in industry AI is limited not by the model — but by data and its context. That is why we are working on an "enterprise ontology": a structured description of the business. Without it, autonomous agents will produce beautiful answers to the wrong questions. The second layer is people: moving from coding to analytics and data management. The third is personal: immersing myself in technology (AI agents, Deep Search) and networking. A leader's job is to turn innovation into roadmaps of change.

HRD and TND trends in 2026. What TOPs expect from HRDs

A closed webinar on development in 2026: strategic and operational management under optimization, systemic team management and a TOP's personal effectiveness with AI. Speaker — Sergey Zemelkin, expert in strategy and operational efficiency (experience at Sberbank, Home Credit, Strategy Partners, RBC; founder of Frank Research Group).

Virtualization platforms 2026

CNews Conferences "Virtualization platforms 2026" — on migration to Russian virtualization platforms: adoption barriers, industrial operation experience and disaster recovery of the virtual environment. Talk by Sergey Zemelkin, Head of Corporate Data at RHIT (a Roskhim subsidiary): experience operating various virtualization systems across the holding's sites, the gap between vendor-claimed capabilities and real practice (VM database desync, memory leaks in OpenNebula, time-sync issues), trust in domestic solutions from a security standpoint and a recommendation that vendors run Bug Bounty, plus the migration problem — most Russian systems lack native migration tools, so infrastructure is often easier to rebuild from scratch.

Artificial intelligence: the complex made simple

A series of lectures "AI: the complex made simple" for members of a private club — for anyone who wants to understand what is happening with AI right now. Program: (1) what AI is — a simple explanation without technical jargon; (2) how language models work — ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and the differences between them; (3) live demos — generating text, images, video and presentations in real time; (4) where to apply AI — in business, education, creativity and daily life; (5) the future and next steps — what to do today to stay ahead. Format: lecture with demos and practice.

Analytics and big data market 2026

A talk from Roskhim — Head of Corporate Data. Experience building an analytics platform on PostgreSQL (on-prem instead of an expensive Big Data platform): 10–15 data domains, normalization via attribute standards and shared identifiers, version control and automatic validation. The fastest ROI came from dropping expensive external services, not from BI.

Government, business, education: working together on workforce challenges

Plenary talk at the United Paper Factories conference (general partner — Sberbank). Topic: digitalization in the pulp & paper industry — where the maximum value lies (cooking, bleaching, paper-machine shops) and how to shape the holding's workforce and digital agenda. About 100 participants: industrial enterprise leaders, government officials, universities and industry experts.

Artificial intelligence in agribusiness

A two-hour lecture on AI and IoT for farm management: generative AI and large language models, industry-specific AI solutions tailored to the customer region, data analysis for production optimization, and prompt engineering as a new digital skill. Format: lecture with real-case demos and practice.

AI in agribusiness: cases

A lecture given within the professional development program "AI in agribusiness: solutions for agricultural enterprises". The course runs in Kazan (Republic of Tatarstan) — at the IT Park (52 Petersburgskaya St.); program organizers and speakers include Sberbank, Yandex, Agropromtsifra, RIVC and Skolkovo. Target audience: leaders (and their assistants) of agricultural enterprises, agronomists, veterinarians and zootechnicians, CFOs, economists and accountants; training is team-based — 3–4 people per agricultural producer (leader + economist + agronomist and/or veterinarian). My talk covers AI use cases in agribusiness: practical adoption scenarios, industry solutions and real examples.

Practical use of neural networks for OZK employees

A two-hour webinar-lecture for employees of OZK — a Russian state-backed infrastructure company on the agricultural market, the state agent for procurement and commodity interventions, and one of Russia's TOP-5 grain exporters. Topic: practical use of neural networks in employees' daily work — usage scenarios, applied tools and real AI integration examples in business processes.

Digitalization in industry. Where to start?

Sergey Zemelkin, Head of Corporate Data at RHIT — a Roskhim subsidiary — shared a unique methodology for launching digital initiatives in an industrial company. To build trust in digital solutions, the company organized a dedicated event with production leaders, collecting a large number of initiatives directly from the people running the processes. To evaluate proposals objectively, an express-assessment methodology was developed based on two key criteria — potential economic impact and real feasibility — which made it possible to rank priority projects. According to Sergey Zemelkin, any successful digital initiative rests on the "Production – Business – IT" triangle, where missing any one element makes a project unviable. The practical lessons he formulated include several key principles: digitalization starts with trust, not budget; begin with small but demonstrative projects; transparency of the process matters more than speed; focus on the most margin-heavy and resource-intensive processes, where even small improvements yield maximum economic impact. This approach builds a sustainable ecosystem of digital transformation.

Prospects of the Russian auto lending market

A roundtable on directions for auto lending development in Russia. Talk by Sergey Zemelkin, commercial director and co-founder of Frank Research Group: market growth slowdown in 2014 (5% vs 20% a year earlier), growth in the premium segment, portfolio support from the used-car segment, and a forecast of a "second wind" for the market in 2015–2016.

Credit conveyor 2.0

A practical business conference on building, maintaining and optimizing a credit conveyor in banks and MFIs. Talk by a Frank Research Group partner on the state of the retail lending market and its transition into a freeze phase in 2015.

Entrepreneur internship in Silicon Valley

An educational program for Moscow SME representatives at a US tech hub. Participant — founder of Frank Research Group; experience exchange with Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and investors.