Keeping an IT business going during the Russian invasion
Ukrainian companies are persevering with to function amid Russia’s invasion of their nation and are decided to hold on as a part of the nationwide effort to not be overcome by the risk from the east.
Software growth service supplier Redwerk is an instance. After the lives of all its workers had been thrown into the air when Russian tanks entered Ukraine, the firm needed to act rapidly.
Konstantin Klyagin, its founder, was travelling dwelling after a vacation in Sri Lanka and, during a change of flight in Dubai, he learnt that Russia had invaded his homeland.
He needed to change his plans whereas at Dubai and headed to Berlin, the place he had beforehand lived and owned a flat. He has not but been again to Ukraine.
Klyagin is the founder and CEO of Ukrainian software program growth firm Redwerk, which focuses on creating software program as a service (SaaS) for enterprises. It was arrange by a 24-year-old Klyagin in 2005 and now serves worldwide prospects with SaaS growth companies in-built the Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure clouds.
The firm began off in Zaporizhzhia and opened an workplace in Kyiv in 2010. Its workforce includes builders, DevOps consultants, undertaking managers, consumer interface (UI) designers and each function that’s required to create and launch a full-scale SaaS operation, stated Klyagin.
It was on 24 February this yr when, on a flight dwelling to Ukraine, Klyagin had to consider serving to his household and workers get to security, earlier than eager about his business.
“When I arrived in Dubai to change flight, the media was full of news about the invasion,” he advised Computer Weekly. “I listened to Vladimir Putin’s speech and realised I wasn’t going to Ukraine.”
“I listened to Vladimir Putin’s speech and realised I wasn’t going to Ukraine”
Klyagin said the most shocking sight for him was Russian tanks crossing the border just 80km from the city of Kharkiv, where he grew up and had family.
“I never made it back to Kyiv in February and I have been working remotely ever since,” he said. “I arrived in Dubai, realised Russia had invaded and there was no way back as the air space was closed.”
Klyagin had previously lived and worked in Germany and had a flat in Berlin, so he decided to go there. His girlfriend, who was pregnant with their first child, soon joined him.
After five months in Berlin, they moved to Lisbon in Portugal, where Klyagin had a large group of friends. “Lisbon was considered an important web 3.0 hub and many Ukrainian entrepreneurs came here,” he said.
His parents are now safe in Berlin, but his business, with 80 employees, has remained in Ukraine.
Klyagin himself plans to return to Ukraine as soon as it is possible. “When it is safe and the war is over, I am moving back to Ukraine the next day,” he said.
In the meantime, Redwerk has continued to operate at full scale, after a temporary slowdown when the company and its staff readjusted to the new reality facing Ukraine.
“At the beginning of the invasion, there was a lot of uncertainty,” said Klyagin. “Many companies were moving entire operations to the west of the country but there were major difficulties, including a shortage of housing, so we decide to do it in a decentralised way.”
This is where the firm’s remote working experience gained during the Covid-19 pandemic helped. “We told everyone that each of them would get $2,000 up front in cash or in any form they wanted, so to pay their way to safety, or they could use their own money and we would compensate them,” said Klyagin.
Pretty much all of the Redwerk staff took up the offer. “Most of the team has been working remotely since the pandemic with only 10 to 15 in the office every day,” said Klyagin. “Our people either went to the west of the country, or to the centre.”
Then, on 28 February, Klyagin wrote an email to his employees asking if everyone was safe and asking what they needed to work. “I said let’s continue working because it was important for everyone to have income in that situation and was also important for Ukraine’s economy,” he said.
Klyagin said that in the first week of the invasion, 20% of the company’s staff could work, by week two it had reached 80%, and before the end of March it was 100% operational. “And we kept hiring people,” he added. “We did not let anyone go, apart from the usual attrition.
“We are gaining people because there were more good people on the market who were just victims of their employers panicking and letting them go. We were able to cherry-pick the best minds and talent to grow the company.”
The company lost two employees when they joined the Ukrainian military.
According to Klyagin, Redwerk is doing more business now than before the war. He believes this is because he has concentrated on the business to stop him thinking about the turmoil in Ukraine. “I found this a shelter in the war and it worked because I got five new clients, 25 more staff and the business grew,” he said.
The company lost no customers after the invasion after Klyagin contacted each of them separately to reassure them that work would not be interrupted.
In fact, Redwerk is not Klyagin’s only business. Since 2021, he has also invested in a company set up in Zaporizhzhia that develops drones for civilian use, focusing on industrial settings. IZIVIZ, as the firm is understood, continues to be in its startup part, however has undergone a metamorphosis during the warfare.
“The business went on hold for a couple of months, but we decided to help the army prepare their drones and have provided drones free of charge,” he stated.
