How Aimprosoft Delivers During Wartime: Commitments, Support, Believes

When we fixed a server in the middle of the night, it seemed that we were heroes. But when we managed to master our fear and curbed the panic so that we could be concentrated every single moment on making critical decisions regarding the safety of ourselves and our families, obligations to clients, the duty to the country, we realized that we are ordinary people who do what we have to do at the place we are.

We had to mobilize to make the most difficult decisions of our lives now.

It’s been passed a month since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

We’ve been standing against it and it has made us stronger. Now Ukrainians are perceived by the world community as brave and persistent people thanks in large part to the indomitable spirit that is in our genome.

We continue to live and work.

The world is deeply concerned about us and we thank all of you.

Now, we address our message to our clients who also didn’t stand aside during these heavy times. Let’s go through the measures from our business continuity plan that mitigate risks for our partners and clients and the reasons why Ukrainian IT experts are still the best choice for your new or ongoing projects.

Things that helped Aimprosoft go on working at full during the war

War clauses are a subset of force majeure in any official agreement signed between partners. This implies having a business contingency plan for every company. Like many Ukrainian IT companies, Aimprosoft has an updated course of action in case of force majeure conditions.

How we mitigate risks for our clients

We have implemented additional measures to guarantee secure and effective functioning of all development-related activities during the remote mode of staff operation:

• Datacenter: our entire IT infrastructure is cloud-based and located in Germany;
• Hardware: all devices with sensitive data are protected by our internal security compliance policy; there was a system that controls the state of OS, installed software, antivirus, available patches, etc.
• Software: we use hard drive encryption, strong passwords, VPN for external users, network segmentation, latest security patches, intrusion detection and prevention systems, and malicious applications detection systems that are configured for critical infrastructure nodes.

Being cautious got us through well in the emergent situation. An activated business continuity plan timely helped us wisely maintain all our working processes during difficulties.

The experience got during the Covid-19 pandemic

Spring of 2020 taught us that we could work remotely not seeing each other in person, shaking hands, and having a cup of coffee during breaks.

Thanks to COVID-19, it may sound ridiculous, we adapted to work remotely and continue to deliver whatever happens. Now conditions are a bit difficult but are more adaptable. All these events taught us to be resilient to the changing environment no matter what and made us reorganize everything according to the principles of workplace flexibility.

Doing business over 16 years

Working remotely with our clients from all over the world since 2005, we mastered collaboration principles: we ensure seamless communication and project management success with a wide variety of tools by implementing the best practices of distributed development teams.

Updated contingency plan

Having a very tense relationship with Russia since 2014 after an invasion of Crimea and Eastern regions, Donetsk and Lugansk, we’ve been keeping ourselves abreast of the situation. In February 2022 we put it out to apply, which seemed unbelievable.

A roadmap created by management contained the following:

• steps ensuring the safety of lives of employees and their families;
• preventive measures towards keeping commitments to the clients;
• operation backup plan – relocation of the office to western Ukraine.

The way Aimprosoft adjusted its operation to the new reality

The Aimprosoft team has taken the economic frontier. More than 90% of our employees have returned to work at full capacity. We continue to provide qualitative services to customers to support the Ukrainian economy and fulfill commitments before our clients.

The first several days since Feb. 24 were devoted to adjusting to the new reality. Less than in a week 60% of our employees continued providing our services in a trouble-free way and in a month the figure is over 90%.

Staff location during the war

The company rented an office in Ivano-Frankivsk as a backup place for relocating in case of escalation of the situation. We hoped to have it as an affiliate office of Aimprosoft in the future. Before the war started, the office had been ready for operation mode being equipped with all necessary stuff. That allowed most of us in a matter of days to restart our work full.

Where we are located now:

• Western Ukraine – 32,4%
• Central parts – 28,5%
• Eastern Ukraine – 26,7%
• Abroad – 7,3% (by their personal initiative taken in advance or during the general evacuation)
• 4,1% – are on the way to safe areas

Hostel and accommodation

Together with local activists and volunteers, the company set up a temporary hostel in Ivano-Frankivsk. The shelter is equipped with everything necessary for the accommodation and stay of people. At the company’s expense, a shower, microwave, washing machine, mats, and kettles were purchased and installed. The hostel is coordinated by volunteers from the local community of Ivano-Frankivsk, who move and accommodate people.

The idea of ​​the hostel appeared as part of a business continuity plan in case of an emergency. It can accommodate staff, their families, family, and pets until people find permanent housing. The shelter is going to function as long as it is needed.

How the people of Aimprosoft cope with things during the war

Our daily routine has been replenished with new areas in which most of our employees are involved. These actions give us a base to withstand. “Morning routine + Work + Donating + Volunteering + Time with family + Rest” is a daily routine for many of us now.

The talents of Aimprosoft operate on different fronts:

• support the economy by continuing to work and paying taxes;
• provide financial assistance to the indomitable Ukrainian Army; guys, you’re die-hard and the best in the world!
• some of us joined the Armed Forces and the Defense Forces to prevent the occupation of our lands;
• by volunteering, we sponsor volunteers and local activists for current needs upon their request, help with transportation and communication;
• since the beginning of the war, we have transferred more than 1 million UAH to the Army, purchasing bulletproof vests and protective equipment for the territorial defense units;
• provide humanitarian aid for population in hotspots: food and medicine needs of senior people in Kharkiv, meet needs of local Defense Forces;
• donate blood for the wounded;
• fight on the info front.

Why it is still beneficial to hire Ukrainian IT talents

It might sound a little bit strange, but Ukrainians are still the most demanded tech talents in the world. Some prefer to hire software developers from Ukraine in order to support them giving them the opportunity to make a living.

International companies that continue outsourcing to Ukraine in 2022

Ukraine’s government initiatives

Ukraine has one of the largest fast-growing IT markets in Europe. Our government understands that the IT sector is almost the only industry that can support our economy during wartime.

Even before the full-scale military invasion by Russia, the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine took the course for the IT sector to reach 10% of the country’s gross domestic product from the current 4%. The initiative supposes creating one of the world’s favorable tax systems under which a special legal and tax regime for creative economy representatives under Diia Cityis provided since Feb. 8, 2022. That means both domestic and foreign tech companies are able to run businesses in the territory of Ukraine under simplified procedures (with distributed 10% tax) according to English Law.

Telecommunications has a good supplement

Despite the fighting in some regions and Russian invaders trying to destroy the communications infrastructure supporting telecoms work, the Ukrainian government has stepped up efforts to keep people connected to the Internet. The Ukrainian army maintains control over civilian communications infrastructure.

National telecom providers are all set to keep internet connection up. Moreover, some telcos initiated Internet equipment in bomb shelters across the country so people can contact relatives, monitor the current situation, green corridors, and work being relatively saved.

In addition, Mykhailo Fedorov, a Minister of Digital Transformation in Ukraine, turned to Elon Musk with a request to provide Ukraine with a satellite internet that can be a backup if national infrastructure goes out.

Two trucks of Starlink kits have already been delivered to Ukraine to operate, first of all, critical infrastructure in wartime with gradual widespread among civilians (unprecedented downloads in App Store and Google Play by 100 000 Ukrainian users). PrivatBank, the largest commercial bank in Ukraine, started using Starlink to ensure continuous operation. Some IT companies are actively using the Musk’s network as well, and the chances are that the number of such companies will only increase day by day.

The Ukrainian banking and financial system remained resilient

The banking system remains liquid, despite initial fears. had been boosted by international financial support reaching almost $15 billion as reported by Kyrylo Shevchenko, Ukraine’s central bank governor.

Since the beginning of Russia’s armed aggression, the National Bank of Ukraine has been creating conditions for the proper operation of banks in extremely difficult conditions by implementing a number of effective anti-crisis solutions.

The National Bank of Ukraine has enabled banks to provide banking services through cloud services with equipment located in the European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada. This step expands the possibilities of ensuring the stable functioning of the banking system of Ukraine during martial law and for two years after its abolition.

Ukrainians can fill the tech gap caused by rejection from the Russian and Belarussian developers

Now because of this situation, it is expected that international companies are reducing activities in the Russian Federation and Belarus, which will lead to a huge tech gap with 1.7 mln and 100k relatively in their project teams needing to be filled with someone. And Ukrainians are here to be the right experts who are highly motivated to work to support their families and country.

Choosing us as your partner, you support world-recognized democracy in the person of brave Ukrainian people.

We express great gratitude

To our defenders

The army is not just about headquarters, warehouses, equipment, and crews. These are ordinary soldiers who do the most complicated and honorable work. We are deeply grateful to our soldiers. We support them in all manifestations: money, food, prayer, and faith. We expect that they will return alive and fall into their relatives’ arms under the peaceful sky of their mother, Ukraine.

We thank you for your courage, bravery, and resilience. We bow our heads in respect to each of you.

To our people

Patriotism and motivation of Ukrainians are off the scale. We are not barbarians, we are on our own lands and show the example of dignity for the rest of the world.

To our clients

We appreciate our clients for their support and for staying with us. All of them expressed understanding and were deeply concerned about our safety first of all. They took us time to rearrange our life, take our families to safe areas.

We get enormous support from our clients who expressed their understanding of temporary drops off in work and moreover retained paying for time developers were off for war reasons. There are cases of donations from clients and their families in support of Ukraine during the Russian invasion who as Ukrainians believe in our victory.

If you want to #StandWithUkraine

The Ukrainian defenders are bravely fighting for our Motherland. As well, civilian people affected by the war need help. A sure way you can support them is to transfer funds to the proven accounts of specialized funds and organizations.

Donate to support the Ukrainian Army

Account information of the National Bank of Ukraine

The full list of remittances is available on the official website of the National Bank of Ukraine.

Charity Foundation ‘Come Back Alive’

Come Back Alive is the biggest organization with open financial statements providing support to the Armed Forces of Ukraine since 2014.

Humanitarian Assistance

Fundraising Account by the National Bank of Ukraine