What drives Russian IT distribution. Article in four parts

Date: July 31, 2025
Edition: IT ChannelNews
Author: Maksim Belous

The place and role of first-tier partners in the Russian IT channel structure were actively discussed until February 2022, including on the pages of the publication. The tectonic changes over the past 3 years have clearly demonstrated how important skilled, knowledgeable, effective and experienced distributors are for both vendors and integrators/resellers. What tasks and challenges does domestic IT distribution face today, how does it cope with them, how does it plan to develop further – and how does it see the future of the Russian IT channel?

"Three years ago, with the beginning of 2022, we faced a sharp departure of Western vendors and the need to form a new portfolio for import substitution", says Yulia Pechnikova, Director of Merlion's VAD Business Development Department. "Since we started signing distribution contracts for Russian software more than 15 years ago, we already understood this market segment and its needs. Today, the IT market has stabilized. According to HSE estimates, the ICT sector grew by 28% in 2024, and its volume was 8.3 trillion rubles. Priorities have now shifted from urgent replacements to the development of complex ecosystems that include AI, clouds, cybersecurity solutions and local platforms. We actively work with vendors and offer the market solutions for implementing various business tasks, including national projects such as "Data Economy", which received a new impetus in 2025".

Closer to the channel

It is no secret that until 2022, not all hardware and software manufacturers were fully included in the structure of the Russian IT channel.

Yulia Pechnikova, Director of Merlion's VAD Business Development Department, notes that many Russian vendors used to work directly, bypassing distributors: "Today, the situation is different, many vendors are creating a three-level sales model and developing a channel. For example, Merlion recently became the exclusive distributor of Amur computing equipment: PCs, all-in-one computers, servers. For the manufacturer, such cooperation guarantees regional availability and support, and for us, this is an opportunity to expand the offer for customers, especially in the public sector".

Service evolution

The service packages that distributors offered their partners at the beginning of 2021 are significantly different from those that are relevant in the mid-2025.

"In 2021, we offered logistics, partner training and basic technical support", recalls Yulia Pechnikova, Director of Merlion's VAD Business Development Department. "In 2025, our service package expanded significantly. Merlion is now not only a distributor but also a partner: we provide pre-sales, training, architectural development of projects, demonstration environment and analytics for partners and vendors".

Do it yourself

What are IT distributors themselves planning to do in the near future to support and optimise the sales channel, accelerate import substitution, build up their own expertise — in short, to develop and improve the whole environment through which IT goods and services move from vendors to end customers?

“By the end of the year, we will expand our vendor portfolio and accelerate the digitalisation of sales channels,” plans Yulia Pechnikova, Head of VAD Business Development at Merlion. “We are already implementing CRM and BI analytics, automating the preparation of commercial offers. We are also activating our own test laboratories for domestic software and hardware, and developing ecosystem interaction. For example, we regularly hold webinars and meetings for Visiology where experts demonstrate cases of implementing the BI platform in large organisations. This approach allows partners to receive complete solutions — from technical architecture to after-sales service and support.”

Will the state help everyone?

What kind of support — if any — do Russian IT distributors expect from the state?

“The state is actively supporting IT,” says Yulia Pechnikova, “through such measures as preferential lending, increased purchases of domestic products, and the development of IT education. We responded by launching the Merlion Academy — a partner training centre. Here we organise regular seminars and webinars on sales techniques, digital security, and the implementation of domestic solutions. We also have a multi-vendor demo centre: it features over 60 stands in seven areas — information security, DBMS and data visualisation, mail and video conferencing, virtualisation, infrastructure software, office solutions, and operating systems.”

The full version of the article with the opinions of other participants is available on the IT Channel News website: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4.