BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE IN RUSSIA: TRUE OR FALSE ?

Business Intelligence does exists in Russia! But… There is always a but somewhere. This is actually a very particular part of Russian business life.

As you all know Russia is not a very open country and it is anchored in its roots. Business intelligence truly came there just in the mid-2000s. So this is a very recent activity, but very warmly welcomed by the businessmen there, as well as Public Relations officers. And by the way, we cannot say that PR are perceived the same way as in European countries or in the North American one.

Russian vision of Competitive Management is practically the same as Anglo-speaking countries such as North America or England. So Russians try to find out the most efficient way to apply Business Intelligence in the life of native firms. Sometimes it is incredibly hard because of this post-soviet vision of the influential “caste” of businessmen that still believe in the influence of power – and don’t have any trust in the power of communications and smart marketing. So we, specialists in BI and PR, sometimes spend hours with them talking and explaining to this “big sharks” the efficiency of strategic communication management and still leave them with no decisions made.

Russia

There are though some good things in Russia. There is this new generation that has been growing with the idea that communication is important and that the world around us is always in motion. They believe this world is full of opportunities by using the bases of Business Intelligence and Public Relations even in their own life. Most of them already got their own small businesses going in the good direction. They can support other people’s need and most of all their own needs.

The key centers of Strategic Management we can find in Moscow (of course), Saint-Petersburg, Chelyabinsk, Yekaterinburg, Yaroslavl, Astrakhan and Vladivostok. Most of these cities are still very young in the field of how-I-would-like-to-say “Real Business Communication,” à-la Western.

What is the Business Com à-la Western? And how do we support it in Russia? And is it possible to develop Competitive management use in Russia?We shall tell you next time… I think, I will leave you with this vague image of Strategic Communication in Russia and will come back to you ASAP.

Olga Koroleva