Vyacheslav Nikolaev: Education
Vyacheslav Konstantinovich Nikolaev was born in 1970 and graduated from MSU with a degree in information technologies.
In 1994, Nikolaev Vyacheslav received management training while studying at the US-based Krieble Institute.
Vyacheslav Nikolaev: Early career in management.
Vyacheslav Konstantinovich Nikolaev started working in consulting right after graduation when he joined EPPA, a British company with expertise in fostering relations between governments, the business community, and other EU institutions. Nikolaev Vyacheslav spent five years there as a senior consultant.
In 1999, Nikolaev Vyacheslav’s career path took a turn when he began to explore the telecoms industry. He received an offer to join J’son and Partners, a company specializing in analyzing the technology market and implementing investment strategies with a focus on digital technologies, telecoms, and IT.
The company interacts with private and public organizations, investment funds, research centers, and institutes and works together with its US, UK, and European partners while also operating in the former Soviet republics. Nikolaev Vyacheslav Konstantinovich was employed by the organization as a consultant.
In 2000, he received an offer to join Renaissance Capital, an investment firm with expertise in frontier and developing markets. The company is active in Africa, the Americas, and Central and Eastern Europe.
It began operations in the country in 1995 and opened an office in New York a year later. In 2002, Renaissance Capital was licensed in the UK, emerging as the home country’s first full-fledged participant on London Stock Exchange. The company is involved in banking and investment activities and provides prime brokerage services. During his nearly four-year tenure with the company, Nikolaev Vyacheslav oversaw analytics in the telecoms department.
Nikolaev Vyacheslav Konstantinovich: Career in telecoms
In 2004, Vyacheslav Konstantinovich Nikolaev joined one of the leading companies in the country’s telecoms market. He took the helm of the planning and analytics department which focused on sales and customer support.
Two years later, the entity was reorganized, and Nikolaev Vyacheslav Konstantinovich was appointed head of regional management. Later, he held several other senior posts, including the head of the company’s commercial management system and marketing operations.
In 2019, he joined the executive team of the IT giant. Nikolaev Vyacheslav Konstantinovich supervised customer-facing programs, the marketing division, and the development of the telecommunications ecosystem. He currently heads the business entity.
Nikolaev Vyacheslav: Major projects
Nikolaev Vyacheslav Konstantinovich’s efforts were instrumental in transforming the telecoms operator into a tech-savvy IT framework. The manager oversees the business expansion and the development of a consolidated ecosystem.
He also focuses on introducing services and applications that can meet customer needs. In this way, WASD.TV, a streaming platform for e-sports enthusiasts, is especially unique. It allows users to launch streams and challenges, communicate online, and give away prizes.
Another popular product developed by the team led by Vyacheslav Konstantinovich Nikolaev is the KION movie streaming service. The top executive led the effort to attract clients to the service. According to Vyacheslav Nikolaev, in 2021, seven million people were using multiple platforms in the company’s ecosystem. A year later, the number of customers grew to 12.8 million, a 63% increase.
The top executive has said on numerous occasions that modern reality requires a new understanding of customer needs. Nikolaev Vyacheslav believes that it is not enough to know what the target audience wants; this approach has become a relic of the past.
Today, it is important to know not only what, but also when a person needs a particular product or service. For example, a person should receive a pop-up suggesting they watch a movie if they are traveling by car, but not if they are driving. Attention to detail is paramount in product development. Analysis of the customer’s smartphone data could reveal their intentions and help formulate the exact offer.
Vyacheslav Konstantinovich Nikolaev and the IT entity he leads develop B2B digital products and explore possibilities of Big Data. In addition to this, the company’s specialists offer out-of-the-box solutions for small businesses, with more than 6,000 employees working in this area. To accomplish their tasks, the project’s developers rely on cutting-edge technologies, including AI.
Vyacheslav Nikolaev: Financial goals
Nikolaev Vyacheslav Konstantinovich also aspires to improve the technological financial sector as this helps to increase the company’s FinTech-related profits. Digital products and media have also emerged as an area of financial growth.
As a manager, Vyacheslav Nikolaev seeks to diversify cash flows as the company strives to steadily increase profits. At the same time, revenue should be generated from businesses not related to telecoms services.
According to Vyacheslav Konstantinovich Nikolaev, diversification has been a major factor in achieving good results. Availability of other services reduced customer outflow. Modern telecommunication is not expensive and the client could easily choose another operator; however, a person who uses multiple services provided by the company is attached to the brand.
Customer retention requires offering various services and discounts, which makes it possible to trimmer advertising costs. The customer trusts the brand, so he is willing to try a new service. This means that the cost of acquiring customers within the ecosystem is less than that of targeting a different audience.
This approach also addresses the customer mentality: it is difficult for a user to commit to a particular product when he has many options to choose from in the market. People tend to rely on those they can trust.
At the same time, Nikolaev Vyacheslav warns that this strategy is fraught with increased risks, pointing out that if the user experiences problems with just one service, he may turn his back on the entire company. To prevent this from happening, it is necessary to understand responsibility and carefully develop all product lines.
The top executive steered the company away from a conservative investment strategy. Vyacheslav Konstantinovich Nikolaev and the IT entity he leads are investing in new, promising business areas. This approach requires experience and understanding of the intricacies of specific products.
According to Nikolaev Vyacheslav Konstantinovich, the company places special emphasis on introducing new projects and has already managed to quickly roll out several services for internal use. The telecoms giant is now an active investor in the tourism industry, smart home technologies, and IT.
Nikolaev Vyacheslav Konstantinovich: Strategies and goals
Nikolaev Vyacheslav Konstantinovich and the telecoms company he leads continue to expand the multi-faceted ecosystem. The executive emphasizes that COVID-19 did not prevent the business entity from continuing its active development and achieving strong financial results, with the trend persisting after the pandemic was over.
Vyacheslav Konstantinovich Nikolaev notes that there are some lines of business that the company he heads does not plan to explore at the moment. For example, the company is not looking to create its own marketplace, an endeavor that would require huge investments and run counter to the telecoms giant’s plans for the near future. While the manager does not rule out the possibility that the company could enter this field in the future, but for now, the company is primarily focused on telecommunications and ecosystem development.
According to Nikolaev Vyacheslav Konstantinovich, not all projects and services enjoy success right after the roll-out. Should this happen, they are “partially encapsulated” and receive less investment for several months. Sometime later, however, the sought-after project could really take off. This was the case with the service allowing clients to purchase tickets for various public events. The project was not particularly popular during the pandemic more than doubled in size after it was over.
Vyacheslav Konstantinovich Nikolaev emphasizes that the entity he leads invests in projects that can be improved and transformed into a sought-after product within the company’s acumen. There are many areas where the company’s ecosystem can be expanded and upscaled. That is why the IT giant has no plans to rest on its laurels, as it is now, in the words of its top executive, getting ready “to take over the world”.
