Ukrainian business demonstrates resilience in the face of a full-scale war and finds new tools for development. The share of companies operating at full capacity has increased, and they have stopped losing clients and customers, which indicates that business activity stabilized in 2023. More and more Ukrainian companies are finding a source of growth in entering foreign markets.
These data are published in the annual Kyivstar Business survey, which is based on a survey of business representatives of various sizes and industries.
“Kyivstar works closely with Ukrainian business, being a reliable partner and provider of innovative services. To offer relevant solutions, we are constantly researching changes in the business environment and the transformation of our partners’ behavior. The results of this survey show a trend towards increased business activity, as well as more intensive implementation of business innovations, revision of strategies and portfolio of goods and services,” comments Kostiantyn Vechir, B2B Director of Kyivstar.
The overall business situation has improved. Most of the surveyed companies (62%) are operating at full capacity, another 24% are operating with some restrictions, and 5% have closed. The reasons for the shutdown varied. One of the reasons mentioned by respondents was the mobilization of employees. However, some owners and managers managed to run their companies even from the ranks of the Armed Forces.
More and more companies are entering foreign markets. Over the year, Ukrainian business has managed to strengthen international cooperation. Thus, over the past year, the number of companies working with foreign markets increased from 4% to 17%. These are mainly representatives of IT and industrial production.
Employees are returning to their offices. Almost 50% of companies worked completely offline in 2023. The hybrid format of work remains important (32%), but is no longer as popular as before. Only 18% of companies worked entirely remotely within Ukraine, and 3% from abroad.
Companies’ profitability is low, but there is progress. 32% of surveyed companies reported an increase in profits, compared to only 20% in 2022. At the same time, 48% of businesses have reduced their profits, although in 2022 58% said this. Financial stability was maintained by 6% of companies that did not record any changes in profits.
Businesses continue to adapt their work processes. The most popular changes include redistributing employees’ responsibilities (38%), short-term planning (31%), and changing usual business processes (29%). While 30% of companies were forced to reduce staff, 14% of companies expanded their staff.
Companies are actively using new technologies to optimize their operations. The most frequently mentioned tools by business representatives include artificial intelligence, cloud services for working with documents (for example, Microsoft 365), CRM, and more.
Read more about the survey results on Kyivstar Business Hub.
