1C Company
1C Company is an independent software developer, distributor and publisher with headquarters in Moscow, Russia. It develops, manufactures, licenses, supports and sells computer software, related services and video games.
In Russia, 1C is considered a leader in business software for its comprehensive business software suite 1С:Enterprise.
1C is known as a video game developer and publisher. Most popular titles produced by the company are IL-2 Sturmovik, King's Bounty, Men of War and the Space Rangers series. 1C acts as a publisher for dozens of independent developers and has produced over 100 video game titles.
1C is also the official distributor of 100+ software vendors.
By the decision of Russian Federal Service for Intellectual Property the trademark ‘1C’ is considered ‘well known’ on the territory of the Russian Federation since 1 January 2006.
The company has over 1200 employees. 1С Company operates through wide network of 10 000+ business partners in 25 countries, including 7000+ 1C franchise authorized software integrators & VARs and 400+ authorized training centers.
1C Company is also developing its 1C:Accounting outsourcing service – a 500+ partner network offering services like accounting, taxation, payroll, etc.
History
1C was founded in 1991 by Boris Nuraliev in Moscow, Russia. In 1992, the company published 1C:Accounting, a bookkeeping software. The simplicity, wealth of customization options and its reach through the wide network of dealers, who were entitled to 50% of the sales income, made it possible for the 1C:Accounting software to become the most widespread accounting program across Russia and the former USSR states.In 1996 the released the first version of the 1C:Enterprise platform designed for the comprehensive and targeted automation of processes within companies. The software implementation was handed over to a partnered franchise network founded specifically for this purpose.
The first game distributed by 1C was launched in retail.
In 1999, version 7.7 of 1C:Enterprise was released. 1C got over 40% of the accounting software market share in Russia.
In 1999, the first game developed by 1C was published - . 1C also acquired MaddoxGames company.
In 2001, 1C released IL-2 Sturmovik, the first AAA video game developed in Russia.
In 2006, 1C announced that their trademark was considered "well-known" by Rospatent.
In 2008 1C declared its plan of transforming into a large multisectoral holding company. Part of its growth strategy was establishing joint ventures with leading and promising enterprises within the IT industry.
In May 2005, 1C bought Cenega Publishing, a Prague-based publisher and distributor. This arm was rebranded 1C Publishing EU in May 2007. 1C Publishing EU uses the trade name 1C Entertainment since late 2018.
In 2008, 1C declared it would become a holding company, stating it would establish joint ventures with companies within the IT industry. In October 2011, Baring Vostok Capital Fund acquired a 9% stake of 1C.
In 2011, 1C:Enterprise 8.3 was released, with cloud service on Windows, Linux, and Mac as well as on iOS, Android and Windows Mobile. The same year, the software as a service platform 1CFresh.com was set up, allowing 1C: Enterprise to use the cloud environment.
Products
Most famous business applications
• 1С:ERP 2An integrated solution for management of core business processes
• 1С:Corporate Performance Management
Planning, accounting, and performance monitoring for holdings and corporations
• 1С:Document Management
Automates document flow, both paper and electronic, for businesses and public institutions.
• 1C:Accounting
Universal bookkeeping and tax calculation software with Russian Accounting Standards-compliant reporting. In 2018 a new IAS-compliant version was released.
• 1C:Accounting – the most popular accounting software in Russia. According to various estimates, the software is used by 80-90% of Russian companies.
• 1C:Trade Management
Solution for operations and management accounting, analysis, and planning. It automates trade, financial, and warehouse operations, elevating wholesale and retail companies.
• 1С:Retail
Automated retail outlet and store accounting, including retail networks.
• 1С:Payroll and HR Management
Payroll calculation and HR management
• 1С:AccountingSuite
All-in-one business application combining accounting, cloud banking, order management, inventory, project and time tracking
• 1C:Drive
An out-of-the-box solution for small trade, manufacturing, and service businesses
1C:Enterprise platform
The 1C:Enterprise platform is a rapid business application development tool. 1C:Enterprise uses a Domain Driven Design approach to provide the specific tools needed to develop business software. All code-based development is done using a high-level domain-specific language, the source code is genuinely open. 1C:Enterprise platform allows create applications for different operation systems and use its as a Cloud services or On-premise. Considered as an alternative development tools instead of the С language family and other integrated development environments.Video games
1C began distributing third party games in 1996. In 1997, they published ', which was the best-selling title in Russia during September 1999. 1C has a long history of funding independent developers and producing a great deal of very successful Russian games. 1C works as a publisher and producer with over 30 independent development studios and has produced over 100 projects for PC and consoles, including titles like Hard Truck, King of the Road, Rig'n'Roll, Space Rangers, Soldiers: Heroes of World War II, Faces of War, Men of War and Men of War: Assault Squad series, Fantasy Wars, Death to Spies, King's Bounty series, Ancestors Legacy and Deep Sky Derelicts.One successful series of combat flight simulators 1C publishes is the IL-2 Sturmovik series, first developed by Maddox Games of Oleg Maddox in 2001 and commercially traded under the brand "1C:Maddox Games", a division of 1C Company. Maddox Games left 1C Company in 2011 and the "1C:Maddox Games" brand was replaced by "1C Game Studios". Still in the present day all three generations of IL-2 Sturmovik combat flight simulators are commercially exploited by 1C: IL-2 Sturmovik, ' , and .
The company has also developed other games such as Theatre of War, several entries in the Men of War franchise as of 2009 and Royal Quest.
The company is also the largest distributor in Russia, publishing titles of most accomplished international publishers such as Activision Blizzard, Bethesda Game Studios, Take-Two Interactive, Ubisoft, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. 1C owns two local distribution companies, 1C-SoftClub and the previously independent Russian company Buka Entertainment, which are also market leaders in the distribution of videogames hardware by Microsoft and Sony. 1C also owns a video games retail chain, named 1C-Interest, which has 30 stores in 22 cities of Russia.
1C has established an international presence in 2005 by buying a group of distribution companies in Central Europe and a small games publisher Cenega Publishing, later renamed to 1C Publishing EU. Since the purchase, the Cenega group has been transformed into a major games distribution/production/service company under the name of 1C Entertainment, with over 400 people employed in Poland, Czech Republic, and Hungary. Most notable companies of the group include Cenega, the largest independent video games distributor in Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary, Muve – a local internet games platform both for packaged goods and digital download, QLOC – a premium service company, providing porting, co-dev, testing and localization services to world's largest development studios and publishers, and 1C Online Games – a publishing and development arm of 1C Entertainment group.
Business software and cloud services
1С:Enterprise business software suite is used for management and business accounting automation in more than 2,000,000 organizations, including major corporations and governmental entities. This system is number one in the Russian ERP market with the largest number of automated workplaces.Measured by installations, 1C is the leader, with about 5 million users.
83% of ERP workplaces in Russia is now handled by automated processes developed by 1C.
1C:Enterprise consists of two parts: 1C:Enterprise platform and business applications. 1C:Enterprise platform is for rapid development, deployment and flexible customization of business automation applications in the cloud, mobile and classic desktop environments. It is suitable to build scalable applications for small, medium and large organizations.
1C:Enterprise, version 8 was released in 2004 and all following versions were called 1C:Enterprise 8. The current version of 1C:Enterprise platform is 8.3.16.
Business applications running on the platform include a variety of out-of-the-box or custom solutions for small and medium businesses, as well as for enterprise customers including ERP and CPM-class solutions for manufacturing, trade, logistics, inventory, accounting, finance management, payroll&HR, document management and over 1000 more solutions for different business tasks and industries.
Application solutions are developed by 1C Company and their partners, have open-source code format for customization of business logic by any developer mostly, but authors of solution can close some modules.
1CFresh - a technology to develop, publish and manage cloud solutions and services developed based on 1C:Enterprise supporting multitenancy.
1CFresh.com – “1C:Enterprise through Internet”, an on-line service combines several cloud applications developed by 1C Company based on 1C:Enterprise and 1CFresh technology.
Affiliate network, franchising
1C provides its services through a network of partnerships consisting of more than 10,000 long-term partners in 25 countries.One of the pillars of 1C's success on the IT market in Russia and several other countries is a franchising business model. About 7000 franchisees in 750 cities of Russia and neighboring countries provide comprehensive service for business automation, deployment, customization and support of 1C:Enterprise-based systems, consulting, user training, etc. 250+ of them have certified its QoS as ISO 9001-compliant.
The franchisees take over half the sales price of the software, plus the bulk of consulting and installation fees.
1C maintains a sizeable lead in the RBС rating «Top-50 most popular franchises in Russia».
According to Forbes Russia's estimates, 1C controls around 12% of the turnover generated by all franchise businesses in Russia. All the 1C franchises are profitable and the majority of them have been partners for 10–15 years.