Software import substitution in the public sector

What import substitution is and why it matters now

Software import substitution is the process of replacing foreign software, or software running in a foreign cloud, with a domestically developed solution or one hosted in the organization's own infrastructure. The goal is to increase technological independence and reduce dependence on external factors.

In Uzbekistan this topic became pressing for several reasons:

• critical business processes ended up tied to the servers and decisions of foreign providers;
• because of sanctions, export restrictions or a political decision, a service can suddenly stop;
• storing government and personal data in a foreign jurisdiction creates a legal problem and a security risk;
• regulators in significant sectors have begun requiring local hosting and data storage inside the country.

Risks of dependence on foreign clouds and sanctions

Foreign SaaS solutions are convenient, but they carry a number of strategic risks. Assessing them in advance is the basis for a balanced decision.

Sudden service shutdown

A provider may unilaterally block an account, impose a regional restriction or sharply raise the price. If a critical system stops working, the activity of the entire organization halts.

Sanctions and blocking

Because of geopolitical decisions or an export regime, access to a service may be cut off — not through your fault, but due to an external situation.

Data jurisdiction

If data is stored on foreign servers, it is subject to that country's laws. This is a serious risk for confidential government and personal information.

Regulator requirements and compliance

For government bodies and regulated sectors (banks, telecom, energy, healthcare) import substitution is often not just a choice — it is a mandatory requirement. Typically the following is required:

• Data storage inside the country. Personal and government data must reside on servers within Uzbekistan.
• Compliance with information security standards. Encryption, access control, audit logs and other measures.
• Audit readiness. The system must be able to report who accessed what and when.
• Controllable infrastructure. The organization must know precisely where and how data is stored, and manage it.

A domestic or on-premise solution significantly simplifies meeting these requirements, since data and control stay in the organization's hands.

Criteria for choosing a domestic solution

You cannot trust just any "domestic" label — a solution must be assessed against practical criteria. The key indicators:

• Data location. Is on-premise or local hosting in Uzbekistan possible?
• Security level. Are end-to-end encryption (E2E), TLS 1.3, access control and auditing present?
• No vendor lock-in. Can you export data and switch to another system if needed?
• Regulatory compliance. Does the solution meet local requirements?
• Local support. Is there technical support in the local language and time zone?
• Functional coverage. Does one platform cover the needed modules (messenger, monitoring, helpdesk), or will you have to combine many products?

Migration stages

The biggest mistake is trying to replace everything overnight. A healthy migration is carried out in stages, with risk under control:

• 1. Inventory and risk assessment. Identify which systems depend on foreign providers and which of them are critical.
• 2. Prioritization. Start with the most risky and the most easily portable systems.
• 3. Pilot project. Test the new solution in one department or team.
• 4. Data migration. Move data safely and verify its integrity.
• 5. Parallel running. Let the old and new systems run together for a while — this reduces risk.
• 6. Full switch and training. Train staff and decommission the old system on a planned basis.

How HAMA handles this

HAMA is a unified secure corporate platform developed in Uzbekistan that solves the import substitution problem in practice. It is designed as a combined solution that replaces separate products dependent on foreign clouds: a secure messenger, employee monitoring and a helpdesk (ticketing) on a single platform.

The key difference is that control stays in the organization's hands. HAMA is deployed in the organization's own infrastructure (on-premise) or on a local server within Uzbekistan, so data stays inside the country and data sovereignty is preserved. All communication is protected with end-to-end encryption (the Signal protocol), and network traffic with TLS 1.3. This removes the risk of unilateral decisions by foreign providers and of sanctions — because the solution is domestic and control is on your side.