Alexei Miller: DataArt’s $100M AI bet and Why Armenia is a Key Hub

Alexei Miller, Managing Director and founding member of DataArt, has spent nearly 30 years growing the company from a small team of engineers into a global tech firm with over 6,000 employees in 35 countries. Known for his people-first approach and focus on flexibility, Miller has led DataArt through major industry changes while keeping culture at its core. 

In the interview with iTel.am, he talks about the company’s $100M investment in data and AI, Armenia’s role in its growth, and why caring for people is key to lasting success.

You've been with DataArt since 1997. What would surprise your 1997 self about DataArt in 2025?

If I try to answer this question meaningfully, I need to start with some context. There are two ways you can build a company. One way is when you know exactly what you’re doing, you have a plan, a clear vision of what you want to create. The other way is when you have no idea what you’re doing, and you might end up building something entirely different. That path can be full of surprises: sometimes good or disappointing, sometimes unexpected in ways you couldn’t imagine.

Our method was the second way. At least for me, personally, I didn’t have a plan. I helped build this company alongside many colleagues, but I had zero expectations. So, in a way, everything about it still surprises me.

But on a more serious note, my understanding of business has changed dramatically over the years. Back when I had a mathematics degree, I thought of business in a very mechanistic way like a machine. Money flows in here, action happens there, and outcomes follow a predictable logic. And while some businesses do function like machines, our business and I think much of our industry is a machine made out of people. And that makes it a very different kind of machine.

Alexei Miller
photo © Mediamax

Looking back, I think I underestimated just how important people would be. That wasn’t intentional. I always assumed that people mattered. But I didn’t realize how much attention they’d need, how much creativity they could bring if you simply let them, and how radically they could change this machine without much input from leadership. That surprises me every single day. What we’ve built is, at its core, a people’s business. 

Is there a defining “DataArt culture” you’ve fought to preserve all these years?

Yes, but that’s something we often find difficult to put into words, because it’s something you really have to experience. We call it ‘people first.’ That’s the essence of our culture. But ‘people first’ can be interpreted in a million different ways.

Some people hear it and think, I’m a person, so I’m first. But of course, we can’t all be first. That’s not what it means. For us, ‘people first’ describes our culture, but it’s not the whole story. So ‘people first’ for us means this continues, never ending search for balance of interests. It’s a balance between commercial interests and human interests, between people of different backgrounds, places, and roles. 

It’s an imperfect process, and often a painful one. But it’s also necessary. The work of striving for that balance is a big part of our culture, and it’s something we’re committed to preserving.

Because the moment a business stops being a collection of people and becomes just a machine, when leaders or employees stop caring about how others feel, regardless of office or country, that's the moment the culture dies. 

photo © Mediamax

We’re a fairly large company now, with 6,000 employees in 35 countries. And while it’s impossible to care for every single person equally or know everyone personally, the intention matters. So I would be lying if I said I know or deeply care about all 6,000 individuals. No one could. But I want to care, and that desire, that effort, for me is a reflection of our culture.

DataArt recently announced a $100 million commitment to scale its data and AI capabilities. What’s the biggest bet you’re making with this investment?

We’re fundamentally a services business. We exist in order to help clients create technology, solve business problems through technology. That’s the most abstract way to describe our role in the market.

The bet we’re making is that business itself is changing, service delivery is changing, what clients are willing to pay for is changing, and how they use technology to transform their businesses is evolving. So, when we say we’re going to invest $100 million into data and AI, it's a bet on building technology that helps companies take advantage of data, AI developments, and technologies, so they will get the maximum return on their investment.

Of course, there are always other ways we could invest. If I were a doctor, I might invest in better medicine for my patients. That would be the smarter investment in that context. In our world, this investment in data and AI is about where we believe our clients will see the most value for every dollar they spend with us.

But that value doesn’t appear automatically. No client will hand over a project simply because I say, ‘I can help you.’ We need to invest heavily upfront in skills, training, technology licenses, infrastructure, and more. So it’s a bet on where the business world is moving and our determination to change with it.

How has the company adapted its strategy to remain competitive in the face of rapid AI-driven innovation?

This is where data context means a lot. The honest answer is tied to what we’ve just discussed about the $100 million investment; that announcement is a very unusual thing for DataArt. Specifically, for 27 years, we've never made an announcement like this.

Not because we couldn’t access $100 million, though that’s true, but because of something deeper: we’ve always prioritized flexibility above everything else. So, for us to publicly say, ‘This is where the world is moving, and we’re going to move there early so that when the world arrives, we’re already prepared,’ is a big shift.

And so this bet is a pretty big and a long-term one. Historically, we’ve avoided making such bets because our strategy was built around agility. We exist to serve our clients, and if a client tells me tomorrow they need something entirely different, I need to be ready to adapt.

You could call it a “strategy of no strategy” not in a careless way, but as a choice to avoid making big proclamations about our direction. Instead, we’ve focused on staying flexible.

Are you building AI tools for internal teams or only for clients? 

We do not see ourselves as producers of AI tools. We're a services business. We will use tools from the market, we will change them, we will integrate them, we will put them together for the clients. 

When we can build something for ourselves to make our work more efficient, we will build AI tools for ourselves and we're doing this. It always has a purpose of creating efficiency either for ourselves or for our clients, not just for the sake of creating a product. But when we can avoid it, we will avoid it. We'll take someone else's tool. 

Why did DataArt choose to invest in Armenia and what unique advantages do you see here in Armenia?

DataArt has been in Armenia for about six years now. And before that, this process of starting things, preparing was another two years. We've been doing this and thinking about it for about eight years, which in business terms is an eternity.

It's a very long time, even though six years doesn't sound that long. But it's been happening for a while. So, Armenia is a very special place for DataArt.

Alexei Miller
photo © Mediamax

It was when we were starting and now it's special but sort of in a different way. Why Armenia? Because as a services business, we are 100% dependent on people, on those who work with us, for our clients, and in collaboration with teams around the world. 

Our company is highly distributed, with operations in over 30 countries, so the most critical quality of any location where we open an office isn’t just technical skill. It’s also the ability to work well with others, to collaborate effectively across cultures and teams. And I think it's a super important quality of Armenians. I don't mean to stereotype, but it's been my experience.

Armenians are exceptionally open to different cultures, different ways of working, understanding people, being flexible when necessary, and insistent when also necessary. So, they're very effective partners in doing work together.

We saw this in action during a very challenging time, three years ago when the war began, and Armenia welcomed a wave of people from other countries, many from Russia and beyond. Our office here played a huge role in supporting that effort. The team helped over 400 people relocate to Armenia, integrate, and feel at home. Some of them stayed, some moved on. But this ability to help, to be friendly, to work with others, there's no monetary value. It's just extraordinary. 

And how does Armenia fit into your company's long-term vision and expansion strategy?

Armenia is one of our largest locations today. We have almost 500 people here. That number goes up and down depending on hiring cycles. Armenia itself is not a very large country, we’re not going to employ 100,000 people here, that’s simply not realistic. I think it will remain one of our largest locations․ We are certainly expecting to grow, to keep hiring. 

I think our focus over the years will shift towards educating more young people versus hiring very experienced, senior professionals. So my hope is that we will be cooperating more with schools and universities, maybe collaborating and opening our own training programs. Because bringing up young talent is very much a part of our strategy.

Alexei Miller
photo © Mediamax

What makes Armenia unique is that the team here already has strong connections with educational institutions and government agencies, and we really feel that support. Not in every country there is such a close collaboration between business, education and the government. Here you can just feel it. That is going to be a big part of the strategy. 

Another advantage of Armenia is its position geographically and culturally. It’s in between: connected to Europe, but also close to the Middle East, Asia, and India. And that ‘in-between’ quality isn’t just physical, it's mental and cultural too. For a global company like ours, that’s incredibly valuable.

Nune Grigoryan talked to Alexei Miller
Photos by Emin Aristakesyan