• Software development is becoming a commoditized, deterministic process. This means more and more that software can be developed anywhere by anyone with the proper training, without compromising quality and that price becomes the deciding factor.
• Having access to a supply of competent offshore talent at bargain prices is good if you can:
• Prove it—most people you approach will require several strong reference cases that relate to their own experience and needs.
• Sell it—having competent capacity is one thing. Selling it is quite another:
• The supply of top technology talent available in the US has surged with all the high-tech layoffs and the slowing in high-tech investments. Demand no longer outstrips supply thereby lessening the need to consider creative sources. I.e., availability and access to resources is not the best sales angle at this time.
• Selling on the basis of quality is a non-issue. You have to have top quality just to get in the door.
• Selling based on speed of delivery is good if you can prove that you can implement systems faster and without compromising quality. This is a claim that will be hard to make especially given the distance and latency in communication between users, designers and developers.
• The best sales angle is based on lowering development costs.
• This capacity can be sold to major US corporations (such as Wells Fargo or GE) to augment or replace internal IT development staffs or it can be sold to the systems developers such as Accenture, SAIC, EDS, etc. or to software product manufacturers such as SAP or Peoplesoft.
• In the case of major US corporations:
• The CEO can be a driver for the cost reasons sometimes cloaked in “for the good of society” wording. E.g., GE has a policy that major development work will be staffed partially by off shore resources.
• It is important to get to know and develop relationships with CIOs who might be potential buyers. This is something not done overnight.
• In the case of system developers it is a much harder sale since they prefer to use their own staffs around whom they can organically grow. Some however are experimenting with offshore capacity programs.
• In the case of software product developers, there may well be a fertile opportunity
• Based on working in the industry in general and specifically with suppliers of high-tech resources from India and Ireland and with firms that use such services:
• Transitionpartners ( www.transitionpartnersco.com) is a firm that specializes performing the functions of the CIO. They have about 25 ex-CIOs who take assignments to set up and operate IT operations at best practice levels over 18 month periods. They have been in business over seven years, are at about a $10M run rate and have an impressive client list. We would introduce providers of offshore technologists to this firm to get the best read on how to develop the specific opportunity in the US.
• We also suggest networking into the Society for Information Managers (SIM), a well-established national forum for CIOs. I have previously addressed some of their regional chapter meetings on various topics over the years.
• We would introduce them to people we know at systems development houses, software product developers, US corporations with substantial IT development organizations and to others we know who have pursued similar plays with Indian and Irish competency pools.
• We would also be pleased to conduct a study to determine the best approach to take given the specific skill sets represented, experience, and current market conditions.