Monsoon Software Consulting Ltd

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Monsoon Software Consulting Ltd

• MONSOON CONSULTING
• Presentation to
• Irish Computer Society
• Sourcing Forum Seminar - Offshoring

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What will I be covering today?
Offshoring Software Development The Practical
Issues
Monsoon Consulting Who are we?
Challenges facing the Irish Software Development
Market
The Market for Software Development Offshoring in
Ireland
Software Development Outsourcing Ways of Working
Why the Hybrid Model?
Offshoring to India
Is your business really ready to outsource
development?
What are the issues to consider in selecting a
partner?
Factors in successful development outsourcing?
Why does it fail?
www.monsoonconsulting.com
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Monsoon Consulting Who are we?

• Founded by Bharat Sharma, CEO in 2001 as a
  vehicle to secure IT contracts in Europe
• Head office established in Dublin in 2004,
  Technical Development Offices in Jaipur, India
  and Lodz, Poland
• Provide Software Development Services via
  onshore/offshore or hybrid model to SME sector in
  Ireland
• Functional Requirements, System Design, Technical
  Architecture, Project Management, Account
  Management in Ireland UI Design, Software
  Programming, Testing in India or Poland
• Developed unique and mature practices for
  interacting with clients and providing innovative
  onshoring, nearshoring and offshoring processes
  and solutions.

www.monsoonconsulting.com
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Challenges facing the Irish Software Development
Market

• Lack of qualified and experienced software
  development professionals
• Education system cant meet demand for
  engineering graduates
• Increasing software development costs labour
  and infrastructure
• Innovation, a key driver of our knowledge
  economy, is being hampered in the SME sector
• Big companies are looking for blended rates
  other business functions have been outsourced
  why not software?

www.monsoonconsulting.com
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The Market for Software Development Offshoring in
Ireland

• Very little empirical data its happening, just
  behind closed doors
• In practice, larger Irish software development
  companies are looking for partners or seeking to
  establish their own overseas office.
• System Dynamics / Kainos etc competing with Tata
  Consulting / Wipro for big development and
  consulting contracts in the financial sector
• Appetite within SME sector smaller software
  product-based companies seeking value and speed
  to market

www.monsoonconsulting.com
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Software Development Outsourcing Ways of Working

• Options for Client and Project Interfaces
• Onshore
• Offshore
• Hybrid
• Resource Placement
• Onshore All technical analysis, project
  management and development at client site working
  directly with client project manager
• Offshoring Suitable for well-defined projects.
  Initial analysis at client site and all software
  development completed offshore.
• Hybrid Project/Technical Manager based at client
  site (or offsite but onshore) with client project
  manager with all software development completed
  offshore.
• Resource Placement Skilled resource placed
  onsite for development or support contracts.

www.monsoonconsulting.com
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Why the Hybrid Model?

• Offers companies the opportunity to deal with an
  Irish company confidence and trust a factor in
  decision making
• Irish Software Services Contract / Greater IP
  Protection assurances
• Managed in Ireland - Developed Offshore
• Due diligence easier to conduct
• Can offer software development services to
  technical and non-technical companies
• Face to face communication important in early
  stages - functional documentation
• Longer term clients who have matured in the
  development process gain greater efficiencies via
  direct relationship with offshore centre

www.monsoonconsulting.com
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Offshoring to India

• A mature software development offshoring market
  (compared to Russia, China and Eastern Europe)
  Y2K genesis of success
• Experienced software development professionals
• Focus on Research and Innovation, not just
  development and testing

Offshoring to Poland

• Membership of EU advantage onsite resources
  easily deployed
• Familiarity - Ireland and Poland now closely
  tied through labour movement

www.monsoonconsulting.com
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Is your business/project really ready to
outsource?

• Characteristics of a typical project ready for
  offshoring -
• Well defined functional and technical
  requirements
• Documentation ready for knowledge transfer
• Flexibility in technical platform
• Hybrid model allows more scope for lack of
  clarity at early stage of development
• Adaptability and flexibility to manage a project
  with an external team
• If your sole motivation is cost saving you are
  in it for the wrong reason

www.monsoonconsulting.com
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What are the issues to consider in selecting a
partner?

• Establish confidence in vendors knowledge of
  technology and functional domain
• Reference checks
• Example Test plans
• CV review / Developer interviews
• Establish that the characteristics of the project
  meet the vendors characteristics
• Very often prototype development is a great test
• IP Protection considerations
• Time Zone Issues Nearshore vs. Offshore
• Deployment onsite requirement??
• Hybrid Model - Longer term clients who have
  matured in the development process gain greater
  efficiencies via direct relationship with
  offshore centre

www.monsoonconsulting.com
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Factors in a successful offshore software
development project Why do they fail?

• Communication, Communication, Communication
  establish norms early
• Mature Project Management Processes
• Things to look out for
• VOIP
• Skype
• Bug tracking tool
• Document Management System Project Workspaces
• Time Management System
• Be committed to the model Trust your vendor
  Over management leads to overruns
• Cultural / Temporal / Language Issues

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• Thank you
• Questions?