Hangzhou, designated as a service outsourcing demonstration city in China, has seen significant growth in its software industry, achieving revenues of 47 billion RMB in 2009. The local government is focused on developing the outsourcing industry, particularly in financial services, with notable growth in offshore outsourcing values. The document also discusses workforce management evolution towards knowledge-based functions, challenges in cloud adoption by governments, and insights from the BPO sector regarding market dynamics and service optimization.

1. “WFM Has Changed to a Know- Why Governments Are Android Accelerates Mobile
ledge-based Function” Pg 8 Treading Slow Pg 10 Application Development Pg 22
www.globalservicesmedia.com
September 2011
The gateway to the global sourcing of IT and BPO services
Hot and New:
ADM &
Testing
Services

2. Software Paradise, 后Hangzhou Sourcing
Demonstration City of Chinasourcing
Hangzhou
Hangzhou was defined as the “China Service Outsourcing Demonstration City” in February 2009. Hangzhou is also the
one of eleven software industry base cities in mainland China. It has currently formed the several industries including
telecommunication, software, integrated circuit, digital TV, animation games and E-commerce.
The revenue of software business in Hangzhou was achieved at 47 billion RMB in 2009, the software export revenue reached at
460million USD. There were total 112 enterprises passed CMMCMI, ISO27001 certification. There were 20 IT software enterprises
have list on public market, two companies ranked at Top 10 of self-brand software products, total 15 enterprises have list at the
key software enterprises name list of the national strategic planning.
In order to accelerate the development of outsourcing industry, Hangzhou Municipal Government set up the leading team
to draw up the development plan, issue the supporting policy to make the rapid development of outsourcing industry in
Hangzhou. The total delivered amount of offshore outsourcing business reached at 919mllion US Dollars, risen to 352%
compared to the same period of last year (2008).
Hangzhou government has put more focus on the financial service outsourcing that is considered as the medium and high end
outsourcing industry, Hangzhou now is creating to become the financial delivery center.
International Financial Outsourcing Center
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4. Global ServiceS
A CYBERMEDIA PuBlICAtIon
An integrated media platform which connects the
various constituents of the global technology and Pradeep Gupta
business processing services industry ecosystem. Chairman & Managing Director
Cyber Media (India) Ltd.
E. Abraham Mathew
Directory of ServiceS
President
NewSletter Ed nair
A regular digest of key industry happenings. Editor
ed@cybermedia.co.in
DiGital MaGaziNe Satish Gupta
The fortnightly digital magazine features research Associate Vice President
reports, articles and experts’ views. Available on satishg@cybermedia.co.in
www.globalservicesmedia.com Smriti Sharma
smritis@cybermedia.co.in
webiNarS
Smita Vasudevan
Global Services’ web-based seminars aim to smitav@cybermedia.co.in
impart useful information related to outsourcing
industry in the form of presentations and discus- Sourabh Chandra Pushp
sions by industry specialists. sourabhc@cybermedia.co.in
niketa Chauhan
reSearch niketac@cybermedia.co.in
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5. April 2011
features
15 HOT ANDSErVICES &
[COVEr STOry]
NEW: ADM
TESTING
by Sourabh Chandra Pushp
Trends in Software Development and the rise of Testing
22 ANDrOID ACCELErATES MOBILE
[SPECIAL rEPOrT]
APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT
by Sourabh Chandra Pushp
The unprecedented growth in the user base of Android-based devices
and the demand for mobile applications is fueling a huge demand for
development using all methods of sourcing- outsourcing, crowdsourc-
ing, and buying readymade apps.
8 WOrkFOrCE MANAGEMENT
xperts
29 ENTErPrISE MOBILITy – FACTS
HAS NOW CHANGED TO A
MOrE kNOWLEDGE-BASED
AND MyTHS!!!
FuNCTION”
by Hari Haran, President, Persistent Systems, Inc.
by Smriti Sharma
32 THE FuTurE OF SOFTWArE
Over the years, WFM has found its way into business process-
ing, because when WFM is applied over an optimized process,
the overall economics is far superior. Service providers have DEVELOPMENT
therefore been using WFM as another tool in their arsenal to by Kumar Parakala, KPMG
35 THE CHANGING FACE OF IN
optimize overall process management.
10 CLOuD COMPuTING:TrEADING
GOVErNMENTS ArE
WHy CuSTOMEr SATISFACTION
OFFSHOrED IT SOLuTIONS
SLOW by Lalit Dhingra, President NIIT Technologies, Inc.,
by Smita Vasudevan North America
32 A CEASE FIrE WAr FuNCTION
Cloud adoption for e-governance has been slow. Even as gov-
ernments acknowledge that cloud is the way to go, there are
IN THE
many challenges that need to be addressed. What’s the way out? POINT HOLy
By Nigel Hughes, Global Services Director, Compass
Management Consulting
GlobAl ServiCeS DiGiTAl MAGAzine
Forthcoming Specials:
n vox artiS on infraStructure management
n DeStinationS comPenDium

6. Editor’s NotE
Directions for Indian BPO
t he Nasscom BPO Summit was a good occasion to get a sense of where
the Indian heritage companies are headed. Multiple flavors ruled these
conversations depending on which group you talked to and what they were
looking out for. The large ones were interested in high growth strategies;
the mid-tier companies were either looking for opportunities in commod-
ity areas with temporally high demand or evaluating niches that require
specialized expertise; and the legions of small BPO shops were there wide-
eyed trying to make sense of what BPO is all about.
Altogether, it was an interesting set of viewpoints. More importantly,
most of these ideas were very much grounded in reality; unlike the prover-
bial ‘shifting the paradigm’, ‘going higher up on the value chain’, and kind
of talks. Here are a few of them:
A leading client said- “Don’t treat kPO or knowledge-related BPO like
IT in terms of costs. The competitive edge here will come from value and
Ed Nair insights. It is not about lift-and-shift, but it is about combining expertise
between the client and the service provider. This mindset is yet to evolve.”
Editor • A leading service provider said- “In the past, the choice was between cost
ed@cybermedia.co.in savings and transformation. Now you have to do both, it is a model of
continuous improvement- re-engineering never stops. Don’t blackbox
your processes; you need to see it.”
“In the past, the • The idea of shoring has gotten silly. This place is good for that and so
choice was between and so— don’t be guided by that. This is a people’s business, so go where
you have the people.
cost savings and
• Don’t compare yourselves with IT services companies; their pressure is
transformation. budgets and ours is business model.
Now you have to • The biggest mistake is to club BPO companies with IT outsourcing
do both; it is a companies. The runway for BPO is much longer; size of the BPO
model of continuous market is close to $280 B, growing at CAGr is 20% and the size of IT
market is $150 B, growing at CAGr of 7%.
improvement-
• Over time, supply markets become demand markets and demand mar-
re-engineering never kets become supply markets.
stops.” • Indian BPO had it good till now. Now is the time to ‘scale up the
algorithm’.
• BPO service providers need to be able to do three things continuously:
manage cost pressures and lower costs; invest in training, skills, and
platform; and deliver increases in business value to clients.
Overall, my sense is that most of the Indian BPO companies realize
that cost arbitrage, FTE-based models, and transaction volumes no longer
determine success. Although the domestic Indian BPO market is a totally
different story, Indian BPO vendors do seem to understand what is needed
to lead the global market.
Enjoy the summer !!! GS

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8. WFM Outsourcing
“Workforce Management
Has Now Changed to a More
Knowledge-based Function”
the simple definition of Workforce Management (WFM) involves
assigning the right employees with the right skills to the right job
at the right time. in effect, it is also about optimizing the workforce
rather than mere allocation of resources. over the years, WFM has
found its way into business processing, because when WFM is applied
over an optimized process, the overall economics is far superior.
service providers have therefore been using WFM as another tool in
their arsenal to optimize overall process management.
Smriti Sharma, Sr. Correspondent, Global Services, interviewed Sanjiv Kapur,
global head-BPO & CIS, iGATE Patni, to find out how the company used WFM to
optimize its contact center management business. Excerpts from the conversation:
GS: What’s the primary driver for WFM outsourcing? expertise and leverage experts in cost effective and efficient
Sk: The current market scenario - cost pressures, increased call centre operational management. Outsourcing in this
competition, rapid industry change and the virtual nature area has been increasing in both large- and mid-sized com-
of the workplace, mixed with traditional constraints - panies, but there is accelerated growth in the mid-sized
salaries account- market for WFM optimization.
ing for 70% or
more of the cost GS: How has WFM evolved over time?
of running a call Sk: WFM process outsourcing started as simply a BPO
centre, are both function. It has now changed to a more knowledge-based
factors that have function, which requires a partnership between vendor
been understood and client that enables the vendor to seek and implement
by organizations process improvements to a mutually beneficial outcome.
in their search Companies that gain the most out of outsourcing establish
for improved a knowledge based partnership with vendors, working
resource utiliza- together to fully assess the operations and implement the
tion. best solution for the company.
WFM out-
sourcing has Financial services companies have been expanding
allowed com- WFM practices and benefits to all parts of their organi-
panies to focus zation, extending past the contact centre. Improving
Sanjiv Kapur on their core resource utilization has become a value to front-, mid- and
8 Globalservices www.globalservicesmedia.com september 2011

9. WFM Outsourcing
back-office areas, especially focusing on the typically exten- GS: Going forward, how do you see WFM evolving?
sive branch network. WFM process outsourcers have to be Sk: We see there is increase in demand for leveraging
able to support WFM efforts in non-traditional centres, more sophisticated analytics to drive forecasting accuracy,
such as a bank branch, and have to be able to support operational performance by using different analytical
emerging technologies including video, social networking models based on speech analytics, market analytics, busi-
and other off phone work activities. ness analytics and employee behaviour analysis (attrition
trends, shrinkage, home-based reps, etc.) to drive effi-
GS: What are the different models/ methods of imple- ciency and optimization at the enterprise level. Customers
menting being employed? with contact centre business typically rely on WFM tools
Sk:WFM is a collaboration of science and art. If it is well- for historical or trend based forecasting. These forecast-
balanced with process and if it is implemented well based ing models are based on both empirical and stochastic
on customer needs, it could reap multifaceted benefits approaches.
to the organization. Customer organizations can acquire
WFM capabilities by outsourcing work in multiple ways: GS: What are the challenges faced when you use WFM?
Sk: The challenges faced are similar to that of any process
a. Consulting services: where customer onboard the con- outsourcing engagement; WFM adds an additional layer
sultant to review and improve the existing processes or of complexity to it. The challenges are:
creates them afresh. The same is later supported by the
in-house WFM team 1. Identifying contract terms that are mutually beneficial
b. Selective process outsourcing: where most of the WFM for both the client and the service provider.
functions are outsourced and a limited work left in 2. Identifying key metrics to measure vendor performance
house with the customer 3. Audit / governance mechanism to validate the process
c. End to End outsourcing- where all the WFM processes being implemented by the service provider
and functions are outsourced to the vendor in entirety 4. Maintaining the status quo is not acceptable to the
and performed at chosen location. customers, it is now necessary to showcase continuous
Our market strategy has moved away from outcome- improvements to the process
based pricing, FTE and volume based transaction model 5. Customer expectation of phase of the outsourcing
to a revenue/ risk sharing or pay per transaction model. model needs to be appropriately set at the beginning
These models really ensure that we are aligned to resolve of the engagement. Typical outsourcing models move
customer challenges and provide empowerment to deliver through the phases of transition, stabilize, steady and
continuous process improvement. matured. GS
9 Globalservices www.globalservicesmedia.com september 2011

10. Infratructure Oursourcing
Cloud Computing: Why
Governments Are treading slow
Cloud adoption for e-governance has been slow. Even as governments
acknowledge that cloud is the way to go, there are many challenges
that need to be addressed. What’s the way out?
Smita Vasudevan
t
he cloud is the biggest wave of change to hit can help increase cloud adoption in a big way and when
the tech industry. When businesses world over will other countries follow suit.
are expecting huge benefits through cloud
adoption, there are no reasons as to why the Adoption Picks Up
governments should lag behind. The broad picture is that Cloud is now more of a reality than just hype and is
experts suggest that the public sector is gradually becoming changing the way enterprises are doing business. This is
aware of the promises of the cloud and adoption rates are surely acting as an eye opener for most government agen-
also going up. Strategies are being rolled out worldwide, cies that are looking to revive and transform their service
investments are being planned for cloud computing, but delivery capabilities. There is more interest for the cloud
most things are still on an evaluation stage. now and adoption is going up, but there is a clear differ-
According to the AMD 2011 Global Cloud Computing ence in the way different countries are approaching the
Adoption, Attitudes and Approaches Study, around 37 per cloud.
cent of global businesses have deployed the cloud models Taking a quick look across various geographies, uS and
in some way, whereas only around one-fourth of the pub- uk seems to be reasonably ahead in their cloud adoption
lic enterprises are on the cloud. Interestingly, a very large strategies. The uS Federal Budget 2011 puts a strong
percentage is evaluating and investigating its benefits and focus on cloud as a strategy to drive down costs and bring
implications. efficiencies. According to the Federal Cloud Computing
As concerns and hype surrounds the cloud, there is a Strategy (2011), an estimated $ 20 B can be moved to the
clear need to cut through the myths and encourage adop- cloud out of the $ 80 B uS IT spending.
tion. There have been talks on how the uS government
ClouD ADoPtIon BY uS FEDERAl
the road So far GoVERnMEnt
By 2014, over $ 1Bn of the federal IT budget would
be devoted to the cloud. By moving to a cloud service,
General Services Administration (GSA) now pays an
annual total of $650,000 for uSA.gov and all associated
costs which is a cost savings of 72 per cent. The migra-
tion to the cloud is estimated to help Washington D.C.
city government save 48 per cent on mail expenditures
and the City of Los Angeles 23.6 per cent.
Source: KPMG report ‘The Cloud Changing the business ecosystem’
kPMG’s The Cloud Changing the Business Ecosystem
Source: lockheed Martin Cyber Security Alliance survey 2011 report, states that the united kingdom is also not far
10 Globalservices www.globalservicesmedia.com september 2011

11. Releasing
30 Sept. 2011
Publishing Formats:
PubliShing FoRmatS:
l digital Magazine
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Web edition (dedicated microsite)
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12. Infratructure Oursourcing
behind in deploying a cloud adoption strategy. The British It is thus highly justified that more number of
government is building a Government cloud application government organizations are turning to the cloud.
store which is expected to be the only channel for IT serv- A recent example of this is The state of Florida mov-
ices procurement in the British government. ing to a state-wide private cloud email solution offered
Government organizations across the Asia pacific too by ACS, to deal
are swiftly finding their way to the cloud. Increasing need with operational
for Cost savings and flexibility in IT infrastructure are inefficiencies
major reasons for the shift. As the thrust is more on secu- and duplication
rity and the location of data centers, the APAC shows more across agencies.
preference for hybrid and private clouds. Commenting
on what the
What is Driving the Change? move holds for
Moving to the cloud is an inevitable change today the state, Chuck
and it is obvious that governments too are realizing this. Cliburn, Senior
As most of these agencies remain in the mid of budget Vice President,
constraints, the need to drive down cost is significant. ACS, says, “The
Thus cost saving is the primary driver for cloud adop- shift will increase
tion in the government space. What else is driving the productivity
change? Operational efficiency and standardization are and collaborate
other areas that are critical for government. There is efforts between
a high need for transparency and better interactions agencies.”
within communities to ensure that services are delivered
effectively. The IT infrastructure needs for governments Hurdles to Cross
are massive, and the fast changing demands call for a Even as the cloud is gaining popularity in the govern-
high degree of flexibility and scalability. Cloud comput- ment space and adoption plans are in the pipeline, real
ing allows efficiency, standardization of procedures and implementation remains slow. There are numerous factors
improved flexibility. It helps in streamlining services responsible for this. Security concerns are more promi-
and avoiding duplication, and offers all round efficien- nent in the case of governments and CIOs lack trust in
cies that can drive down costs significantly. Technology the cloud models. Coupled with that is the fear of losing
innovation is another benefit that cloud can offer to control over the IT infrastructure and data. The AMD
governments. report states that 36 percent of global public sector is still
investigating cloud solutions. Lack of IT skills and exper-
ACS oFFERS PRIVAtE ClouD EMAIl tise to handle cloud implementation is also a big hurdle
SolutIon to tHE StAtE oF FloRIDA that is coming in the way of adoption. Another important
factor to consider is that cloud models work on pay-per-
Here are the excerpts from an interaction with
use, on-demand basis, while IT budgeting is done much in
Chuck Cliburn, ACS:
advance. So it becomes difficult to predict demand while
The Problem: Over 30 separate email systems for
using cloud models.
the State Government of Florida resulting in opera-
What’s the way out? The Frost & Sullivan report sug-
tional inefficiency and duplication across agencies.
gests that there is a need for international legal and govern-
The Solution: A single, unified email platform to be
ance frameworks on cloud computing. It is also essential
implemented and operated by ACS, A Xerox Company.
for policy makers to strike the right regulatory balance in
The new system will be based on Microsoft Exchange
ensuring flexibility, regulatory compliance and jurisdiction
2010. Archiving and E-discovery will be based on
issues.
Symantec products. Help desk services will be provided
To capitalize on the cloud opportunity, governments
by ACS as part of the contract. The operational model is
need to have increased awareness and trust on how it
private-cloud solution operated within Florida.
works in reality. Service providers need to bust the myths
The Estimated Benefits: The anticipated benefits
and communicate clearly what the cloud solutions can
include a common email directory, share calendars
offer and ensure that security issues are handled effectively.
across agencies, improved archiving and discovery,
Building confidence is likely to act as a major catalyst for
improved security, improved disaster recovery and
government cloud adoption in the long run and wake this
improved help desk services.
sector up to the promises of the cloud. GS
12 Globalservices www.globalservicesmedia.com september 2011

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15. Hot and New:
ADM &
Testing Services
“The 2011 survey results are very encouraging and
highly favorable for an active software development
market, as well as the expectation of an improving
business environment,”
—Mary Brandon, VP of Marketing, SoftServe, Inc.

16. Cover Story
trends in software
development and the
rise of testing
You need to continue maintaining
the army of programmers; they are
the ones who ‘create’ software and
applications. Even as software devel-
opment services continue to thrive
amidst changing technology environ-
ments and methodologies, the curve for
the growth of software testing as an
independent service is steep.
Sourabh Chandra Pushp
l
ook at software development at the most basic indicated their software development budgets would increase
level. It is part engineering and part workman- in 2011; with nearly half indicating their budget is likely to
ship. The end objective is to engineer quality grow greater than 10% as compared to last year. Only 5.2%
code; the engineering part focuses on process believed their 2011 budget would decrease by 10% or more
and efficiency and the quality part stresses innovation. as compared to 2010.
Grady Booch, chief scientist at rational Software Corp.,
says- “Software development is fundamentally hard. And Software Development- Outsourcing
being a human process, we have to consider what are the The survey indicates early-market activity in SaaS/Cloud
things that eat away at our ability to focus on delivering and mobile applications. The majority of respondents indi-
good software. That might be project start-up costs, collab- cated business case planning, solution architecture, and
oration costs, stakeholder collaboration, technology churn implementation as their greatest challenges and area that
... and the activities of a code warrior that have nothing to need external assistance.
do with quality code.” “The 2011 survey results are very encouraging and highly
As an activity, software development will outlast the favorable for an active software development market, as well
technology industry. Therefore, the market for software as the expectation of an improving business environment,”
development will persist, despite economic ups and downs. said Mary Brandon, VP of Marketing, SoftServe, Inc.
During period of economic busts, software development will research carried by Horses for Sources research (State of
get postponed, but it will return with a throttle effect when Outsourcing 2011 Study ) predicts 95% of buyers reporting
the economy recovers. positive outcomes. It also reveals that in-house delivery of IT
A recent ExecutiveBrief 2011 Software Development application, maintenance and processes are still dominant in
Trends Survey indicates continued market stability and con- 2010-2011. Application Development outsourcing saw 38%
firms the respondents` increasing optimism on the imme- in-house activity together with 31% outsourced activity as
diate future: Seventy-nine percent (79%) of respondents sourcing model for managing the IT business. Companies
16 Globalservices www.globalservicesmedia.com september 2011

17. Trends in Software Development and the Rise of Testing
are placing a renewed focus on aftermarket services, as well behind the technical requirements, build trust, organize
as maintenance, repair and overhaul services as a source for communications, continuously optimize the process, tailor it
new revenue streams. Servicing existing products is taking on to the specific needs”.
a greater importance.
Clients who outsource software to outside providers are Software Development Today
expecting nothing less than great quality, as the IT devel- Virtualization, cloud computing, dynamic languages,
opment outsourcing scene matures. After about a decade Javascript browser integration, rIA frameworks, openID,
of growth, it is time for superior customer service, reliable and life after EJB are all common features of today’s software
organization, modern management and, most important of development landscape.
all, top-notch solutions. Nearshoring, farmshoring, cloud- Agile methods are a good thing because they address
shoring: These fancy concepts that mean, respectively, out- the social dynamics of small teams, for which the rational
sourcing to a nearby country, outsourcing to a rural area and unified Method is silent. But it’s also good to have an inter-
migrating software development to a cloud have one thing play between the two, because there are a lot of things that
in common – they are evidence for willingness of clients to the rational unified process deals with but for which the
seek new IT development outsourcing models. In the new agile methods are silent. So we have some learning to do on
year, more contracts are likely to flow to emerging software both sides. There is a growing demand for applications in
outsourcing destinations, like Brazil, russia and Eastern mobile and cloud areas, and rich multimedia delivery and
Europe. As these areas attract investment due to their acceler- storage solutions.
ating potential, more Western companies will want to create According to, Genefa Murphy, H-P, ”Two obvious trends
a foothold there. are cloud computing and mobile access. They are comple-
According to Andrei Pronin, GM-Auriga- “The buy- mentary. As the number of people and devices on the net
ers better understand the importance of non-technological increases, our ability to shape traffic on the demand side gets
factors. The providers’ capabilities to see the business needs worse. Spikes in demand will happen faster and reach higher
17 Globalservices www.globalservicesmedia.com september 2011

18. Trends in Software Development and the Rise of Testing
levels over time. Mobile devices exacerbate the demand side Software Testing
problems by greatly increasing both the number of people Software testing has always been an important phase in
on the net and the fraction of their time they are able to software development life cycle. Quality cannot be compro-
access it.” mised, and this realization has led to a lot of focus on quality
assurance space and testing as a discipline got matured in
Other prominent future trends are: the last 5 years. A decade ago testing was meant to catch
Enterprise App Stores defects but today testing
- Enterprise will demand has matured to prevent
the kind of apps they defects. There has been a
find on their smartphone lot of innovation in this
and tablets. Gone will space and several tools,
be monolithic apps with methodologies and proc-
loads of features that are esses have evolved and
rarely used. Highly spe- developers have started
cialized applications with relying on testing for
high usability would be in. overall quality of the
Private Clouds - product.
Despite the economic and Market demands and
technological incentives of technology advance-
outsourcing one’s infra- ments (mobile / tablets/
structure, there will always iPad) have also created an
be that organizational and increased need for testing
human need to build and own one. Private clouds of course as the end user community is getting broadened and diversi-
will overlap and need to integrate with public clouds, simply fied. All software products need sufficient testing. And both
because the dominant business model will be SaaS. – investors and developers tend to forget about it. Investors
Desktop Services - Services that we commonly expect on want to deploy their product fast and start to earn money
a desktop like the file systems, shortcuts, contacts, calendars on it. Developers like to push testing at the end of product
and programs will increasingly reside in the cloud. This is development. With tight scheduling, we often end up with a
a consequence for the need for greater security on mobile product infested with bugs and inconsistencies. And proper
devices and the need to share information among multiple testing needs time. The best approach is starting testing at the
devices and multiple collaborators. The filesystem of the beginning of software development process.
future will be collaborative shared spaces. The market for discrete testing services worldwide and in
the uS is expected to experience solid growth as cloud and
Impact of Cloud on Software Development mobility drive next phase of evolution, according to a latest
Industry report ‘Worldwide and u.S. Discrete Testing Services 2011–
How does the increasing adoption of cloud computing 2015 Forecast: Cloud and Mobility Will Drive Next Phase
technologies influence software development? Will it affect of Evolution’, from market intelligence firm IDC. Discrete
the development of web based and Software-as-a-Service or standalone global testing services spending reached $9.4
applications? billion in 2010, with projections for worldwide growth esti-
Most of the cloud migrations we see today are applica- mated at a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGr)
tions that have been written for physical environments and of 15.4% through 2015.
are not taking full advantage of the cloud. We are now deal- Worldwide spending on testing (including both internal
ing with a growing boom in software development for cloud and external testing skills, tools and related hardware and
computing that takes advantage of benefits but also issues systems) will near the €100bn mark in 2014, according
that will open up opportunity for new software develop- to PAC Consultants. Testing is also becoming one of the
ment. The selling and licensing of applications will change strongest areas of recruitment in the IT sector, and PAC
too. The way data is handled will undergo a major shift. Data estimates that there are now more than 100,000 professional
driven applications will become mainstream. testers worldwide. The report found that global spending on
In the cloud world, software development has become testing software and services is currently out-stripping overall
more complex in terms of security, reliability, usability and IT expenditure, and will continue to grow.
performance and will keep the software development indus- According to Gartner, independent testing as a business
try busy. globally is growing at 40 to 50 percent and there is a 35 to
18 Globalservices www.globalservicesmedia.com september 2011

19. COUNTRY-IN-FOCUS
Ensuring Global Visibility
A special feature for countries to showcase their uniqueness
There are numerous outsourcing destinations that exist as
great alternatives to India and China.
Inviting Countries to showcase
capabilities that accentuate
their uniqueness.
Examples of Country-in-focus feature
Egypt Philippines Jordan
JORDAN
For more information write to satishg@cybermedia.co.in

20. Cover Story
40 percent growth in offshore testing services. As per the esti-
mates of Ovum, the uS alone spends a total of $ 59 billion
on software testing.
According to a recent Nasscom report, over the last 5-6
years, India has grown to become the largest destination for
outsourcing of software testing services, accounting for 32%
of the total global outsourcing share. Export revenues and the
number of employees have doubled over the last four years.
In Fy 2011, the Indian independent software testing market
is expected to grow 23.5% over Fy 2010. The icing on the
cake is the fact that the domestic software testing market has
the potential to cross $1.5 billion by 2020.
As per the estimates of Ovum, the uS alone spends a
total of $ 59 billion on software testing. Of this total spend,
$13 billion is outsourced as a service to the Asian countries.
Given the reputation of India as an IT country, a total of
70 percent, totaling to $9.1 billion is garnered by Indian IT
service providers. The application development and mainte-
nance market has only demonstrated a CAGr of 19 percent
year-on-year, in comparison to 47 percent by the independ-
ent testing services.
New Waves in Testing
As smartphones are becoming an integral part of the
business ecosystem, testing plays a very key role in ensuring
that business apps deliver the promises that are made to busi-
ness teams. Testing mobile applications require significant kalyana rao konda, Vice President, AppLabs, says-”The
changes in the way we approach test strategies, tools, proc- consumer demands are leading to technology advancements
esses and methods. This needs unique tools, technical know- and fierce competition between providers. The survival of
how of various smart phones, mobile operating systems, providers has become subjective to the quality of the prod-
know-how of emulators/ simulators, test automation tools uct with superior service. Software Testing plays a vital role
that are specific to mobile applications, test methodology in providing reliability and quality to consumers to ensure
and approaches etc… that they don’t have a bad experience on using / buying the
A well-defined testing strategy combining a mix of several product they like.”
testing methods and using emulators when required will help More so we can say that the current competitive environ-
enterprises to resolve several issues from hardware, OS, and ment and consumer demand for sophisticated applications
end-user perspectives, while ensuring cost, quality and faster is putting increased pressure on businesses to deliver quality
time-to-market for mobile applications. apps at reduced costs and within shorter time period. This
‘no scope for error’ environment has increased the need for
Testing as a Service (TaaS) effective software testing. Today, it has become one of the
Testing-as-a-service allows enterprises to outsource all the fastest growing areas of the corporate IT expenditure.
aspects related to testing (Infrastructure, tools, people, test On the other hand, meeting customer expectations
methodology etc..). This model allows enterprises to focus has now become a challenge for enterprises across all the
on core aspects of their business. industries due to the faster delivery cycles and increas-
TaaS is fast evolving to be a financially and technically ingly competitive landscape. According to kris Canekeratne,
viable alternative to owning testing infrastructure and tools. Chairman & CEO, Virtusa- “The pressure on IT is on the
Most enterprises today recognize TaaS as a sure-shot way to rise to deliver increased business value in a shorter duration,
reduce cost and infrastructure spend while offering assurance improved quality, while meeting rapidly changing business
of purpose readiness. TaaS solution facilitates multi-tenant demands and controlling risks. Enterprises operating across
use of computing resources, optimizes expense and capital various industries and geographies have now realized the
outlays, and offer businesses flexibility by allowing rapid need to deliver quality products/applications and services to
provisioning and de-provisioning in a pay-per-use model. meet customer expectations.” GS
20 Globalservices www.globalservicesmedia.com september 2011

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22. Special Report
Android Accelerates
Mobile Application
development
the unprecedented growth in the user base of Android-based devices
and the demand for mobile applications is fueling a huge demand for
development using all methods of sourcing- outsourcing, crowdsourc-
ing, and buying readymade apps.
Sourabh Chandra Pushp
A
ndroid device shipments currently reach As of May 2011, users in 131 countries could purchase
close to 50% of the smartphone OS mar- paid applications from the Android Market. Some car-
ket share. ron DuPlain, Lead Android & riers offer direct carrier billing for Android Market app
Mobile Web Engineer, says that today when purchases. There is no requirement that Android applica-
everything is centered around mobility, application tions be acquired from Android Market. users may down-
development has taken vital transformation (both in load Android applications from a developer’s website or
terms of development and strategy). Application devel- through a third party alternative to Android Market.
opment companies are focused to help clients realize According to Markus Pohl, research2guidance,
the potential of rapidly evolving mobile technologies, Android Market is the fastest growing mobile content plat-
from developing a mobile strategy to launching mobile form since the beginning of 2011. The Android Market is
products. clearly the most dynamic app market today with the high-
‘Android development’ is a complex process, the suc- est growth rates in terms of app numbers, but this does not
cessful implementation of Android Mobile Application necessarily mean that the chance for an average developer
Development projects by and large depends on the devel- to generate revenue on that platform has grown as well.
opment approach itself. With the explosion of smartphone On the contrary, the success of an app store is negatively
and tablet use around the world, enterprise development correlated to the success of an average developer.
teams are being given new marching orders: “Get our There’s no doubt Android Market will at some point
applications into the field!” offer more applications for download and/or purchase
than Apple’s App Store, as the latter’s growth has been
The Opportunity slowing down of late, while the Android application store’s
With the launch of the Apple Developer kit (SDk), growth rate has been accelerating.
new garage type developers with little experience in mobile In a recent report, app store analytics company
content and application development rushed into the mar- Distimo forecasted that Android would surpass the
ket. Most of them initially developed their own applica- App Store in size before the end of July 2011. Provided
tions but soon found out that developing for third parties current growth rates for new app uploads are main-
generates a more secure revenue stream than becoming tained, research2guidance expects Android Market to
a publisher themselves. They make the majority of their reach 425,000 apps next August, effectively overtak-
business revenue with application development. ing App Store in size. It was recently forecasted the
22 Globalservices www.globalservicesmedia.com september 2011

23. Android Accelerates Mobile Application Development
Besides native
application develop-
ment and testing tools,
there are quite a few
hybrid application
development and test-
ing tools, frameworks
and platforms that
are available in the
market to adopt agile
Android development.
Hybrid mobile appli-
cation development
platforms provide an
integrated develop-
ment environment
where portable appli-
cations can be rapidly
developed once and
deployed on various
makes and models of
worldwide smartphone application market to reach $15 SmartPhones and Tablets. Hence, developers can focus
billion by 2013. The firm says the global smartphone more on the business logic than native platform develop-
app market has in fact already reached $2.2 billion in ments. Hence, these tools enable reduction in develop-
the first six months of this year. ment and maintenance costs and achieve higher customer
Evidently, there’s always the question whether this satisfaction.
matters at all. After all, the bulk of applications that are Besides rapid growth, Android applications are being
available for both platforms don’t see much traction any- outsourced consciously by many corporates to ensure cost
way, so how relevant it is whether there are 100,000 apps effective solutions of desirable quality. Most of the off-
or 200,000 apps that are rarely, if ever, downloaded by shore service providers are presently keen on building the
anyone? required competencies and are rapidly focusing on leverag-
In fact, notes research2guidance, Android Market’s ing the current mobility market boom.
high growth rate does not necessarily mean that the aver-
age mobile app developer will have a better shot at gener- Major Players in Android Application
ating revenues from the store. In fact, the firm posits, the Development
opposite may be true: There are two types of players in Android application
Apart from individual users, the corporate world is development space:
moving towards implementing large scale enterprise appli- 1. Framework/Platform development companies: The
cations such as CrM, BPM, Social Networking applica- following are some of the players and their frameworks
tions etc. on smartphones and tablets. This is done with lead this market place:
a view to take advantage of seamless connectivity to their • IBM rational Team Concert and PhoneGap
enterprise resources and also to provide the next genera- • OpenPlug
tion user experience. Such a trend makes it imperative that • rhoMobile
mobile application development companies need to adopt • CloudPact
industry proven software development models such as Besides the above, Sybase, an SAP company is offer-
Agile practices. Agile practices offer not only the SDLC/ ing a comprehensive mobile application development
PDLC guidelines but also define the best tools and tech- framework called SuP (Sybase unwired Platform) having
niques that can be used to help rapid application and high Android support on their roadmap of 2011.
quality software development with automated tools. For 2. Application development companies: Considering
example, Scrum is the most frequently chosen Agile model the rapid growth of mobility worldwide, many service
that the industry is adopting in android mobile application companies ranging from large to medium scale and even
development. startup companies are offering “Enterprise Mobility” as
23 Globalservices www.globalservicesmedia.com september 2011

24. Special Report
one of their core service offerings and are constantly focus- said Anshul Gupta, an analyst at research firm Gartner Inc.
ing on gaining due market share. in Mumbai.
With Agile development model that is totally based
on iterative and interactive development, one can achieve Market Application Restrictions
highest risk mitigation and address constant customer The Android Market application is not open source.
change requests that will result in high customer satisfac- Only Android devices that comply with Google’s compati-
bility requirements may install and access
Google’s closed-source Android Market
app, subject to entering into a licensing
agreement with Google.
The Android Market filters the list of
applications to those compatible with the
user’s device, and developers may restrict
their applications to particular carriers or
countries for business reasons. Carriers
can also ban certain applications, for
example tethering apps.
Android’s Race in the Smart
Devices Market
Apple became the top-selling device
manufacturer with its record-breaking
20.3 million device shipments during the
tion. Agile model also offers cost effective development second quarter of 2011, whereas Android owns 48% of
processes where rework can be avoided and also unwanted market as a largest mobile operating system provider.
modules can be eliminated sooner from the requirements. For most starting developers one of the key criteria in
The biggest event in this space has been the recent selection of a platform is the potential reach of an applica-
acquisition of Motorola’s Mobile business by Google tion, i.e. how many people own devices running the plat-
which has given Google a strategic advantage to retain its form and how many users will actually be reached through
competitive position against Apple and Microsoft by bag- a chosen app store?
ging 17,000 patents. Apple and Blackberry have their own Previously Apple was the unquestionable leader, with
hardware as well as their own OS and the same was not the the largest app store user base. If we count only smart-
case with Google in the past. This recent acquisition ena- phone users Android is already far beyond, however
bles Google to have their own hardware division in addi- Apple App Store user base is fueled by millions of iPod
tion to their own popular Open Source Android OS. This Touch users and a successful iPad spread. To date Apple
enables Google to compete against Apple and Blackberry has shipped over 240 million smart devices (iPhones,
with a more controlled hardware and OS development. iPod Touch and iPads) leaving Android behind with 170
“The quality of work here in India is surpisingly inspir- million cumulative device shipments. Given the device
ing, the rates Indian developers charge are very low,” replacement cycles and other relevant factors, actual
said Akash Dongre, chief operating officer at MoFirst potential user bases today are lower but Apple still wins
Solutions. His clients pay as little as $15 an hour for a over Android.
programmer. As we see the smartphone app market, monopoly is
MoFirst is tapping India’s next wave in outsourcing, continuously transforming into a duopoly. Both plat-
with thousands of programmers that charge a fraction of forms together comprise nearly two thirds of all potential
Silicon Valley prices to capitalize on demand for programs smartphone application users, leaving all other platforms
for Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s iPhone and devices running as niche players. We think it won‘t take long for Android
Google Inc. (GOOG)’s Android software. Developers-for- to catch up with Apple in terms of potential application
hire for mobile applications may generate $5.6 billion in store users. Another successful quarter for Android, and
revenue by 2015, a 14-fold jump from this year, Forrester absolute reach will no longer be a deciding factor for
research Inc. estimates. developers, which platform to choose for an app. They will
“India is a logical place to do it for the same reason the have to consider more qualitative user base differences and
software and services model has worked here: lower cost,” potentials, or develop for both platforms.
24 Globalservices www.globalservicesmedia.com september 2011

25. destinations
2011
compendium
a one stop resource on outsourcing destinations
Destinations compendium brings together the
myriad dynamics of the outsourcing locations. It
covers research report on top 100 outsourcing
cities, countries-in-focus, regional dynamics, city
profiles, experts opinion on location assessment.
http://microsites.globalservicesmedia.com/destinations
Don't miss this opportunity!
Book your space now! Contact Niketa at niketac@cybermedia.co.in

26. Android Accelerates Mobile Application Development
The types of companies providing application develop- tHE nExt PHASE In outSouRCInG
ment services have changed over the last ten years. In the
WHY IS It HAPPEnInG
pre-app store world mobile application and content devel-
Indian developers may have the edge in pricing. MoFirst
opers were classical developers with backgrounds in Java,
bills clients in the uS, the uk and the Middle East $15
Symbian, BrEW, Palm OS, Windows PocketPC
to $20 an hour, compared with the $50 to $100 charged
and other mobile development platforms. It was a
by developers in the uS
niche market with small customer numbers. In last two
years, the market for mobile application development has WHAt ARE tHE DEMAnD DRIVERS
experienced a tremendous change in the service provider requests for programmers who write code for Apple’s
landscape. iOS platform rose 20% in the second quarter, says
Elance. Demand for programmers with Android skills
Future Outlook For Android Application rose by 15%, while developer requests for Blackberry
Development devices increased by 3%
kalpana Verma, Senior Project Manager, rapidsoft WHY IS It A SEConD CoMInG
Technologies opines- “Android application developers Offering cheaper software than in the u.S. and Europe
will have a lot to do as they have to develop unique and has worked in India before. TCS. and Infosys have
migration-friendly apps for users which will enhance sales grown to become Asia’s two biggest IT firms
and purchase on mobile platform. Android application
developers will have to consider various marketing condi- Outsourcing Android Application
tions like heavy traffic, large inventory base for particular Development
items, enabling purchases with high inventory set-up and DV Satish, Head – Enterprise Mobility CoE, Mindteck
more.” says, “Besides rapid growth, Android applications are
Google’s next target would be to gain market share in being outsourced consciously by many corporates to
tablet space. As per analysts, Apple’s current 75% market ensure cost effective solutions of desirable quality. Most of
share will fall to 39% by 2015 and Android will gain by the offshore service providers are presently keen on build-
38% by producing more affordable Android based tablets ing the required competencies and are rapidly focusing on
and eventually these tablets may replace PCs. This will be leveraging the current mobility market boom.”
a big opportunity for application development companies Mobile Application Development and Outsourcing
to focus on tapping this business. is evolving rapidly because of the popularity and den-
Android already supports advanced features like sity of iPhones/Android phones among the users. Many
Location based services and Cloud based service integra- mobile application development companies in India,
tion for IT management. As per analysts, going forward, have developed more than 150 mobile apps for custom-
Android phones will also be used as credit cards for any ers in the uk, Europe and uS. The software development
financial transactions which will enable e-commerce com- company involved in the business of mobile Application
panies to come up with much more user friendly services. Development provides a variety of services that help
SmartPhone and Tablet applications needed in enhance the functions and performance of the iPhones/
Healthcare and Life Sciences is increasing day by day to Android phones. These include- data integration, Internet-
treat life threatening diseases and develop lifesaving drugs. based applications, providing solutions to get private host-
Many physicians and lab technicians prefer Android-based ing platforms for the iPhones/Android phones, custom-
SmartPhones or Tablets because of its powerful video izing usability features, interfacing with existing enterprise
and 3D imaging capabilities. Hence, there will be sig- applications, implementing various value-added services,
nificant growth expected for Android based applications and enabling interaction with other mobile devices and
in Healthcare and Life Sciences domains. platforms. GS
Overall, the future is “Mobile Age” and as per Gartner’s
report Cloud and Mobility are leading the list of top 10
technologies of 2011. Apple, Google, Microsoft, and
Blackberry continue to battle for market share. Considering
individual users interest, corporates need to adopt a mobile
strategy to support their mobile applications running on
heterogeneous handsets and tablets. One of the best ways
to implement such mobile strategies is to adopt Hybrid
Mobile Application Development.
26 Globalservices www.globalservicesmedia.com september 2011

27. Case Studies
That Define Global Sourcing
onE STop rESoUrCE
http://microsites.globalservicesmedia.com/live

28. Powering hotwire’s new Site:
www.travel-ticker.com
The Client: • Sophisticated back-end systems to At A GlANCE
Hotwire, Inc. is a well-known oper- manage deals and other business-
ating company of Expedia, Inc. related data; Client
– the world’s largest online travel • Interface for the suppliers to fill in Hotwire, Inc.
agency. their offers. Service Provider
Luxoft demonstrated a deep under- Luxoft
Situation Analysis:
standing of Hotwire’s industry and
Leveraging its relationships with business processes. Luxoft engineers Industry
more than 10,000 travel compa- produced a detailed system design Travel/e-Commerce
nies, Hotwire began offering public for the web application projects.
access to insider deals that could Service Provided
New site was launched as planned Application Software
not be found on other sites, includ-
within the budget. Luxoft contribu- Development
ing special limited-time offers,
tion encompassed:
small hotels that don’t usually sell Solution
online, exotic locations and more. • Internal Web portal for use by
both salespeople and suppliers Development of a state-of-the-
A new website, www.travel-ticker.
• Support of sales agents who can art back-end system featuring
com, was created by the Hotwire
team to offer this new service. work with multiple suppliers in front end, internal portal for
addition to the direct supplier’s salespeople and suppliers, and
To ensure a successful launch, a
state-of-the-art IT system was to organizational scheme support new CMS for entire website.
be created that included the front- • Multiple reports generation and
end for customers and back-end distribution, e-mail notifications, • Efficient test automation
for Hotwire’s salespeople and travel newsletters, deals alerts and more While working on Travel Ticker’s
suppliers. However, all of Hotwire’s • Integration with Oracle Financials back-end system project, the Luxoft
internal IT resources were already System engineers seamlessly integrated
working at full capacity. Hiring • Powerful and scalable CMS with into Hotwire’s onshore team. Their
more staff was out of the question – user-friendly interface cooperation yielded significant
in addition to being a lengthy proc- across-the-board enhancements,
ess, such hiring made little sense for • Future-proof design allowing easy
upgrades and extensions empowering.
what would be a one-time effort.
Outsourcing the creation of the
back-end system and CrM seemed success Metrics
to be the right answer.
Compared to the customization of an off-the-shelf CMS or implemen-
Solution: tation of an application from an ASP, an estimated rOI of the Internal
Portal project is about 400%. The Test Automation project helped
Hotwire’s new project goal was
increase the application code coverage from 35% to 63% and the
creation of a specialized website for
number of automated use cases went up from 500 to 1,700. Intangible
Travel Ticker. Luxoft was entrusted
benefits like security, usability, data propriety, and speed are likely to
with the full-cycle development of
be even more significant.
the following major components:
FoR moRe inFoRmation ContaCt : Jeffrey osborn, global head – travel and transportation,
josborn@luxoft.com, tel: 212-964-9900 x 250, mobile 404-242-2664

29. xperts by hari haran, President, Persistent Systems, inc.
Enterprise Mobility –
Facts and Myths!!!
this document shares how customer satisfaction functions
will continue changing as the market evolves further.
A
n year ago I was discuss- As far as bandwidth goes, it really wants to retain a certain portion of
ing with a client on the depends on the coverage in that loca- the value it creates by the enterprise
subject of developing and tion, the traffic, and numerous other mobile service. To assume that the
implementing an enterprise factors. Certainly more than often carrier would want to play a pure
application for their workforce. This you run into latency issues. “pipe” role and be relegated to a
application required large amounts of The point here is simple; you can- commodity player would be naïve.
real time data to be accessed periodi- not embark on an Enterprise Mobility Similarly to assert that the mobile
cally from a database and occasionally strategy without taking into account device manufacturer, with a rich user
receiving high bandwidth content on the entire ecosystem. According to interface and application, can l easily
the mobile device. Concerned with a new report by Global Industry access information from a server or a
the bandwidth requirement and the Analysts, Inc., the global market for cloud and deliver at the right speed
potential latency issues, I engaged enterprise mobility is likely to exceed would be lopsided.
my client in some architectural dis- uS$168.8 billion by 2015. A precursor to laying out a strategy
cussions. The client replied in haste, Depicted below is a view of the for enterprise mobility is the analysis
“The bandwidth is not an issue. With value chain and the landscape in the of the business processes and delinea-
3G/4G and unlimited data plans cost ecosystem: tion of the problems that needs to be
will not be a major factor.” Each layer in the value chain plays solved through mobility. In the bigger
Famous last words, I must say. a key role in bringing an enterprise picture, it is important to nail down
Most carriers are pulling out of unlim- mobile application to the user. It is the role of mobility in the support of
ited, “all you can eat” data plans. only natural that each of these layers various functions vis-à-vis marketing,
Solution native Hybrid Web/HtMl5 Based
characteristics
user Controls Native uI controls could Appropriate mix of select It is possible to integrate
be utilized to provide great standard html or native user uI components control-
user experience controls led by touch and swipe
in HTML5 based web apps
Integration with other High Achieving through native calls Limited browser capabilities
native functionalities e.g. device specific
functionalities
Performance Good design can yield high- Depends on proportion of response time could be
er performance native Vs. html call high
Maintainability Needs smart design Depends on proportion of Easy
approach native Vs. html implementation
Scalability App store up gradation App store up gradation Easy
Extensibility Separate binaries for other Easy to extend to other Easy to extend to other
platform platforms platforms
Cost of Development High Comparatively low Low
29 Globalservices www.globalservicesmedia.com september 2011

30. ADM
sales, manufacturing, field personnel architecture as well as shorten the
Global ServiceS
management, supply chain / transpor- time to deployment. With respect to
tation logistics etc. Equally important architectural considerations and the
MaGazine
is the congruence of this mobility changing landscape, these are some
Past Issues
strategy with the industry vertical that of the areas that need to be carefully
includes this enterprise. A harbinger analyzed while defining the mobility 2011 July Hro So
to any technology and architecture strategy. issue old, Yet
undertaking is to gauge what is the Carrier Relationships: It makes So new
quantitative value of incorporating sense for applications to leverage the
HRO pro-
mobility into some of these processes? WiFi or WLAN where possible and
What is the rOI? Does this increase latch on to the 3G/4G network; oth- viders are
your productivity? Does it reduce erwise the user needs to optimize the not seeing
waste? Does it improve your top line? data plan usage. For high availability too many
The changing landscape in the eco- applications, it brings about an inter- opportu-
system presents a number of factors esting problem of seamless roaming. nities for
that are critical in the formulation of There are some solutions that should multi proc-
a mobility strategy. One has to envis- be deployed in the carrier network to ess deals
age potential changes and innovations make this possible. Doing this with-
click Here
that may come about in technol- out the carrier cooperation would be To read
ogy, regulatory matters, new devices quite expensive both from a server
etc. that could further exacerbate the implementation point of view as well
challenge. Some of the questions that as from the device perspective. Now 2011 May The
need to be addressed are: for applications that require accurate issue Promise of
How much information is accessed location information, it is necessary iaaS
from the server or the cloud and how to get the location APIs or location New
frequently? Is the information content information from the carrier network.
Opportu-
rich (graphics)? This is not easily exposed or available,
Will there be a mix of smart and and requires certain agreements with nities in
low end devices deployed to the user carriers or with settlement companies Global
community? What is the diversity of that have the appropriate technology Sourcing:
mobile devices that can be deployed? / agreements with carriers. Finally, in IaaS and
What is the diversity of the Operating order to guarantee levels of end to end Analytics
Systems? QoS or bandwidth optimization, agree- click Here
Would there be devices using mul- ments with the carrier is very essential. To read
tiple carrier services? While there are solutions around appli-
• How important is security? cation delivery optimization, this will
Important, critical, Mission-critical? increase the deployment cost.
• Would data need to be stored local- Security: In a survey conducted by 2011 april The new
ly on a frequent basis? Datamonitor to establish issues that issue rules in
• Would the application(s) have to are currently preventing enterprises bPo
be integrated with other enterprise from investing in mobility solutions, Learn
IT systems? Would some of them the majority of the 467 respondents
about what
be legacy? rated security as the greatest barrier to
will drive
• How important is location infor- adoption of mobility solutions. The
mation? How precise and accurate issue of access and policy manage- the BPO
should the location information be? ment was an important factor. Will sector in
These are some of the factors that the security software reside in the this special
will impact the architectural decision. server or the cloud? Alternately, is it report.
Moreover, there may be the need to possible to implement a device based
click Here
bring in some unique set of partners solution? What is more cost effec- To read
to complement your application, in tive and germane for the particular
order to optimize the cost of the enterprise applications? How do you
30 Globalservices www.globalservicesmedia.com september 2011

31. ADM
prevent Data intrusion? Are some of Enterprise Integration: At the 2011 March contact
the main areas of concern. end of the day, most enterprise appli- issue center
Mobility Cloud: There is a grow- cations do not operate in an island. industry:
ing trend to move more of the mobile They interface with existing applica- where
middleware to the cloud. To a certain tions and system within the enter- do You
extent, the cloud approach can solve prise. This requires thinking through Go From
some of the challenges presented the Systems Integration aspects of Here?
above. For example, location based these projects. Will the enterprise Contact
information can be exposed by a carry this out in-house? Will they Centers
middleware in a cloud which has pre- appoint a standard software systems and the
existing agreements with settlement integrator? Or will this be the cloud Challenge
companies. Further, in order to scale operators responsibility? of Social
large enterprise mobility projects as Device Client Architectural Media
well as reduce uptake cost (through Approach: In summary, the endeavor
click Here
SaaS Subscriptions), the cloud model of planning and deploying enterprise To read
offers a very competing approach mobility is a process of cooperation
to deploying mobility. Once could with players in the ecosystem. No one
envision thin mobile clients that only player can do it entirely in a cost effec- 2011 February next
access data from the cloud on an as tive way. There are some competing issue & best
needed basis with the cloud doing approaches for solving this problem. Practices
most of the heavy lifting may very It is imperative to do a full rOI before in Global
well alleviate the “unlimited data selecting a certain option. One thing is Sourcing
usage” problem. This could be a clear, no matter what option is selected, Thought-
public cloud operator such as Google the partnership with the right software leading
or Enterprise Private Clouds. Finally, services company is crucial to a success- Practi-
the advent of HTML5 will make ful implementation. It will be ideal if the tioners’
data caching better and reduce load company is a services company that has Viewpoint
demands which will make cloud the requisite experience in all aspects of click Here
To read
based mobile connectivity better in the ecosystem (Carrier, Cloud, Device,
areas of poor coverage. Operating Systems, and Application
2011 January Utility
Diversity of Devices: The plethora Development) with an unbiased view
of devices and the variety of operat- on the architectural choices. issue compu-
ing systems poses a definite challenge (NOTE: “The views expressed in ting: The
in deploying mobile applications. It this Article are strictly the personal reality
is expensive and time consuming to views of the author. The trademarks check
rewrite the application for various or trade names mentioned in this
devices. yet we are talking about dif- paper are property of their respective In the dec-
ferent form factors, screen sizes, device owners and are included for reference ade that
types etc. This implies putting a lot of only and do not imply a connection went by,
thinking into middleware and plat- or relationship between the author the out-
forms for these devices so there can and these companies.”) GS sourcing
be maximum reuse of the application
industry
across devices and Operating Systems. As the President of Persistent Systems Inc.,
had many
Infrastructure Management: Hari Haran is responsible for Persistent’s
Mobile Device Management is of Global Sales, Marketing and Business Devel-
momen-
paramount importance to not only opment efforts and continues to position tous shifts
standardize the offering in every Persistent as a leader in Outsourced Software click Here
To read
device but also, to ensure security, Product Development. Hari also heads the
access control etc. Can this be a man- operations of the Persistent USA subsidiary.
aged service run by a carrier or will He brings over two decades of strong experi- 2010 archives
this be run by the enterprise, is some- ence primarily in the telecom, wireless, broad- www.globalservicesmedia.
thing that needs to be thought about. band, convergence, and professional services. com/e-magazine
31 Globalservices www.globalservicesmedia.com september 2011

32. xperts by Kumar Parakala, KPmg
the Future of software
development
software development in the broader sense includes
everything from conceptualizing the desired end state
software to the delivery of the final product, typically
in a structured manner.
Introduction A brief history of software stories. Modern programming lan-
Software development in the development and guages like Java, Python, ruby, PHP,
broader sense includes everything technology etc. together with their rich libraries
from conceptualizing the desired end Over the past few decades software and the virtualization of infrastruc-
state software to the delivery of the development has undergone a sea ture or Cloud services made avail-
final product, typically in a structured change. Several software development able by companies like Amazon and
manner. All this while, the key pur- methodologies have evolved using Microsoft have made software devel-
pose of software development is ‘solv- various permutations and combina- opment and deployment an easier,
ing problems’. tions across the stages of a software simpler and a cheaper task.
One of the main issues faced by development life-cycle (SDLC) and We are at the threshold of fur-
organizations is to understand the corresponding rapid changes have ther evolution of technology usage
‘problem’ that is to be solved. In taken place in the IT infrastructure and software development. At the
today’s dynamic business environ- and technology as well and also in same time one should bear in mind
ment, organizations grapple with the way software services are being that developers using agile meth-
economic uncertainty, constant cus- delivered. ods are typically a small team suited
tomer requirement changes, resource As time progressed, software to projects that require extremely
crunch, tight delivery deadlines, requirements continued to evolve quick turnaround and co-location of
margin pressures, etc. Several times depending on the changing socio-eco- requester or client and the developer.
organizations end-up focusing on nomic, business and customer envi- This in turn means that the project
building software applications with- ronment. To cope with the rapid pace will be of a smaller scale. Agile may
out having a clear understanding of of these changes, organizations started not be suitable for a very large scale
the problem and the focus is on what experimenting with agile methods for development project involving multi-
technology could do for them and developing software. location development teams.
in the process they lose the bigger Further, in the context of service
picture. At the same time too many Rise of Agile methods – providers the technology aspect is
software development methodolo- A myth? driven or dictated by the client and
gies, tools and services offered by Technology convergence across in such a case a project end date
the providers have also confused internet, mobile, handheld devices, remains very crucial which might
organizations on what could suit etc. and the explosion of social media not be possible to determine or
them best. Amidst such a volatile and its increasing usage in conduct- make mandatory in an agile method.
environment, few things that come ing business has opened a gamut of under such circumstances and envi-
to my mind are how software devel- opportunities for developers, service ronment it’s unthinkable to deliver
opment is evolving today, what will providers and businesses alike. It does large development projects with agile
be its future state and how develop- not need a huge team to develop methodology. Therefore, most of the
ers, buyer organizations and service trend-setting and revolutionary soft- IT service providers still follow the
providers will be impacted in the ware these days. Facebook, youTube, waterfall model of software devel-
process? Digg, etc. are some of the success opment. Further, in the context of
32 Globalservices www.globalservicesmedia.com september 2011

33. Software Development
Figure 1: evolution of Software Development and technology
• Emergence of the ‘as a Service’ paradigm
• Utility computing on the rise
• Growth of collaborative solutions that
cater to real time information management
• Waterfall model still continues to be used
widely
• Rise of internet and • Increased usage of Agile development
information age methods
• Emergence of Search Engine • Increasing technology convergence
Optimization (SEO)
• Emergence of Software
• International usage increases
development as a profession
multi-language capable
• Rising hardware and
software coding and systems
software complexity causing
higher risks and consequent • Agile development involving
failures iterative and incremental software
• Software crises helps methodologies like Extreme
realize the pitfalls of programming, Scrum, Lean,
software development Feature driven development, etc.
• Several tools, methods, disciplines,
• Waterfall software gain acceptance
processes emerge to solve the
development model takes software crisis • Small and medium enterprises
root increase demand for software
• Structured programming, object
development
oriented programming, CMM, ethics,
professionalism are key themes • Growth of inexpensive software
systems
• No one technology or tool emerges
to solve the development crises
Pre 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s Beyond 2010
Mainframes Rise of personal Client Server Hosted / Co-located Cloud Computing
computers Architecture environment
Indian service providers, those who • Rising technology convergence themselves with how they are able
are mostly involved in maintenance driving Application (Apps) devel- to deliver the best experience to the
of software systems or software testing opment boom - Data, voice, and end-user so that they stick around
and support cannot actually rely or video content development and till the next challenge crops. There
do not require agile methods for their sharing will keep rising. At the same will be increase in demand for
work. What could probably suit them time usage of devices like mobile expert developers.
best are the traditional SDLC proc- phones, iPhones, Tablet PCs and • Increase in serving the Cloud
esses with a structured framework. other such devices will increase. Client – As Cloud gets popular sev-
So the question is how the con- The usage of computer will reduce eral software service providers and
stantly changing environment will and more and more people will developers will experience their cli-
influence software development and move towards using the tablet. This ents shifting to the Cloud. keeping
technology in the future? will necessitate developing Apps this in mind the service providers
that are optimized for performing need to recruit and maintain devel-
Future of software effectively on multiple devices. We opers who are capable to deal with
development can see this already happening but this change. Preparing today for
Some of the key themes that we the important part is that there will this inevitable future will be advis-
could see emerging or gaining traction be too much on offer for the end able than waiting to see the client
in the future are elaborated below- user. The winners will differentiate slip away due to lack of capabilities.
33 Globalservices www.globalservicesmedia.com september 2011

34. Software Development
Additionally, as Cloud adoption rationalization of professional and trend in frameworks but the waterfall
increases, data security and priva- social networking sites with a few method will still remain a dominant
cy challenges will increase, requir- emerging as the dominant ones. method for the larger part of the IT
ing developers to address these issues Social and professional networking services industry globally.
with more robust software systems. will still continue to flourish. The Organizations that can dare to be
Further, there will be a manner in which this can innovative will be driven to experi-
lot of end-user require- be leveraged is the key. ment with newer technologies and
ment to access a Smart organizations agile models to develop the next revo-
number of will develop suitable lutionary software. But for the vast
applications and tools to majority it’s the waterfall model that
encourage professional will earn them their bread and butter.
networking on the lines With the mushrooming of social
of social networking. networking sites requiring minimal
This will encourage the computing power and availability of
development of cloud infrastructure, computational
an informal power within the device will carry
platform for less weight as compared to stronger
person-to-per- data network, the ease of access to
son connection different Apps and features the site or
within the organ- software program offers. Developers
ization that will need to have a good understanding of
further enhance indi- software integration with the Cloud
services involv- vidual and organizational and at the same time understand
ing third-party knowledge sharing rather that technological convergence across
applications than relying on unpop- devices will demand developing appli-
requiring soft- ular online knowledge cations suitable across devices.
ware integration management forums The Cloud, technological conver-
with the parent system. Developers which have gained more notoriety than gence and devices supporting this
need to understand this. usage in almost every organization. along with social and professional
• Rationalization of Professional networking sites and the manner it
and Social networking sites to Conclusion will be used will drive software devel-
open software development Over the past few decades sev- opment in the future. GS
opportunities – recent surveys eral frameworks of software develop-
are indicating a trend towards ment have mushroomed. None can Kumar Parakala is Head of IT Advisory,
social networking fatigue. users are be claimed to be the best or the worst. KPMG EMA & India and Chief Operating
getting tired of too much social Each has its own pros and cons. What Officer, Advisory in KPMG in India. He is
networking. Soon we will see the we can expect in this decade is a similar also a global head for Sourcing advisory.
34 Globalservices www.globalservicesmedia.com september 2011

35. xperts by lalit Dhingra, President niit technologies, inc., north america
the Changing Face of
Customer satisfaction in
offshored it solutions
this documentshares how customer satisfaction functions
will continue changing as the market evolves further.
G
lobal Sourcing of IT enhancing an airline’s website to help of which contribute to revenue gen-
Services took off in a big it sell more seats and ancillary servic- eration – all received large percent-
way during y2k/year es, or enabling an insurance company ages of high and critical influence
2000. Companies based to leverage mobile applications as a rankings. Moreover, customers are
in the developed world were leverag- new sales channel. increasingly expecting their offshore
ing cheap skilled labor from global IT In fact, 49 percent of the IT IT services providers to demonstrate a
services companies. In the mid 2000s, executives and technology decision- much higher level of innovation.
the trend shifted to better and faster makers who participated in Forrester Here are three key points to achiev-
in addition to cheaper as processes research’s 3Q10 Forrsights Services ing superior customer satisfaction:
became more stable and clients could Survey1 cited “grow our overall com-
ascertain vendor quality and govern- pany revenue” as having high influ- Vertical Specialization is
ance mechanisms. ence on shaping their firm’s IT Vital
In this document, Lalit Dhingra strategy and ini- tiatives, you wouldn’t hire a residential
shares how customer satisfaction and 36 percent contractor to draw up plans for an
functions will continue changing as gave it a office complex, a general physician to
the market evolves further. perform an appendectomy or a fast-
In offshored IT services, the char- food cook to be the executive chef
acteristics of customer satisfaction at a gourmet restaurant. They may
have evolved as much as the be good at what they do, but lack
industry itself. It’s no longer the specialized knowledge required
about delivering good IT solu- for those specific tasks. Similarly,
tions—that’s the core of a serv- it’s not in your best interest to
ice provider’s business. It’s also engage with an “all things to all
no longer about meeting SLAs, industries” provider that utilizes
the effectiveness of account person- a cookie-cutter approach to service
nel, the integrity of a system’s data or delivery. Instead, in order to help
timeliness of service in response to a you achieve your goals and identify
problem, as those have all become areas for innovation that are unique
table stake commodities. to your industry, your IT solutions
Instead, the new normal in cus- provider must have significant depth
tomer satisfaction is the innova- critical influ- and breadth of expertise in the vertical
tive, technology-enabled, value-add ence ranking. Similarly, in which your organization operates.
solutions the provider proactively “improve our customer service,” In fact, industry specialization is
offers to make a demonstrable differ- “improve our ability to innovate our becoming increasingly important to
ence in the customer’s business. The business model and go-to-market IT services customers. Against the
focus is on generating new revenue approach,” and “launch new products backdrop of growing regulatory
for the customer. Examples include and services into the market” – each requirements, consumer demand
35 Globalservices www.globalservicesmedia.com september 2011

36. ITO
and competition, 63 to the provider gets $80, the
83 percent of partici- other $20 is the risk, and
pants in the Forrester an additional $5 from the
research survey refer- customer is the reward if
enced above felt that the provider achieves 100
experience with a spe- percent in all the business
cific technology service, value-based parameters in
industry-specific busi- the scorecard. But impor-
ness process or industry tantly, the additional $5
vertical was important goes into the pockets of
or very important. all the team members,
Providers with a not the provider’s coffer.
heritage of delivering This variable compensa-
services specifically to tion plan encourages cre-
companies in the bank- ativity and innovation in
ing, financial services, every individual working
and insurance and trav- on the customer engage-
el industries are clearly ment. And if the cus-
best positioned to know where oppor- within that industry. With their mix tomer doesn’t agree to the additional
tunities are for technology-enabled of IT and domain knowledge, these $5 if 100 percent of all the metrics
innovation. board members provide tremendous on the scorecard are met or exceeded,
insight into industry-specific dynam- the provider itself should pay it to the
The Customer Comes ics and customers’ going-forward team members, not only to retain tal-
Second drivers and requirements. ent but also to demonstrate its com-
Satisfying customers’ needs is, of mitment to its staff.
course, an IT solutions provider’s Modernize Your Metrics regardless of the internal or
number one priority. But in order to With customers’ mounting focus external processes a service provider
fully support the business value-adds on the business value, their IT solu- implements, the focus must always
today’s customers require, the provid- tions providers can help facilitate, be on the new model of customer
er must first empower the members standard qualitative metrics such as satisfaction. Certainly all the elements
of each of its vertical practices with quality, productivity, efficiency, and we historically regarded as measure-
industry-specific business insights. resource talent should evolve as quick- ment of customer satisfaction must be
Doing so enables them to think in ly as possible to long-term, quantita- present. But today’s mindset must be
terms of the business first and IT tive business benefit parameters. For adjusted to align with the evolution in
second when designing systems and example, if the provider has delivered customer needs and wants. No longer
bringing innovation ideas to the cus- zero defects for the past four quarters, can the customer be considered satis-
tomer’s table. greater market share will advance the fied until their business has truly been
Truly customer-centric providers partnership to the next level of value improved and revenue enhanced.
engender this domain-specific busi- for the customer. The decision on If you’re an IT services buyer, you
ness mindset by putting all their team what quantitative measures will take should be asking if your provider is
members through training on indus- the place of typical qualitative met- exemplifying their ability to deliver
try concepts, marketplace dynamics rics should be bi-directional, based on customer satisfaction’s new nor-
and how the customer – not IT – on both the customer’s goals and the mal. If not, it’s probably time for a
thinks about business requirements value-add ideas the provider proposes. recalibration and innovation discus-
and growth opportunities. And to Then, as an incentive methodolo- sion. GS
ensure full comprehension, the train- gy, the customer and provider should
ees are then certified by industry- consider entering into a skin in the Lalit Dhingra is the President of NIIT
approved, third-party organizations. game risk/reward arrangement linked Technologies, Inc. the North American Busi-
Within NIIT Technologies, each to bringing measurable value-add – ness Unit of NIIT Technologies Limited, a
of our vertical practices also has an rather than run-of-the-mill service publicly held global IT service provider with
advisory board comprised of ex-CIOs delivery metrics – to the customer. operations in 14 countries.
and COOs from buyer organizations For example, with a baseline of $100,
36 Globalservices www.globalservicesmedia.com september 2011

37. xperts by nigel hughes, global Services Director, Compass management Consulting
A Cease Fire in the
Function Point Holy War
Market trends and innovations are creating new opportunities to assess
and improve Application development and Maintenance (AdM) per-
formance. Client organizations and service providers that traditionally
shunned Function Point counts are increasingly open to considering
them, while staunch Function Point advocates are demonstrating a
willingness to consider alternative models. it’s a win/win situation.
F
unction Points – an indus- gain visibility into AD/M perform- Points is the growth of managed serv-
try standard measure of ance. And those that have focused ice models in outsourcing. “We have
the functional “size” of an exclusively on Function Points are seen a significant rise in the number of
application – have tradi- more and more open to other perspec- AD deals that include Service Levels
tionally inspired strong feelings tives, including using Function Points that use Function Points as a baseline
among Application Development in conjunction with other methods. measurement for quality and produc-
and Maintenance experts. One The result of this open-mindedness is tivity,” says Hall. “Service Providers
camp has sworn by them as the only new and expanded opportunities to have embraced Function Points as a
viable way to analyze ADM per- improve ADM performance. means to measure productivity and
formance in a meaningful apples- quality of their teams across multiple
to-apples context. The other side Growing Interest in FPs accounts.”
has sworn at them, arguing that Steve Hall, Partner and Managing Mike Garman, a Compass Lead
Function Points are an excruciat- Director of Cloud and ADM Services Consultant specializing in ADM
ing and time-consuming exercise at sourcing advisory TPI, says one issues, adds that companies value the
that delivers no real value. factor fueling interest in Function added visibility that Function Points
My Paris-based Compass colleague yield into ADM cost, quality, and
Guillaume Almeras recently compiled productivity. Specifically, the sizing
a series of observations of sourcing component of Function Point meas-
strategies among French banks. ures provides a normalizing factor
Because the philosophical battle with which to compare performance.
lines over FPs were so clearly drawn For example, Function Points can
and fiercely defended, initiatives be an effective way to assess the
to improve ADM performance productivity of application
often degenerated into support and maintenance
unproductive debates activities. The standard
over methodology. measure of number of
The good news is FTEs needed annu-
that these attitudes are ally to support 10,000
changing. Increasingly, Function Points in the
organizations that have production environment
never used Function calculates the hours applied
Points are applying them to complete various sup-
to enhance existing tools and port activities, repairs, and
37 Globalservices www.globalservicesmedia.com september 2011

38. ITO
technically-oriented enhancements Specific non-Function Point meas- project also factors into the overall pro-
performed on the functional “fea- ures of development project produc- ductivity of a project team.
tures” of the application. tivity can include the following: In terms of assessing support and
Low productivity (a high number • Average Project Size (in Hours) and maintenance productivity, effective
of FTEs) can result from a variety of Average Project Length (in days): measures that don’t use Function
reasons, such as resource experience Correlations can be made between Point counts include volume of user
levels, inefficient processes, complexi- better/worse productivity and the contacts logged, and the percentage of
ties, project delivery quality, or other average size/length of the projects. those contacts resolved by the support
factors. Once the extent of the pro- • Project Schedule Adherence and and maintenance team. Another is the
ductivity gap is understood, further Project Effort Adherence: Highly number of software defects report-
analysis can identify the root causes of productive performers are generally ed, and the percentage of defects
the problems and enable the formula- very good at meeting both sched- fixed and implemented by the team.
tion of corrective actions. uled milestones and budgets. under- Additional insight can be gleaned
performers typically do far better from the number of enhancements
FP Weaknesses
One of the weaknesses of Function
Points, says Garman, is that they are
not designed to quantify the impact
of complexities associated with an
application – a key consideration of
assessing performance.
The use of Function Points in pricing
of outsourced services can also be prob-
lematic: FP-based pricing poses a risk
to service providers, says Hall, because
it assumes a level of rigor and proc-
ess discipline that is missing in many
organizations. To address this risk, pro-
viders either set their Cost per Function
Point rates at a premium or charge
for change control during the project.
Neither approach benefits the client.
Non-FP Alternatives in one measure than the other – requested, and the percentage of those
For AD pricing, estimating mod- depending on a number of factors. enhancements implemented.
els such as use Case Points can be a • Average Project Hours per Project Whether or not Function Points
viable alternative to Function Points, Day: A measure of “churning” of are involved in an assessment of ADM
as they provide more accurate and project team members assigned to performance, market trends suggest
consistent measurements based on a project. Extremely low numbers that client organizations and service
the environmental complexities of the reflect lower productivity brought providers are increasingly focused on
specific client or project, and are bet- about (typically) by constantly finding ways to address the thorny
ter suited to define costs on a project- changing priorities. challenges around maintaining a bal-
by-project basis. Whatever approach is taken to meas- ance between ADM cost, quality, and
In addition, TPI’s Hall says signifi- uring AD productivity, delivery quality productivity. Debates over the specific
cant progress has been made mapping must be considered in the assessment. methodologies to be used to achieve
CMMi key Process Areas (kPAs) to According to Garman, defects delivered that balance are, properly, becoming a
specific productivity improvements. to production (per total hours expended secondary consideration. GS
“Within an outsourcing contract,” in development) on software delivery
he says, “we can use this data to projects can be a good indicator not Nigel Hughes is Director of Global Service
contractually obligate year-over-year only of the quality being delivered, but Development at Compass Management Con-
productivity improvements based on of the overall productivity of the project sulting. Bill Huber is Partner and Director of
these process improvements.” team. The cost to deliver a software CPO Services at TPI.
38 Globalservices www.globalservicesmedia.com september 2011