An offshore Software Development Center has certain advantages over their onshore counterparts that should be of interest to you. If, that is, you are a Project Manager with an unfulfilled project or two, or perhaps looking in to offshoring as a solution to a cost-performance dilemma that many IT shops face on a daily basis.
Let's begin by looking at a few basic cornerstones of a functional offshore Software Development Center , things we have learned in the past 15 years of doing Project Management and Software Architecture.
To create and sustain a productive working relationship we must achieve the following:
To get distributed functional workgroups (yours and ours) integrated into an efficient, unified team requires careful corroboration of short, medium, and long term goals. It also requires a strong project manager who knows how to forge a team from disparate members, knows when to be flexible, and when to enforce a schedule of milestones.
It is critical for functional team members to work together to generate a schedule of events and make sure goals provide a good working integration for project deployment.
Cultural differences, errors of communication, and differing values make RM an essential part of the productive software development team. Mutual respect and willingness to bridge the gap between team members is priceless in a working partnership, no matter where they are located, and that's one important thing we bring to the table.
This is not a no-brainer. Communicating early and often is a cornerstone that is easy to say but requires concentrated effort with frequent and timely contact between stakeholders. We use VOIP and IM with video conferencing, as well as POTS calls.
As part of our negotiation process, we disclose our true and total skill set. We ask the same of you. That gives both of us a basis for building a working relationship that gets projects done on time, on track, and on target.
You can expect the following processes to be at your disposal when collaborating with the iCatchIT Software Development Center . Our US Software Architect will be your primary contact throughout the project. You can see his credentials here. He will choose a group of engineers to work on your project, determined by the SLA and your needs. Much of the intercultural communication will be done through him, although every engineer speaks excellent English and is available for contact at any time. Our engineers apportion at least some of their time for IM conversations with stakeholders, like you.
In today's rigorously competitive environment, a team who cannot adapt, change, and innovate to solve problems is a liability. This, by the way, is the most common complaint that in-house teams have about working with an offshore SDC. The modern dynamic SDC fully utilizes each team member's talents to bring projects in on track, on target, and on time.
All right enough fluff. What is our skill set?
Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) represent a paradigm shift in the way information is developed, presented, and processed on the World Wide Web. In its earliest iterations, there were those who doubted its definable existence, but they were people who did not see at first what the revolution was all about; today however there are few who deny the revolution is alive and well. iCatchIT is one of the first to offer this service in Cebu and the Philippines.
The brain of any website is the code that creates the structure. The structure of the website is influenced by the technology used to create it. That could be XHTML, XML, Web 2.0, or others that we use at i CatchIT and that are industry standards. But the quality of your site is not determined soley by the code; good code determines performance, stability, and maintainability, among other things--things you may not see at first. Data driven sites must feed into accounting or ERP systems if they are to function efficiently. For example, your customer buys a widget from your online store. That should automatically adjust your inventory, update A/R and notify shipping. Depending upon business rules it may also signal manufacturing to build more widgets. It may not be obvious but none of these transactions need consume valuable human capital.
The modern website is changing and is becoming the front-end workhorse for many businesses. It must wear several hats, and be very pretty in the process. It must attract; it must inform; it must motivate. And it must do these things without appearing to be working at it. But there is more. Nowadays it must also integrate with your in-house ERP system as an order-taker, an inventory-controller, and as a CRM data entry point.
Study after study has shown that it is easier to upgrade a site than re-invent it. To get the flexibility to change just one module, OOP standards must be employed. Sites must be structured so that they can be upgraded iteratively to meet changing business needs as they arise.
Intuitive feature implementation complements strong, maintainable structure to form an integrated website design. Experienced architects are able to think like your users. The text and presentation set the theme and orient your user's thinking, and easy-to-use functionality must support that theme and thinking. Disappointing, awkward transactional functionality will quickly dispatch them to a competitor.
Our software architects and project managers have 10 years experience leading teams of software developers creating industry leading interactive websites, including eCommerce, data driven portals, and Web 2.0 applications. Teamwork, imagination and technology come together to develop solutions that are secure, cost-effective, yet easy to maintain.
For more information regarding content development and design, click here.
We have broad experience in developing applications for business, including ERP and CRM integration-customization and standalone applications. Typically we define requirements using UML and create a development process and environment that is customized to your organization and personnel.
When robust design and scalability are combined with intelligent data-modeling, database systems become reliable work horses behind any application. Using industry leaders, such as MS SQL Server, Oracle, and MySQL, we can accommodate your environment to produce data driven ecommerce websites, applications, and reports. We incorporate scalability, high performance and security for results you can see with no "gotchas" down the road.
Systems knowledge and networking know-how catalyzed with talent and commitment typify our systems engineers who provide a wide range of solutions to systems and networking issues. We have network monitoring software customized for your hardware and personnel skill set.
We work with you to define your SLA and we can take it from there. Stop worrying about viruses, worms, Trojan horses and stay focused on your core processes. Once and for all.
The Internet is moving increasingly closer to the user's desktop. Live documents, like RSS feeds, link to the Internet are data driven and provide seamless timely information access. Traditional notions of documents as static entities belong in the archives of the 20 th Century. Contextual, data-driven information components will provide the modern interactivity features of live documents, both as website elements and desktop icons. But these need to be designed into the website from its inception.
To create an integrated, efficient transaction processing platform, modern websites must connect website- oriented business activities with accounting and other ERP functions (eg HR, vendor procurement, sales force automation, manufacturing, and customer relationship management)
We utilize content management capabilities, XML, CSS and other standards-driven technologies to create sites that are easy to maintain.
We carefully optimize your site so that high and low bandwidth visitors are able to use the site without long delays.
Our contract terms allow iCatchIT to tailor service terms that meet your needs.
iCatchIT provides you with an offshore team and builds the infrastructure for successful integration within your organization.
A combination of hourly and team based.
Complete project management and execution. From gathering requirements to deployment and support, our experienced experts lead projects to successful completion on time and with a fixed price or at an hourly rate.
Reading this is only the first step. You can take the next step by requesting for more information. We would love to hear from you anytime.
Find out what Jonathan Corners (iCatchIT CEO) is up to.
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