Posts Tagged ‘IT service provider’

The Cloud: A Threat to Incumbents, Opportunity for Startups

Monday, October 25th, 2010

cloud-computingLegacy enterprise software, like well-known CRM and ERP applications, are moving to the cloud, but new kinds of applications will need to be developed to take full advantage of these computing services, said Amazon’s Web Services chief.

Such a potential shift to new applications poses a threat to vendors of legacy software, said experts speaking during a panel at TechNW on Monday.

Companies like Oracle, SAP and CA are certifying their software to run on cloud services like Amazon’s, said Werner Vogels, CTO of Amazon Web Services. “That doesn’t give you immediately all the benefits like scale and elasticity,” he said. “For that, new apps have to be developed.”

That shift opens doors for new companies to develop services that take full advantage of the cloud but also threatens existing vendors. Vogels said that telecom service offers a good example. For instance, “no one buys their own PBX anymore,” he said. Instead, companies are using cloud-based voice services from providers like Twilio, which uses Amazon.

(more…)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Application development, Cloud computing | 2 Comments »

Outsourcing Contract End Date: the Best Time for Negotiation+

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009

As our experience at Softheme and the practice of other industry specialists shows, the best time for customers to bargain with an outsourcing service provider for better contract terms – service quality or prices – is the contract end days. Not many customers know about this hint, but those who take advantage of this option not always do everything right.  That’s why we would like to offer the six proven practices how to turn the last days of your deal to advantage.

First of all, let’s clarify why the contract end days are so beneficial for a customer. It’s simple and true. As the contract due date becomes closer, the client gets more power over the deal and the service provider since there is no threat of contract termination fees or other penalties and the customers can easily consider services of alternative outsourcing vendors or try to negotiate new terms beneficial for them.

(more…)

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Outsourcing, Project management | No Comments »

Offshore Software Project Management for Customers

Tuesday, August 11th, 2009

The success of an IT outsourcing project depends not only on an offshore provider who develops the project but also on how the project is managed remotely by the client. With a little input from their end customers shouldn’t expect for a project to be successful in the long run. The reason for this is simple: a client knows his business requirements and processes better than the vendor does. Outsourcing companies often work in a different part of the world and what they really can do is only develop a software solution or provide required IT services basing on the input provided by the customer.

IT project management approaches

Usually for large projects customers engage a dedicated IT project manager whose goal is to interact with the offshore development team acting as a virtual bridge between the client’s business and the offshore programmers. If a project is done without a dedicated IT project manager, a company may consider some simple tips on how to manage a development project quite successfully. They are listed below.

(more…)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Offshore, Outsourcing, Project management, Software development | 1 Comment »
SWIT Investor Day