Runtime - The Accelerance Blog

WeSoft, first partner from Hong Kong is approved for Accelerance Global Partner Network membership

We Software Limited (WeSoft) is the newest member (and first from Hong Kong) of the Accelerance Global Partner Network. A careful reference check confirmed that WeSoft has the skills and experience to capably deliver software development services. 

All three client references were at large or medium-sized companies in the U.S. who replied back with convincing strong and positive stories about the software development and testing services provided by WeSoft. Here’s what some of their references said about their experience with WeSoft:

"We were using some developers in India who were inconsistent in responsiveness and more expensive than I would like. I am confident that our old vendor would have been significantly more expensive than WeSoft. WeSoft was professional, on time and on budget. Their business model makes great sense with a presence in a U.S. time zone, project management in Hong Kong, and World Class development in China." - a software startup in the pharmaceutical space

"Eager to deliver best quality work every time & eager to listen and improve all time. They have a real 'Yes We Can Attitude'" - a major cell phone manufacturer

"We needed to ramp resources (Development and QA) to achieve a Time to Market advantage. WeSoft provides a reliable and affordable resource pool which is very important to our business strategy. They are the most reliable and hard working offsource resource that I worked with in my 30-year career." - a Tier 1 VC-backed startup

WeSoft has over 100 programmers in China with management resources in Hong Kong and the U.S. A major concern with outsourcing to China is protection of your intellectual property. WeSoft addresses this issue head on with policies, procedures and agreements directed by the U.S.-trained executive management team that understand this important requirement for American companies. Better yet, they have a strong track record with clients to back up the paperwork.

WeSoft touts their Tripartite Outsourcing Model with offices in the U.S., Hong Kong and the High-tech Park in Shenzhen, China. The benefit to clients is access to cost effective resources with around-the-clock accessibility.

WeSoft describes their capabilities in the online member directory this way:

WeSoft - Hong Kong, China

WeSoft's experience in software development is extensive. Over the past decade, we have successfully delivered a variety of projects for small and large-scale clients, helping them to achieve their business objectives in a timely manner. The value that we have contributed to our clients has had a huge positive impact on our development, and helped us to build a strong reputation and gain credibility in the software outsourcing industry. Most importantly, we are committed to providing your organization with the level of expertise and capability that enables you to roll out quality, cost-effective products.

WeSoft specializes in developing Client/Server, Distributed and web-based applications. Our core competencies include software design, development and quality assurance.

At WeSoft, we feel that defining strategic team relationship is the key to delivering quality custom applications for North American and European clients. Whether your primary goal is cost saving, parallel development or risk mitigation, our engineering and business team will work hand-in-hand with your core management team to ensure that we share identical objectives and remain focused on achieving your overriding targets.

As one of only a handful of SW-CMM Level 3 certified outsourcing companies in China, we understand the importance of well-defined development processes and transparency within our project team. Our internal software engineering process group consists of highly experienced project and quality managers who drive the evolution and continuously remain abreast of the project status.

This new partner is included in the following country page(s) of the World Region Outsourcing Guide:

China Hong Kong

And the following technology and industry categories of the member directory:

Technology Agile Apple iPhone Embedded Linux Embedded Windows Flash / Flex Java Linux C/C++ Mobile Apps QA RTOS Software Testing Windows C/C++ Industry Data Security / Encryption Electronics Entertainment / Gaming Software R&D Telecom Website Design

The Accelerance Global Partner Network  is the only online directory of highly qualified and hand-selected global software development companies from around the world with successful track records in developing software for clients.  Your use of the online directory is completely free – there are no commissions, consulting or referral fees.

digital telepathy, first partner focused on the UX & UI design is approved for Accelerance Global Partner Network membership

digital telepathy is the newest member of the Accelerance Global Partner Network and the first to be focused on the user interface and user experience design for web applications and websites. d-t offers a combination of strategic web consulting and user interface design to ensure clients get started on the right path to success. They then create the visual functionality of your website with interaction design that will enhance the user functionality of your website with AJAX and JavaScript.

Using the services of a partner like digital telepathy is critical for state-of-the-art, Web 2.0 and/or consumer-facing web applications that must engage users quickly and without training so they can instantly and intuitively become productive.

digital telepathy can complete your project by integrating the user interface design into a content management system or web application. They also partner with other Accelerance partners for software development using agile development models, incremental implementation and large-scale usability testing to ensure that your project is fast, reliable and ready for the masses.

digital telepathy describes their capabilities in the online member directory this way:

digital-telepathy - San Diego, California, USA

We work with clients to help them strategically build an online presence that will be unique in its space and grow and scale as the business grows. digital-telepathy works closely with stakeholders to ensure  business goals are met and exceeded while creating an online roadmap that they can follow to succeed in the future.

This new partner is included in the following country page of the World Region Outsourcing Guide:

USA

And the following technology categories of the member directory:

Ajax Amazon Web Services Apple iPhone CSS & XHTML Flash / Flex PHP & MySQL QA Ruby on Rails SaaS Software Testing Web 2.0 Web Design

The Accelerance Global Partner Network  is the only online directory of highly qualified and hand-selected global software development companies from around the world with successful track records in developing software for clients.  Your use of the online directory is completely free – there are no commissions, consulting or referral fees.

Natural Guides, first partner focused on iPhone development is approved for Accelerance Global Partner Network membership

Natural Guides LLC is the newest member of the Accelerance Global Partner Network and the first to be completely focused on iPhone software development. Natural Guides has created several innovative products for sale in the Apple iTunes App Store including Birds for iPhone, Encyclopedia of Life (EOL), Flickr Uploader, Guinness Book of Records and many others. Their unique revenue sharing business model keeps your software development costs low.

Natural Guides describes their capabilities in the online member directory this way:

Natural Guides - Jacksonville, Florida, USA

We create location-aware guides for the iPhone: city guides, wildlife, wine, plants, medicines, geology, history, hotels, art, cars, planes, trains, anything that can be found, seen or heard

...plus

encyclopedias, quizzes, trivia, tests, study aids, languages

Have a great idea for a new app and want to collaborate* on an iPhone application?

Contact us

*we build the application, you manage your content via our web tools, we share the revenue

This new partner is included in the following country page of the World Region Outsourcing Guide:

USA

And the following technology categories of the member directory:

Apple iPhone

The Accelerance Global Partner Network  is the only online directory of highly qualified and hand-selected global software development companies from around the world with successful track records in developing software for clients.  Your use of the online directory is completely free – there are no commissions, consulting or referral fees.

What Would You Pay for Programmers?

Are you paying too much for offshore programmers? The answer is yes if you are paying such a cheap rate that it takes them three times as long, and most of your own time, to get anything done.

A few weeks ago I met the CEO of a Silicon Valley startup company looking for Drupal programmers.  I described the Accelerance Global Partner Network and how we have several approved vendors who have the programmers she needs.

“How much do they charge?” was her immediate question.

I explained that the rate depends on the country, number of programmers you need, skill level and finally the length of the engagement. But a good budgetary number to use is a blended rate of about $4,000 per month for each developer.

“Oh, that’s too high. I’m paying $2,000 per month for programmers in India right now.”

“That sounds like a pretty good deal” I said. “Why don’t you just hire more of them?”

“Well, I want to have somebody here in the office I can keep under my thumb.”

Why Offshoring Doesn't Work

Bad programming results from India, China and Russia was explained in a previous post describing why offshoring doesn’t work all the time.

Those were her actual words. Yes, it sounds like those offshore programmers are a heck of a deal. If only they would do what she wants!

One of my global partners told a similar story about cheap programmers. He made a call on a prospect who said they were paying $900 per month for programmers in India.

The prospect said, “These programmers suck! But they are so cheap we can’t stop ourselves from hiring them – even though we know we spend about 80% of the time telling them what to do. It’s like an addiction.”

By the way, I don’t mean to pick on India. We have many terrific partners in India and a great deal of excellent software is developed there. And I’m sure you can get bad software developed in other countries too, even the U.S.!

So who’s right? Are you getting ripped-off if you pay more than $900 a month?

I decided to ask the question on LinkedIn

One of my global partners responded to the question privately and said, “Hey, I thought you were the expert on this!” Yes, but maybe I’m out of touch and rates have dropped radically since the economy hit bottom. 

But no. I received 21 answers and my conclusion is that rates are under pressure but you still have to pay more than the CEO with the big thumb to get reliable results.

Here is a summary of the answers:

• Even if it is possible to find a team that operates at that rate, it would be doubtful if quality of development, management, support will be acceptable.
• It's common practice to [offer] the price of the lowest cost resources, then try to stuff the project with more expensive people that have more appropriate skills… The first step is winning the business, the next step is figuring out how to get it done (hopefully).
• You should differentiate between an IT application developer and a product developer. Product developers are at a premium. [Steve: Agreed. We’re talking about product development here.]
• There are places where $12-$14 an hour is fair but for other places that is way too low. [Steve: $12 / hour is about $2,000 / month]
• If cost is the compelling factor, I would recommend going the Fixed Price route [Steve: yes, but that’s not practical unless you have a detailed specification. Most do not.]
• It all depends on the volume, skill set and level of experience required.
• Talking about ongoing rate on offshore resources is like speaking about ongoing prices for houses. Even when you narrow it by geography, skill, & engagement type the rates will fluctuate dramatically from company to company
• We're trying to re-establish the link between outsourcing activities and results by moving towards offering performance-based engagements where clients pay based on outputs delivered or outcomes achieved. [Steve: I think this means > $4K per month!]
• Go to http://www.odesk.com/trends. There are real-time rates for every specific type of programmer based on the actual freelancers using the oDesk service. [Steve: Not true. oDesk doesn’t show the rates and if they did, freelancers working out of a spare bedroom are always cheaper than a team of professional programmers. And it’s hard to manage a widely distributed team of more than just a couple freelancers.]
• $2000/month sounds low. It may be signs of desperation for projects (and hence taking assignments at below cost) or a company with severe cash flow issues or someone who will deploy junior resources.
• Range would be around $2600-5000 depending on skills involved, size and mix of the team. I think for medium sized companies average would be around 3200-3500 where as for larger company’s rates would be higher 4000+.
• $2,000 per month per developer is low… A realistic price for good programmers in Romania for instance would start at $3,000 per month depending on skill set and seniority.
• $12 an hour can be for somebody just out of college post training for 6 months in the company.
• Surely a focus on cost is always important, but studies have suggested that a focus on costs actually leads to cost escalation, but a focus on outcomes generally yields a more positive relationship/success.

Accelerance Global Partners

Price is not the first questions we ask about when evaluating partners for membership. It's #7. Here's what we look for:

• 10 – 2,000 engineers with a desire to staff client projects that start with 5 to 25 engineers
• Focused on custom software development services, not selling their own software products 
• Technical expertise in one to three key areas
• A track record of success with several satisfied clients—preferably in the U.S.—who will provide positive references
• A web site in English
• The ability to communicate well, in English, via the phone and in writing
• A good value proposition that benefits clients, by delivering reduced costs for specialized skills
• Reasonable goals for growing their services business
• Very high integrity, honesty, and excellent business ethics

Sound like your company? Learn how to apply for membership if you are qualified.

I like that last point. After all, your goal should be to create great software, not to hire the cheapest programmers on the planet.

There were also a couple answers from vendors who said they could actually deliver software development services at $2K / developer / month. If this still excites you then look them up on the LinkedIn answers.

But keep in mind this answer which I considered the best one:

• You certainly can get this rate, even lower. The question is, though, what would be your TOTAL COST. I would suggest few factors in evaluating it:

  (1) The ability of the off-shore team to understand your requirements...
  (2) How professional they are in software development?
  (3) Do they have a REPEATABLE PROCESS that will produce deliverables of PREDICTABLE quality?
  (4) Do they have professional and dedicated testing?
  (5) Do they have any legal [entity] in your country?
  (6) Will the people dedicated to your project?

The Runtime Bottom Line

Before low-cost global software development, the usual way to begin a good-sized software development effort was to order tee shirts for the team, budget a million dollars and then hire a room full of programmers.Today the cost of using global programmers is dramatically lower. But don’t expect to get good results using offshore programmers for what you previously spent just for the tee shirts.

What’s your offshore cheap programmer story? Have you paid $2,000 / month or $12 / hour or less and gotten good results?

Until next time,

Steve Mezak, CEO

Steve@Accelerance.com
Accelerance, Inc.
Risk-Free Outsourcing
+1-877-99-ACCEL (877-992-2235) x101 Toll-Free
+1-650-472-3785 Global Calls + Fax
Or contact me at: http://www.Accelerance.com/contact.htm

Author of the new book -
Software without Borders: A Step-By-Step Guide to Outsourcing Your Software Development
www.Accelerance.com/swb.htm

PSL first partner from Colombia is approved for Accelerance Global Partner Network membership

PSL - Productora de Software S.A. is the newest member (and first from Colombia) of the Accelerance Global Partner Network. A careful reference check confirmed that PSL has the skills and experience to capably deliver software development services. 

All three client references were large or medium-sized companies in Latin America but replied back (in English) with convincing strong and positive stories about the services provided by PSL. Here’s what some of their references said about their software development experience with PSL:

“They are at the top of [the list of] qualified consultants and software factories with a clear understanding of what service is about.“

“PSL most definitely stood out from other software firms I have worked with before because of their transparency, discipline and control of the software process. Ultimately, it’s always about the people and the people at PSL were always willing to give the extra mile not only to do what we said, but to question what we said, to educate us in proper software development methods and even to suggest many ideas that had to do with the business process itself, as they got a hold of our business. It has been a pleasure to work with PSL. I highly recommend them.”

"I certainly recommend PSL as a first rate software developer"

PSL has over 200 programmers in Colombia and another 75 in their growing location in Mexico City. PSL is widely recognized as a software development leader in the Latin American market for their professional and technical skills and their ability to implement large software systems. Larger companies have had great success using PSL where other vendors came up short in implementing complex software. Typical engagement size is 10 to 20 engineers for a year or more of effort. About two-thirds of their client engagements are fixed-price projects with the other third being on-going software development with an engineering team dedicated to the client.

If you are in the U.S. it is hard to find a closer location to outsource your software. Colombia is close in distance and time zone with complete overlap with the U.S. workday. This is an advantage for developing software using Agile methods that require daily communication to quickly resolve questions and accommodate the inevitable changes to requirements. The political and social environment has improved dramatically and travel to Colombia is very safe.

PSL describes their capabilities in the online member directory this way:

PSL – Productora de Software S.A. - Bogotá & Medellín, Colombia and Mexico City, Mexico

A nearshore Latin American-based company with development centers in Colombia, Mexico and Spain and US business offices in Charlotte, NC and Dallas, TX. Known worldwide for the adoption of global best practices as demonstrated by being the only Latin American company to be assessed at SW – CMM level 5 (2002), 1st Latin company and 8th company globally assessed at CMMi5 (2003 and re assessed in 2007). Winner of the 2006 IEEE/SEI Software Process Achievement Award, the most prestigious software process award in the world. ISO 9001 certified. In process of certification in 27001 for Information and Data Security. Company-wide use of Six Sigma quality management methods. Leverages both proximity and time zone alignment to collaborate tightly with clients while transitioning resources seamlessly on and nearshore when needed.

PSL commits itself to operate in the range of the best in the world in terms of quality and productivity, from low cost countries in Latin America.

For fixed price projects, PSL uses an Agile RUP framework taking practices from XP and Scrum but leveraging Six Sigma and our software engineering processes to deliver system-dependent (not person) results that are extremely reliable, on schedule and budget and guaranteed to fulfill expected needs and functionality.

For ongoing projects driven by client requirements and priorities, PSL deploys pure Agile approaches.

Technologies include but not limited to Java (JEE, JME, JSE), .Net (C#,VB.Net), C++, Oracle, PB, VB, LAMP, PHP, AJAX, HTML, XML, Coldfusion, Lotus Notes, FLEX, Sharepoint, Web Services, SOA. Databases MS SQL, Oracle, MySql, DB2.

This new partner is included in the following country page(s) of the World Region Outsourcing Guide:

Colombia Mexico

And the following technology categories of the member directory:

Agile Ajax Apple iPhone CSS & XHTML Flash / Flex Java Linux C/C++ Microsoft .NET Mobile Apps Oracle PHP & MySQL Ruby on Rails SaaS SharePoint Silverlight Web 2.0 Web Design Windows C/C++

The Accelerance Global Partner Network  is the only online directory of highly qualified and hand-selected global software development companies from around the world with successful track records in developing software for clients.  Your use of the online directory is completely free – there are no commissions, consulting or referral fees.

Is Colombia the “El Dorado” of Outsourcing?

Wondering where to outsource your software development? In the past, many companies got dollar signs in their eyes from the low cost of programmers in Asia. Many have also been burned by bad outsourcing deals where cost was the primary deciding factor.

There are many terrific programmers in Asia but the good ones cost quite a bit more than the U.S. minimum wage rates quoted by some vendors.

Even with the good ones, there is that little problem of a 10 to 13 hour time difference that can really put a crimp in your after-work social hours, not to mention your sleep schedule.

Recent interest in outsourcing to Latin America has grown because of its closeness in distance and time zone compared to other far flung destinations in Asia.

But at a cost.

Software development in Mexico and Costa Rica, two popular destinations, is generally 50% higher than many Asian outsourcing destinations.  These rates are offset by the reduced cost of travel and higher productivity because of improved communication and 100% overlap of normal workday business hours.

Besides cost, another factor is the desire to travel to a nice place. Costa Rica is a popular destination for its beaches and ecotourism.  As one client said, if we have to fly somewhere to get our software developed it may as well be someplace where I can also work on my surfing. One guide book says Tamarindo, a beach resort town on the west coast of Costa Rica should be called Tamer-gringo because of the all the Americans that live and visit there.

But if a limited budget overrides your surfing desires then Argentina and Chile are excellent Latin American alternatives. The rates are lower rates but it takes significantly more time to get to the far end of South America. The flights are longer but at least you are not staggering through your day because of a time zone difference.

Colombia vs. Columbia

To dispel any confusion, the country of Colombia is spelled with an “o”. The American spelling of Columbia with a “u” is correct for Columbia University, District of Columbia and many other place names in the U.S. Both are named after Christopher Columbus (or is that Colombus?) 

And now you have a chance to get the best of both low cost and closeness by outsourcing to Colombia. Colombia has been missing from the radar screens of most U.S. companies looking to outsource their software development. It’s primarily because of Colombia’s lingering bad image of violence and the illegal drug trade.

Colombia is very close to the U.S. with frequent flights from major U.S. cities and has the same time as the Eastern time zone or Central time when the U.S. switches to Daylight Savings time. (Colombia is next to the equator and has no need to switch to Daylight Savings.)

Sure it’s close, but is it safe to go there?

Even as recently as this past February, one publication that was widely reported rated Bogotá, Colombia as the #1 most dangerous place to outsource. Does it deserve this reputation?

Probably not.

Subsequent articles and rebuttals suggest the original report is using old data, poor survey techniques or both.

These surveys play on the fears created by popular American movies like Romancing the Stone from 1984 and the more recent Clear & Present Danger which was in theaters in 1994.

Announcing PSL – Productora de Software S.A.

The first member of the Accelerance Global Partner Network from Colombia. PSL is a nearshore Latin American-based company with development centers in Bogotá and Medellín, Colombia, Mexico City, Mexico and Murcia, Spain, and US business offices in Charlotte, NC and Dallas, TX. They are known worldwide for the adoption of global best practices as demonstrated by being the only Latin American company to be assessed at SW – CMM level 5 (2002) and eighth company in the world to be assessed at CMMi5 in 2003. PSL is also ISO27001 certified for information security management.

In the last few years, Colombia has experienced a tremendous improvement in its internal security, economic performance and stability for businesses. As a result safety has improved dramatically. For example, in 2007 Colombian cities were safer than Washington D.C. and business—legitimate business, including software development services, is booming. Also back in 2007 Business Week reported on Colombia's dramatic rise.

The U.S. signed a free trade agreement (FTA) with Colombia in 2006 which is pending approval by the U.S. Congress. According to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, President Obama tasked them with “seeking a path to address outstanding issues surrounding the Colombia FTA.”

Doing business with Colombia has become attractive again.  The number of foreign visitors to Colombia doubled between 2001 and 2006 to over a million people. I am planning a trip to be one of them later this year.

On the programming front, Colombia graduates around 13,000 engineering and technical graduates in IT related fields each year and has a sizeable software development workforce. English is widely used and many professionals have attended university in the U.S. and Spanish accent is neutral to other Spanish speakers.

The electrical and telecommunications infrastructure is one of the best in Latin America. The software development workforce is expert in all the modern software technologies and processes including Agile and CMMi. They have an excellent track record of delivering services to many companies in Latin American countries and are now ready to expand their presence in the U.S. market.

The Runtime Bottom Line

As I wrote earlier this year, it seems America is now discovering Colombia as a nearby place for excellent software development at a price that competes well with other global locations. It could be the next outsourcing El Dorado.

Until next time,

Steve Mezak, CEO

Steve@Accelerance.com
Accelerance, Inc.
Risk-Free Outsourcing
+1-877-99-ACCEL (877-992-2235) x101 Toll-Free
+1-650-472-3785 Global Calls + Fax
Or contact me at: http://www.Accelerance.com/contact.htm

Author of the new book -
Software without Borders: A Step-By-Step Guide to Outsourcing Your Software Development
www.Accelerance.com/swb.htm

Nine New Technology Categories for Accelerance Global Partners

Accelerance announces nine new technology categories for easier selection of our global partners based on technology. The new categories reflect new software development trends for Web 2.0 applications the Apple iPhone and the requirements recent clients used in their search for qualified global software development resources.

Ajax - Accelerance global partners that are expert in working with Web 2.0 technologies such as AJAX, JQuery, JSON, CSS, XHTML and other rich Internet application (RIA) technologies used with Microsoft .NET, PHP, Java and Ruby on Rails. Partners are also experienced with various AJAX frameworks such as Dojo and the Yahoo UI Library. In addition to the technology side of Web 2.0 used to create highly interactive web applications, partners are also experienced in creating social networking applications and the data structures necessary to maintain the connections between registered users.

Amazon Web Services - Accelerance global partners that are expert in using the Amazon Web Services including:

• Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) - resizable compute capacity in the cloud
• Simple Storage Service (S3) - Internet data mass storage
• Simple DB - core database functions of data indexing and querying.
• Amazon Simple Queue Service (Amazon SQS) - reliable, highly scalable, hosted queue for storing messages travelling between computers

Apple iPhone - Accelerance global partners that are expert in creating applications for the Apple iPhone. They have experience with the iPhone SDK, Objective C, Cocoa programming, Cocoa Touch APIs and the Apple Framework.

CSS & XHTML - Accelerance global partners that are expert in working with Web 2.0 technologies such as AJAX, JQuery, JSON, CSS, XHTML and other rich Internet application (RIA) technologies used with Microsoft .NET, PHP, Java and Ruby on Rails. Partners are also experienced with various AJAX frameworks such as Dojo and the Yahoo UI Library. In addition to the technology side of Web 2.0 used to create highly interactive web applications, partners are also experienced in creating social networking applications and the data structures necessary to maintain the connections between registered users.

Flash / Flex - Accelerance global partners that are expert in working with Adobe Flash and Flex and other rich Internet application (RIA) technologies used with Microsoft .NET, PHP, Java and Ruby on Rails. In addition to the technology side of Web 2.0 used to create highly interactive web applications, partners are also experienced in creating social networking applications and the data structures necessary to maintain the connections between registered users.

Oracle - Accelerance global partners that are expert in working with Oracle database software including SQL, PL/SQL, Stored Procedures, Packages, DBMS Jobs, and Database design.

Ruby on Rails - Accelerance global partners that are expert in using the Ruby on Rails (RoR) open source web application framework to create rich Internet applications. The Rails framework uses the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture pattern to facilitate rapid application development. Partners are using JavaScript libraries Prototype and Script.aculo.us for Ajax , Active Record for object-relational mapping and RESTful web services to build Web 2.0 applications.

SharePoint - Accelerance global partners that are expert in creating SharePoint applications for the Microsoft SharePoint platform. They can create your application using SharePoint features such as browser based collaboration functions, process management modules, search modules and a document-management platform.

Silverlight - Accelerance global partners that are expert in using the Microsoft Silverpoint web application framework to create dynamic browser-based user interface. Silverlight integrates multimedia, graphics, animations and interactivity into a single runtime environment and has support for .NET languages and development tools.

In-place team of 6 Java developers available in Russia

I received this email from Dmitry Leskov at Accelerance partner Excelsior in Russia:

Hi Steve,
Would you or any of your business peers be interested in acquiring or (partially) engaging a team of six Java developers here in Novosibirsk?

Through no fault of its own, a small local company has just lost a major customer and is facing a shutdown. Each of the developers won't have a problem finding a new job for himself, but they are trying to keep the team.

Their focus areas are:

• Enterprise Web apps
• Data mining and search
• Eclipse plugin development

Attached please find the team profile. I also have the resumes of all six developers and a business analyst.

Disclaimer: I have not worked with them, directly. But I know the value of a good team (most of Excelsior engineers have been with the company since its inception in 1999).

With best regards,
Dmitry

The profiles Dmitry mentions are here: http://www.accelerance.com/docs/softaria-portfolio.pdf

You can contact Dmitry for more information about them directly by email: dleskov [AT] excelsior-usa [DOT] com  or on Skype at dleskov.

If you are at all interested in gaining an instant team of Java programmers then this is a good opportunity for you. It is rare to find this much talent "on the bench" and ready for a rapid ramp-up.

RIA Solutions Group from Romania is approved for Accelerance Global Partner Network membership

RIA Solutions Group is the newest member of the Accelerance Global Partner Network. A careful reference check confirmed that RIA Solutions Group has the skills and experience to capably deliver software development services. 

All three client references were small or medium-sized companies in the U.S. and gave a strong positive response about the services provided by RIA Solutions Group. Here’s what some of their references said about their experience using services from RIA:

“We don't want to even think about moving forward as a company without RIA as part of our team.“

“Many software companies frankly don't listen and try to sell you something tangentially related to what you are trying to do. RIA made a point of understanding exactly what I wanted.”

RIA Solutions Group presently has over 20 programmers in Cluj-Napoca, a small city in northern Romania. It is located half way between Bucharest and Budapest, the capitals of Romania and Hungary respectively. One advantage of their eastern European location is the overlap with the workday morning in the U.S. and most of the day in Europe. The company has offices on the east coast of the U.S. staffed with employees who take an active project management role with clients. They have completed over 20 client engagements since starting in 2005 that are a combination of fixed-price projects and several on-going offshore development center engagements.

RIA Solutions Group briefly describes their capabilities in the online member directory this way:

RIA Solutions Group - Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Web technologies have gotten complicated in the last 10 years and user expectations have risen accordingly. RIA Solutions Group is a software development services company with the experience and expertise to help. In fact that's our mission statement... Making Rich Internet Applications easy and affordable.

At RIA Solutions Group, we like to think that we do lots of things well. Here's what we do best:

• Custom Application Development
• Development Partnering
• Reporting and Analytics
• Web Sites and Web Portals

This new partner is included in the following country page(s) of the World Region Outsourcing Guide:

Romania

And the following technology categories of the member directory:

Agile Ajax CSS & XHTML DotNetNuke Drupal Flash Java Joomla Microsoft .NET Oracle PHP & MySQL QA Software Testing Web 2.0 Website Design

The Accelerance Global Partner Network  is the only online directory of highly qualified and hand-selected global software development companies from around the world with successful track records in developing software for clients.  Your use of the online directory is completely free – there are no commissions, consulting or referral fees.

Zoom with Joomla or Drupal

You can launch your web app faster when using a content management system (CMS) like Drupal or Joomla or other frameworks like CakePHP or CodeIgnitor – all written in PHP.  These CMSs and frameworks contain built-in functionality that will accelerate you software development. But using them the wrong way, or in the wrong situation can be a disaster.

It is critical to get a web app launched as quickly as possible. No one wants to wait months (forget years) for a new web application to appear online. The promise of CMSs and Frameworks is they give you a jumpstart with pre-built functionality and an environment that makes your programmers more productive.  But like most tools, they can also be misused causing more headaches than help.

These frameworks are open source and available at no cost but they have a steep learning curve. I got excited about using a CMS for a website I was creating last year. I bought a couple Drupal books and downloaded the software from the Acquia website. It installed easily and I had a working site in a day.

Customizing the site was a different matter. I was able to easily add in several contributed modules but I found it difficult to combine modules along with my custom code to create a decent looking functional application. I basically wasted a couple weeks to discover that I really needed experienced professional help.

If you are building a community website then you should consider using a CMS platform.  A CMS has these features that community websites need:

•    Access statistics and logging
•    Advanced search functions
•    Comments, forums, and polls
•    Multi-level menu system
•    Multi-user content create & edit
•    OpenID & Facebook Connect
•    RSS Feed Aggregator
•    and many more . . .

I could describe what I wanted but if I hired inexperienced programmers, they would be as lost as I was. If you hire the wrong programmer or programming team then you can waste months of time and spend tens of thousands of dollars in the process. You must pick a programming team that can demonstrate successful use of the platform you select.

CMSs and frameworks are extendable and it is common to add code to deliver your desired functionality. For example, Drupal has a list of user-contributed modules available to extend its functionality. And your programmers can create their own modules too using the Content Creation Kit or CCK.

The primary pitfall that inexperienced programmers fall into when using a CMS is adding functionality by changing the framework itself. If your programmers “hack the core” of your CMS directly they create a mess that is difficult if not impossible to fix.

Any new development team is not likely to be able to unwind the hacks. To fix any bugs they will only be hacking the core further. In this case you almost always have to start over.

First you should decide if CMS features are needed. Selecting a CMS may only add complexity if the features you need are simple or different that what the CMS delivers. A framework that enables rapid page creation and supports modern Ajax-based user interface features can be a better choice.

You need to have a reasonable specification of the functionality that you want--something more than a shorthand Hollywood pitch like “It’s Twitter but with video.”

Describe the kinds of users of your web application. Then list the use cases of how they will use it. Sketches of some of your screens will also be helpful. Use a drawing tool like Visio or PowerPoint. Digital photos of your whiteboard with the designs or scanned in sketches on paper work also.

No matter what, I guarantee your spec is not going to be perfect.

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Therefore, you need to find competent developers that not only have experience with the CMS or framework you choose—they also must be able to collaborate with you to help determine what you want.

The look and feel of your web application is completely configurable with a CMS. Frameworks and CMSs have a way for you to deploy your design in a consistent way. In Drupal this is called Themes, in Joomla it’s called Templates.

Versions of Frameworks and CMSs change periodically. Make sure the development team you hire has experience with the latest version, or at least the version you want to use. For example, Drupal had a major upgrade from version 5 to 6 last year. Many of the user-contributed modules did not work with the new version. It was months before most were upgraded to version 6.

Experience with these modules is critical. Anyone can install a framework or CMS, but the basic functionality is not enough. Ask for examples of web apps your prospective development teams have created for other clients and the kinds of modules and custom development they employed.

Several Accelerance partners have created web applications for clients using Drupal, Joomla and other frameworks. The four example sites here each required from 600 to over 1200 man-hours of effort to implement.

Use a development team that has experience building web applications for other clients with the CMS or Framework you decide to use. You can wind up wasting your time attempting to make a sophisticated web application on your own by using one of these platforms right out of the box unless you have already gone up the learning curve. It takes professional help.

The Runtime Bottom Line

The only thing worse than wasting your own time, is wasting time and paying money to an inexperienced development team. Choose carefully and your use of a CMS can shave months off your development time line.

Until next time,

Steve Mezak, CEO

Steve@Accelerance.com
Accelerance, Inc.
Risk-Free Outsourcing
+1-877-99-ACCEL (877-992-2235) x101 Toll-Free
+1-650-472-3785 Global Calls + Fax
Or contact me at: http://www.Accelerance.com/contact.htm

Author of the new book -
Software without Borders: A Step-By-Step Guide to Outsourcing Your Software Development
www.Accelerance.com/swb.htm