marketing strategies to succeed in the global community

Steve Mezak, CEOAccelerance, Inc.

author of

Software without Borders: A Step-By-Step Guide to Outsourcing

Your Software Development

March 2006 | 2© 2006 Accelerance, Inc.

Kelly’s VC Pitch

March 2006 | 3© 2006 Accelerance, Inc.

Today you are expected to develop your software outside of the United States…

• Where?– In which country or continent?

• Who?– Which vendor?

• What?– What must you do to get good results?

• How?– How will you track their progress?

March 2006 | 4© 2006 Accelerance, Inc.

Where to Outsource?

• Language & culture• IPR protection• Time zone issues• 80% goes to India• How about you?

Argentina Belarus Bulgaria China Costa Rica Czech Rep. Egypt Hungary India

Pakistan Nepal Philippines Poland Romania Russia Turkey

Vietnam

USA

Mexico

Ukraine

March 2006 | 5© 2006 Accelerance, Inc.

How to Select Your Outsourcing Vendor

• Technical skills– Java, .NET, C++, PHP– Embedded / Mobile– Database, Web

• Positive happy references• Beware of “body shops”• Only services, no products• Careful evaluation can

takes months The danger of choosingthe wrong vendor

March 2006 | 6© 2006 Accelerance, Inc.

Source, Screen & Select Your Vendor

• Source – from a large list of choices

• Screen – Using 15 criteria– Make a short list

• Select based on the 3 R’s– References– Rates– Resumes

   

Enter Your Requirements

Weight (1=lo to 5=hi)

1 Technical Expertise I .NET 5

2 Technical Expertise II SQL Server 5

3 Technical Expertise III C# 5

4Software Develop

Method Any 1

5 Size of Team Needed 10 1

6 Core Team Ed. Reqs Any 1

7 Certified & Awards None 1

8 Target Country Any 1

9 Target Region Any 1

10 Workday Overlap All Day 1

11 US-Based Staff Yes 1

12 English Skills Excellent 1

13 Relative Cost Low 1

14 BOT Capability No 1

15 Subsidiary Creation No 1

March 2006 | 7© 2006 Accelerance, Inc.

The Accelerance Outsourcing Jumpstart Matrix

March 2006 | 8© 2006 Accelerance, Inc.

Accelerance Outsourcing Jumpstart

• By Country or Technology or Industry

• By Country and Technology

March 2006 | 9© 2006 Accelerance, Inc.

Creating Your Own Offshore Subsidiary

• Only for > 50 engineers• Lower costs – 1/3 rule• Build, Operate & Transfer• Fixed vs. variable cost• Beach head in new market• IP > Subsidiary

Your new offshoreoperation

March 2006 | 10© 2006 Accelerance, Inc.

Designing Your Software for Outsourcing

• Requirements but no long specs• Use cases or user stories

– The who & the how– Use screen shots of existing app

• Screen mock-ups in HTML– Link to demo for prospects

Extracting use cases froman Accelerance client

March 2006 | 11© 2006 Accelerance, Inc.

Controlling Your Outsourcing

• Keeping in touch with your team– Email, IM & VOIP

• Agile & test-driven development– Frequent iterations– Users as part of development process– Test first, then write code

• On-line system for tracking outsourcing• Travel

March 2006 | 12© 2006 Accelerance, Inc.

Protecting Your Intellectual Property

• 5 levels of IP risk– Very low - standard / old tech widely available and understood

– Low - some IP exposed but practical use by others is limited

– Neutral - some IP exposed, partition software to limit danger

– Moderate - consider using multiple teams to limit access to all IP

– Serious - risk may overwhelm the benefits of outsourcing

• 3 kinds of protection– Technical, Legal & Physical

• Open source licensing dangers

March 2006 | 13© 2006 Accelerance, Inc.

The Future of Outsourcing

• Globalization 3.0– A flat world of freelancers– And smaller, agile vendors– Not just multinationals anymore

• New countries & regions– South America– Middle East– Africa

• Vendor selection by industry & domain experience

March 2006 | 14© 2006 Accelerance, Inc.

Outsourcing Info & Services from Accelerance

• Free Report: The Seven Deadly Dangers of Outsourcing• Free Bi-weekly Runtime eZine

– Do’s and Don’ts of outsourcing – Latest trends

• Software without Borders book – May publication• New low-cost Outsourcing Jumpstart service - $497

– Contacts with 5 pre-qualified vendors– By country and/or technology– Fourteen-page vendor selection guide– Hour of expert consulting to help make final selection

March 2006 | 15© 2006 Accelerance, Inc.

What ever happened to Kelly?

3062 Woodside RoadWoodside, CA 94062(650) 851-8010www.buckswoodside.com

Noted Silicon Valley VCbreakfasthangout