A couple weeks ago I attended the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco. One of the sessions was on iPhone Tips and Tricks delivered by Alex Shah from Team SOA. The basic idea is that you can avoid the development time and the Apple App Store approval process for your iPhone application by creating a browser-based application using the open source Webkit software.

There is enough capability (using some tricks to get to them) to create a complete application that looks like it is a native iPhone application but is actually running in the Safari browser. Better yet, your browser-based app can run on other mobile phones and of course ordinary computers where a browser can be used.

This is an interesting approach to writing one application that can run on multiple mobile platforms. Now Google has “validated” this approach by using it for the lasted update to the Gmail service for users of the iPhone and Android phones. It’s written up in an article about how Gmail Sidesteps the App Store.

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Steve Mezak will be speaking at the International Software Development Outsourcing Conference on May 20, 2008. His agenda topics include, “Is Outsourcing Right For Start-Ups?” and “How to Choose Outsourcing Partners”.

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Contact Info Previously Available Through $497-$5,000 Consulting Services
Accessible at No Cost Until April 30, 2008

Redwood City, CA – [Business Wire] – Accelerance, the company dedicated to taking the risk out of outsourcing software development globally, announced that it will provide one month of free unlimited access to the 40 members in its Global Partner Network beginning today. The 40 offshore software development company partners located throughout Eastern Europe, India, Latin America, North America and Southeast Asia have been meticulously pre-screened and qualified by Accelerance. Contact information is available by registering at http://www.accelerance.com/free-jumpstart.htm.

“We’re offering this valuable global partners contact information at no charge to encourage companies to discover the benefits of outsourcing,” said Steve Mezak, Accelerance CEO and author of the awarding-winning book Software Without Borders and the Steve Mezak Blog.

According to Mezak, many free directories list tens of thousands of offshore outsourcing companies, but give no information on the competency or quality of any particular vendor. “It’s hard to tell which ones are any good. You can spend a lot of time fishing for vendors, describing a project and reviewing your bids. If you need to build an offshore software development team quickly, these directories and project bidding websites are useless.”

Previously, access to contact information in the Accelerance Global Partner Network cost clients between $497 to $5,000, depending on the consulting services included. “Once they chose an offshore vendor, our Outsourcing Jumpstart, Rapid Ramp-Up and consulting services can help pinpoint evaluation criteria and select the partner that best fit their needs,” said Mezak. “But there’s no obligation. The partner contact info is now free for a limited time.”

Companies considering using outside resources to develop software can check the Accelerance Global Partner Network Member Directory to get an overview and sense of depth and breadth of the global network.

Accelerance, Inc. offers consulting, coaching, tools and processes to help clients select offshore, near-shore and onshore outsourcing vendors quickly and safely. The Accelerance Global Partner Network of 40+ expert software development vendors in over a dozen countries provides software development services for 19 leading software technologies. Accelerance also guides customers in contract negotiation, offshore engagement set-up, and on-going software development oversight.

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On April 30, 2008, Steve Mezak will be speaking at the Software 2008 Conference. The topic will be “Sinking Like a BRIC - Better Choices than Brazil, Russia, India and China”, and it will begin at 11:30 a.m. in Las Vegas, Nevada.

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Just finished the panel discussion at SD West on Offshoring and  we had about forty people attending. I was joined on the panel by Jim Tooley from Ariba, Julie Iskow from WageWorks, moderated by Ross Wheeler from Paravirtual.

My fellow panelists have experience outsourcing to India, China, Canada & Romania.
One is now looking for a partner in Latin America to enable real collaboration during normal U.S. work hours. And in the audience were two professional software developers from Mexico & one from Brazil showing the attraction of professional events like SD West extends to these nearshore locations.

We had several questions about how to find vendors and websites that rate them. There is no website I know of that does a good job of rating offshore vendors in general. Outsourcing is a relationship business and most deals come from personal referrals and contacts. Of course I mentioned that the Accelerance Global Partner Network is also a good place to find a great offshore partner.

Someone asked about outsourcing development of embedded software for custom hardware.  This was not recommended but outsourcing embedded software development for various processor families and real-time operating systems is popular.

We also discussed using an offshore partner versus setting up your own operation. You will face a challenge recruiting for your own small operation in India because Indian engineers are more interested in working for large companies. Ariba is a relatively large company and they are able to recruit and keep engineers. Attrition at the Ariba operation in India is well below the industry average of around 20%. That means that 2 programmers on a team of 10 at most offshore operations in India will be gone by the end of the year.

We agreed that use of offshoring to simply augment your software development team with additional engineers does not work well. It is better to hire an offshore team and give them full responsibility & autonomy for projects and modules.

Finally, we had fun raffling off a signed copy of my book Software without Borders. But everyone was a winner because I am sending a free eBook to all that entered the raffle – even my fellow panelists requested and will receive a copy.

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I delivered my talk yesterday to about 30 companies here in Queretaro Mexico and made many new friends and contacts.

One of my slides contains a Mexican saying that I also included in Chapter 2 of Software without Borders, in the section that discusses outsourcing to Mexico:

“Pobrecito Mexico—tan lejos de Dios y tan cercas de los Estados Unidos!”

“Poor little Mexico—so far from God and so near to the United States!”

I first heard this expression from a Mexican speaker at a conference in Costa Rica a few years ago. Everyone in the audience laughed, especially us Americans. Later, I found this exact expression in Spanish online and I included it in the book.

So I asked the audience if they know this saying.  They all laughed and then they started commenting amongst themselves. Finally, one of them smiles and says, “Yes, this is our saying, but you have one of the words wrong.  The word ‘cerca’ means near. Not ‘cercas’, that means fence or wall. You know, like the wall the United States wants to build at the border.”

More laughter.

Ay Caramba!  The devil is in the details!

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P-CAMP Unconference for Product Managers is a free Saturday event, where participants propose their own topics, run discussions and panels, and network with peers. Accelerance is organizing a session on “How to use a global team to create your software product.”

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On February 20, 2008, Steve Mezak will be speaking at the Go-to-Market Symposium hosted by Mexico-IT in four cities in Mexico about Why U.S. Companies Will Outsource to Mexico.

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Redwood City, CA – [Business Wire] February 8, 2008 – Accelerance, the company dedicated to taking the risk out of outsourcing software development globally, has expanded its presence in Latin America, approving eight new members – two each from Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, and Mexico – to join its Global Partner Network. The network now has more than 40 members throughout Eastern Europe, India, Latin America, North America and Southeast Asia, providing services for 19 leading software technologies. Argentina and Chile are new country destinations for the Accelerance Global Partner Network. The Accelerance Global Partner Network member directory is now online for prospective clients to get an overview and sense of depth and breadth of the global network.

A leading provider of software solutions for the purchasing life cycle selected Accelerance to help them build a team in Latin America with the objective of enabling real-time communication and improving retention. While the client already offshored to India, they thought it made good business sense to also leverage their Latin American neighbors. The company turned to Accelerance for the expertise they needed to accomplish this expansion goal quickly and easily. 

Steve Mezak, Accelerance CEO and author of the awarding-winning book Software Without Borders and the Steve Mezak Blog said, “Many U.S. companies are looking toward Latin America for a safe, practical way to add software development resources within the same – or closer – time zone.”

Mezak is frequent speaker on outsourcing software development. This month his company will sponsor the SD Forum Event, “Software Engineering Management SIG,” featuring guest speaker, Dr. Ivar Jacobson, founder of Ivar Jacobson Consulting. On March 7, Mezak will present “Offshoring: Pro’s and Con’s” at the SD West 2008 Conference in Santa Clara, CA.

Accelerance, Inc. offers consulting, coaching, tools and processes to help clients select offshore, near-shore and onshore outsourcing vendors quickly and safely. The Accelerance Global Partner Network of 40 expert software development vendors in 20 countries provides software development services for 19 leading software technologies. Accelerance also guides customers in contract negotiation, offshore engagement set-up, and on-going software development oversight.

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February 21, 2008

Accelerance will sponsor the SD Forum Event, Software Engineering Management SIG featuring guest speaker, Dr. Ivar Jacobson, founder of Ivar Jacobson Consulting. The event starts promptly at 7 p.m. Registration begins at 6:30 p.m.

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