THE outsourcing of programming requirements is becoming more common as companies move towards better quality applications and faster, cheaper delivery.
THE outsourcing of programming requirements is becoming more common as companies move towards better quality applications and faster, cheaper delivery.
A 2002 Gartner worldwide application development research survey found that, by 2007, pack-aged applications and outsourced development would become the main source of new applications for enterprises.
It suggested that 75 per cent of firms would have some form of in-house application development, although this would not be the main source of many businesses’ new applications.
Outsourcers contacted by WA Business News said that, due to relatively rapid changes in technology, securing the services of experienced people with cutting edge skills required companies to have a retraining strategy in place.
According to the Gartner research, companies that are moderate adaptors of technology are not likely to have good reskilling strategies for their in-house IT teams, making the development of cutting edge technology more difficult.
Beacon Technology director Glen Hunter said a recent software development his company designed for Luceo Systems involved a team of people that ultimately saved Luceo Systems time and money, and produced a better product.
“They would have had to recruit people from a broad range of areas. You would need programmers, designers and project managers,” Mr Hunter said.
“One of the benefits is [that] people like ourselves have that capability.”
The project was completed in six months and, according to Luceo Systems director Raymond Weeda, it would have taken the company at least 18 months to produce something similar without the work of Beacon Technology.
“Everybody is sceptical because you think you can do it better yourself,” Mr Weeda said.
“We put our egos aside and outsourced the risk.
“If I did it myself it would have taken 18 months and we wouldn’t have had the speed to market and it would have been twice or three times as expensive.”
Amcon Solutions Group (ASG) chief solutions officer Steve Tull said that companies were increasingly turning to programmers to streamline information systems and gain better economies of scale.
“Integration is becoming a hot topic. That is tying various applications together,” he told WA Business News.
“Often business processes go across different applications [off-the-shelf and in-house].
“You can use programming to link them together and gain access to information from the various applications. There is real growth in that at the moment.”
Saving money on infrastructure was another reason why outsourcing was a good option for some companies, according to Mr Hunter.
“You can spend anywhere from $50,000 to $100,000 on software licences just to get started. Companies need to ask themselves: ‘Have I got the infrastructure?’ If not, do you want to spend money on getting it?” Mr Hunter said.
However, choosing a programmer is like choosing a builder – while all offer to provide construction, there are those who deliver over time and over budget.
Be sure to do your homework before deciding which outsourcer to use.
Determining whether you need to outsource comes down to a couple of questions, according to Mr Hunter.
“Companies need to ask what is their core business. Is it figuring out how to design a program or is it building it, owning it and selling it?” Mr Hunters said.
“What is your technical expertise? What is the capability of our people?”
