White PapersIn order to optimize business functionality, maximize profit, and grow the business, companies must know when to focus appropriate internal resources on critical business functions, and when to otherwise entrust these functions to external experts. A first hurdle for some companies is that they do not recognize a need for improvement, or worse yet, recognize the need but avoid reparative action for fear of losing control of guarded intellectual capital and business processes that they’ve perceived as proprietary.
As a result, they remain bound by the inertia of their own perfunctory performance, and their business suffers. Companies must be able to differentiate their core competencies from their subordinate capabilities, and know when it is advantageous to outsource critical integral design, development, and delivery requirements that they cannot effectively meet within their own sphere of capability.
Manifesting Your Best Entrusting to Experts the Rest" When Partnering with Software Engineering Experts May Be Imperative to Your Success Untitled Document Manifesting Your Best Entrusting to Experts The Rest Cyber Group, Inc. White Paper 2 of 9 If selling and delivering application software as a product or service comprises your company s business, but you want to focus your resources in other areas of your core business or software engineering is not one of your company s necessary core competencies, then you have a strong argument for partnering with a technology expert whose core competency is application software engineering. This wand services depend heavily or entirely on software that they may not be equipped or qualified to optimally engineer. Such a condition within any company typically results in misallocated rwim li l inf ri r rnrvilr n v rinm rand ultimately, business stagnation or decline. By weighing the advantages and disadvantages of partnering with technology experts as a means of satisfying software engineering needs, and by providing a criteria for self-assessment with common-sense guidelines, this paper intends to help application software companies determine whether partnering is the rational and perhaps only viable choice for them. The Dilemma n r rimizinf n i n lim ximizr finr w hinm nimkn w wh nfr riin rn l rrn ri i linf n i nnwhen to otherwise entrust these functi nx rn l x r . Air h r l f rmm nii hhnrnizf r im r v m nr w rrnizh nv i rr ivi n f r f r f l inn r l frintellectual capital and business processes hh vr ivr rir . Arlhr m innh in r iftheir own perfunctory performance, and their business suffers. m nimliff r n ih irrmn ifrom their subordinate capabilities, and kn w wh n i iv nrri i l inr li nv l m nnliv r rir m nhhnnffiv l mwithin their own sphere of capability. According to Hamel and Prahalad in their book, minrthe Future, rmn irhili ihrri i linhi vinmi ivv nnrdefined as capabilities that a firm can do well and that: - Provide customer benefits - Are difficult for competitors to imitate - Can be leveraged widely to many products and markets. All other capabilities are essentially categorized as subordinate. &managers will be judged on their ability to identify, cultivate, and exploit the core competencies that make growth possible indeed, they'll have to rethink the concept of the corporation it self. Prahalad and Hamel 1990Untitled Document Manifesting Your Best Entrusting to Experts The Rest Cyber Group, Inc. White Paper 3 of 9 hilh r i inh r n l n hin wr n wi h h vinrnr inili ir l mmvi nf rcompanies when they co fhili innn li h r mi llh ir r fi n lr f ilniz wh n him l l kffi i n rrrl in ini h rin inf ri r rrrvinlh r mi intheir business marks. As ai i n m k r whi i nirm nsuccess or failure, you might need to consider these questions: hi hrl m nrinll hrri i lhi vinnv nover your competitors? What does your conr vihnv rwi lm nrn m rkbut is difficult for competitors to imitate? nrll rlfinhl m nfrinr n xirmin if hr nfrinternal rerhi fn m nifinrrmn iirrlrr i nnwh h rhm inin rrlli n illr vi inifi leturn on our investment. You ma be ettin somethin for your money, but how much, and at what cost? Saying It Does Not Make It So m niwi hli hf w rn in rinr m nf n h vmiffi lin rnizinhr m f rm r v m n xiwi hin hr m nwhi h i wh hnever consider a possible n r lin i h r ininn i nx rn lr i . A ifr m rhinh fin n i lifii n f rr n rin wi h n x rn lhn lx rhich should actuall be the drivin motivation for an such determination, the emotionahm n hm nhn lnr h v f r h irr m nnimm nhthey fail recognize intrinsic opportunity in alternative solutions. ...companies that confuse their capabilities& consequently either misallocate their professionals or fail to recognize when they simply lack sufficient resources, resulting in either case in inferior product or services, and altogether missing their Untitled Document Manifesting Your Best Entrusting to Experts The Rest Cyber Group, Inc. White Paper 4 of 9 nr h vl i imrnn rnnpotential negative impahr n rin mi h h vn h irrr fi n l . In r h h w v rr finh irexisting core professionals to true rmn ih irff rnlin w win rm rn figain competitive advantage, and v rhrr nrnn w rn n w m rkr ni ill f whi hnrivlnm rkh r. M r v rn rinrr inili ix rwhprimary competencies are these very capabilities, you incryour products quality in rhmh vr vilsuffered. llin rrm ximizrmn ih lnot be confused with the wrong-thinking panacea that continues to ripple over corporate America, purporting that to s vm nifr m li in inhf lm rkh rhmrlrwi h nn i r i n hinhrrivi .nilrf Imm rwriinnlwhir Prr m nOutsourcing, that r inn rili ill wcompanies with limited resources to focus their existing m lnrmn iwhi hnin rrivih mnfflr nhw r lexternal vendors. Another serious con i r i n ihinr rillln rn l rrnf r l w rrnrviliwhi hn h vm inn linffn nm n .L wlirnrvil mi hcompany s reputation and drive potent linl wh rhm n m r fnhif m rwhat can t n r h r h nwhnn . Thlthat m rn wm r h n irinan existing one takes on fresh perspective. What Exactly is Application Software Engineering? lii nf w rrrfmrsoftware, whether delivered as a product, system, or on- m nrvim lhili ifmrmspecific tasks or work acti i ihin ivilnrrf rmrf h irrn i ili i . Brn rfirlnf n wi hlii nf w rhiate or of software is continuousl bein tested in the market, which generates constant flux, d m nf rimprovement, and a consequent need for rapid modification. lii nf w rn in rinh n ifinhi i linfi ninrinn m in ininlii nf w rl inhn l inrifr mmrsci nrm nm nn in rinnlii ndomains. If this sounds complex, it is, which is precisely why these Outsourcing secondary capabilities allows companies with limited resources to focus their existing employees on core competencies, which tends to increase productivity at home and offset labor needs that were lost to external vendors. Jason GilroyICG CommerceUntitled Document Manifesting Your Best Entrusting to Experts The Rest Cyber Group, Inc. White Paper 5 of 9 ENGINEERING COSTS... 30% 70% Design Maintenance Development Enhancement Re-engineering Migration Testing Deployment Training Documentation n i nn rir m nh l nim l m nrentrusted to, the inexperienced. It is important to understand hfini i nhi h lrrmin wh h r r nrm nf llm l m nif w rn in rinr i l rlifhn i n lifrrlii nrrrvicritically depend on the application so w rrr n l rsell, and deliver. h fl mikmf w rv l m n m nr m khnf l nninri hhflmn ir lni n nv l m nhx nf h r m inincritical elements on in rinhf w r . In hrfn in rinf w rrfr mni nm rknniwili hhfi ninnv l inhf w rl ni lln mnlf hlengineering cost. The remaining 70% of the cost is attributed to: - Maintenance - Enhancement - Re-engineering - Migration - Testing - Deployment - Training and documentation rl f hii rr i nfrin hl nninnimplementation stages of the project, the product or s rvihin nn hif w r ir izi h r n v r m kin im rkr w rm kin i h rbroken. Although it is difficult to pinpoint precise statistics of failure rates of projects in general since this is not the sort of information most companies are want to make public general consensus Untitled Document Manifesting Your Best Entrusting to Experts The Rest Cyber Group, Inc. White Paper 6 of 9 When written in Chinese, the word risk is composed of two characters; one represents danger, and the other represents opportunity. John F. KennedyThe Standish Group published a survey revealing that a staggering 31.1% of software development projects will be canceled before they ever get completed, and that 52.7% of projects will cost 189% of their original estimates... puts the rate for software development project f il rw nn 7 . An h r wf l kinhi i hn v rm niwhiniv l inn m rk inf w rface a one-in-r h nff llrin inh ir n wproducts to market. In great part, this failure is a result of the non-core do-it-yourself r i m hr m inr v l n in htechnology-based industry. hn i hrli hrvr v linhrin1.1ff w rv l m nrwillcanceled before they ever get completnh2.7frwill1f h ir ri in lim. Whilhi irv r flinv n n nimi i nhimargin for loss should be unacceptable for any company. For companies whose core competencies are not f w rn in rinwhn inn in r h irf w rh m lvh lnx n n i l.n i rinhkm niim lnnff rm l h ir v llbut limited resources against such extreme odds. To Partner or Not to Partner That is the Question nnh ll f rinifnr i m hif hnr n rinh r mxihn i l f rin.Justification for partnering with a technology expert includes: - The principal company has a need f rm r h n ivflife-cycle software engineering services. - hm n hrminhf w rn in rin irmnhh nf w rlcritical role in the company s primary products or services. - The compan rnizhr m in vi l i mfinternal resources on core competencies. lr n linnl nr nin r llresu oses some sort of risk. Transitionin an assumed core competency to a new business partner mar nm ri kn l inhnim nrinh n wr n rn hrnrivw llhlf r hrvir n r . Thm inhowever, pale when considering the untold losses in rrr nni l in ffi i nrrlinnnfm r . Kin minhninnr n r whx r inrmn ir vihrnm li hrwnivactua lr mlinr wnf w rrnl imlsave money. Untitled Document Manifesting Your Best Entrusting to Experts The Rest Cyber Group, Inc. White Paper 7 of 9 ...in an equitable partnership, you always maintain possession of your domain knowledge, which ensures you continual control of your business... There are many notable advantages to pa n rin wi hf w rengineering experts: - winimr m nnn in llr ininremployees on ever- v lvinhn l ihrih irexpertise and scope of responsibilities. - Delegating the headache of continued research to world- lexperts whose business it is to have instant access to up-to-intellectual capital. - ininmnr n r whr vih h m n x r inn lrni klm rkh nwith scalable, flexible solutions. - Leveraging best-of- rl nnr v nrlpractices. - Radically reducing your costs associated with life-lf w rengineering for products and services. - n rinvrrl hn inlsupports both existing systems and new initiatives. - inimizin li l n m ximizin in rn l r niz i nlinrm nm n rn i iliiwi hyour software engineering needs. nr firm hrminhr inrf w rengineering neei im r iviivnrmin whi hlifii nhx rn l v n r mpossess before you can relinquish critical operations with assurance. The keystone to making the bridge with your chosen partner is thahr n r h llr i lm n w ini i ivhi lh n whw lh rwimnimplement these initiatives yourself. A software engineering partner should be: - retainable on a project-by-project basis, - lmnr i l r hfrlrinprocess, - irn n ir liflff w rrfrom cradle to grave. in minh in nilr n r hilwm in inpossession of your domain knowwhi h n rn in lontrol of our business. Your artner should never need to own or n r lrm in kn wlin r rm nifr kn wlnvi i n i . Thir fr m n n rh fl xi iliyou need to grow rinwi hmmi inr limii l rrnliv .h lnUntitled Document Manifesting Your Best Entrusting to Experts The Rest Cyber Group, Inc. White Paper 8 of 9 Conclusion Application software and services companies whose core competencies do not include application software engineering can benefit immensely by partnering with experts whose core competencies are application software engineering. Misallocated resources resulting in inferior product and services is one of the primary challenges facing American business today, and in an extremely competitive and volatile market, companies cannot afford to allocate their lifeblood to speculation and chance endeavors. Application software companies that are serious about growing and succeeding in this diverse and competitive market should incorporate the following maxim into their mission statement: We do what we do well, and let other experts do well for us the rest. Untitled Document Manifesting Your Best Entrusting to Experts The Rest Cyber Group, Inc. White Paper 9 of 9 Authors Tamim Shipchandler is a Senior Vice President rr rin D llT x . Mr.hi h n l r i rn i l f rr i n in h. . n f r llriiri nenterprise wide, including the wholly-owned subsidiary in India. Basant Singhatwadia is Managing Director for Cyber Group s wholly- wnn in rinntechnology development subsidiary based in Noida, India. About Cyber Group Cyber Group, Inc. partners with their customers to engineer their control electronics products, and to maintain, re-engineer and enhance their customers software products. Their proven process significantly reduces their customers time and cost to market. It offers their customers a comprehensive, tightly coupled set of life-cycle software and system engineering services, i.e. services to engineer their control electronics and to maintain, re-engineer, support and enhance their software products and systems through all phases of their product life-cycles. Coupling of the resources in Delhi with those in Dallas enables Cyber Group to deliver faster overall solutions due to a virtual 24-hour day . Additional information can be found at www.cybergroupusa.com; or by calling 469-916-7730
