Outsourcing Bespoke Software

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Light Speed IT Solutions, Unit 7A, West Station Business Park, Maldon, Essex, CM9 6FF

Telephone: +44 (0)1621 857758 Email: [email protected] Website: http://www.lightspeeditsolutions.co.uk Light Speed IT Solutions is a trading name of VB Pro Ltd

Reg No: 03449787 VAT No: GB 704 375154

Outsourcing Bespoke

Software

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Reg No: 03449787 VAT No: GB 704 375154

What is bespoke software development and why would you want to

use it?

In essence it is software made to your business requirements. Bespoke: meaning unique, individual or custom-made to your pre-defined requirements. Software: meaning computer programmes’ that tell computers to perform certain tasks.

In this day and age very few businesses operate without any software in place, let alone without a computer somewhere on the premises. In fact the computer is so integral to most businesses that they struggle to function without one or several. So why would you ever want bespoke software development?

 You have large amounts of data stored somewhere that you need to report on.

 Your existing software package doesn’t do what you want it to do.

 You have several software packages that don’t talk to one another.

 Many parts of your business need to be computerised.

 Your website needs to be upgraded including e-commerce or online booking tools.

 You manage multiple branches, properties, assets and need a tool to integrate the business.

 You have looked at off the shelf packages and they don’t quite fit the bill.

Change your business for the better

 Fed up with paying for annual upgrade and renewal fees?

 Your software solution just doesn’t quite do what you want it to do?

 You are inputting the same data into a number of different places - in effect double or triple the amount of work required?

 Duplication errors occur repeatedly?

 Reports don’t come out ready to hand in?

 Reports don’t come out at all?

Let’s be honest here: the list can go on and on, however these points alone can cripple your business by slowing down production, hitting your back pocket and in effect damage the bottom line.

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Figure 1: Business functions/processes are the drivers for IT development. ‘Outsourcing processes are indeed the more-efficient business processes.i

Staff morale can be low due to mindless tasks and repetitive errors, and any business analysis is just going to struggle to provide any decent reports without spending a lot of time ‘tweaking’ the software to produce informative and professional looking

Does your business need more time and money?

What would you do if you could?

 Save time  Save effort  Save patience  Save money With your:  Content management  Inventory management  Customer management

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The benefits of outsourcing bespoke software

The benefits of outsourcing bespoke software are often already quite clear to the individual involved with the exercise. Some of these are summarised in Table 1. In the same way with any business transaction, all the benefits have some risks. Organisations that purchase services that support the IT function commonly do so to save cost and improve performance and, therefore, increase profitability.

Buyer Supplier (supplier rewarded for increased value)

Joint

 Well-defined objectives

 Internal benchmarking

 Evaluation rewards & penalties

 Control

 Accountability

 Cost savings

 Improved performance

 Improved profitability

 Service level targets

 Financial target costs

 Revenue growth

 Objective evaluation

 Additional profit

 Contract extensions

 Increase value relationship

 Initiative creation

 External benchmarking

 Scenario planning

Table 1: Buyer and supplier interests in outsourcingii

9 out of 10 firms said that cost reduction was the motivation for outsourcing and the figures speak for themselves. Europe has overtaken North America as the region that spends the most money on outsourcing in the world.iii

Export levels of computer services - which is where UK IT staff provide services to businesses from overseas that then outsource to the UK – are higher than import levels, making the UK a net producer and exporter of services.iv

The increasing speed of technology change is difficult to stay on top of when you are spinning many plates at any one time, regardless of the confidence in your capabilities. Technology required to succeed in the digital economy is becoming more complex which makes finding the right people for the job (and to support the work once completed) much more difficult.

Off the shelf products are often only tailor able to your needs within a certain set of parameters which are often very restrictive or have costly overheads.

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Risk Management

Like all other outsourcing, IT outsourcing is not resistant to risks. In reality it would be subject to a very diverse and complex set of risks that would have to be managed and mitigated wisely to allow the project to proceed. The following risk management model is used by the US Government for the management of IT risk (US GAO, 1999).

Figure 2: Sample risk management modelv

Figure 3 further shows how the risk elements are mapped against the eight risk dimensions.

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After all the nuts and bolts of the IT function have been outsourced, the remaining tasks that are ‘left over’ include the critical components of the IT function, which are the IT policy and IT strategy, as well as the overview tasks for new systems selection, implementation and maintenance. This is illustrated in figure 4 where the larger filled circles show greater responsibility. It is the buyer organisation who gets to maintain primary accountability for its business units and the IT policies and overall IT strategy

Figure 4: Allocation of tasks between supplier and buyervii

Questions to ask the supplier before outsourcing.

To manage and mitigate the risks discussed earlier, you should ask your supplier the following questions:

1. How do you ensure all requirements are gathered ahead of the project and how do you work with clients to achieve it? We focus our development around user stories; a product must be user centric. We talk to the owners of the domain knowledge and sit with them during their usual process to understand how their day-to-day tasks fit together.

2. What processes do you follow to ensure all estimations are accurate? Our experienced team are used to estimating hours and they break work down as small as feasible. It’s much easier to predict how long smaller jobs will take. They will usually give estimates as ranges that become more accurate as the project continues.

3. How would you work with us to ensure all stakeholders have buy-in and are engaged throughout the project? Our approach is iterative – that is, we aim to deliver small chunks of functionality in quick succession. You’ll see progress in a short time and invite your feedback to help align the project along the way.

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4. How do you approach project management and how do you then manage risks and issues within your methodology? Before a project is started we compile a risk register in order to try and anticipate pitfalls ahead of time. Inevitably issues do arise no matter how careful the planning however our daily stand-up meetings with the team mean these incidents percolate their way up sooner rather than later. The project manager will be in touch as regularly as you need to keep you informed. Furthermore, we will use a web portal to display progress and allow you to submit feedback.

5. Who will be allocated to this project and is there an escalation process? The Marketing Manager will pick up the day to day communication and liaison ahead of the project starting at which point the Project Manager will be available via phone, email or face-to-face. They will liaise with the developers working on the project; their details will also be available for you to communicate with. We have a full complaints process available on request.

Businesses today are constantly tormented by the prospect of having to deal with the vicissitudes of risks in their projects. Outsourcing bespoke software is an opportunity to save money, improve work flow efficiently and take advantage of best practices that are introduced when working with an experienced software house. It is hoped that the reader gains an alternative view and a further appreciation of IT outsourcing and will see that the related risks are indeed measurable and manageable.

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What Light Speed IT Solutions can do for you

Light Speed IT Solutions have over the years completed many projects for our clients ranging from simple brochure website designs, up to complex, integrated back-office web-based solutions. Our projects are built on the Microsoft development suite of tools. We have a capable team able to design content, code and test solutions from start to finish. SQL Server is our database of choice (including Reporting Services) with development within Visual Studio & Team Foundation server. Light Speed are comfortable with C#, VB.Net, or ASP.Net with Silverlight and LightSwitch development tools and languages.

Database design

All good solutions require a robust, secure well structured database at its heart. We have been designing, managing and coding just such database solutions in SQL Server for over 10 years. The old adage “garbage in, garbage out” is still relevant today as it ever was. We can assist you migrate, import, export and map your data to where it’s needed.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Using a combination of Iron Speed Designer or Light Switch coupled with our bespoke software development expertise we have built CRMs for our clients. We’ve designed solutions that incorporate customer details, purchase history, reporting tools or integrating into accounts and e-commerce tailored to their individual requirements.

Content Management Systems

Our CMS sites are developed in Sitefinity or DotNetNuke. We have integrated custom modules, membership services and ecommerce modules to create portals for customers from UK public safety organisations, a global soft drinks brand, education sites and various clients from a wide range of sectors.

SEO services

We can get your site propelled up the rankings. While any web project we design will be naturally optimised using good tag structure and natural URLs, much more can be done off-site to support your chosen keywords and overall business goals.

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Software applications

As .Net specialists we can turn our hands to any C# or VB.net programming. We prefer code-generation tools to speed up development, such as Iron Speed Designer and Microsoft LightSwitch.

Website design and build

We have experienced web designers and developers in-house able to call on a range of CMS systems. We are Gold partners with Sitefinity CMS.

Portal Websites

By integrating with CMS capabilities and our own custom modules we have created a number of portal and membership sites. We can also provide document management, ecommerce and payment solutions integrated into the portal as required.

Mobile Development

We are capable of delivering iPhone based app solutions for clients who wish this capability.

Apple iPhone & iPad

More recently we have designed and built (in MonoTouch) a complete secure messaging system to integrate with back end web services and existing client applications. Features full offline capability and data synchronisation between the device and back end servers. No mean feat!

Developer training

We have seasoned programmers who have in the past coached other developers in formal and informal day sessions. If you are planning on taking further development in house you could benefit from our experience.

Security Testing

In addition to the standard testing which aims to ensure top quality in all the code that is delivered we can also provide the ability to test an application from a security perspective. Our Certified Ethical Hacker will run security tests to ensure the application is protected against the most dangerous hacking methods at the disposal of those unauthorised and malicious users, namely:

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 Cross Site Scripting (XSS)

 Buffer Overflows

 Directory Traversal

 Database Enumeration

 Hidden Field Manipulation Attacks

 Parameter/Form Tampering

All tests are conducted with the same tools that the malicious users will be armed with; meaning anything that they can do we can simulate in advance and take preventative measures against.

i

Tho, L.I. (2004) An investigation of the interaction between risk types in the outsourcing of the information technology function. Deakin University Thesis, Australia

ii

Tho, I (2005) Managing the Risks of IT Outsourcing. Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann

iii

Silicon.com

iv

Ofcom

v

The US Government Accounting Office (GAO) document GAO/AIMD-00-33 Information Security Risk Assessment, 1999

vi

Earl, M.J. (1996) The risks of outsourcing IT. Sloan Management Review 37 (3): 26–32.

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