Software Development Flight to Quality
Soon after yesterday’s post with a link to our new case studies, I came across a very informative report that I must share with you. At the start of every year, the law firm Morrison & Foerster, which tracks the global outsourcing industry, conducts a survey regarding the current state of the world’s outsourcing market and emerging trends likely to shape that market over the next twelve months. There are a lot of interesting ideas in the report, which can be found at http://www.mofo.com/news/updates/bulletins/15129.html. However, one point in particular really caught my attention:
“…and the recent high-profile Satyam scandal in the Indian service provider market may prompt a ‘flight to quality’ by outsourcing customers.”
What the report suggests is that companies are starting to come to the realization that what seems to be the cheaper alternative is not always the better or least expensive alternative. “Flight to quality” is something we have been promoting at Renaissance for many years now – and we have many clients that agree. We have never competed on the basis of hourly rates (which in the end is pretty meaningless) – we have always advocated that companies should evaluate software companies on the basis of end results. These end results are derived from a combination of experience, expertise, and development process. As I described in Outsourcing Software Development During a Recession, paying attention to end results and qualitative benefits are particularly important in these difficult economic times.
Do you still evaluate software vendors on the basis of hourly rates? Or do you consider the longer term benefits of time to market, quality, flexibility and expertise?
