Custom Application Development vs Ready to Use Solutions

Mainly large multinational corporations invest in custom application development, which is considered as more expensive than implementation of ready to use solutions widely utilized by small and medium sized enterprises. Nevertheless, small and medium sized businesses also take advantage of custom-made software, mainly dealing with enterprise-specific business processes and procedures that are not incorporated as best practices in ready to implement software products.

Usually, an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system would feature built-in best practices applied within the respective industry; however, a ready to use solution is not expected to cover procedures and business processes that are utilized only within a particular enterprise. The same applies, largely, also to customer relationship management (CRM) systems that are widespread among businesses within a variety of industries. In contrast, home users usually rely on software applications that are product of generic software product development.

Therefore, a large part of business require custom software at a certain stage of their development, which is now a more affordable option due to the growing reliability of products developed through outsourcing, mainly in India and other countries in Asia. Eastern Europe is also emerging as an offshoring center for software development along with a number of countries in Central and South America.

On the other hand, contemporary business software solutions are highly configurable, or, in other words, business software can fit a wide range of needs and requirements. Nevertheless, configurability does not provide a universal solution, thus customization is largely used when ready to use software is not applicable. Software vendors in developing nations like India gradually matured and are now able to offer fully functional business software at extremely competitive prices. Those countries produce large number of well-educated software experts experienced not only in managing software development but also able to tailor software to produce a best fit.

Actually, custom applications are used everywhere, replacing old-fashioned spreadsheet solutions that have been widespread for decades. Both generic and custom-made software, however, are undergoing a process of massive transformation caused by the emergence of new technologies, utilizing to the utmost the online capabilities of modern hardware and software.

Software-as- a-service (SaaS), platform-as-a-service (PaaS), and infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) are relatively new phenomena but all of them rapidly gain market share, especially in fields where the matter in question is how to lower the costs related to software licensing and maintenance, like in ERP systems, for example. Although those services offer a cheaper alternative to classic software solutions, only a few of them are customizable to an extent to satisfy the needs of large corporations and medium sized businesses.
In fact, they are not developed with customizability in mind but are designed to be utilized as ready to use solutions, deployed on remote servers. In addition, large and medium sized enterprises often voice concerns that applications run on remote servers do not offer the level of security and privacy required by internal corporate standards, allowing third parties to access, in theory, their company information.

Therefore, custom application development is enjoying stable growth, with numerous organizations taking advantage of tailored software in a competitive environment, where development of complex solutions can be outsourced easily.

Benefits of Outsourcing Software Consulting Service and Software Development to India

Outsourcing computer software development services, and related software consulting service, is a recent phenomenon that provoked heated debates in the United States and member states of the European Union. Nevertheless, contracting a reputable software consulting firm in India to conduct less expensive research and development or provide consultancy services is now a widespread practice in the West, with a growing number of enterprises realizing that they can only benefit from lower costs and acceptable quality offered by Indian software developers and consultants.

Traditionally, a large number of well-qualified software specialists graduated in India find a job abroad and relocate soon after graduation. Even so, local universities are able to fill the gap and produce well-trained software experts, hired by local software consultants, which in turn are able to provide extremely competitive services due to the markedly lower labor costs. India-based software development companies now account for over 30 percent of the global market of outsourced software services, with cities like New Delhi, Mumbai, and Pune creating and maintaining the necessary infrastructure to encourage the growth of the local software consultancy and development services industry.

As a result, the country has enjoyed an annual 30 percent growth of its software exports in the past few years, signaling that the exported products are able to compete on equal terms with software solutions provided by leading world software vendors. The low prices are just one side of the coin; demanding Western customers are looking not only for a less expensive consulting service but also for a quality one, while specifics of India’s labor market allow local enterprises to hire well-educated and trained experts and nonetheless offer competitive prices. Thus, computer software development services obtainable in India allow for marked cost savings through off-shoring of this otherwise expensive process.

Evidently, a software consulting firm in India is able to provide competitive prices but access to intellectual property and IT knowledge and expertise is a new driving force behind Western companies’ desire to outsource to India. Local universities and research centers enjoy good reputation in the field of information technologies while both academic and non-academic research centers compete for orders in the sphere of software development services. Such a healthy competition additionally lowers prices, without lowering the overall quality of services provided, and gives the West an opportunity to hire local talents without paying the high price for getting similar services at home.

The use of worth-hiring software consulting service usually requires a significant financial effort in the Western world, while Asia/Pacific software consultants have developed and apply wide-accepted best practices and possess operational expertise that can hardly be developed in-house by the vast majority of small and medium sized Western enterprises. Thus, contacting a software developer or consultant based in India looks like a reasonable move for business owners that have trouble sustaining their competitive advantage or abilities in the field of IT.

Computer software development is a relatively expensive service as well as customization of existing software solutions. Implementation of new business software like customer relationship management (CRM) or enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems requires significant investment and can be extremely time consuming, resulting in even higher implementation costs. Therefore, outsourcing the whole or part of the process to external consultants is a wise move whatever the case may be. Getting software consulting service provided by an India-based company can prove to be the best fit for both large corporations and small and medium sized businesses that want to get access to IT expertise at affordable prices.

The Role of Business objects in Software Architecture

Business logic and business logic layer play an important role in designing software architecture, separating the business logic from other software layers that usually include a data access layer and user interface. In 3-tier software architecture, the business logic is usually occupying the middle tier, modeling real life business objects like accounts, inventories, schedules, etc. Software developers utilize business logic as a tool to design methods stipulating how business objects are accessed and updated, while developing algorithms for business objects to interact with each other.

Naturally, business logic applied in software architecture development is using business rules referring to real life business policies and objects like prices, products, locations, logistics, etc. In addition, it deals with workflows, which comprise of tasks aimed at passing data from one system to another. Thus, the use of business logic allows developers to further partition businessobjects into business processes and business entities, where business process objects usually contain no actual data elements but feature algorithms and methods prescribing how business entities are supposed to interact with each other. It is most visible in procedures like data exchange between a database and software user interface, but the same communication is also involved in many other processes and procedures that run beneath the surface of a well-designed business software.

Commonly, business logic is developed and applied as a separate module in a multilayered architecture, occupying the business services layer, which is often referred to as the middle tier. Basic principles of modern software architecture, however, allow software developers to combine methods, algorithms, and procedures used in all software tiers, resulting in a complex system where software tiers are interlinked and cross dependent.

Businessobjects within a business software application are expected to manage behaviors and be part of a broader structure of objects linked with strong business relationships. Thus, all and every businessobject should feature a set of properties, which determine its behavior and relationships with other objects. A businessobject can be a “Business Partner,” where its set of properties would include attributes like “Company Name”, “Address”, “Country”, etc. Furthermore, the afore-mentioned businessobject could be associated with contact personnel or other employees to map the object within a broader structure of similar objects.

In fact, object oriented programming deals with various types of objects not limited to financial and business concepts like “business partner”, but covering real-life objects or concepts such as an automobile, where complex data should be dealt with and managed. Furthermore, a business software application can be developed in such a way that its data access layer, after some re-programming, to be able to successfully communicate with other databases using the same business layer and business logic. It is extremely useful when complex modular business systems are implemented that are expected to interact with third party software in the future.

Thus, businessobjects are core elements of any business logic used in software architecture, securing the reliable performance of operations conducted when the so-called business entities interact with each other

India-based Software Consulting Services Gain Popularity Worldwide

With a domestic IT services market worth $9.5 billion in 2011, India ranks third in Asia/Pacific region while India-based software consulting services are gaining momentum thanks to growing local market and increasing demand for outsourced IT consulting. IT software consulting, especially outsourcing of those services to reputable consultants based in India and other fast developing markets, is becoming a widespread business practice worldwide, with a growing number of large multinational corporations looking for ways to reduce costs related to IT services and infrastructure.

While India’s domestic market for IT services is highly fragmented, according to a recent report by Gartner. Inc., finding a reputable India software consulting firm is relatively easy thanks to the widespread use of industry specific best practices and growing number of well educated local IT experts. Local companies are now considered able to provide worthwhile software consulting services covering all aspects of the IT service, from software applications, to infrastructure, to core business processes. As a result, a rapidly growing number of enterprises look for IT software consulting provided by India-based consultants, which can also offer extremely competitive prices.

Evolving standards of local tertiary education led to a situation where enterprises look for India-based IT software consulting even if they do not plan to enter the local market but want to reduce their costs through off-shoring and outsourcing. The wage gap between India and the West is still quite wide and local companies are able to provide high quality consultations carried out by well-educated IT professionals. Therefore, the so-called labor arbitrage is working definitely in favor of India-based consultants.

Access to talent plays an important role in the global shift to outsourcing of consulting services of all kinds, and Indian software specialists have a proven record of accomplishment in providing quality software consulting services. Furthermore, local software vendors and consultants are already able to compete on equal terms with leading global companies when the matter in hand is to provide knowledge based approach toward development, implementation, and customization of business software and related processes.

In fact, IT software consulting is one of the fastest developing IT industry segments because of the growing role that software applications play in a wide range of business processes and procedures. On the other hand, the narrowing gap in the sphere of knowledge skills required for software development, assessment, and implementation makes it easier to hire a reliable third party software consultant. In addition, external consultants can provide consultations remotely thanks to standardization of software development and implementation practices across the world. Thus, a medium sized enterprise based in the United States can obtain valuable consultancy service, provided by an India software consulting firm, on implementation of new software that is developed by a Western software vendor, for example.

Globalization has led to a situation where organizations are no longer required to use local software consulting services in implementing new software solutions or configuring and customizing existing applications. In addition, organizations involved in all sectors of the economy are forced to reduce costs, including IT related costs; thus outsourcing software consulting services to providers in India is a wise move for managers looking to reduce costs while not sacrificing the quality of service they get.

Types of Software Covered by Courses Included in IT Training

Corporate training often includes courses in IT training, with many organizations providing technology training courses designed for both beginners and advanced users. Usually, enterprises utilize office software suits that are relatively easy to use and most users are familiar with their basic functionality because similar software applications are also used by most home users. Nevertheless, corporations cannot rely only on office software suits, with most medium and large-sized enterprises using some kind of customer relationship management (CRM) systems, enterprise resource planning (ERP) platforms, billing and accounting software applications, and various other types of business applications. Thus, corporate training should also include IT training, covering the basics of advanced software solutions used within an enterprise and technology training courses are rapidly gaining popularity.

Modern-day operating systems like Microsoft’s Windows, Apple’s MacOS, and Linux use graphic interface that is easy to use and understanding basic functionality of an operating system is easy these days. However, advanced corporate users are sometimes required to get familiarized with advanced functionality of operating systems to be able to operate with functions like access control, advanced networking, etc. Usually, technology training courses start with an introductory lesson on operating systems, and then cover application software, including widespread business software solutions like CRM and ERP systems.

Day-to-day activities of a typical corporate user would not require knowledge of programming languages, although many enterprises still use spreadsheet solutions where familiarity with the basics of programming is advantageous for creation of various macros and other automated tasks and procedures. Corporate training rarely includes courses in programming languages; but many companies organize courses in programming languages in the framework of broader IT training aimed at business users.

Business software solutions cover all kinds of business activities and industries, thus business applications include virtually all software used by enterprises in their day-to-day operations. Some authors include web browsers on the list of business software; although many IT experts would disagree unless a corporation is using web-based software in its business activities. Very often, corporations deal with huge volumes of data collected into databases, therefore many enterprises have to train their employees how to operate with these databases and benefit from analytical tools incorporated in database management software. Decision making software of all types also deal with huge databases, while a good number of training courses covering the basics of CRM and ERP also cover basic database functionality.

Many enterprises have to organize IT training for their employees when implementation of new business software takes place within an organization. While ready to use solutions require little or no training, complex business systems like CRMs and ERPs usually involve extensive training for company’s personnel to familiarize themselves with advanced functionality of such software. Therefore, virtually all reputable software vendors offer technology training courses as part of the implementation process of ERP and CRM software solutions.

Companies use similar software to deal with similar business procedures like billing and accounting, marketing and sales, customer and technical support, etc. On the other hand, most enterprises apply customized business procedures and accepted business processes might differ from best industry practices. Thus, corporate training may involve technology training courses that cover particular aspects of a customized software solution that is used within an industry or custom-made modules that are designed to be used only within the particular enterprise.

In fact, IT training organized in the form of in-house corporate training may cover all and every software application or operating system because contemporary enterprises use a wide range of software solutions that are highly configurable or customizable.

Improving Intranet Workflow through Web Portal Development

Corporations witnessed their intranets grow tremendously in the past two decades and web portal development is now an integral part of a complex process of developing corporate portals, designed to improve workflow and provide advanced functionality to employees and customers. During the past years, corporate portal intranet workflow has become increasingly hard to manage, while corporate IT departments were under growing pressure to optimize corporate web portals and offer personalized tools for management of data, information, and applications utilized by users. As a result, today’s web portal development increasingly involves design and implementation of software aimed at corporate users, instead of development of classic web portals intended to serve as entry points to information available on the Internet.

Workflow management within corporations offers numerous challenges to both webmasters and IT professionals, with user-generated content growing rapidly. Therefore, software vendors offer various ready to use and custom solutions to deal with the increasing amount of data, stored in numerous file formats, that is hampering the flawless workflow of business operations. In general, an intranet portal would provide access to variety of corporate applications and information stored in company databases, while personalization offered by such gateways markedly improves the overall efficiency of the system.

The corporate workflow process can be improved by integrating various software tools with an existing enterprise portal, with most corporate portals featuring built-in email, calendar, and scheduling capabilities. Furthermore, many corporate portals, designed by reputable software developers, are highly customizable and configurable, enabling users to personalize views, take advantage of custom modules, and collaborate in a multi-user environment.

Workflow automation is considered an important tool to boost overall efficiency within an enterprise, and web portal software allows creation of personal and group alerts that are triggered if a pre-defined event occurs. In addition, corporate web portals offer virtually unlimited opportunities for creation of templates that automate workflow and do not require extensive knowledge of programming languages.

Web-based portals, as a rule, can be accessed from any location and any type of computer, thus providing improved workflow management abilities, while employees are able to access and modify corporate documents from remote locations at any time. Usually, the corporate data is stored in a centralized data repository, which allows for faster indexing and searching of information and facilitates data backup procedures within an enterprise. Those factors have indirect positive impact on business performance and help reduce the overall costs of running a business.

Some authors claim that security issues might prevent intranet portals from achieving their projected effectiveness. Nevertheless, modern intranet portals utilize web-based technology and applications that allow webmasters to apply highly centralized approach toward security, monitoring and granting/revoking access permissions within seconds. Evidently, the majority of intranet portals that allow users to connect from remote locations could become victims of a targeted computer attack but this is a relatively small price to be paid for having a modern business system.

Overall, web portal development is a growing market for developers offering services to enterprises that plan to boost efficiency through creation and maintenance of intranet portals that also facilitate collaboration within larger corporations.

Professional Services Can Secure Successful Implementation of Business Software Solutions

Modern-day enterprises are forced to implement new software solutions and update their applications on a regular basis, which often requires assistance and advice by providers of professional services specializing in professional services consulting. Implementation of new software and modernization of existing software infrastructure requires professional approach involving careful assessment of business processes and procedures applied within an organization. Moreover, an implementation plan should be worked out which should be prepared with long-term business strategy in mind; otherwise, serious post-implementation issues could occur.

Professional consultants can provide valuable assistance when the matter in hand is to design a strategy for deployment of new software or tweaking of existing software solutions to meet new business realities. A third party consultant can offer solutions that are fine-tuned within the specific context of a company business, and provide support for staff training and implementation of best industry practices. Some customer relationship management (CRM) systems and enterprise resource planning (ERP) platforms feature built-in best practices functionality, however, these systems often require further configuration or customization to be conducted. Thus, an external consultancy company can offer both non-standard approach to issues and demands of business customers, while incorporating best practices within an existing or newly implemented system.
Sometimes, business software requires redesign that can result in implementation delays and poor post-implementation usability, therefore careful planning and evaluation of company requirements and needs should be conducted prior to deploy any business software. For example, integration of new software into existing business systems can secure visible benefits like reduction of overall costs of running a business, improved efficiency and increased customer satisfaction. On the other hand, poor integration can produce undesired effects, wiping out the positive impact of software implementation.

Software vendors tend to offer complex business solutions that cover various business processes, from billing and accounting, to marketing and sales, to customer and technical support. Selection and deployment of the most suitable business solution therefore requires professional advice and detailed due diligence of underlying business strategy and core business processes.

Typically, implementation of sophisticated CRM and ERP systems can take months and even years, when deployed within large enterprises. The process should be closely watched by software experts who are experienced in the field of business software implementation and possess expertise to make the necessary adjustments in the software configuration to secure flawless performance of all systems. Evidently, business software deployment is a time-consuming process while most enterprises lack expert resources and means to complete successfully implementation of complex systems that feature various modules, with each of them requiring to be configured accordingly.

In general, deployment of complex and efficient business software solutions requires significant investment, a financial effort during which professional services provided by expert consultants can markedly lower implementation and post-implementation costs through careful assessment of existing and applicable solutions.

Advancing Careers of PM Professionals with Project Management Training Courses

Project management is increasingly popular area of study for young professionals, with several reputable organizations providing project management training courses that are recognized worldwide. By obtaining a project management professional certification, project managers are able to apply their skills in a fast developing field of expertise, where motivated and qualified experts are in high demand. Those interested in a professional career in project management can apply to a project management training institute that issues widely accepted professional certificates, with most of these institutes offering online training courses.

Scholars agree that the Project Management Framework consists of the following five major project management process groups: Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring and Controlling, and Closing. These project management process groups are closely related to each other and interact in different ways within a complex framework encompassing interdependent processes. Thus, project management professional certification opens the gates to a career within various industries where project management is essential element of an overall business development strategy.

Project management principles and techniques are applied in virtually every field, therefore certified project managers are able to pursues a career in the business sector, or develop their skills working for a government agency or non-government organization. Many self-employed project managers attend training courses to obtain an internationally accepted certificate that allows them to seek customers worldwide, while a good number of enterprises require their project managers to be certified by a project management training institute of good reputation.

Applicants for project management certification are usually required to verify a high school diploma and extensive project management experience of up to 5 years in one of the process groups. Alternatively, the candidates are allowed to verify a bachelor’s degree and some 3 years of experience in the field of project management. Some organizations issuing project management certificates also require candidates to attend or verify completed classes in project management.

Training and certification organizations offer credentials to certified professionals that vary from institute to institute, as well as the overall cost of exams, training courses and qualification certificates issued. For example, the Association for Project Management (APM), based in the United Kingdom, offers five types of qualifications: APM Introductory Certificate, APMP, Practitioner Qualification, Certificated Project Manager, and APM Project Risk Management Certificates. The U.S.-based Project Management Institute (PMI) also offers internationally accepted certificates, with credentials in the following qualifications: CAPM Certified Associate in Project Management, PMP Project Management Professional, PMI-RMP PMI Risk Management Professional, PMI-SP PMI Scheduling Professional, and PgMP Program Management Professional. Other reputable organizations also accept eligible candidates to be certified as project managers, with exam fees ranging from $100 to $600 depending on the certification level.

Attending project management training courses and obtaining an internationally accepted certification is not mandatory for project management professionals but being a certified project manager is considered a major advantage by a growing number of private and government organizations.

Benefits Offered by Deployment of Software for Business Intelligence Data Warehousing

Enterprise data warehousing (DW) is applied in virtually every corporation, with enterprises usually taking advantage of specialized applications to perform business intelligence data warehousing, whereas data warehouses solutions are made of servers, storage space, operating system, and specialized software. Software vendors also provide ready-to-use solutions that can be installed and run on a predefined set of hardware configurations, thus allowing enterprises to apply data warehousing in business intelligence without vast investment in new hardware and software. In addition, some software vendors have developed products that combine or run on various hardware platforms. For example, business intelligence data warehousing in Oracle systems enables managers and business owners to select from a variety of hardware platforms on which the software is able to run.

In fact, data warehousing is a process and procedure that allow managers and corporate executives to get easy access to valuable data and analyze these data for the purpose of market research or analysis of various market processes and trends. Business intelligence tools are an integral part of decent systems for data warehousing, which is often referred to as storing of data, with growing number of experts acknowledging that tools to extract data, and manage and get metadata should also be considered part of data warehousing business intelligence.

Enterprise data warehousing can be applied to support businesses in various elements of their day-to-day activities. Data warehouse applications can be applied successfully in decision support, financial forecasting, trend analysis, financial fraud analysis, etc. In fact, customized data warehousing solutions can be implemented by companies involved in any business, assisting managers in decision making process while storing valuable data for further analysis.

On the other hand, initial entry costs of data warehouse vary from $10,000 to $150,000 per terabyte; therefore, data warehousing is aimed mostly at medium-sized and large businesses that need their business intelligence tools to run smoothly, taking advantage of large volumes of data collected for analysis. Overall, implementation of data warehousing systems offers marked reduction in costs, securing low entry and maintenance costs.

Data warehousing is used in business intelligence applications partly because the performance offered by such solutions is usually better than the performance provided by other products for data storing, data retrieving, and analysis of data. Modern data warehouse platforms are able to secure high-performance using advanced analytics methods that were previously known for their low performance due to software and hardware issues that software developers and vendors were not able to solve in the past.

Scalability is another factor that plays an essential role in cost reduction with many software vendors offering data warehousing systems made of modules, which helps businesses in lowering upfront costs related to over-provisioning. In addition, scalability allows database administrators and IT managers to deploy solutions in line with company needs and requirements, following an analysis of business process and procedures within their respective enterprise.

In general, data warehousing applications provide visible results and cost reductions within months after implementation. Recently, software vendors started to provide solutions that are designed with business intelligence data warehousing in mind, thus enabling corporations to utilize such software products as strategic tools in running their day-to-day business activities.

Major Benefits of Outsourcing to Customized Software Development Company

Most enterprises rely on commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) software for performing day-to-day activities like processing and management of office documentation or electronic communications like email, while preferring to take advantage of tailored solutions commissioned to a customized software development company to meet the specific requirements of in-house business processes. Large multinational corporations often look abroad to outsource expensive processes like software development with a growing number of foreign enterprises outsourcing IT application development to India, due to lower labour costs and advantageous value-to-quality ratio offered by local software developers.

IT outsourcing is among the fastest growing segments within the IT industry with India and the Philippines accounting for about 50 percent of the world’s offshore software development, including time-consuming client server application development. Enterprises headquartered in North America and Europe face growing costs related to software development due to the growing compensations of developers and other IT experts, whereas outsourcing provides a method to reduce expenditures related to software development with the benefit of remote support and maintenance services that can additionally reduce costs.

Large corporations and medium-sized businesses need custom software solutions to perform tailored tasks concerning their daily activities in the sphere of content management, customer and customer relationship management, inventory management, human resource management, and enterprise resource planning. Thus, corporate executives look eastward to find affordable solutions that specialised software developers in countries like India, Philippines, and to some extent China can offer.

A decent licensed office package is usually able to meet corporate needs to create and maintain office documents, spreadsheets, and business presentations; but complex processes like content management and customer relationship management require implementation of sophisticated software that can be very expensive if developed in-house. Customised solutions cover the full range of businesses, not only niche markets, for large corporations often run their business according to a set of specific requirements that are not covered by standard mass software solutions.

Therefore, IT outsourcing proved to be a cheaper alternative to in-house development of tailored software when the matter in hand is to design an application that is custom-made to meet very specific requirements and offer high configurability, in addition to customisation. Major advantages of software development outsourcing are not limited to lower costs and customisation, though.

Enterprises using the services of specialised developers of custom software are able to focus on their core business and more efficiently allocate resources to deal with day-to-day business activities. Corporate executives can more easily predict variable costs related to software development and IT services by outsourcing such activities to a third party company, improving operating leverage that compares fixed costs to variable costs.

Custom software solutions can boost quality of services offered by an enterprise by obtaining access to operational best practices that should otherwise require significant investment to develop internally. In addition, an external software developer can bring product innovation ideas that rarely can be produced by in-house staff that get used to perform routine tasks within their respective departments. A customized software development company can take a different approach to standard business processes and tasks in an enterprise and enhance best practices according to accepted industry standards, thus placing the keystone of a modernisation process of core IT and business procedures.

India IT Market Set to Grow, Software Development Is Gaining Momentum

India is the third largest domestic market for IT services in Asia/Pacific region with local market forecast to reach $15 billion by end-2014, including software development, ranking it amongst the major emerging markets for IT services worldwide. India IT services market posted revenue of $8 billion in 2010 with industry analysts forecasting market growth of 18 percent, year-on-year, to $9.5 billion in 2011. Software development in India is gaining momentum partly due to the competitive costs offered by local software vendors and the country is rapidly transforming into a regional software development center, where numerous software developers compete on a highly fragmented market. In addition, India offers great competitive advantages to companies that want to outsource their services there or hire local software developers.

The domestic market for IT services is driven by high GDP growth in the past decade as well as government-backed infrastructure projects that fuel development of advanced IT services and software applications deployed by manufacturers, while the financial services sector, which traditionally relies on sophisticated technologies, is also booming. Telecommunications is another sector of the local economy that boosts software development market in India, demanding high-quality products and forcing local software vendors and service providers to compete with large multinationals on equal terms.

India offers tremendous growth opportunities both in terms of domestic market and as an outsourcing destination because of the evident trend to lower the cost of IT services. Organisations worldwide seek alternatives to high IT usage costs, looking for ways to reduce costs and outsource services, while a growing number of enterprises realise that developing customised business solutions in software development centers like India can prove to be less expensive in the long run, compared to the purchase of high-priced enterprise software offered by multinational software vendors.

Actually, India software development market currently stands where the Silicon Valley stood in the early 1980s; namely, numerous small and mid-sized software vendors offer highly competitive services while a few of those companies are destined to witness their products and business models become worldwide industry standards. Local software vendors and developers are strategically positioned within the region while modern infrastructure allows service providers to offer competitive prices for outsourced services to enterprises headquartered at all continents. To some extent, fragmentation of local IT services market can be regarded as a competitive advantage, stimulating new market entrants and players to offer more competitive services and high-quality products at a reasonable price.

Software development in India can boast traditions and achievements a few markets in the region have with local software developers working under projects commissioned by leading world software vendors. The country’s strategic position in the region and the fast-paced economic development that earned the country a place in the BRIC group (Brazil, Russia, India, China) of the fastest developing emerging markets will inevitably result in marked growth of India’s market for IT services in the near future. Furthermore, local software development is maturing and now can offer solutions designed to compete on equal terms with products developed by leading world software vendors.