Why It's Worth Looking Abroad for A Reliable Software Consulting Firm

Contracting a software consulting firm that is located round the corner is not the smartest business move one would make although good number enterprises do not pay enough attention to the process of selecting the best fit for their software projects. A popular fallacy is that local software consulting companies are best equipped to meet the requirements of enterprises that are situated in the same vicinity. In fact, modern-day technological solutions require a lot more than in-depth knowledge of regional specifics although it is an important factor to consider when looking for a reliable software consultant.

The world of technology has changed markedly in the past decade, with countries previously not considered technology leaders now enjoying strong positions in the markets for technology related services like hardware and software consulting. Nations in Latin America and Asia/Pacific have emerged as world leaders in the field of software consulting through outsourcing of technology projects, while India has established herself as world leader in terms of software consultancy projects outsourced to local firms.

India now has a long tradition in software development and software consulting, given that the widespread use of software solutions in business and households is a young market, and the country continues to invest in infrastructure required to boost development of local technological hubs. At present, such world class centers are located in New Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, and other large cities across India, thus providing the basis for further rapid development of software-related services.

Business across the economically developed nations started moving their software research and development departments eastwards, while others outsourced software consultancy to foreign-based firms, looking not only for more affordable service cost but for quality those companies in Asia/Pacific now can provide. Slowly but steadily, world economy is recovering but those foreign businesses that benefited from software consultancy services provided by India-based companies are very unlikely to start looking to replace those service providers with local ones. Of course, no business in the this world would replace a beneficial service or product with a less affordable one that does not provide better service quality unless it is forced to do so by external factors like government regulations or regional hostilities.

Thus, most industry analysts agree that India is set to retain its world-leading position in the field of software outsourcing, software consulting services including. Whether the country will be able to widen further its market share is debatable and depends on a number of internal and external factors like continuous investment in proper infrastructure and sustainable development of local educational institutions in the sphere of technology. Nevertheless, there are no signs that foreign-based companies should be careful when hiring an Indian software consulting firm for long-term projects.

Government regulations in the United States and within the European Union may influence the future of outbound software outsourcing in these huge markets but adoption of strict regulations in this field is unlikely, market analysts agree. Both Washington and Brussels advocate free market economy which does not bode well with restrictive measures that can reshape an entire industry, therefore local enterprises will continue to look abroad in search of advantageous software consulting services.

In fact, a business in, say, Europe, might experience more difficulties selecting a software consultancy based in India due to the wide choice of reliable and experienced consultants in the region. How this came to happen is an interesting topic but undoubtedly one should bet that a software consulting firm in India can give good ride for the money to a software consultant based in the US or Europe which are traditionally considered strongholds where technological advancements are made.

Why IT Software Consulting is Flourishing?

By any account, IT software consulting is a flourishing business even in times when other industries are shrinking and many sectors are losing jobs. What are the drivers behind such a continuous growth in hard times for the global economy?

First, a growing number of enterprises worldwide need to focus of their core business and cannot afford to maintain on their payroll IT consultants who are usually amongst the most highly paid experts. In time when corporations are obsessed with cost savings and cost reduction, only large multinationals can afford to retain expensive IT consultants as full-time employers, while a growing number of mid-sized and small-sized businesses prefer to hire third party IT and software consultants should a need arise.

Even small family businesses are actually forced to rely on external IT software consulting for good reasons; reputable technology blogs can offer valuable free advice but one would need expert assistance when solving issues that occur during implementation and use of business software. Thus, IT and software consultants can rely on a broad, and growing, customer base worldwide, fuelled by the rising adoption rates of various business software.

On the other hand, the growing demand for IT and software consulting services has resulted in the emergence of myriads of IT consultants, independent and corporate, who offer on-premise or online consultancy services. This in turn has made the IT consulting services more affordable to both large and small-scale businesses.

The process of corporate restructuring and organizational optimization that is taking place globally aims to improve corporations’ efficiency also through access to knowledge and intellectual property provided by IT and software consultants. Hiring third party consultants or outsourcing an entire service to external consultants is no more considered an extravagant, and to some extent unsecure step but is regarded as a necessary move in the wider context of transition to a knowledge-based economy where intellectual property plays an important competitive role. Thus, the World Wide Web is now flooded with technology blogs offering advice how to cope with the challenges of ever-developing information technology, while IT consultants enjoy steady growth of their business.

Obviously, the shift to more technology oriented business practices can be a painful process, while many common mistakes can be avoided through hiring a reputable IT consultant. One would find useful readings regarding the adoption, configuration, and support of particular software on the Internet but only a reputable IT consultant can provide the required expertise to perform the software implementation in the best possible fashion, for example. Therefore, the demand for IT consultancy services is growing while the service price is going down on average.

Today’s risk management practices often require the use of IT consultancy services as well. As a rule, an IT or software consultant is better prepared to manage and successfully complete a procedure of business software implementation or upgrade to a more advanced solution. One should also bear in mind that the specific knowledge on the best practices regarding the implementation, support, and upgrade of business software is among the well-kept industry secrets and rarely an IT consultant is going to make it public and available online.

The expanding sector of IT and software consulting now provides more than consulting services, with IT consultants offering outsourcing, restructuring and optimization services, as well as services in the field of software development previously provided by software vendors only. The evolution of the IT consultancy can result in the emergence of brand new products and services based on cutting-edge technologies, while other IT consultants would prefer to stick to traditional software implementation and optimization services. In both scenarios, IT software consulting is going to play a crucial role in the knowledge-based economies that create more wealth.

Benefits of Outsourcing to Software Consulting Firm in India

Software consulting has many faces, making it hard to provide a universal suggestion whether a particular project should be outsourced, but a consulting firm in India can offer to benefits that rivals based in the United States and Western Europe can hardly afford to provide to their customers. Service price is a fundamental factor in evaluation of all and every service, and India’s IT consultants are well known for their very competitive pricing and first class service based on first hand experience with both large scale and niche projects in the field of software development, customization, and implementation.

Traditionally, India’s software developers and vendors have been a major force in the region of Asia/Pacific, which in turn resulted in a flourishing software consultancy industry that provides advisory services domestically and abroad. According to various reports, local market for software consulting services is set to grow markedly within the next decade, while a steadily increasing number of foreign companies outsource projects and services requiring software consulting coverage to India-based consultants. In fact, India is the leading world power in the field of software outsourcing service, mainly offshore software development and research and development services, but also software consulting covering all and every aspect of the multifaceted software development and implementation process.

The country competes with behemoths like China and Canada to attract foreign-based companies, but virtually all reports by market analysts position India as a leading world power in the sphere of offshore software consulting, along with the Philippines. The two countries jointly hold over 50 percent of the world market for outsourced software development and consultancy services, with India leading the pack by a marked margin.

This development is result of wisely planned government policy of investing into knowledge-based services and industries like software and hardware research and development, with cities like Mumbai, New Delhi, and Pune cited as world-leading destinations for software outsourcing and software consultancy services thanks to global connectivity, developed infrastructure, and availability of well-trained software professionals. Thus a software consulting firm in India, especially one positioned in the above mentioned R&D centers, can rely on underlying infrastructure similar to those in the West while enjoying significantly lower payroll expenditures, for example.

Software consultancies based in Europe and the United States have to deal with highly regulated domestic labor markets, strict legislation in the field of human resource protection, and traditionally higher remuneration packages within the IT industry, and all those factors combined result in loss of competitive advantage compared with India-based software consultants. In contrast, India’s software consultancies enjoy a liberal market, where a combination of relatively low wages in the IT sector and availability of highly educated professionals in the field creates unparalleled market growth potential. Even the brain drain of domestically educated IT professionals to companies and universities abroad does not harm noticeably India’s ability to provide unrivalled software consulting services in terms of quality to price ratio, which signals further steady development of those services in India.

Software development and consulting outsourcing is mutually advantageous process, in which the service provider gains access to technology and particular know-how it would not be allowed to access otherwise. Thus, India-based software consultants gradually gained experience in fields that were previously restricted to U.S.- and Europe-based companies only, which in turn gave a marked boost to their competitiveness in terms of possession and access to cutting edge technologies.

Finally, a software consulting firm in India can benefit from the country’s unique location in the very heart of Asia/Pacific region, making India a preferred place for hiring a software consultancy firm to deal with regional software and hardware developers and vendors.

The Economic Crisis and India’s IT, Software Consulting Growth

Looming economic crisis and continuous recession disillusioned many customers looking for affordable yet reliable services related to IT and software consulting. Numerous business customers left their former service providers in search of a reliable service that is better adapted to meet the challenges of ongoing economic troubles on a global scale, creating gainful opportunities for entrepreneurial-minded IT and software consulting based in developing markets.

Thus, a number of countries in Asia/Pacific region emerged as serious contenders in the race for consumers of IT and software consulting services worldwide, setting foot in new markets, and replacing established market players. The map of the IT consultants that are considered reliable and are in high demand among business customers changed dramatically in the past decade or so. Of course, each country and region has its own leading players in the local market; nevertheless, a global shift toward IT and software consulting services based in India is more than evident, with India boasting some 50 percent of the global market for offshore software consultancy.

Such a development was not unexpected, really, yet it did not happen overnight. It took years to educate a generation of highly skilled professionals in the field of IT, while it took even longer to overcome prejudices related to the reliability of local consultants and the quality of their service. Well-established Western corporations are slow when the matter in question is to choose a new service provider or IT consultant, but when the economic crisis hit Europe and North America cash stripped enterprises were fast to realize they should adjust their budgets to a new reality.

In fact, India’s software consultants have been ready to face the challenge, with numerous IT consultancies already providing services to a broad customer base in Europe and the United States, competing on equal terms with IT advisories based in Canada, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. Moreover, the country is now having trouble to fill the gap in the demand for outsourced services and the number of IT professionals its educational institutions are able to produce within a short period.

Naturally, North American and European governments are experiencing growing pressure from local business communities to adopt measures restricting the outflow of IT related jobs abroad, including IT consulting, software development, . On the other hand, regulatory measures are destined to be unsuccessful in a market environment where corporations compete in a liberal market in which fundamentals like productivity, efficiency, costs, etc., matter. Those are largely populist measures intended to preserve local jobs but they rarely succeed in doing so for good reasons: labor costs in the West are very high, productivity is not among the world’s highest, social benefits of workers burden corporate budgets, to name a few.

Thus, India’s software consultants are the big winners amidst an ongoing, and heated, debate whether outsourcing of services, mainly in the field of IT, is good or bad for Western economies. Demand for such services is growing rapidly worldwide, Western consultants, however, are not able to supply affordable service to an increasing number of mid-sized corporations on a tight budget.

Therefore, the whole debate is heading in a wrong direction, blaming corporations for looking eastward for affordable and reliable IT services, while not realizing that underlying issues of productivity and payroll costs undermine the very competitiveness of the West. In any case, India’s IT and software consulting sector is now in position to gain even greater share of the world market for software consulting services.

Globally, Software Consulting Services are Moving Eastward

Software consulting services emerged along with the rise of technologically advanced solutions applied in business environment all over the world. At present, the European Union and the United States are the leading world markets for software consulting, while a growing number of local companies look to outsource those services to service providers outside their respective region. The improving state of the IT education in the Asia/Pacific region, especially in countries like India, led to a situation where European and U.S.-based software consultants are no longer the only source of reliable consultancy services, nor do the services provided by local suppliers offer the best value for money in the market.

Gradually, new hubs of technological research and development, software design and development, and related software consulting, emerged in outside the traditional fortresses of knowledge-based economies in the Western world. India, along with other Asian nations and some countries in Latin America and Eastern and Central Europe, managed to develop reasonably priced software consulting services based on outsourcing, or off-shoring. According to reports by Gartner, Inc., India, the Philippines, Canada and China top the list of the countries where business process is flourishing, software consultancy being a major income generator for their respective IT sectors.

For example, India's software exports have been adding 30 percent a year on average during the past decade thus giving boost to related business sectors like software consulting, support and marketing. Other countries in the Asia/Pacific region also bet on the growing market for IT advisory services, fueled by the increasing demand for affordable and reliable services not restricted by traditional physical and regulatory restraints.

The global online business environment now shapes a market where software consultancies in countries like India or Eastern Europe are well positioned to compete on equal terms with large multinationals, providing tailored, reliable, and knowledge-based services to enterprises across the globe. Search engine optimization (SEO) provided by numerous consultants in the above mentioned countries is just the most visible part of a huge market for software consulting services that spans processes like software implementation, customization, configuration, and support among others. With the crisis-hit enterprises looking for cost reductions, there is enough room for expansion of software consulting in countries smartly investing in IT education and favorable business regulation, most experts in the field agree.

In the course of over a decade, software consultants in India and other countries outside the U.S. and Europe, gained the expertise required to provide full-scale services at the highest level, winning contracts from leading world multinational companies usually based in the West. This professional background, complemented by growing self-confidence and advanced knowledge in the field of IT, boosted the number of software consultants outside the Western Hemisphere which are able to provide world-class service. In result, even leading Western software developers are now looking for the services of India-based consultants to lower costs and get reliable service.

Obviously, the world market for software consulting services is moving eastwards in search for reliable yet affordable product, and, with virtually every business relying on some sort of software, the market for such services is destined to flourish.

IT Software Consulting Should Provide Applicable Strategic Solutions

Demand for IT software consulting is growing as virtually all and every enterprise tries to adopt a combination of software solutions that increase efficiency, help boost sales, and lower overall costs of running a business. It is a multimillion business that is well-developed in technologically advanced countries like the United States and most of Europe, while a rapidly growing number of IT consultants from outside these countries are emerging as major market players.

IT advisers and software developers based in Asia/Pacific region, mainly in India, as well as peers in Central and Eastern Europe are growing in strength and offer high-quality services at an affordable price, giving their Western counterparts a run for their money. IT consultancies based outside Europe and the U.S. and Canada gradually evolved into reputable service providers offering highly competitive services in the field of software estimation, management, implementation, administration, and deployment. Lower payroll costs, growing number of well-educated professionals as well as literally unlimited access to modern technologies helped IT consultants in India and other outsourcing centers worldwide in developing solutions that are applicable by small and medium sized enterprises and multinational corporations alike.

During the past couple of decades, IT software consultancy and IT outsourcing are among the main driving forces behind a flourishing worldwide market for software services as well as development and implementation of configurable and customizable software solutions aimed at business customers. Recently, cloud computing gave a boost to this sustainable trend, allowing corporations to outsource even more business processes and procedures to remote third-party IT consultants. Nevertheless, traditional IT consultancy services are still dominating the market for software consultancy services.
Usually, startup software consulting firms offer specialized services; but even seasoned Silicon Valley veterans admit that IT consultants from India and Eastern Europe managed to grow into full-scale services unbelievably fast, riding the wave of new technologies and enjoying lower business costs. Typically, payroll costs are responsible for a major portion of overall business costs of an IT consulting firm because IT experts are among the highest paid professionals.

IT professionals outside Western Europe and North America, however, earn significantly lower than their Western world counterparts, thus enabling IT software consulting service providers in India, Eastern Europe, and Latin America to price their services at highly competitive rates. On the other hand, one should bear in mind that different software outsourcing centers specialize in different types of services, with many U.S.-based corporations outsourcing their R&D activities mainly to India, for example.

Furthermore, modern IT consultancy services are covering many aspects of a business and often involve management advisory services as well as thorough due diligence required to estimate, plan, and implement the best fit. It was in the past when IT software consultants were engaged mainly in implementation, maintenance, and support services. Contemporary IT software consulting is more about deployment of applicable and working strategic solutions, rather than implementation of a single software product, thus making the IT consultants major players in today's business process.

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.

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.