We have the distinction of having built two software products for our customers which found their place in the Gartner Magic Quadrant, 2009.

Rubikon, built for Neptune Software plc, UK, has a unique Financial Service Oriented Architecture (FSOA) that facilitates rapid incremental deployment either as a complete universal banking solution or as a series of special-purpose applications that can collaborate with existing infrastructure. Read More…

Paisley Enterprise GRC of Thomson Reuters is a comprehensive audit, financial controls management, enterprise risk management, operational risk management, IT governance and compliance software solution purpose-built to address integrated governance, risk and compliance requirements. Read More…

Divestures not a trend; firms are no longer in distress.

While 97 new captive announcements were made in the last 12 months, only 10 captives were actually divested

Captives can triple their value on EBITDA basis by managing complete service lines and the demand for parent

They are much more effective in getting lower pricing in terms of contracting with third party providers

New Delhi, March 26

Offshore captive IT/BPO units that transition into mature roles such as governance of third party suppliers, and undertaking risk and demand management functions can become up to three times more valuable to their parent entity, according to Mr Peter Bendor-Samuel, CEO of outsourcing advisory firm Everest Group.

Debunking the industry perception that the 2009 trend of captive divestures would continue, Everest has pointed out that against 97 new captive announcements in the last 12 months, only 10 captives were actually divested.

“Historically captives have been seen as a platform to reduce costs. But in this maturing environment, we can see that captives can potentially can triple their value on EBITDA basis by managing complete service lines and the demand (for parent), and by providing a vehicle to do vendor management of the third parties,” Mr Samuel told Business Line recently.

The first quarter of 2009 witnessed 20 new captive announcements and one divesture and the following quarter 27 new captives and one divesture. In the third quarter, against four captive divestures 28 new captives were established – an 18 month high.

Despite the few divestures announced in fourth quarter of 2009, Everest expects continued momentum in the market going forward.

Notable divestures

Some of the notable divesture announced recently include Cognizant Technology Solutions’ acquisition of UBS India Service Centre Pvt Ltd, the Hyderabad-based captive service provider to the Swiss UBS Group; EXL’s acquisition of the back-office centre of American Express Business Travel; and Integreon’s acquisition of Grail Research, the captive unit of the US-based management consulting firm, Monitor group. “For a while there, captives were being valued very highly and it made commercial sense if a company was in need of capital…Firms were in severe distress. The situation has changed now. The valuations have dropped precipitously and firms are no longer under significant distress,” the Everest CEO said.

Relook at strategy

This, in turn, has prompted companies to re-examine their strategy and look at the value creation.

Explaining the changing face of captives, he said that these units started off as a platform for labour arbitrage, but are now moving onto more complex functions right from offering expertise to build reciprocal operations in other geographies, to managing third party suppliers. Captives can advise parent organisations on how to optimise the sourcing programs and mitigate risk, in the process becoming a strategic partner to the parent.

Being an offshore unit themselves, captives are suitably placed to manage the dynamics of offshore sourcing, believes Everest.

“They are much more effective in getting lower pricing in terms of contracting with third party providers. They can become a hub in the ecosystem – so now not only are they doing work themselves but they are also managing third party ecosystems,” Mr Samuel said adding that hybrid models would gain traction as companies outsource part of the work to third parties and retain certain capabilities in-house at comparable price points.

Source: thehindubusinessline.com

The Cordiant Build-Operate-Transfer model provides our customers with an offshoring alternative that substantially enhances their enterprise value as compared to typical third-party offshoring/ outsourcing

Higher Enterprise Value than third-party Outsourcing

The knowledge and the skills remain with the Customer in the case of BOT. Having the BOT option has a significant positive impact on the Customer Enterprise Value than in the case of third-party outsourcing/ offshoring where the provider walks away with the knowledge acquired and the lessons learnt.

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At Cordiant, we build cherry-picked India A-Teams for our international customers. Since the teams are purpose-built from the ground up through a rigorous talent-acquisition process, we have been able to achieve a far higher level of success for our customers

Cherry-picked A-Team purpose-built from the ground up

We go to market and build the Team in line with the exacting requirements of the customer from the open labor pool available in India. This way, our customer gets an A-Team instead of picking the currently idle people from our bench or by transferring people from other customer engagements. Almost all teams are built from Ground up, and this, we believe, has helped us deliver smarter.

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Cordiant has its India offshore centers in International Tech Park, Chennai and in Indira Nagar, Cochin. It has its US Office in Chicago.

We have the distinction of having built two software products for our customers which found their place in the Gartner Magic Quadrant, 2009.

Cordiant BOT Offer Highlights

• Higher Enterprise Value than third-party Outsourcing
  

  Higher Enterprise Value than third-party Outsourcing

  The knowledge and the skills remain with the Customer in the case of BOT. Having the BOT option has a significant positive impact on the Customer Enterprise Value than in the case of third-party outsourcing/ offshoring where the provider walks away with the knowledge acquired and the lessons learnt.

• No Upfront Investment
  

  No Upfront Investment

  Typically, there is no upfront capital investment required from the client for the Cordiant BOT. The model operates likes a typical Services engagement until the Transfer phase when the most important asset, the team is transferred to the customer.

• Low-risk Entry into India
• Ready-to-use International Class Facility
  

• Wider Access to Scarce Skills
• Cherry-picked A-Team purpose-built from the ground up
  

  Cherry-picked A-Team purpose-built from the ground up

  We go to market and build the Team in line with the exacting requirements of the customer from the open labor pool available in India. This way, our customer gets an A-Team instead of picking the currently idle people from our bench or by transferring people from other customer engagements. Almost all teams are built from Ground up, and this, we believe, has helped us deliver smarter.

• Intellectual Property Protection
  

  Intellectual Property Protection

  All Source Code remains at Customer HQ, checked in and checked out through a Virtual Private Network. IP awareness is quite high in India today, the cost of transgression can be very high for the individual and the organization involved.Read More

• Speed-to-market
• Compelling Cost Advantage
• World-class Hardware, Software and Communication Infrastructure
• Proven Management Team
• Information and Network Security
• Highly motivated development and delivery team
• Scalability
• Legal and secretarial support
• Seamless Team Transfer
• No Transfer Fees other than for Physical Assets
• Post-Transfer Management Services
• Cordiant’s Prior Success with BOT

CORDIANT BOT MODEL

Build: Cordiant sets up the facility and infrastructure, staffs the development center, and establishes knowledge transfer and operating guidelines.

Operate: Cordiant manages the offshore organization for the customer: This includes program management, development, quality assurance, maintenance, enhancements and ongoing product support.

Transfer: Cordiant provides help and support to register a new India subsidiary for the customer, transfer team, and handover operations to the subsidiary.

CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS

• Customer Top Management Commitment
• Customer to nominate a member of the Senior Management to co-ordinate with Cordiant.
• Customer to view the offshore team as a true extension of their own team.
• Small start followed up by incremental ramp ups
• Early knowledge acquisition by the offshore team
• Definition and roll-out of an organizational matrix having Customer personnel (On-site) and Cordiant (Offshore) personnel.
• Frequent communication, well-defined reporting and escalation processes.
• Fail-Proof version control processes
• Deployment and effective use of smart collaboration software by the onsite and offshore teams.
• Water-tight transfer agreements

BUILD PHASE

Time Frame
The Offshore Development set up will require around 4-6 weeks of lead time to become functional.

Facility, Location
Cordiant will provide an international class facility to house the team dedicated for the customer. Currently, we offer space in International Tech Park, Chennai, Southern India.

We could also have the facility in Bangalore, Hyderabad or Kochi, all in Southern India, if the customer so desires.

Hardware and Software Licenses
Standard Development Environment: Will consist of Desktops, Servers, Printers, Network Infrastructure, OS, MS Office.

All other software licenses and hardware add-ons will be costed separately and charged out to the customer.

Connectivity
High Speed Point-to-Point connectivity between Cordiant and Customer HQ is deployed and rolled out.

Information Security
Cordiant will extend its Information Security Management System to the facility.

Background Checks
Background checks are conducted on all hires by an internationally recognized agency.

NDAs
All hires sign a Confidentiality and Invention Assignment agreement with Cordiant on being employed by Cordiant. Additionally, they sign a 1:1 Confidentiality and Non-Disclosure Agreement with the customer before they join the team.

Time Zones
India is 5:30 hours ahead of the GMT,  10:30 hours ahead of the EST and 13.30 hours ahead of PST.

Knowledge Acquisition, Training, Initial Customer Visits to Cordiant
Business and technical training on the Customer’s products and solutions is the first step in the process.

Business Analysts and Technical Specialists from the Customer visit Cordiant to train the core team on the product/ solution fundamentals. Vision, Business Case, UI, Technical Architecture, IDE, Coding guidelines are some of the key elements covered during these sessions.

Collaboration and Time Reporting Software
Collaboration software and time reporting software are deployed and rolled out.

Version Control
Version control processes are defined and clearly communicated and put into place.

Voice Conferencing
Daily Voice Conferencing and status reporting with the team at Customer HQ is recommended at this stage.

Reporting Structures
Organization and Reporting structures are put into place.

Small Start
Development and Testing, typically smaller maintenance tasks, starts at the end of this Phase.

OPERATE PHASE

This phase is initiated by sending small tasks, typically regular support, maintenance and testing jobs to the offshore team in India.

Starting small makes it easier to implement the processes. The engagement can be ramped up quickly as per agreed time frames and/or business demands.

The customer starts getting the benefit of a 24-hour development cycle.

Typically, the offshore team may handle the following:

• Deployment ( customization & integration)
• R&D ( enhancements, new development, new releases, re-engineering, platform migration)
• QA and testing ( manual, automated to support the above)

TRANSFER OF THE TEAM

The transfer of the team to the Customer will be on completion of the time horizon, as per the terms and conditions agreed between Cordiant and the Customer.

• An Indian subsidiary company is set up for the Customer.
• Any infrastructure facilities agreed to have been transferred to the Customer at this Phase, are systematically transferred to the Indian subsidiary.
• The team will be reorganized as per the original agreement as to who will remain with Cordiant and who will move over to the Customer subsidiary.
• Replacement resources are hired as per a transition plan.
• Support Staff such as Admin, Finance, Legal and Secretarial are transferred to or hired for the subsidiary.
• All Intellectual Property Assets that should belong to the customer are transferred to the subsidiary.
• The subsidiary is now run as an independent entity from an operational perspective.

The BOT engagement between Cordiant and the customer is formally terminated upon sign off, as per the terms of the original agreement.

Contact Cordiant right away to get the best out of this model!

CORDIANT’S PRIOR SUCCESS WITH BOT

Neptune establishes own Asia presence

London UK, 09 March, 2010 – Neptune Software plc today announces the establishment of Neptune Financial Software Pvt. Ltd. in Chennai, India.

The new wholly owned subsidiary is the focal point of Neptune’s strategy to expand its own Rubikon development capacity, provide an international support centre, as well as sales and pre-sales capacity for the Asia region.

Neptune Financial Software Pvt. Ltd. will therefore become a fully functional regional office, taking on the bulk of development for Rubikon. It will also have a purpose-built customer support centre and a full operating training centre for clients, partners and staff.

Neptune’s global expansion is successfully reaching out into Asia, with a number of wins in the region in 2009. It is therefore appropriate timing to launch Neptune Financial Software Pvt. Ltd. in Chennai, India, where additional resources for development, implementation and sales will be recruited.

According to Simeon Agu, Chairman and CEO, ‘Asia is proving to provide fertile ground for Rubikon growth, with a number of wins in the region and a healthy pipeline, therefore reinforcing operations to cover the territory is a natural step for us to take. We have big plans for Rubikon. Chennai’s location makes it a perfect strategic hub for development, support and sales.’

About Rubikon
Rubikon is a next generation banking solution that offers a comprehensive range of functionality. Features include integrated workflow/event management, case management, document management, rules engine, multiple delivery channels, regulatory compliance, business intelligence and data warehousing. Rubikon is a 100% Java solution, based on J2EE technology and built on a Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA). It supports both grid and cloud computing on the Oracle 10g platform, offering a basketful of cost and operational benefits to users. It is also the first system that truly eliminates the need for an “end of day” processing.

About Neptune Software plc
Neptune Software provides banking solutions to financial institutions in an efficient, cost effective, and timely manner. Neptune has partnered with more than 70 banks and financial institutions worldwide. Many of Neptune’s customers have achieved award-winning efficiency thanks to its universal banking products. In 2008, Neptune achieved a top 5 ranking in the IBS Sales League of international banking systems vendors.

http://www.neptunesoftwareplc.com/Press Release/Chennai.htm

Contact Cordiant right away to get the best out of this model!

Cordiant’s Boutique Approach to Outsourced Product Development Helps it Build World-Class India Engineering Teams to Enhance Customers’ Software Product Development Efforts.

Cordiant builds India A-teams from the ground up, for a select number of global customers. This Boutique approach has enabled us to provide undiluted customer attention with a focus on providing world-class product engineering teams to our customers

Chennai, India (PRWEB) January 19, 2010 — Cordiant Technologies, an Outsourced Product Development Boutique based in India, announced today that two of the enterprise software products it has been building for its customers find their place in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for 2009.

Today, one of Cordiant’s long term customers is a recognized leader in providing more than 4000 organizations – including 30 percent of the Fortune 500 companies with comprehensive solutions to streamline Governance, Risk and Compliance processes, reduce costs of compliance, manage and mitigate risks, and provide visibility, oversight and assurance. The product, built using Agile practices in an offshore – onsite collaborative development model, has been recognized as a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Governance, Risk and Compliance platforms, 2009.

Cordiant’s second success in 2009 has been in the Banking solutions segment. Rubikon, from Neptune Software plc, UK has been positioned by Gartner in the Niche Players Quadrant of its 2009 Magic Quadrant for International Retail Core Banking Software platforms. Rubikon is being built at Cordiant Resource Lab for ISVs in Chennai, India and has gone live in 4 banks within 6 months of its launch.

“At Cordiant, we build India A-teams from the ground up, for a select number of global customers. This Boutique approach has enabled us to provide undiluted customer attention with a focus on providing world-class offshore product engineering teams to our customers,” said Dennis Paul, President & CEO. “The Gartner achievement is an acknowledgement of the success of our approach,” he added.

Cordiant Development Centers are located in Chennai and Kochi, Southern India.

About Cordiant Technologies
Founded in 1995, Cordiant Technologies is an India-based Outsourced Product Development Boutique for Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) and Internet Businesses worldwide. The company is committed to providing innovative and customized services and solutions to create long term value and growth for its customers.

For more information, +91-44-4266-6015 ext.175 (India), email: marcom@cordiant.com or visit http://www.cordiant.com

Cambridge, Mass., January 12, 2010 . . . After a dismal performance in 2009, the technology sector will see a recovery in 2010 as businesses and governments in the US and around the world begin spending again on information technology, according to a new report by Forrester Research, Inc. (Nasdaq: FORR). After declining 8.2 percent in 2009, US IT spending will grow 6.6 percent in 2010 to $568 billion. Global IT spending, which dropped 8.9 percent last year, will rise 8.1 percent in 2010 to more than $1.6 trillion. Software and computer hardware will see the greatest growth, as Forrester forecasts a new multi-year cycle of technology investment growth and innovation defined by Smart Computing. The Forrester forecast provides Vendor Strategy professionals with recommendations regarding how to align their sales and marketing efforts to the current and future environment for IT spending.

“The technology downturn of 2008 and 2009 is unofficially over,” said Andrew Bartels, Forrester Research vice president and principal analyst. “All the pieces are in place for a 2010 tech spending rebound. In the US, the tech recovery will be much stronger than the overall economic recovery, with technology spending growing at more than twice the rate of gross domestic product (GDP) this year.”

With regard to sector growth, hardware and software will lead the charge. Measured in US dollars, global purchases of computer equipment will be up 8.2 percent, communications equipment buying will rise by 7.6 percent, software spending will increase by 9.7 percent, purchases of IT consulting and systems integration services will grow by 6.8 percent, and IT outsourcing services will be 7.1 percent higher.

On a regional basis, Europe will be the strongest performing region. Measured in US dollars, the strongest growth in 2010 will be in Western and Central Europe, where tech purchases will rise by 11.2 percent, boosted by the dollar’s decline against the euro. IT purchases in Canada will grow by 9.9 percent, Asia Pacific by 7.8 percent, and Latin America by 7.7 percent. The weakest market will be Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, rising by just 2.4 percent. When measured against local currency, however, the US will actually post the strongest growth of all the regional tech markets.

“We are entering a new six- to seven-year cycle of IT growth and innovation that Forrester calls Smart Computing,” said Bartels. “New technologies of awareness married to advanced business intelligence analytics make computing smart. Smart Computing rests on new foundation technologies such as service-oriented architecture, server and storage virtualization, cloud computing, and unified communications. 2010 marks the beginning of this next phase of technology advancement.”

Select Forrester clients can access the 38-page “US And Global IT Market Outlook: Q4 2009″ report, which includes a more detailed breakdown of IT spending by sector and region.

About Forrester Research

Forrester Research, Inc. (Nasdaq: FORR) is an independent research company that provides pragmatic and forward-thinking advice to global leaders in business and technology. Forrester works with professionals in 20 key roles at major companies providing proprietary research, customer insight, consulting, events, and peer-to-peer executive programs. For more than 26 years, Forrester has been making IT, marketing, and technology industry leaders successful every day. For more information, visit www.forrester.com.

©2010, Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved. Forrester is a trademark of Forrester Research, Inc.

Source: Forrester

Source:  THE HINDU-Business Line

India has become the top offshore destination for European enterprises traditionally thought to be shy of sending work to the country, a recent report by Forrester Research said.

Forrester’s survey of 300 European enterprises shows that more than 60 per cent of firms intend to send their work to India. This count is more than any other obvious single country or grouping of countries — for example the CIS region or Central Europe, the report said.
Budget cuts likely

Forrester also said that European companies plan to increase their India spend substantially. Nearly 50 per cent of the firms that currently offshore or plan to offshore in the next 12 months plan to increase their spend on Indian resources. Twenty per cent of these firms plan to increase their spending by more than 10 per cent of what they spent in 2008.

However, most firms are expecting moderate budget cuts as economic pressures and cost-cutting drivers are visible in their budgeting decision. All three top European markets including UK, France and Germany would pare budgets. More than 60 per cent of UK firms are cutting their budgets, the report said. While there is talk of economic recovery, it is not yet reflected in firms allocating money for technology expenses.
Fewer first-timers

Also, very few first-time users will try offshore services, the report said. Compared to Forrester’s survey in 2008, the current research shows a drop of more than 20 per cent in the number of companies that were thinking about starting an offshore initiative for the first time, it added.

But experienced offshore clients would extend their usage further. The companies that saw offshore benefits in the past are optimistic about continuing and expanding their offshore usage, the report said. These firms report that they will either continue ramping up their offshore work or will use offshore resources wherever possible, the report added.

Overall, compared with the US, Europe still offers a lukewarm response to offshore. The majority of European companies are keeping their offshore budgets flat. Furthermore, compared to North American firms, fewer Europeans are increasing their offshore budget, and a higher percentage of companies are reducing their offshore spend, the report said.

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