Why your developer should be a part of the team for the long-haul

I regularly talk about the relationship between my clients and Synetec, as being one of the most critical two-way partnerships their business will ever enter into. My clients IT systems are so integral to the day-to-day operation of their businesses that they simply couldn’t exist without them. That degree of trust and reliance makes Synetec arguably even more ingrained in their business than for instance, their lawyer or accountant.

So, what happens after you cut the ribbon on your new software system?

It goes without saying that even after testing and handover, any new system needs a level of ongoing training and support. I always recommend that when you negotiate the initial scope of work with your developer, you should always insist on at least a 90 day support package. This will help you and your staff get to grips with the system at your own speed; comfortable in the knowledge that support is only a phone call, email or a face-to-face meeting (if locally-based) away.

Manage change and reduce risk

While post-launch support is important, longer-term relationships can create real lasting value. These types of support packages are tailored to the individual clients needs and provide both peace of mind and on-call expertise. At Synetec we regularly work with clients where a previous outsourced-developer has gone ‘AWOL’ or where a key member of the client’s in-house team has left after years- leaving a significant knowledge gap in the business. Having an existing relationship with a reputable developer like Synetec means that you both minimise disruption and reduce risk.

Ongoing upgrades and training for bespoke and off-the-shelf systems

Regardless of whether your software product is bought off-the-shelf and installed by you or is a bespoke system, it is inevitable that it will require upgrading from time to time. A strong customer support programme is important, not only to ensure that you receive immediate assistance when those glitches occur (often at the most inconvenient time) but that potential problems can also be proactively mapped and managed.

An important piece of advice is to remember to also take into account the number and nature of users in your company and your in-house HR or training resources. Is your IT system simple enough that it only requires basic user training? Do you have in-house training expertise? If not, your support contract should contain provision for an on-demand training programme for staff (whether new starters or existing staff) being trained on the latest upgrade.

Reduce pressure on your in-house team

Another, often overlooked benefit, is that having a support contract in place can significantly reduce pressure on your internal resources. Synetec’s bespoke support services are developed to help your business to streamline processes, reduce costs, improve performance, and remain both flexible and up-to-date. This type of support relationship reduces pressure on your in-house IT team, meaning they can focus on immediate or strategy-based projects. If like most businesses you’re trying to balance efficiency while remaining at the leading edge of your industry- engaging with specialists like Synetec could produce financial and performance benefits.

Whether Sheffield or Sri Lanka your development team has to be onsite

You probably read the story earlier this year about an American software developer, who outsourced his entire job to a Chinese firm. He paid them 20% of the salary he was earning and instead spent his days sat around the office watching ‘cute cat’ videos on YouTube. Whilst one or two of you may have shaken your heads in disbelief; I bet many more applaud his ingenuity!

This type of incident is probably a one-off, but it raises the question about monitoring your outsourced developer and whether they can reasonably and responsibly outsource part of your system. Regardless of where in the world they are; do they need to be onsite in a controlled environment or can they be a freelancer sat working from a bedroom?

As a client, your decision to outsource your software development- is of-course- a strategic management decision and not just another way to cut costs. Apart from lowering costs, it enables you to achieve business objectives through operational excellence, making best use of expertise and reduce pressure on existing resources. But whether it is Sheffield or Sri Lanka; how do you ensure you’re not being exposed to unnecessary risk?

One of the things that set Synetec and other quality providers’ apart- is that we never outsource. We believe it is necessary to work closely and in partnership with our clients, to ensure the best solution. All of our development is done in our London offices and we are always available to meet in person or at the end of a phone, should you want to talk. Your data is safely and securely managed. Employees don’t go home with data; they don’t send confidential data via email and new starters and leavers are rigorously managed. This clarity is part of a company culture that encourages transparency and excellence.

Here are 7 key things to consider:

1. The importance of being there

Never under estimate the value of not only being able to keep an eye on ‘what’s going on’ but also of direct human interaction and the opportunity to share thoughts and ideas.

2. Have you considered the hidden cost?

IT ‘offshoring’ may entail extra hidden costs, including things such as international travel expenses, out-of-hour costs when working across time-zones and developing infrastructure to support off-site operations.

3. Have you done your due diligence?

If you were investing £100k in shares- I’m certain you’d research whom you were investing in. The same applies to your developer; don’t just rush to get someone in at the sacrifice of due diligence.

4. How does your contractor fit into your business?

If you don’t have a direct relationship with your developer, how do you build a relationship? If your developer doesn’t care about your business, they’re probably not going to put their heart and soul into the project. You have to accept, that a better more lasting relationship, might cost more but in return produce longer-term quality and support.

5. Does your data output meet required standards?

Whilst some financial services software may not have to comply with any regulatory standards, the system may be required to produce data that does. Are you prepared to gamble your businesses reputation on your developers’ integrity?

6. Operations and logistics

As in any contractual relationship, there is always the quality-of-service risk. Many offshore sites are characterized by high rates of employee turnover and poor starter and leaver processes. Vendors may also take advantage of poorly worded contracts or lack of technical knowledge, to try and get round deficiencies.

Conclusion

Regardless of whether it’s your HR, finance functions or software development, when you outsource any work to another organisation, there is a degree of risk. Add in a different geographic location and you cut down on the opportunity for face-to-face interaction. Take it further abroad and different socio-political environments, business cultures and ethics, all mean that risk is inevitable.

These risks can however be managed by working closely with the developers and monitoring through benchmarking and regular audits. Moreover the most powerful risk management tool is approaching your outsourcing as a long-term partnership.

5 Lessons from Findus on Managing Your Software Supply Chain

So unless you’ve been on another planet the past few months; you’ll have no doubt been chewing over the probability that your supermarket value beef burger may have contained horsemeat. For most the bigger shock was the revelation that these cheap and unappetising burgers contained any beef at all. Therein lays a critical lesson; not quite “buy cheap, buy twice” but rather “buy cheap and prepare yourself for some nasty surprises down the line”.

At the centre of the horsemeat scandal have been the complicated cross-EU supply chains, which have aptly demonstrated that no one, from the government, to food regulators, to manufacturers like Findus, actually seem to know where their meat originally came from.

With commercial software underpinning the IT infrastructure that businesses and governments rely upon for their most vital operations, enterprise customers need to be concerned about understanding their developers and their supply chain.

But while many of the criteria for the selection of product suppliers and system developers are the same, there are key differences. Product development for instance is usually completed in advance of an acquirer's product and supplier assessment. While for bespoke system development, you as the customer can and should be actively monitoring both the contractor and product supply chain risks during development.

Remember, a software supply chain can affect all aspects of your system, not just delivery and costs but system assurance, security and ongoing performance. To help you better manage your strategy, here are the top 5 things to consider from the experts at Synetec:

1. You get what you pay for

As market demands for more competitive costs have increased, so a distributed approach to software development is evolving, with platforms like oDesk allowing access to developers around the globe. But while paying $3 an hour for a developer abroad, may appear to save you money, you have to consider not just the financial risk but also the hidden cost. Consider whether you have the time to write an extra detailed brief or the capacity and expertise to manage the project on a daily basis in addition to what the cost/ benefit analysis of playing project manager will be.

Think also what you lose out on; be it an understanding of general business practices or the lack of added value, you have to accept that this approach is not buying you a relationship with a developer who is interested in your business- it is buying you a line of code.  

2. Manage your integrated solutions

Commercial software from a reputable developer should almost always be built at a central controlled location. Engaging with specialised developers like Synetec means you are buying into an established, credible and traceable business relationship- not just a product. This is doubly important because software systems often require different areas of expertise and increasing the distribution of development activities globally, creates additional risks to product security and your commercial brand.

Managing this risk requires you to identify not just your developers but their suppliers and any related parties they are using including; software from original equipment manufacturers; software built to specification that they themselves outsource to further external contractors, or which is sourced from repositories of Open Source Software (OSS).

3. Do your due diligence

Effective integrity controls mean that your developer closely manages the internal processes for accessing software components during the development, integration, testing and release of your software. Remember when doing your due diligence to consider… are the facilities where code is being developed secure? Are the developer’s data centre where code is stored secure and are communications between distributed teams monitored and controlled? Whilst postcode isn’t everything, it is a strong indication of the stability and credibility of the business. Take a look at our check-list of things to look out for when hiring a developer <link>.

4.  Check staffing policies

People are central to your software development success as well as one of the greatest sources of risk. Risks related to staff with malicious intent are not just confined to virtual employees in far flung locations, so as part of your due diligence, be sure to review your suppliers new staff and leaver policies. Different business functions are usually performed by different people. They require different levels of access to key assets, be that working on supplier sourcing, new product development and testing, or product delivery. Remember also that as nice as a NDA is, it’s probably not going to count for much- especially if your developer is in a foreign jurisdiction.

5. Ensure rigorous testing

Experienced developers manage internal and external supply chains effectively, including how they procure code from their suppliers; how they screen and test code; and how code is integrated and tracked throughout the development, testing and delivery processes. This is important both for security reasons and the quality of the code. Through a series of controls, developers assure that the software components they use are authentic and properly tracked along the supply chain. This can be through systems including online product registration, certificates of authenticity and tamper-proof product packaging. 

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Every business has a budget and it is only fit and proper that you look for the most cost effective software solutions; but be aware of the hidden dangers. While most people have brushed off the prospect of having eaten horsemeat in their burgers as unfortunate or even amusing, the lasting damage of this supply chain melt down will have no long-term impact on the end consumer. If however your business critical software system fails you, the implications may be harder to swallow.

George Toursoulopoulos is a financial technology specialist and Director at Synetec, one of the UK’s leading providers of bespoke financial services software solutions. George started his career with US-software giant EDS, becoming the youngest manager in the company’s history and has since gone on to lead Synetec where he has continued to deliver world-class solutions for a number of the UK’s most prestigious Hedge Funds and Family Offices. George is a regular conference speaker on the implementation of technology within the financial services industry with a particular focus on delivering ROI and improving key business drivers. George has lectured on Microsoft development and has served as a director on numerous company boards.

Synetec confirms quality at heart of service with appointment of Delivery Quality Manager

In an industry where reputations are built and lost on the quality of product and delivery, Synetec Software have made a significant statement of intent, with the appointment of Anna Starikova as their new Delivery Quality Manager.

Anna, who holds a Masters Degree in Information Technology, joins the rapidly expanding Synetec team from Lizard Soft. Anna’s pan-European experience, providing in-depth expertise and analysis of system delivery, adds yet further depth to a Synetec team already viewed as a market leader in enterprise-quality bespoke software development.

In her role as Delivery Quality Manager, Anna will be responsible for managing the delivery of all projects and ensuring that the quality of those projects meets and exceeds Synetec’s exacting standards and their client’s expectations. Her role will oversee management of resources, reporting, testing, requirements gathering, client interaction and support during the software development lifecycle.

Synetec’s established quality culture is central to its brand reputation and an organizational environment where quality is viewed as everyone’s responsibility. Anna’s experience will strengthen their incorporated knowledge base of best practice and continue the expansion of their world-class quality management systems.

Synetec is a financial software development company based in central London with unrivalled experience in providing IT services and solutions.

For over a decade, Synetec has worked with some of the UK’s largest Hedge Funds, Asset Managers and Family Offices to deliver a range of premier IT solutions. With expertise in equities, FX and fixed income; Synetec has a proven ability to develop systems for both front-office and middle-office.

Their in-house team of Microsoft Certified Developers work in both VB.Net and C#; constantly delivering exceptional, high quality projects, on time and on budget.

Moving your IT systems from a cost to profit centre

Speak to any CFO and unsurprisingly their biggest concern when commissioning a bespoke IT system is most probably going to be cost. For most businesses, IT sits right up there alongside people and premises as one of your biggest financial commitments; but is it money well spent and is there anything you can do to move your IT systems from a cost to a profit centre?

The starting point, is to understand how your IT spend corresponds to your earnings and how this impacts on the way you do business. Off-the-shelf solutions offer a cheaper alternative while a custom solution comes with the benefits of being tailored to your exact needs. But does cost outweigh the potential benefits and even additional revenue streams that a bespoke system offers?

For a starter, the investment you make in a custom application means that it is both your property and an asset of your business. It is designed to meet your exact specifications and requirements. It gives you all the information and functionality you need, in the format that works best for your requirements. But the very fact that your system delivers an exceptional, intuitive user experience means that is likely to be applicable to other businesses and even your competitors. Had you considered that developing a bespoke system could actually make you money?

Here are Synetec’s top three things to think about when considering whether your bespoke system could become the next off-the-shelf money-maker:

Make sure there’s a market

Many of the most successful industry specific software businesses have been developed from a bespoke software system, that has had broader industry wide application.

It may sound simple, but as with any product, research and understanding your market is key. Just because you think it is a great system or concept, doesn’t mean it solves a fundamental need or will generate you income. So before you invest in developing the software- ensure there is a market for it.

Partner with the right developer

Forming a partnership with the right developer means that you will not only enjoy a much higher quality of engagement and support for the software but it creates a win win opportunity for both parties, mitigating some of your financial cost in the process.

Of course, as with any capital project if you fail to identify the right suppliers to work with you will incur significant potential risk, both in terms of financial costs, scope creep and delays in delivery. Be clear as to who owns the IP rights associated with the product and to set out the rights and responsibilities of each party in the partnership.

Pay a little more to keep it generic

It’s also worth considering that you may not wish to give away everything, so why not keep the product more generic, so as to avoid giving away any key differentiators which you may want to keep for yourself.

As you continue to evolve your own differentiators, this may also enable you to develop additional products and ‘plug-ins’, to support the original software package and extend your revenue streams.

Conclusions

A bespoke software solution can be a major competitive advantage to any business. But systems based around your people’s knowledge means that when they leave so does their knowledge, so why not take every opportunity to make money from it.

The bespoke system you commission today could be a off-the-shelf product available to others in future, not only giving you the product that you want, but as part of a longer term business strategy it can also off-set costs and boast significant reputational benefits as well. You also position yourself as an industry leader, which in itself can bring about more reputation related business opportunities.

Partnering with Synetec

As a developer who partners with leading financial service providers; we work with our clients to identify opportunities to monetise their products and factor those opportunities when costing developments, enabling clients to earn a return on future sales.

When Agile is not right for your software development project

 

As discussed in an earlier article, Agile methods have a number of advantages but it isn’t always the right approach for every project and is heavily reliant upon the team you use. As much as Agile is a process it is also a mindset- deployed as a way of managing the relationship between developers and you the client.

While the general acceptance is that Agile is faster, more effective and cheaper, like any project results can vary greatly. I’ve seen countless examples of business coming to us having been let down by other developers who failed to correctly deploy Agile. In order to get to the bottom of why Agile projects fail, you need to understand when Agile is not suitable for you, because for many clients (and all too many developers), they simply do not understand Agile and the consequences of adopting it.

At Synetec our management team have over a decade’s experience of managing successful, complex Agile projects and delivering value. Having also seen the results of where other developers have failed, we have come up with three simple tips for understanding when Agile is not the correct approach for your project:

When the client doesn’t have the time to take ownership

For some financial service clients, in particular their fund manager’s time is like ‘gold dust’. This means getting client and user ownership of the project can be incredibly difficult, particularly when feedback is required during the ‘sprint’ sessions on Agile.

With the success of Agile depending on an effective partnership between Synetec as the development team, you the client and your end users- communication is key. Whilst day-to-day interaction isn’t necessary, regular two-way communication is for some clients just too disruptive and inconvenient. If this partnership approach won’t work for you, then an Agile project will prove complicated and will come with higher risks.

When your developer has a smaller team

While an Agile project requires highly skilled individuals; it more commonly requires skilled teams. These teams will usually include business analysts, developers and project managers, with knowledge of model-driven development and all with excellent communication skills.

Because of the structure of Agile, it may simply not be as effective or suitable for smaller 2 to 3 man development teams. With teams this size it is usually easier and more effective to split the team and workload to manage the sprint backlog collaboratively.

What we find with larger development teams of 10 plus for instance, are that they are better utilising individual complimentary development skills; meaning the project is spread more widely between the team, and Agile is thus more effective in ensuring collaboration and communication.

When speed is what really matters

When developers are up against tight time constraints (usually less than 3 months), our experience has taught us that it is usually faster to develop in Waterfall where you can sacrifice flexibility for speed.

As Agile projects involve increasing degrees of business functionality through regular iterations, speed can at times be an obstacle. When you’re looking for developers, remember to consider the size of their retained team; if they don’t have the resources to meet your desired changes this can lead to unacceptable delays. If you have a fixed deadline, and time to market is what really matters, then most developers would advise that the waterfall methodology is a more effective option.

Conclusion
The table below gives a brief insight into the role of the client in the Agile v Waterfall process:

Agile	Waterfall
Start: Initial briefing but no substantial input required.	Start: Must specify and detail all the system requirements.
Development: Client is an active part of the project and provides continuous feedback through demos engaging with developers and management	Development: Once briefed the client need not be involved until QA and delivery.
End of project: No lengthy sign-off as all requirements have been tracked.	End of project: Sign-off to confirm that all the requirements specified are met.

Successful software starts foundations up

One of the biggest dilemmas facing CFO’s investing in new software is how to strike the right balance between building solid foundations capable of future updates, and the risk of unnecessary future proofing.

To use the analogy we started last month- consider your software build like you would your new house. First you get an idea of what your dream home will look like before going out and finding the right architects and builders to help you refine and deliver on that idea. In the same way software development starts by identifying your business requirements and then finding the right developers. When building your house, finding the right plot of land and building solid foundations will give you options for future expansion; adding new levels without having to start again from scratch. Doing things the right way from the outset, may not show instant value and it’s not glamorous, but it is certain to save you effort, money and give you greater options in the long-term.

So when considering the architecture of your system; it is important to make sure that the software meets both the immediate business requirements and ensure that most potential future alterations can be effectively implemented. Here are Synetec’s top things to consider when contemplating the future-proofing conundrum:

What are the end goals?

Your software is most probably fundamental to the operation of your business. We’ve heard numerous instances where even the smallest failures have cost a business thousands of pounds in lost revenue.

The key is to make sure you engage your developers in the ultimate end goal, to ensure they understand the potential future scope and application of your system. Understanding the vision and ensuring there is never a detachment between the business objectives of the project and the development, is vital to ensuring you get a solid and adaptable software system.

Retrospectives will cost you more

A crucial part of establishing the end goals and business needs, is that often the underlying technology can be far more complicated than it may appear. What may seem like a quick fix- can in many instances cost you thousands.

There is of course a big difference between trying to retrospectively build in functionality that was missed as opposed to an update. Our advice is however the same; get the basics right by building strong foundations from which you can more easily adapt and expand in future.

Development should be a long-term partnership

You need to know your developers capacity to deliver long term support, improved functionality and upgrades on a regular ongoing basis. Remember that changing your software developer can be both a highly inconvenient but also potentially costly exercise that could bring substantial delay; particularly if your requirements are urgent or business sensitive.

If you do decide to engage new software developers, you need to be confident that that they are both reputable, financially stable and committed to continually investing in their own peoples technological development. To learn more about choosing your software developer visit our Insiders Guide.

You can never entirely future proof so strike a balance

Software built on proper planning and a strong understanding of potential future business needs is one thing but it is IMPOSSIBLE to entirely future-proof for every scenario. So don’t waste your time and money trying to factor in every possible scenario. The key is to find the balance between good forward thinking and not trying to predict the unpredictable.

George Toursoulopoulos is a financial technology specialist and Director at Synetec, one of the UK’s leading providers of bespoke financial services software solutions. George started his career with US-software giant EDS, becoming the youngest manager in the company’s history and has since gone on to lead Synetec where he has continued to deliver world-class solutions for a number of the UK’s most prestigious Hedge Funds and Family Offices. George is a regular conference speaker on the implementation of technology within the financial services industry with a particular focus on delivering ROI and improving key business drivers. George has lectured on Microsoft development and has served as a director on numerous company boards.