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.