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SA must seize the (offshoring) moment

Thanks to a weak rand and a rapidly growing developer skills base, South Africa is in a perfect position to capitalise on global and local software development opportunities, says Brian Harding, MD of EOH MC Solutions.


Cape Town, 25 Nov 2015
Brian Harding, MD of EOH MC Solutions.
Brian Harding, MD of EOH MC Solutions.

Brian Harding, MD of EOH MC Solutions, says there has never been a better time for South African development houses to step up and prove their capabilities on the global stage.

"South Africa's software development sector is world class and mature, and is capable of significant innovation," he says. Harding believes South Africa's high software development standards, business culture and time zone advantages should put the country on an equal footing with the fast-growing Eastern European development sector, particularly when bidding for business from Western Europe.

However, while a number of factors make South Africa a prime development outsource destination, there are hurdles in the way of the country maximising its potential, says Harding. "Despite our abilities, international, and even local, enterprises aren't flocking to South African development houses yet. I suspect this has a lot to do with our approach to marketing ourselves, as well as the fact that we tend to develop for customers, rather than going to market with a product. We tend to be more reactive in our business approach, in comparison with other countries, who proactively market their software development capabilities," he says.

A significant challenge, says Harding, is the tendency for developers in many emerging markets to pitch for business on what at first appears to be a very low hourly rate. "Enterprises who don't fully understand development processes may at first be attracted by what appears to be a highly cost-effective service, along with promises of access to a vast pool of resources," he says. "However, the bargain hourly rate and large skills pool doesn't always tell the whole story. An hourly rate gives little indication of the levels of productivity you can expect, for example. Many companies have had their fingers burnt when going the 'budget' rate. They discover too late that the total cost of doing business with a distant outsource partner with a different business culture, language and time zone can ultimately be a lot higher than expected."

Harding says EOH MC Solutions itself has on occasion outsourced excess work to developers in India in the past in order to "test" the experience, and has found that doing so can prove time consuming and costlier than planned. "Our experience, and that of some of our customers, has been that your offshore outsource partner does not necessarily anticipate what you assumed were the obvious components of a development project. If it isn't specified, it won't be there. Using a car analogy, you cannot for instance assume that a car means it will have tyres and a steering wheel." Harding adds that language barriers can result in serious miscommunications when dealing with an outsource partner in a non-English speaking country.

"Because of South Africa's exchange rate and language advantages, plus the fact that we have sophisticated software development capabilities, local developers should be actively seeking business from companies in areas like the US and the UK," says Harding. "Because every business is becoming a software business, and those wanting a competitive edge need innovative, custom-developed software, South Africa needs to be seizing the global opportunity now."

"We have had experience in developing large software projects for European-based clients, and the key to getting success is through some measure of co-location for the analysis, and that the management of the user acceptance testing effort which should remain on site at the customer."

Harding goes on to add that the rise of cloud-enabled distributed development, hosting and testing models simplify the ability to have multiple teams working in geographically dispersed locations.

"In terms of our expertise, experience, language, time-zones and exchange rate, South Africa is thus well placed to be a viable offshoring alternative for overseas companies looking for a partner."

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EOH MC Solutions

EOH MC Solutions (EOH MC) was founded in 2004 and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of EOH Mthombo, a company in the JSE listed EOH Group. Specialising in IT solutions across the Microsoft technology platform, EOH MC is the largest Microsoft development partner in the Western Cape, successfully delivering significant projects to a broad spectrum of businesses across diverse industry sectors. Its brand represents uncompromising quality, a commitment to excellence and an innovative approach to delivering real business solutions.

Editorial contacts

Hayley Turner
Black Book PR & Communications
(021) 701 1095
Hayley@black-book.co.za
Brian Harding
EOH MC Solutions
(021) 425 3430
brianh@eohmc.co.za