South African-designed software is increasingly in demand in the non-English-speaking world and non-US markets because of its multilingual ability and realistic data transmission speed design, says Richard Firth, chairman and CEO of software development and outsource company MIP Holdings.
"The global software market is dominated by American companies, which create software specifically for US conditions," says Firth. These conditions include the assumption that all users speak English and have access to either broadband technology in their homes or ultra-high speed data channels to their offices.
"The reality is that the majority of the world does not communicate in English as a first language," Firth says. "And in most of the world, broadband technology into the home does not yet exist, and most users, private or business, rely on conventional telecommunications lines for their online data.
"In SA, where we have 11 official languages, and where fields have to be interchangeable according to users` language, we have developed a special skill in creating easily customisable software," Firth continues. "South African software, as a rule, takes language differentiation into account, and as a result has proven popular in Europe and other non-English-speaking parts of the world," he says.
"We have enjoyed success in Europe, for example, because our South African-designed software does not need expensive and skilled technicians to change language versions," Firth continues. "Users themselves can customise the software according to their particular expressions and nuances. The word `client`, for example, is expressed differently in each language, and this has to be changed on site."
A good example of how rigid US software can be is the ubiquitous "zip code" field which is standard in all US-based software. Removing that field, or renaming it, can be a significant technical challenge. South African-generated software, in contrast, allows entire fields to be renamed by users themselves through customisable interfaces, which do not change source code.
"Even if the basic application was written in English, South African software is designed to operate without a field being called by its English name, with the data interpretation functionality being changed," Firth adds. Bandwidth use is another advantage that South African software has over US equivalents. "Most private users in Europe, Australia and Asia have only ordinary telecoms lines to work with, while most businesses are lucky if they have a 64k pipe," says Firth.
"US-designed software assumes that users and providers have high bandwidth, and their applications are often graphics-intensive or have other features which consume bandwidth." Firth says. "While this enhances visual appeal, it creates problems when bandwidth is limited."
South African-designed software, on the other hand, presumes bandwidth is limited, and is designed around this reality. "Applications which fail to take this into account cannot compete with our South African-designed applications which are created in that environment," he says.
"Language customisability and available bandwidth exploitation design are the reasons why South African-designed material is so much in demand all over the world," Firth says. "It is partly the result of our environment, but also attributable to our software engineers who can hold their own among any in the world."
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