Archive for April, 2007

Offshore - Outscourcing

Saturday, April 28th, 2007

Submitted by Shaun 

Companies today contract their businesses or part of their businesses to other companies located in foreign countries. This business procedure is called Offshore outsourcing. Offshore outsourcing has become a very feasible trend for companies that are expanding or just trying to reduce their overhead expenses.

Offshore Software developmentis a kind of outsourcing in which the jobs of software development are transferred to offshore countries. Mainly companies in USA transfer software development job to India or other south Asian countries. In India there are many offshore development companies. In India offshore software development have some advantages and also some disadvantages.

Outsourcing is a one of the remarkable medium to let the services and technology move overseas without any hurdles to stop it. It is the outsourcing that can give wings to the creation as we can very well see that by the use of latest technologies and methods India today is serving a large amount of companies placed at various places in the world.

Outsourcing may be a way for a company to lay roots in a foreign country where they may be thinking of expanding. Hence, a company may outsource its business to a company in India in order to understand the prevailing Indian market and to adjudge the Indian customer. This may be a ploy to sooner or later open a branch in India. Huge conglomerates that are perpetually expanding opt for outsourcing as a survey method rather than as a method for garnering more business.

one advantage is that the portion of the business outsourced (which may be sales, telemarketing, research, etc.) no longer remains the concern of the Outsourcing company. The offshore company hires its own experts and professionals. This creates a constructive division of labor that becomes fruitful to both the outsourcing company and the offshore company.

Like every coin has two sides the outsouscing too has its own disadvantage - One of the most prominent is the exposure of sensitive data to foreign countries. It may not just be the question of data – even secret organizational tactics and managerial strategies may be exposed that could prove to be detrimental to the parent company. There may also be dangers relating to restrictions and dissimilar legislations in the offshore country that sometimes require changes in business policies. Outsourcing is also responsible for the distance it creates between the employer company and the employees. This deters the employers from building good rapport with their employees.

But none of us can deny the fact that it is the Outsourcing that can let us meet the unfulfilled requirements and needs of an individual or company whether that very Technology is being used at ones place or not. India has proved as a number one destination for Outsourcing for more than 500 fortunate companies.

The big names corporate places like United States, Europe and Japan are looking towards India in respect of the cost effectiveness and high quality software solutions available here. Studies confirm that vendors rate India as their number one choice for Outsourcing. It really feels proud to say that India is being looked at for providing state-of-the-art technology and timely deliveries. India holds nearly twice as many technical graduates as the US, resulting in the ability to give the best quality with timely submission.

Innovation remains the technology industry’s most crucial competitive factor, yet most technology companies still lack effective processes to manage innovation investments that drive there success. It is seen that 80% of respondents say technology innovation is more important than ever to their companies’ success. 60 percent say their companies have a process to assess the strategic, financial and operational risks associated with innovation investments; however, only 47 percent grade their ability to manage these investments as above average.

74 percent of respondents say their company’s CFO and finance organization are now more involved in the innovation investment process; however, only 57 percent say the finance organization adds significant value to the process, and only 53 percent say the role of the CFO is clearly defined. Just 31 percent say that their companies use leading analytical tools to make and track innovation investments. Half of survey respondents are spending more than 10 percent of their revenue on research and development (R&D) spending. Respondents indicate about 30 percent of their innovation investments are ineffective.

It is hence expected that if the need of Outsourcing its benefits and innovation involved in it keeps on rising with the same pace outsourcing will soon be managed as an investment portfolio whereby cost is reduced, & risks are mitigated. The efficiency & performance of an IT department will be measured by the benefits that accrue out Outsourcing in a timely manne 

About the Author 

The author is a Writer working with a leading software development company, which deals with software outsourcing, offshore outsourcing and offshore software development. Get more valuable information at http://www.a1technology.com.

For more info please visit: http://www.semaphore-software.com/offshore-outsourcing/offshore_outsourcing_services.htm

Gather Your Keywords to Improve Search Engine Positioning

Friday, April 27th, 2007

Submitted by chrishaney 

We all do this - when we need to look something up on the Internet, we automatically fire up our favorite search engine. For many web surfers, their home page is already set to Google, Yahoo, or MSN. In that search engine we punch in a few words that relate to the information we need. Almost immediately we are overwhelmed with a batch of results. But how much of these results do we actually read through? The majority of web surfers scan through the first page or two, and perhaps even through page three. If a web site is positioned beyond page three they are basically out of luck. When web surfers punch in keywords related to your products and services, does your site come up within the first few pages of the search results? If it does, you’re likely running a very successful business in which visitors come to you without much need to advertise. Most web site owners haven’t built their website with reaching search engine users as one of the site’s goals. In this article I will pretend that you own a shopping web site called PrettyDresses.com. Your web site is very lovely, full of pictures of dresses in all the latest styles and trends. Anyone who has found your site is very impressed with the selection of products and beautiful pictures. But you ask yourself, why is your traffic so low? Why isn’t anybody finding my site? What can I do? The answer is quite clear and the problem is quite easy to solve.

Almost without thinking, web surfers (more specifically web searchers) will pop open their search engine and type in something like ‘evening gown’. As this is their first thought, it should also be yours. Does your web site contain the words and phrases that web searchers are using to find your products and services? Are those words found on your website many, many times, only a few times, or not at all?

On regular intervals search engines crawl the web, reading and collecting information on the sites they come across. As they come across your website, they look for what the most frequently used words are phrases are to determine just what it is that your web site is all about. The better your web site does at effectively using the phrases that are being searched, the higher up the list your web site will be displayed on web searches. If your web site’s content does not match what is being searched, it will not be found. It is a simple as that.

It should be clear by now that you should be starting to put together a list of keyword phrases to include within your web site. This list should include your products and services and any related items. There are many people searching for dresses as you are reading these words. Do they all use the exactly same phrases - of course not. Your mission is to discover as many of these phrases as possible and which phrases or words are used most frequently. The list should be prioritized based on which words are used in searches most frequently.

Brainstorm. Sit and think about what your web site is really all about. Close your eyes and picture your website as a store with customers looking around. What are they looking for? What are they asking you for? “Excuse me, I’m looking for a…”

Think about which words relate to your products and services. What is another name for dress - a gown, evening gown, sun-dress, a cute black dress, etc.

Be sure to ask family and friends, and clients and associates. Which phrases or words might they use when looking for your products and services? You are soon to discover a pattern. The most commonly used search terms will start to emerge.

Which keywords do high end competing web sites use, that carry products and services that are similar to yours? Their research may save you some of your own.

Pretend to be different types of customers. Be a customer that knows exactly what they want and jot that down. Also be the customer that is just looking around, or looking for ideas. This second customer may use more generic terms, while the first customer may refer to specific items. What other types of shoppers can you pretend to be? What about a wealthy shopper versus a bargain hunter?

Are some of the words on your list often misspelled? If so make sure to jot down the incorrect spelling as well. Poor spellers also have money to spend.

Are your products or services focused on a specific geographical location? If so, be sure to jot down the neighborhood, quadrant, city, state, and even country. A visitor may not want to drive too far from home and may therefore search for ‘dresses in south Dallas’.

Also be sure to include the different variations of your selected keywords - for example: dress and dresses.

Remember to keep a balance between keeping your pages readable by both visitors and search engines. An over-optimized page will include many, many keywords which will improve your positioning with search engines, but may sound like nonsense and unprofessional to a real human visitor. Don’t turn away potential customers after they’ve found you. Some search engines have been known to punish web sites that attempt to trick the system with keyword spamming on their web pages.

Now its time to get to work. Use these ideas in this article to optimize your web site’s content. Be sure to include the words and phrases that your potential visitors have in mind. Don’t forget about your web site’s title and description meta tags, which are only read by search engines. With some hard work and careful analysis you’ll be sure to see a lot more traffic in your future. 

About the Author  Chris Haney is the founder of The Coding Studio (http://www.TheCodingStudio.com), an innovative web design and development company, specializing in web design, web development, graphics, animation, flash and SEO. 

Source: ArticleTrader.com

For more info please visit: http://www.semaphore-software.com/bpo_business_process_outsourcing/search_engine_optimization_seo.htm

Why Submit to a Link Directory?

Friday, April 27th, 2007

Submitted by bajaifir 

Do you own a website? If so, you are probably aware that if you want visitors to check it out you need to do quite a bit of promotion. Sure, there are some sites that defy all logic, but in most cases this does not hold true. For this reason, you need to put together a promotion plan that can really help you succeed. One of the best ways to promote your website is through link directories. Although a lot of people pass these by, the fact of the matter is that doing so is a huge mistake. No matter what type of website you own, you need to become aware of the benefits that go along with submitting to a link directory. First off, when you submit your site to a link directory you will begin to build backlinks. While this may not seem important, did you know that most search engines take backlinks very seriously? The more of these you have the higher you will rank in the search engines. And of course, getting links from high page rank directories you will be doing yourself a huge favor.Another benefit of submitting to a link directory is that you will be able to get your site in front of a lot of other people. Although link directories are nothing more than links that point to websites, people do visit these in order to find what they are looking for. For instance, if somebody needs to find an authority site on real estate they can visit a link directory and check out everything that is listed. In turn, this can lead to free traffic being directed to your site.

There are many benefits that you can take advantage of when you submit to a link directory. If you have a website of any type, you need to do all that you can to beat out the competition. And as you can see by now, submitting your site to link directories is one of the best things that you can do 

About the Author

Link Dir is a free web directory of quality sites, with more than 3000 categories, submit your family friendly sites today for free in to our web directory & exchange links for free and promote your websiteSource: ArticleTrader.com 

For more info please visit: http://www.semaphore-software.com/bpo_business_process_outsourcing/search_engine_optimization_seo.htm

How to earn on offshore web design

Friday, April 27th, 2007

Why offshore web design and development
Offshore web site design and development help to keep prices at least 3-5 times less, for example, average hourly rate of web development services in USA is $35-75; in UK - $25-50, in Ukraine - $5-20.
How it works?
Typical plan:
You find a client who needs a web site, ask his/her requirements for the project and send to your offshore partner company.
The partner makes a proposal and gives you the project estimation basing on his hourly rate, for example, $10.
You mark up the rate $10/hour as high as you wish (and can - taking into consideration competition in your region, level of demand for web design services, and other marketing factors), for example to $30/hour, and sends the proposal to the client. So if the web design project is estimated on 50 man-hours of work, you charge the customer $1500, from which $500 you pay to your offshore partner company, and $1000 is your profit.
The partner company works on the project and delivers it to you along with copyright for the work.
You deliver the site to the customer.
Result - you have a satisfied client and good profit from the marked up price.
How to start?
The first and most important step is to analyze market in your region and decide if it’s worth to start this business.
If you already have your own web design company it is easier for you because you already know situation in the market, gain certain reputation, have clients list, etc.
But don’t be afraid if you are new to web design business. Believe in yourself and work hard and finally you will be rewarded for all your efforts. As in any type of business, starting the one in web design area, you must ask yourself general marketing questions:

1. Who will be your customers?
2. Why they will order the web design services exactly form you?
3. Where and how they will get to know about you?

Without having clear answers to these questions you shouldn’t try to start anything.
The second step is to find trustful and reliable partner - offshore web design company - that will work as “development center” for your business. This company must have good experience in web design and development area, good reputation, top level of customer care and communication. There are many resources in the Internet where you can find necessary information - search engines, web design directories, outsourcing portals.

For example, you can try searching in search engines for appropriate key phrases “offshore web design”, “offshore web site design”, “offshore web development” and analyze sites of your potential partners.

Also here are several sites where you can find lists of offshore web design companies sorted by country.

http://web-designers.bluegeckonetwork.com/
http://www.theoutsourceguide.com/
http://www.1234-find-web-designers.org/

How to choose the right offshore web design partner company?

There are 2 main factors that determine your choice - cost and quality of web design work.
Cost
Basing on the average web design prices in your local market and your competitive abilities you set prices that you will charge to your customers. There are several methods of web design price calculation, most used are flat price for fixed web site packages, and price based on man-hour rate. Most web design companies operate with both and choose one depending on each project type and requirements.

Then you decide which profit you want to have and narrow down your search choosing companies with appropriate price range.

Quality
Consider the company reputation, portfolio of previous works, testimonials of previous customers, level of communication. Pay attention to payment policy and method, conditions of ready projects delivery, warranties, post-development support and maintenance.

If all details are agreed you may start partnership. Sometimes the first project is quite simple to test abilities of both parties and if everything is going well the partnership will bring mutual benefits. 

About the Author 

Julia Ramyalg http://www.it-inventors.com/ IT-Inventors is professional offshore web design company that offers affordable custom web site design at rate $10/hr. Services we offer: Custom web site design, E-commerce web site design, Content Management Software, Real estate web site design, affordable solutions for small business. We are always ready to help you become owner of a great web site for affordable price.

For more info please visit: http://www.semaphore-software.com/offshore-outsourcing/offshore_outsourcing_services.htm

The Differences between Software Development and Software Engineering

Friday, April 27th, 2007

Software development and software engineering go hand in hand when it comes to the implementation of software. Software development deals more with the creation of the software and when this is complete, software engineering takes over with the creation of software systems. Both of these disciplines are at times interchangeable and without much difference to the layman. If you just want to have one specific piece of software designed, such as database software that will keep track of your bird watching hobby, then you’ll just need software development. If, however, you want your bird watching database to be able to support multiple functions, such as delivering a report with statistics and results, then you’ll more likely need the expertise of software engineering.

Software engineers will implement and design software applications through the use of many mediums. These software applications will then be used for a variety of purposes that include business practices to entertainment purposes. It is these software applications that allow users to make their time on the computer as functional and productive as possible. Types of software applications include language applications, office applications, entertainment packages, and applications for education.

The cost of hiring a software developer will be significantly less than hiring a software engineer. Before you make your final decision about what you want the software to do you need to plan you budget, your timeline, and determine what you want the end result to be. The industry of software development continues to grow each year as more and more businesses are having their own software developed for them that is specific to what they do and what they want the software to do. Most companies will already be using some type of software application, such as Office Suite, and most likely won’t need another application developed for them. For most intents and purposes you’ll be fine hiring a software developer for you and your business needs. 

About the Author 

James Hunt has spent 15 years as a professional writer and researcher covering stories that cover a whole spectrum of interest. Read more at www.software-development-center.com

For more info please visit: http://www.semaphore-software.com/offshore-outsourcing/offshore_outsourcing_services.htm

Offshore Software Development: Haste makes Waste

Friday, April 27th, 2007

By Jim John 

Spending more money makes little difference in speed and quality but at the very same time, makes differences in services, which they are getting from the Offshore Software Development.

In Offshore Software Development the companies are maintaining the most comprehensive database of project metrics, including over lots of projects spanning. Its data comes from its own projects as well. These projects are 60% Information Technology projects which includes finance, human resources etc., 27% engineering (scientific, process control, etc.) and 13% real-time embedded systems (firmware, hardware controllers, etc.). But the projects in IT sector for Business Process Outsourcing are more towards the Software Development.

Company’s Software Development Management’s estimation of product, provides an empirical analysis of a variety of projects addressing Information Technology, real time embedded systems, and engineering. Offering accurate project estimation has been a long-standing but elusive goal of this industry. The result came that large teams created almost six times the number of errors as compared to small teams which have done less times. Large teams failed to deliver significant improvements in cost, quality, or time, widely recognized as the three major metrics of Offshore Software Development.

The problem has nothing to do with Software Development or hardware and everything to do with individuals and group behavior. More complex software doesn’t account for it, and faster hardware with more memory won’t fix it. The only consistent explanation is that as you add people, efficiency and quality decrease by them.

Offshore Software Development Services

The efficiency of small teams for Offshore Software Development is developed by an atmosphere of intimate collaboration, and the information produced does not take as much time to sink into each member of a smaller team. The diminishing quality stems from the absence of a holistic view of the project, when it is broken down into compartmentalized segments and distributed to each member of a large team; this approach can lead to errors and complications to them which are not good signs for better Software Development Outsourcing. 

About the author:
For more information please visit : Offshore Software Development: Haste makes Waste
Software Development India
Outsoucing Offshore News

For more info please visit: http://www.semaphore-software.com/offshore-outsourcing/offshore_outsourcing_services.htm



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