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[ SUMMER 2010 / APPLICATION MODERNIZATION ]
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Quest for Quality
‘Sustainable relations demand a strong Quest for Quality’
[ Eddy Vermeire, CEO ] ISDC 3.0 is founded on passion for technology, solutions, and customers. Thus, customer centricity is in our DNA. We work towards achieving a competitive Net Promoter Score* from our customers. Focus on quality is, therefore, for ISDC an all day topic.
To this end, we have defined 4 pillars for achieving the desired quality:
Our People this is our most important factor in quality!
It all starts with recruitment of the right people, using our network with universities and IT communities, and deploying an extensive recruitment process. Selection is not just on technical competences but also on soft skills.
Retain and develop are next in line:
Be a top employer
Invest in training & research
Manage competences and plan careers
Transfer knowledge & inspire
Acquire exciting projects!
An example of investing in training is our current development program (duration one year, 10 modules) for Solution Architects.
The Process A crucial ingredient for success are well defined processes that assure the success of our projects. ISDC aims towards a CMMI - level 3 certification at the end of 2010. This level is characterized by defined and documented standard processes established and subject to some degree of improvement over time.
These standard processes are in place and used to establish consistency of process performance across the organization.
Currently, the number of CMMI level 3 software companies is very limited in The Netherlands and in Romania so this certification will definitely become a competitive advantage for ISDC. Our aim is to define and implement processes that combine the predictability, stability, and discipline of CMMI with performance, creativity and speed provided by using agile methods.
Also, an Engineering Process Group (EPG) is established in our company. It is formed by teams of senior people, focused on each of the individual processes. Their main responsibility is to design, develop, evaluate and improve the processes over the coming years. Purpose is to enforce the focus on Service Delivery. A new role will be defined in ISDC, the so-called Process QA Officer, who will ensure top-level quality of the processes in our ongoing projects
and metrics to improve our productivity.
The Product We strongly believe that our engineers can deliver a better product via re-use of frameworks and components. This is a strong focus for us in the years to come.
On the long run, ISDC is eager to incorporate the services of the Software Improvement Group (SIG) in order to provide transparency for the code quality delivered by ISDC.
Sustainable relations Our conviction that quality matters is also complemented by our firm belief that investing in quality always pays off, generating trust in ISDC with our customers and delivering us sustainable and fruitful relations.
* Note: developed by Bain & Co Consulting, the NPS reflects the number of customers who are willing to be a promoter of ISDC minus the number of critics. Companies with a high score are growing 2,5 times faster (survey of Bain & Co).
Application Modernization:
Agility through reuse
Strategy
[ SUMMER 2010 / APPLICATION MODERNIZATION ]
[ Ovidiu Pitic, Solution Manager ] Modernization strategies are as different as the applications they are meant to improve. From changing small parts of a custom-made application to purchasing commodity functionality, options are multiple and the actual benefits are not always clear, especially in terms of short-term business value.
And when IT departments are faced with last minute decisions (e.g. because of staff loss or obsolete systems), the pressure rises. There are though a number of things to consider that can avoid having disruptive modernization initiatives.
To start with, keep an eye on the technical and functional value of all your applications. A proactive approach prevents surprises and can also provide application portfolio optimization (rationalization), so why not arrange to have a quarterly scan of the landscape?
Also, make sure there is a top-down approach when you decide to modernize an application. 1:1 migrations have been proven to go wrong (as they are never 1:1 and extras get in scope), so always consider high-level functional (or technical) decomposition as the starting point. Some extra requirements analysis might be needed, but decomposition can lead to re-usage of components already on the shelf (as part of already bought products) or out there in the market. Sometimes decomposition can tag functionality as 'out of scope'. Eventually, seeing the big picture pays off.
Finally, underlying data requires special attention. Lack of data quality seems to affect more applications than one would think; the transformation process is expected to keep the same quality if not even improve it implicitly. Most of the times, this means having an industrialized data migration as a part of the renewal effort.
A well-executed application modernization initiative continuously improves business / IT alignment, increases flexibility, and reduces costs while decreasing risk. Harvesting the benefits of such an initiative requires proactive decisions on the modernization strategy, a timely execution, and focus on the business value.
Bridge from April 2010: application migration is not the sexiest subject for companies to address and the approach is most often very reactive. Therefore, IT departments are often forced to give it last minute attention keeping them from their strategic assignments. We think the approach to this should be a much more proactive and continuous application modernization service where the focus is not on 1:1 migration but much more on a component-based modernization strategy together with an industrialized data migration approach. A lot of 'old' functionality is already 'off-the-shelf' available in standard components, so why rebuilding them?