Ukraine as a New Outsourcing Player

This article conveys about the same idea as the one about Ukraine IT Myths: Being in the software development business and living in Ukraine, it was nice to see the following piece written by a Ukrainian Colleague. Finally, the Ukrainians are learning how to work the self promotion. Of course his English is non native, but I think that also illustrates the level of English spoken in many

Posted on: 6 July 2005 | 4:43 pm

Metasoft Outsourcing Weblog: An Update: Waters Editor Reply

Today, I have received an email from Mr. Albinus, the editor of Waters, the magazine that has published the ripped article. Waters asks for Open Platforms (OPs) from industry experts and we always ask them to make them interesting. One suggestion I often make is "please debunk some myths about your topic." With Mr. Miller, we asked him to take on the top five myths in outsourcing to Russia,

Posted on: 6 July 2005 | 11:30 am

Of Copyright and Unfair Competition

We have discovered recently that our review of Ukraine IT Outsourcing Myths has been shamelessly ripped! An executive vice president of project management of a certain Russian IT company which we are not going to do a favour to by advertising it here has used our material to produce an article of his own, which he even got published by a respected American financial magazine! Of course, we took

Posted on: 5 July 2005 | 9:18 pm

Magic City Morning Star: U.S. Offshoring of Personal Data Grows

According to the Identity Theft Resource Center in San Diego, CA there have been close to 60 reported security breaches of customer financial information from United States corporations thus far in 2005, involving 13.5 million customers’ identities. The companies include Choicepoint, Inc., Bank of America Corp., Wachovia Corp., Ameritrade Holding Corp., DSW Shoe Warehouse, Time Warner Inc.,

Posted on: 22 June 2005 | 5:24 pm

Ukraine IT Outsourcing Myths Covered by Ezine Articles

An article about Ukraine IT outsourcing myths has been published by Ezine Articles, an online article directory. While Ukraine is becoming a new popular IT outsourcing destination, there are still many myths about it and no clear understanding of the opportunities outsourcing to Ukraine can present... See the article here: Ukraine IT Myths Dispersed

Posted on: 22 June 2005 | 7:41 am

Dell founder thinks different about Apple | CNET News.com

Apple has been in the news a lot lately. First, the news of Apple/Intel deal. Now, there's more coming. Michael Dell is thinking different about the Mac OS. The founder and chairman of the No. 1 computer maker told Fortune magazine that he would be interested in becoming a switcher himself if the opportunity ever came up. "If Apple decides to open the Mac OS to others, we would be happy to

Posted on: 16 June 2005 | 9:29 pm

Falling CD Sales: It's Not All In Piracy

Declining CD sales can't be blamed on file-sharing networks alone, according to a new report. The Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said Monday that digital music piracy is a problem, but other factors--such as the rise in the number of entertainment sources--are more likely to have had a significant impact on music sales. "It is very difficult to

Posted on: 14 June 2005 | 5:02 pm

The Advance of Open Source

Open Source is gaining more and more popularity, and not only among developers and techically minded folks.Apart from software development, Open Source is gaining new markets. As Nokia announced, a new web browser for its smart phones will use two components already employed by Apple Computer in its Safari Web browser for its Mac OS X operating system. Moreover,This is not Nokia's first

Posted on: 13 June 2005 | 4:44 pm

Turning Outsourcing into Your Ally

A white paper published recently by the Pythian Group covers the issue of making the IT outsourcing work for your benefit. Nowadays, you often need to outsource just to stay competitive. However, not paying enough attention and giving it enough consideration can turn outsourcing from a life savior into a nightmare. The trend toward IT outsourcing is increasing dramatically. According to a

Posted on: 9 June 2005 | 5:30 pm

What to outsource and what not to outsource: email security

E-mail security consists of five critical components: spam and fraud prevention; virus and worm protection; policy and content compliance; e-mail privacy; and intrusion prevention. Managed service providers address only two of these components: spam and viruses. Deciding to use a managed service rather than handling e-mail security in-house means leaving your organization vulnerable to threats

Posted on: 8 June 2005 | 2:39 pm

Macworld Concerned about Apple Outsourcing

US policymakers are looking to Apple as a "symbol of US industry" thanks to the success of the iPod, but is Apple's a good example to copy in the light of a collapse in the US manufacturing employment market. The Boston Herald has some concerns about Apple's outsourcing of manufacturing jobs overseas at a time when the US jobs market is faultering. Reporter Brett Arends looks at the

Posted on: 6 June 2005 | 4:44 pm

Mobile Era: Laptops Outsell Desktops for First Time

In a sure sign that the era of mobile computing has arrived, notebooks have for the first time outsold desktops in the United States in a calendar month, the research firm Current Analysis says. After tracking sales from a sampling of electronics retailers, Current Analysis says notebook sales accounted for 53 percent of the total personal computer market last month, up from 46 percent during

Posted on: 5 June 2005 | 4:02 pm

Why Outsourcing Fails - One More Attempt To Analyze

Some time ago, I have seen an article that suggested possible reasons why outsourcing projects fail. Among other things mentioned in the article, the following statement looks very important:So why do so many IT outsourcing projects fail to deliver the benefits that companies want?Perhaps companies need to realise that just because a service is outsourced, it doesn't mean a company can forget

Posted on: 3 June 2005 | 4:08 pm

How Savvy Are You About Your Online Security?

US Internet users are not, as a recent study has shown. For the study, titled "Open to Exploitation: American Shoppers Online and Offline" and released today, 1500 adult U.S. Internet users were asked true-or-false questions about topics such as Web site privacy policies and retailers' pricing schemes. Most respondents failed the test, correctly answering, on average, 6.7 of the 17 questions.

Posted on: 2 June 2005 | 8:52 am

Interference with employee pensions isn't a legitimate business purpose for an outsourcing

While there can be many reasons for outsourcing, some are not such a good idea and can lead to a court hearing. In a recent outsourcing case, departing employees sought to use a time-honored principle of employment law against an outsourcing undertaken by Honeywell Inc. That principle is that a company may not discharge an employee in order to interfere with his pension benefits. While Honeywell

Posted on: 31 May 2005 | 5:31 pm

Google PageRank is back

The end to all the rumours and expectations of Google's PageRank being gone for good - The grey bar in Google's toolbar is not grey any more. Google's PageRank has been gone since May 26, which caused a lot of different emotions in SEO and web designer circles, ranging from complete despair to almost happiness. Google's PageRank is, to put it simple, a rating based on many factors, as Google

Posted on: 30 May 2005 | 5:10 pm

Another Eastern European Report of Expected IT Outsourcing Growth

INFORMATION technologies require a significant start-up investment, both in terms of equipment and expertise, making it a natural activity to outsource.Slovak companies that outsource their IT generally use basic hardware and support services. Insiders expect that as time goes on, however, this will change, and companies will take advantage of the full range of IT solutions that providers deliver

Posted on: 30 May 2005 | 4:53 pm

Outsourcing Don'ts

I came across this short list of outsourcing don'ts and thought I'd share it with my blog's visitors. While there are other things that can be added to it, this is a start. IT vendor relationships are challenging in general, but relationships with outsourcers are the most challenging of all. According to a white paper by Technology & Business Integrators, a consulting firm in Ramsey, N.J.,

Posted on: 29 May 2005 | 7:22 pm

Six Winners of 2005 Outsourcing Excellence Awards Announced

A leading international marketing research firm has selected its best six companies based on outsourcing relationships, and presented its Outsourcing Excellence Awards last May 25 in Scotsdale, Arizona. The Outsourcing Excellence Awards is an annual program developed by Outsourcing Center, an online community specializing in thought leadership, best practices, and innovation in outsourcing.

Posted on: 27 May 2005 | 6:06 pm

Another argument against Eastern-flavoured outsourcing

As tensions between Japan and China escalate over arguments with origins in World War II, technology companies should prepare to lessen their reliance on the two countries, according to market research company Gartner Dataquest. "More than 95 percent of the largest 2,000 companies in the world have extensive interests, investments and employees in China and Japan," said Dion Wiggins, vice

Posted on: 27 May 2005 | 5:15 pm

EU puts funds toward global research on open source | CNET News.com

Open Source is becoming a European priority: The European Union is putting money toward research into open-source software and standards across the world. The newly approved funding--660,00 euros, or $825,594--is for the two-year FLOSSWorld project, Europe's first initiative to support international research and policy development on "free/libre/open source software." Previous FLOSS projects,

Posted on: 26 May 2005 | 4:47 pm

IBM broadens its hosted-software effort | CNET News.com

The future of business applications is on the web. IBM's interest to the area is strong proof of it. Increasing its focus on the hosted-applications sector, IBM on Wednesday launched programs designed to support companies that build, sell and market Web-based software to businesses. The Armonk, N.Y.-based company introduced a set of initiatives aimed at helping its independent software vendor,

Posted on: 25 May 2005 | 6:02 pm

Is Ukraine's IT Infrastructure Developed Enough? - Outsourcing Myths

Ukraine's IT infrastructure is rapidly developing. As the recent research conducted by the Ukrainian Democratic Initiatives Fund and Kiev International Sociology Institute has shown, 13.1% of Ukrainians have a computer. 14% use Internet and/or email either at home or at work. Internet connectivity, being one of the primary concerns for offshoring, is also developing rapidly. Telecom is one of

Posted on: 24 May 2005 | 4:10 pm

Ballmer: Google might dissapear in the next five years! - Softpedia News

While Microsoft is still in the process of developing Longhorn that should reportedly improve searching, among other things, they can't find anything better to do but have a go at Google. Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, spoke during a lecture at Stanford Business School about the potential of the software considering the continuous expansion of the computing processes in other domains besides

Posted on: 22 May 2005 | 6:43 pm

CRM News: Outsourcing : Outsourcing Duties Can Help Boost Efficiency

Few people can be good at every task. This is where outsourcing comes in handy for many businesses. Much of the savings that outsourcing creates is by allowing greater productivity among the in-house resources. It may not work for all, but every business should check its IT/accounting department to see if it would work better as just IT. Before interviewing your next potential hire, you should

Posted on: 22 May 2005 | 3:41 pm