Top Ten Software Development Risks

Software Development can be a risky business. Most enterprises rely on software – so extra cost, delays, or the inability to realise goals can have serious consequences. Larger risks that can sabotage long-term projects require immediate attention. And that means putting the emphasis on risk management. Here, we'll elaborate the top ten risks involved in software development.

1. Estimation and scheduling: The unique nature of individual software projects creates problems for developers and managers in estimating and scheduling development time. Always monitor existing projects so that you apply lessons learnt in the future.
2. Sudden growth in requirements: As a project progresses, issues that are not identified earlier can create a last-minute hurdle to meeting deadlines. Try to think big early on in the project, and anticipate the worst-case or heaviest-use scenario.
3. Employee turnover: Every project has a number of developers working on it. When a developers leaves, he or she may take critical information with him/her. This can delay, and sometimes derail an entire project. Ensure you have resources where team members can collaborate and share knowledge.
4. Breakdown of specification: During the initial phases of integration and coding, requirements might conflict. Moreover, developers may find that even the specification is unclear or incomplete.
5. Productivity issues: On projects involving long timelines, developers tend to take things easy to begin with. As a result, sometimes, they lose significant time to complete the project. Set a realistic schedule, and stick to it.
6. Compromising on designs: In order to get stuck into the next ‘real’ tasks, developers tend to rush the design-process. This is a waste of programming hours, as designing is the most critical part of software development.
7. Gold plating: Developers sometimes like to show off their skills by adding unnecessary features. For instance, a developer might add Flash to a basic login module to make it look ‘stylish’. Again, this is a waste of programming hours.
8. Procedural risks: Day-to-day operational activities might hamper due to improper process implementation, conflicting priorities, or a lack of clarity in responsibilities.
9. Technical risks: Sometimes software development firms reduce the functionality of the software to compensate for overruns pertaining to high budgets and scheduling. There is always a conflict between achieving maximum functionality of the software and peak performance. In order to compensate for excessive budget and schedule overruns, companies sometimes reduce the functionality of the software.
10. Unavoidable risks: These include changes in government policy, the obsolescence of software or other risks that cannot be controlled or estimated.
As the field of software development becomes more and more complex, the risks associated with it have intensified. It is vital that development firms focus on strategic planning to mitigate such risks.

IconATG Joins the CloudOne Consortium

CloudOne, the first to offer IBM Rational Jazz products in the Cloud through Software as a Service, and IconATG, the industry thought leader in information technology training, mentoring and consulting, today announced that IconATG would join the CloudOne Consortium, a group of IBM Rational Business Partners at the forefront of bringing Cloud and Software as a Service (SaaS) delivery of IBM Rational products to the marketplace.

The offerings from CloudOne significantly improve the software delivery competitiveness of our small and mid-market clients. For the first time, economies of scale and worry-free administration are available to all IT shops, allowing them to take advantage of IBM’s highly-rated Rational software development tools. Furthermore, with no expensive long-term commitment to licenses, companies can cost-effectively accommodate fluctuating staffing levels and changes to the business plan. CloudOne offers IBM Rational Jazz products in the Cloud through Software as a Service.

Cloud Computing is a model where hardware server capacity is provided to users, computers and devices over the Internet. Much like public utilities provide electricity, phone service or water, Cloud Computing provides servers, applications and databases over the “pipe” of the internet. Cloud shifts the burden of maintenance and operation of computer servers to a utility-like model, so organizations can focus on what makes them unique and great.

Software as a Service, sometimes shortened to “SaaS”, is a method of software deployment where a provider offers licenses to an application or tool for use on-demand, either as a timed subscription or “pay-as-you-go”. The tool or application is usually over provided the Internet using Internet standards for security and access.

CloudOne is the only company that offers Rational Jazz tools through Cloud and Software as a Service. Together, customers can scale both hardware and software up and down as they need, and their costs scale with it. It’s the best of both worlds.

About CloudOne:- Based in suburban Chicago, Illinois, CloudOne makes IBM Rational technology easy-to-deploy and affordable for everyone - particularly for small and medium-sized organizations. Their unique Software-as-a-Service license model, coupled with cloud-based delivery of software from their own data center speeds up the deployment of Rational solutions with no up-front capital investments for hardware or software, allowing customers to “pay by the drink” on a monthly subscription model. This saves money on infrastructure, staffing and configuration costs, while facilitating the move to cutting-edge IBM Rational technology and distributed, Agile development.

About IconATG:- IconATG provides consulting, training, and coaching in software development life cycle(SDLC) process, best practices, and automation. Our mission is to improve the performance of your Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) by providing the guidance and practical experience to allow you to successfully adopt modern software development practices. IconATG has a nationwide delivery capability for consulting and training. Practice areas specialties include: commercial processes (RUP and OpenUP), Agile development, requirements definition and management, business modeling, user centered design, quality assurance and test, configuration and change management, tool selection and integration, Service-Oriented Architecture, security, and regulatory compliance.

From an agency point of view, I would put my money on India and China: Irwin Gotlieb, Global CEO, GroupM

Irwin Gotlieb, Global CEO, GroupM, had the audience enthralled with his Keynote Address on ‘The Digital Distribution of Media: The Opportunity’ at the exchange4media Conclave 2010 in Mumbai on June 11. The annual flagship event of the exchange4media Group, the Conclave is special this year as it marks the commencement of the Group’s 10th Anniversary celebrations. The theme for the Conclave this year is ‘Rebooting the Indian media and advertising industry’.

He cited the key factors that GroupM took into consideration for forecasting the future. These were: Content, new Technologies, Fragmentation and proliferation in media choice, Government regulation/ deregulation, Business Consolidation/ Mergers, Marketplace factors, and the Consumer.

According to him, digital capabilities could help reduce the cost of content creation while improving distribution through digital technology.

New Technologies provided more effective and relevant media targeting opportunities and also enabled greater levels of fragmentation and proliferation.

Noting the growing importance of consumers in all this, Gotlieb said, “Consumers will have ever increasing control of media content. They will be able to search, filter and organize with little effort. They will be able to choose when and where to consume and on which digital device to consume it.”

Infosys fine-tunes US strategy for addressing government outsourcing market

Almost nine months after Infosys Technologies established its subsidiary in the US for targeting over a $100-billion government outsourcing market, Eric Paternoster-the current head of insurance and healthcare business at the company, has taken charge as the chief executive of Infosys Public Services.

Infosys Public Services board is constituted of SD Shibulal, Mohandas Pai, Vemuri, Lehman and Paternoster himself.

When contacted by ET last week, S (Kris) Gopalakrishnan, the Infosys CEO confirmed this appointment, and said his company is currently in the process of fine-tuning its IT strategy for addressing government outsourcing market in the US.

Infosys, which serves top corporate customers such as American Express, Bank of America and BP Plc, leads domestic rivals Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Wipro in terms of profitability with almost 30% operating margins.

While both TCS and Wipro have several state governments as their public sector customers in the US, Infosys, according to rivals and some experts, may have been late in addressing the opportunity.

Rival Wipro already has a nine year $407 million outsourcing contract from the State of Missouri for delivering health care services to US citizens.

US IT strategy budget is $82 billion for fiscal 2010, of which $35 billion is in the defense department.

Other departments that might be available for vendors such as Infosys are justice, transportation, homeland security, health and human services, commerce, energy, veterans administration, agriculture and treasury.

ICON Information Consultants has been awarded Supplier of the Year by Women's Business Enterprise Alliance

ICON Information Consultants, a premier provider of Human Capital Solutions, has been awarded the 2009 Supplier of the Year in the category of companies with revenues exceeding $10M by the Women's Business Enterprise Alliance (WBEA). The award recognizes a woman enterprise that has demonstrated consistent quality, competitiveness and reliability.

ICON specializes in identifying and recruiting highly qualified professionals at all levels in the areas of Information Technology, Accounting, Finance, Human Resources, and Procurement along with a specialized IT Project Management division, iSolutions, Ltd.

ICON has also received kudos as an outstanding supplier partner from Guidant Group, Inc., which awarded ICON its Longevity Award for stellar customer service, partnership and highly ethical approach to business over the last nine years. Ernst & Young also recognized O'Rourke with its 2009 Entrepreneur of the Year Award in the Business Services and Staffing category for the Houston and Gulf Coast Area.

Most recently, the Houston Chronicle ranked ICON Information Consultants among the top 100 privately held companies in Houston.

ICON Information Consultants, LP, headquartered in Houston, Texas, specializes in identifying and recruiting highly qualified Information Technology, Accounting, Finance, HR, and Procurement professionals at all levels/skills. ICON services include human capital solutions, consulting, and payrolling, as well as a specialized IT project management division. The company has reached "Top Tier" or preferred vendor status for most of its clients.

The Women's Business Enterprise Alliance is committed to increasing business opportunities for woman-owned businesses and corporate members through education, programs, and professional networking.

Seven arrested for hacking of online passport software

Seven people were arrested for hacking the online passport application software of the Hyderabad regional passport office. This group included passport agents, were arrested and search was on for two others involved in the racket.

The accused, who hacked the online software a week ago, were using it to book slots for registration of passport applications. The passport officials, who grew suspicious at some agents managing to get many slots.

The police commissioner's Task Force took up the inquiry. Police arrested main accused Latadhar Rao in Guntur. Several computers and hard disks have been seized from the accused.

The police is looking out for two other accused. The gang was busted a day after the police commissioner announced setting up of a special police station to deal with cyber crimes.

Over 100,000 applications are pending in the passport office here. There have been allegations of corruption with alleged collusion between employees and agents leading to inordinate delays in getting the passports.

Last month, the passport office authorised 96 agents to receive applications for police clearance certificate and other miscellaneous services offered by it.

Each agent was allowed to receive four applications for police clearance certificate and miscellaneous services and five applications for fresh passports and renewals every day.

Cloud computing is boosting for SMEs

A new initiative by SingTel and IE Singapore will give a leg-up to Singapore firms looking to sell their cloud computing and mobile solutions expertise to regional markets. The market access partnership will allow small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to piggyback on SingTel's presence in a number of markets, including Australia, India, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand.

Cloud computing provides business services and applications on demand via the Internet and eliminates the need for costly infrastructure investments. Local players specialising in telematics and location-based solutions like V3 Teletech are keen to tap SingTel's extensive network. It opens the doors to high potential markets and also allows us to bring our solutions to market in a much shorter time.

The initiative - part of the SingTel Innovation Exchange programme launched last year by SingTel, the Infocomm Development Authority and IE Singapore - will kick off with a series of marketing initiatives and business matchmaking sessions in Australia.

Organised with Australian telecommunications giant Optus and the New South Wales Department of Industry and Investment, these events will see a group of SMEs from Singapore promoting their cloud computing and mobile services solutions to Australian businesses and government agencies. SingTel hopes the venture will strengthen Singapore's position as a regional hub for cloud computing services.

SingTel executive vice-president for business group Bill Chang said: 'With our reach to over 293 million mobile subscribers... spanning eight Asian markets, SingTel is uniquely positioned to enable software developers to seize opportunities... in the region.'

RIL board has agreed 4-way expansion

Management of Reliance Industries (RIL) has told its board that it has identified power, telecommunications, financial services and pharmaceuticals for investments in the near future. The board, which met early last week, discussed strategies to enter these high-growth sectors, something which has become possible after the cancellation of a non-compete pact between the Ambani brothers which had barred RIL from businesses such as power and telecom.

RIL plans to utilize the free cash it generates from its oil and gas business to fund these diversifications. The company’s only foray outside its core businesses in the past four years had been its entry into the retail segment, which is housed in a wholly-owned subsidiary called Reliance Retail.

The company has since moved to implement part of this plan by taking over Infotel Broadband, which has won licences to supply high-speed internet connectivity using radio waves in 22 circles in India.

RIL’s re-entry into power and telecom doesn’t come as a surprise and had been widely expected, once the non-compete pacts between RIL and companies of the Anil Ambani Group were scrapped. Its interest in pharmaceuticals, however, is not widely known and is believed to be linked to the prospects of Reliance Life Sciences, which is privately owned by RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani.

Reliance Life Sciences has reached a critical size in its operations, brightening prospects of a bigger play in the pharmaceutical industry, said the person familiar with the discussions. The unlisted company has made profits and is looking to expand its presence in global markets such as Europe.

According to a business analyst with an institutional brokerage, it is a good business proposition for RIL once a business achieves critical size. You may see the group evaluating options like merger and takeovers to enter the pharma space.

The last piece of the puzzle—the proposed move into financial services—may take more time because the Reserve Bank of India does not allow industrial houses like Reliance and Tatas to set up banks. Business Analysts, however, expect RIL to enter banking, if regulators allow, as well as the insurance and broking businesses..