6.11
CASE III: The Changes and Management Measures of a
Software Outsourcing Service Provider (SOSP) Moving Toward
Cloud Technology
Synopsis
:
1.
Operating predicament of the software outsourcing service provider (SOSP)
2.
Main tasks and the decision-making process of adopting cloud computing
infrastructure
3.
The benefits of the SOSP in a cloud environment
Software outsourcing is an option that must be considered by all enterprises in an age of
flourishing information and communications technologies. This is even more important when
the software development resources are scarce and the hardware cost is high. Thus, the
decision to work with professional SOSPs can be an effective and economical strategy. With
the rapid technological development, the downfall of economic landscape, and the high
attrition rate of software developers, SOSPs are facing various business challenges. The
first challenge is the ever rising salary package for software developers which can barely be
compensated by the short term, yet profit-limiting projects. Making matters worse, for the
implementation of the projects the SOSPs often have to purchase many powerful hardware
and software equipment and pay license fees to perform contract tasks. The result of low
project profits diminishes the effectiveness of the company's operations. Cloud technology
offers an opportunity to resolve the issues these SOSPs are facing.
ABC Inc. is a company focused on offshore software outsourcing business with roughly
2000
employees located in 10 cities across Mainland China. Facing the aforementioned
operating difficulties by most of the SOSPs, the senior management team decided to
develop its own cloud solution based on OpenStack via a private cloud within the company’s
internal infrastructure. This decision is made based on the following reasons:
1.
Cost saving:
No need to procure hardware (e.g., server) to support short term
project, and can leverage current IT resources.
2.
Customer Security Requirements disallowed the use of public cloud solution.
3.
Via the selling of cloud solutions over a private cloud to accumulate the
experience for profiting from cloud technologies.
Though there were no significant changes to the organization, the original organization role
