Travailler plus, gagner moins, tendance lourde en Europe (source Libé 27/08/2004)

Libération continue ses articles sur les délocalisations. Ils finissent comme d'habitude par de l'alarmisme sur la situation sociale et ne parlent pas des calculs économiques ni des créations d'emploi à l'étranger. Y en a-t-il ? Où va l'argent économisé ? l'activité globale est-elle maintenue ? Comment font les concurrents des entreprises citées ? Bcp de questions auxquelles on aimerait avoir des réponses ..

Travailler plus, gagner moins, tendance lourde en Europe

En Allemagne, aux Pays-Bas ou en Suède, les entreprises expliquent vouloir faire face aux nouveaux entrants de l'UE.

Par Muriel GREMILLET

vendredi 27 août 2004 (Liberation - 06:00)

Le chantage à l'emploi et à la délocalisation, pour faire passer un allongement de la durée du travail, n'a pas eu de succès qu'en France. Presque tous les pays européens sont concernés. Premier d'entre eux, l'Allemagne, où certaines entreprises, comme Volkswagen ou Siemens, ont annoncé leur volonté de relever la durée de la semaine de travail, sans compensation salariale. Les salariés de Siemens, premier groupe industriel du pays, ont cédé. Acceptant en juin le passage à 40 heures hebdomadaires (contre 35 heures auparavant) sans compensation, pour deux sites, contre l'engagement de la direction de renoncer à un projet de délocalisation de 2 000 emplois en Hongrie.

Concurrence. L'épidémie a gagné les Pays-Bas. Fin juillet, le ministre de l'Economie Laurens Jan Brinkhorst a suscité la polémique en affirmant que la semaine de 40 heures (contre 38 actuellement) devait «redevenir la norme» pour soutenir l'économie. Les entreprises, encouragées par les plus libéraux des élus, estiment que l'allongement de la durée du travail, sans augmentation de salaires, est le seul moyen de faire face à la concurrence des nouveaux entrants dans l'Union européenne, où les coûts salariaux sont bien plus faibles qu'en France ou en Allemagne. En Belgique, l'entreprise sidérurgique Marichal Ketin, en difficulté, a fait part il y a quelques jours de son intention de voir ses salariés travailler 40 heures par semaine, contre 36 actuellement, sans augmentation salariale. «Les entreprises belges doivent faire face à un handicap salarial allant de 8 % à 10 % par rapport aux pays voisins» qui ont, eux-mêmes, des coûts salariaux plus élevés qu'en Europe centrale, a expliqué le directeur général de la Fédération des entreprises de Belgique (FEB), Pieter Timmermans.

Avenir sombre. Le patronat suédois tire un constat similaire. Sten Jakobson, le PDG d'ABB Suède, et Leif Oestling, patron du constructeur Scania, ont été les premiers à monter au créneau, faisant face à l'opposition tant des syndicats que du gouvernement social-démocrate. «Dans les nouveaux pays de l'Union européenne, on travaille souvent entre 45 et 50 heures par semaine. Là-bas, le travail est un produit de luxe, ici (en Suède) c'est un droit», déplorait récemment Leif Oestling. En juillet, un des leaders du principal syndicat allemand de la métallurgie, IG Metall, avait prédit un avenir sombre pour les salariés s'ils acceptaient les nouvelles conditions de travail : «Des semaines de 50 heures, et sans être payé.»

La Californie tente de se barricader contre l'offshore

Un article du JDN
Les Démocrates locaux ont fait passer une série de mesures visant à restreindre les possibilités d'externalisation offshore. Un projet houleux auquel le gouverneur républicain Arnold Schwarzenegger peut apposer son veto. (27/08/2004)
Le gouverneur de l'Etat de Califormie - Arnold Schwarzenegger - a depuis le début de la semaine un épineux dossier sur son bureau, celui de l'offshore.
Le Sénat majoritairement démocrate de l'Etat de Californie vient en effet de voter une loi visant à interdire aux administrations locales de faire appel à des sociétés ayant recours à des employés offshore, comme c'est le cas par exemple pour certains centres d'appel ou dans le cadre de développements informatiques.
Certains amendements déposés par les sénateurs doivent être soumis à l'Assemblée de Californie qui, une fois cette formalité effectuée, transmettra le dossier directement au gouverneur républicain Arnold Schwarzenegger.
En tant que chef de l'exécutif local, ce dernier dispose du pouvoir d'apposer son véto à la loi ou de la valider. Dans le contexte actuel de campagne présidentielle - ou les débats sur l'offshore font rage - il va sans dire que l'ancien acteur n'aura pas trop des 30 jours qui lui sont accordés pour prendre sa décision. D'autant que la loi prévoit également l'instauration - sur les deux prochaines années - d'un salaire horaire minimum (7,75 dollars), du jamais vu au pays de l'oncle Sam.

Une batterie de mesures protectionnistes
Parallèlement, d'autres projets de loi veulent renforcer les mesures anti-externalisation offshore. Le bureau de la sécurité intérieure de l'Etat (state Office of Homeland Security) pourrait ainsi se voir prochainement interdire purement et simplement toute externalisation à l'étranger.

Les sociétés de plus de 250 personnes basées en Californie pourraient également être dans l'obligation de déclarer le nombre de leurs salariés travaillant à l'étranger tandis que les sociétés du secteur de la santé auraient interdiction de confier le traitement des données relatives à leurs patients à des sociétés situées en dehors du territoire sans l'accord préalable desdits patients.

Comme d'habitude, les arguments fusent des deux camps. Les Républicains ont vu de nombreux lobbies et la Chambre de commerce de Californie leur prêter main forte pour critiquer ces mesures protectionnistes, arguant notamment du fait que l'économie de l'Etat est à plus de 25% dépendante du commerce mondial (notamment la Silicon Valley), que les flux d'externalisation sont à double sens (les investissements étrangers finançant quelque 700 000 emplois dans l'Etat) et que le sacrifice de certains postes - pour une meilleure productivité - permet d'en préserver bien d'autres.

Du côté des Démocrates, l'instigatrice de la loi - Carol Liu - leur répond que les emplois de cols blancs externalisés sont "des postes hautement payés que nous préférons garder chez nous".

Offshore, Outsourcing: les prochains secteurs

Offshoring: It's not just for IT, anymore
silicon.com
Sylvia Carr

Lawyers, accountants and scientists are next...

For most people, the word offshoring brings to mind IT work and low-skill jobs such as call centres.
Yet the next big wave is going to involve the outsourcing of high-skill or 'knowledge' jobs such as accountants, lawyers, engineers and doctors to foreign countries.
Mark Kobayashi-Hillary, author of Outsourcing to India: The Offshore Advantage, said: "This is the hot growth area [for offshore outsourcing]."
Knowledge process offshoring, or KPO, is expected to grow faster over the next six years than general business process outsourcing, or BPO, a term used to refer the outsourcing of a complete business function such as HR.
KPO revenues will grow 46 per cent to $17bn by 2010, according to business research firm Evalueserve. Although larger overall, BPO revenues will grow just 26 per cent to to $39.8bn by 2010.
Examples of KPO would include a law firm outsourcing basic case research to paralegals in a foreign country or pharmaceutical firms conducting R&D for new drugs in offshore facilities.
India would be particularly well-suited for KPO because of its abundance of educated workers.
"India has huge potential resources with lots of chartered accountants and skilled lawyers," said Kobayashi-Hillary.
Evalueserve predicts India alone will provide $12bn worth of KPO services by 2010. This compares to the $720m it provided in 2003. Other promising locations for this type of offshoring include Russia, Canada, China and Israel.
Cost savings are the number one motivator for offshoring IT and business processes but this is an even greater factor with high-skilled work, said Kobayashi-Hillary, because "the potential savings between hiring a chartered account in the UK and in India are much larger than, say, a call centre worker".
Commissioning an intellectual property lawyer to write a patent application, for example, could be as much as 50 per cent cheaper in India than the US, according to Evalueserve.
At the same time, the value of KPO lies not only in pure pounds or dollars saved but also in the strategic benefits that trained foreign workers can provide. "You start talking about being able to tap into large amounts of skilled resources and being able to do things that might be quite impossible to do in London," said Kobayashi-Hillary.
For example, a small UK accountancy firm could offer a new service, such as tax return preparation, that it wasn't able to do earlier because of the hassle and expense of hiring additional personnel for just one or two customers.
The key to success with KPO, as with all outsourcing, is communication. The people hired need to know exactly what's expected of them.
This is why outsourcing well-defined work, such as call centres, has thrived.

L'outsourcing, notamment l'offshore programming deviennent importants dans le secteur public au Royaume Uni

Public sector spends up on outsourcing
ZDNet UK
KableNet.com

Outsourcing has increased massively in the public sector, due to IT contracts, according to new research.
New research shows that public-sector buying of outsourcing is concentrated more on IT outsourcing than business processes
The latest research from Kable has highlighted a massive increase in public sector outsourcing, with IT contracts driving the increase in value.
Kable's report, Public Sector Outsourcing 2000-06, reveals that by 2005-06, the total value of all UK public sector IT and business outsourcing will reach £46.5bn. This represents a growth of 228 percent in the market since 2000-01.
IT has increased as a proportion of the total spend on outsourcing. In 2003-04, IT accounted for 56 percent of the total market, followed by communications outsourcing and business process outsourcing, each of which account for 19 percent of the market. Managed services has the lowest proportion of spending, at just over £2bn.
Karen Swinden, Kable's head of forecasting, commented: "There seems to be a general consensus that BPO is fuelling the outsourcing market, but Kable's analysis of public sector contracts clearly demonstrates that IT is playing the leading role. This is forecast to continue for the next few years."
LB Harrow has provided a recent example of this trend. On 17 June, 2004, the borough went to tender for a strategic partner to help it enhance its ICT services in a 10 year deal worth £100m.
The council said it regards a strategic partner as an "essential element" in the delivery of its ICT strategy. It plans to develop an enterprise resource planning environment, implement a customer relationship management system and introduce standardised management information systems.
In February, Birmingham CC embarked on the largest local authority IT outsourcing programme in the UK, with a scheme worth more than £500m to cover business transformation, the running of a contact centre and other IT services.
Kable's research shows that the biggest rise in outsourcing has been in the health service, where outsourcing contracts rose by 54 percent from 2002-03 to reach just under £35.5bn by the end of 2003-04, mainly as a result of the National Programme for IT.

Difficultés de la délocalisation (exemple de Cegetel et de ses centres d'appels)

Un article de Libération à ce sujet qui montre bien les incompatibilités des différentes parties concernées:
- l'entreprise qui doit baisser ses coûts et qui est soumise non seulement aux niveaux de salaires français mais aux taxes
- l'état qui ne peut baisser les taxes mais offre des avantages pour s'installer dans certaines régions, avatanges qui servent uniquement à baisser le coût pour les entreprises et non à installer durablement de l'emploi
- employés qui n'ont pas trop envie ni ne sont habitués à devoir migrer pour trouver du travail
- sundicats, qui d'une part défendent l'internationalisation, l'aide aux pays en voix de développement et qui d'autre part refusent la création d'emplois dans ces pays (à ce titre la phrase du représentant CGT cité dans l'article: "Dans cinq ans, il faudra trouver encore moins cher, le Sénégal ou le Gabon... Et après ? Jusqu'où vont-ils aller ?» si elle était issue d'un représentant du FN aurait provoqué quelques réactions indignées ;-)

Il serait intéressant de savoir quelle est l'économie engendrée et où vont les sous économisés.

L'article: Les téléopérateurs de SFR refusent l'option monde

Timing, son centre d'appels sous-traitant, délocalise une part de son activité au Maroc Par Mathieu DESLANDES
mardi 24 août 2004 (Liberation - 06:00)

Cécile, casquette blanche, et Véro, casquette kaki, se relaient au micro. Elles occupent le premier rang de la petite centaine de manifestants qui s'étaient rassemblés, hier, devant le siège de Vivendi Universal, à deux pas de la place de l'Etoile, à Paris. Sur une feuille, elles ont compilé tous les slogans qui leur sont passés par la tête. «210 personnes au chômage, Cegetel assure ses marges», «Nos emplois partent au Maroc. Nos revenus : les allocs»... Quand la rime sonne et qu'elles trouvent le bon tempo pour la scander, quelques-uns de leurs collègues commencent à se déhancher, à frapper dans leurs mains et à taper du pied en rythme sur le trottoir de l'avenue de Friedland. ça ne dure jamais longtemps, elles veulent tester toutes leurs trouvailles. «Allez, on passe à "Cadences accélérées. Pour finir : licenciés."»
Cécile et Véro sont toutes deux salariées de Timing. Ce centre d'appel, basé à Montrouge (Hauts-de-Seine), sous-traite le service de renseignements téléphoniques de l'opérateur SFR. Il appartient au groupe B2S, qui a présenté en juin un plan social visant selon les syndicats, à supprimer 210 emplois sur 348, en délocalisant progressivement le travail de nuit et du dimanche vers le Maroc (Libération du 20 août 2004). Hier, la direction de B2S a publié un communiqué assurant le maintien des emplois de «plus de 60 % des 280 équivalents temps plein.» Ce qui fait tout de même 112 postes sans avenir assuré.
«Marchandage». Linda, 27 ans, est venue comme ses collègues pour «impliquer SFR» : «La direction de B2S nous dit que Cegetel-SFR n'est pour rien dans le plan social... Mais de qui se moque-t-on ? Si B2S en est arrivé là, c'est parce que Cegetel veut payer les prestations de ses sous-traitants toujours moins cher.» D'autres salariés de Montrouge ont fait cercle autour d'elle. «Timing ne gère que nos fiches de paye. Pour le reste, tout appartient à Cegetel, souligne Kamel, 31 ans. Les murs, les sièges sur lesquels nous sommes assis, les logiciels...» «Et même nos boîtes e-mails !», glisse Cécile, 30 ans, «téléopératrice de nuit». «Par téléphone, par courrier, de vive voix, nous recevons plein d'ordres directement de Cegetel, ajoute-t-elle, ça s'appelle du marchandage de main-d'oeuvre et c'est illégal !» Nefertari, 35 ans, préfère réciter le courrier de l'inspection du travail à B2S : «Après avoir pointé toutes les carences du plan social, la lettre indique qu'il serait de bon ton d'impliquer Cegetel dans les reclassements compte tenu des liens très étroits entretenus avec Timing...» Tous exigent des postes «au moins équivalents» au sein du groupe Vivendi Universal.
Inéluctable. «Timing, Cegetel : même patron, même combat.» Derrière la banderole, des salariés de Cegetel venus par solidarité. Et parce qu'ils se sentent «exposés au même sort». Selon Christophe Feuillet, représentant Sud, «Cegetel ne manquera pas une occasion de transférer à des sous-traitants, en France puis à l'étranger, ce qui lui reste d'activité en interne».
Mais très vite, les orateurs qui se succèdent au micro cherchent à dépasser ces deux cas pour dénoncer «la politique sociale scandaleuse» menée dans le secteur des télécoms. «Cegetel et France Télécom, les deux principales entreprises du secteur, après avoir spéculé sur la bulle boursière, reportent le poids de leur dette sur les entreprises sous-traitantes», s'indigne David Chinaud, au nom de la fédération CGT-PTT. Pour lui, «les subventions publiques, offertes pour implanter des centres d'appel dans les zones de province sinistrées, sont utilisées pour faire du dumping social». «Dans ces entreprises, les conditions de travail sont désastreuses et la législation n'est pas respectée», précise Jean-Pierre Bourriaud, représentant SUD PTT. «Quand ça ne suffit plus pour être compétitif, poursuit-il, les patrons quittent la Lorraine et la Picardie pour le Maroc ou la Tunisie, où ils bénéficient de conditions d'installation exceptionnelles. Montant des salaires : 250 euros par mois.» A l'image de B2S - numéro 2 des centres d'appel qui s'implante au Maroc pour Cegetel -, Téléperformance, le numéro 1, a investi la Tunisie... pour plaire à France Télécom, son donneur d'ordres. Pour Jean-Pierre Bourriaud, la logique est inéluctable : «Dans cinq ans, il faudra trouver encore moins cher, le Sénégal ou le Gabon... Et après ? Jusqu'où vont-ils aller ?» soupire-t-il.

Pour couper court à «toute surenchère sociale», David Chinaud a son idée : «Rattacher les salariés des entreprises de sous-traitance à la convention collective du donneur d'ordres.» «C'est la seule façon d'arrêter cette stratégie à triple détente de dégradation des conditions de travail : au sein de l'entreprise, chez ses sous-traitants, dans les sites où elle délocalise.»

Unilog et Sofrecom (filiale de France Télécom) montent une joint-jointure au Maroc

Source JDN 24/08: Les SSII Unilog et Sofrecom (filiale de France Télécom) montent une joint-jointure au Maroc. L'initiative est destinée à permettre "des économies de l’ordre de 20%" sur l'externalisation de services informatiques. Le centre de services, implanté à Rabat, devrait employer jusqu'à 100 personnes à l'horizon 2006.

L'outsourcing est causé par des motifs financiers ;-)

On s'en serait douté !!
La France n'est pas citée comme d'habitude. Les raisons seraient elles différentes ? ;-)

Outsourcers motivated by money ( silicon.com Sylvia Carr )
But many shun offshoring

Businesses consider cost savings their top priority when it comes to outsourcing work, though quality is close behind.
Of 68 people polled, 31 per cent named cost efficiency as the 'key value' they expect from a service provider, while 24 per cent said it was quality, according to research conducted at a recent Gartner conference on outsourcing and IT services.
Innovation and risk reduction were rated the lowest priorities, attracting only 5 and 2 per cent of votes, respectively.
The poll also revealed that companies aren't doing all they could to align their IT outsourcing and business strategies.
A majority (61 per cent) said their strategies were aligned to a fair degree or better. But a considerable portion (39 per cent) said to a small degree or not at all.
When it comes to offshore outsourcing, the respondents were split. A little more than half (57 per cent) are considering outsourcing work to offshore locations to some degree, while 43 per cent are not looking at this option at all.
The majority of respondents - 24 - were from the UK, with 10 from the Netherlands and four from Norway. The rest were from other parts of Europe, North America and the Middle East.

Année charnière pour les DSI ?

Selon un article de Marie Varandat sur Indexel, l'heure de la réforme a sonné pour les DSI, notamment au niveau des économies et de l'organisation des DSI:

DSI, l'heure de la réforme a sonné !

Le rôle des directeurs informatiques évolue vers moins de technologie et plus de management. Au programme, des économies, la rentabilité, l´efficacité. Une véritable réforme est en cours. Seuls ceux qui sauront s´organiser en conséquence pourront évoluer vers un rôle majeur dans la définition des objectifs et de la stratégie de l´entreprise. Les autres finiront dans les sociétés de services ou au placard.

Les services informatiques sont arrivés à une période charnière. "L´ère des informaticiens bâtisseurs touche à sa fin. Maintenant que l´on a plaqué de l´informatique partout, celui qui saura le mieux utiliser les outils fera la différence. En d´autres termes, les directeurs informatiques doivent se concentrer non plus sur la technologie mais sur la gestion de systèmes d´information, c´est-à-dire sur une informatique au service des métiers. Ceux qui sauront sauter le pas deviendront des personnes importantes dans la définition de la stratégie de l´entreprise, proches des directions générales. Ceux qui en seront incapables finiront dans des sociétés de services", estime Christophe Legrenzy (photo), président d´Acadys, société spécialisée dans la mesure et l´analyse de la performance des systèmes d´information.

La réduction des budgets ne suffit pas, il faut justifier de la valeur du service rendu

Face à la prise de conscience de l´importance de l´informatique dans la stratégie globale de l´entreprise, les directions générales sont aujourd´hui forcées de reconnaître que c´est le seul service qui a échappé ces dernières années aux règles de rentabilité et d´efficacité. Budgets dépassés, délais de livraison des applications non respectés, fonctions qui ne correspondent pas aux besoins des utilisateurs... les griefs sont nombreux et le retour de bâton s´annonce sévère. DSI, si vous n´êtes pas capables de vous organiser, de fournir à l´entreprise les outils dont elle a réellement besoin, tout en respectant les budgets et les délais : vous finirez au placard !

"La réduction des budgets n´est plus suffisante", souligne Dominique Jaquet (photo), DSI de l´APEC. "Aujourd´hui, on doit justifier de la création de valeur de l´informatique". Pour ce faire, le service informatique de l´APEC travaille en étroite collaboration avec ses utilisateurs afin de dégager des unités "métier". Que vaut la saisie d´une facture en comptabilité ? Combien coûte la mise en oeuvre et l´exploitation de la fonction informatique équivalente? "En d´autres termes, nous consultons nos utilisateurs pour lister les services que nous leur rendons afin de dégager avec eux des unités de mesure métier", explique Dominique Jaquet. "Nous tentons ensuite de comparer ces unités de mesure (coût d´une visite sur le Web, saisie d´une facture, etc.) à nos propres unités de mesure. Alors seulement, nous sommes en mesure de dire si une fonction informatique est rentable ou pas".

Trois modèles d'organisation : monarchique, féodal ou fédéral

La stratégie mise en oeuvre par l´APEC va généralement de pair avec une remise en cause personnelle du DSI et de son organisation comme le souligne un DSI soucieux d´anonymat : "La direction des systèmes d´information devient progressivement une sorte de SSII et de cabinet de conseil en management interne. Son but étant de traduire les objectifs stratégiques de l´entreprise et de contribuer à l´optimisation des coûts par une meilleure conception des projets, lesquels sont souvent mal définis et aboutissent à des dépassements de budgets et de temps dans la fourniture des livrables. Mais pour des raisons politiques et liées au management, le sujet est souvent difficile à évoquer".

Etudiants en sciences formés en Russie et comparatif avec l'inde (étonnant non ?)

Près de 80000 diplômés en sciences de + en Russie qu'en Inde pour 2003-2004.
Download auriga_htm.htm

Russia to Cash In on IT Growth

Russia to Cash In on IT Growth

By Simone Kozuharov, The Saint Petersburg Times

The Russian information technology industry saw rapid growth last year and Russia is well positioned to become a global leader in IT, industry leaders say.

"The market experienced very rapid growth last year with over 50 percent growth in some segments," said Anatoly Karachinksy, president and CEO of industry leader Information Business Systems Group (IBS).

The industry as a whole has grown 30-40 percent over the past three years according to Valentin Makarov, president of Fort-Ross Information Technology Services, a consortium of software developing companies in Russia, Ukraine and Belorus.

Systems integration saw a 35-40 percent rise, the infrastructure market went up by 30 percent, the computer manufacturing and assembly sphere rose by 20-25 percent and the software development market grew 40 percent, Karachinsky said.

"We experienced a huge interest toward Russia and Russia is very well positioned geopolitically," Karachinsky said. "There are projections for stability, for economic growth in Russia."

Over the last two years Russia "became the absolute European leader in implementing the highest level of certification," Makarov said. "None of Europe can compete."

Luxoft, a subsidiary of IBS, was awarded the highest possible certificate recognizing software development.

"Only nineteen companies in the world have this level of certification," Karachinsky said.

Additionally, Russia became the global leader in IT training programs, "which means our higher schools [of education] are the best in the world," Makarov said.

The internal Russian IT market is growing more than 10 percent annually, Makarov said, with an overall 24 percent increase in the IT market as a whole last year.

"More business means better quality of our work," Makarov said.

The Russian government has taken notice of the exponential growth and recognized Russia's potential in the industry, experts said, although they are still crying for more governmental support.

The government itself is working on developing its use of IT internally and has reorganized itself to better handle the growing IT field, experts said.

Formerly known as the Ministry of Communications and Information, the ministry has been renamed and reorganized as the Ministry of Information Technology and Communications.

"The government now realizes it's a very fast-growing, innovative industry," Makarov said.

One reason for Russia's potential IT success is its geopolitical position, Karachinsky said.

Russia's main competitors in the industry are India and China, with India dominating 20 percent of the market share. Russia and China tie for second place, with one percent each.

But where both India and China are viewed respectively as unstable politically and geographically, Russia is a vessel of stability, Karachinsky said.

"There are many aspects in India and China that are unpredictable in different combinations," he said.

"If you look at China, there is a big conflict between the form and the context because their form is communistic, but they are a capitalistic country in every essence.

"And India is very unlucky in its geographic position right now," Karachinksy said, citing the instability in the region with Iraq and Kashmir.

It is unlikely, however, that Russia will overtake or equal India's dominating position for one main reason.

"It is impossible because India has 1 billion people and the English language is widely spread there. So obviously it will always be easier to find people for very cheap work in India and as time progresses, it will be more and more difficult to do that in Russia," Karachinsky said.

However, Russia's future is concentrated in dealing with the industry's complex issues, he said.

"The education level in Russia is much higher, so obviously it will be easier to find specialists who can handle difficult problems and solve complex issues."

Other experts say Russia's future also looks bright on the simple side of the industry that focuses not on technology for giant corporate entities, but on software for everyday use, like shareware.

Shareware is simply software that can be downloaded from the internet for a free trial period. If the user decides to purchase the program, he or she can do so right over the internet.

One company capitalizing on both sides of the industry is Novosoft Russia, a conglomerate including Novosoft, Novosoft Development, Novosoft Novosibirsk and Novosoft Zheleznogorsk.

Located in Akademgorodok, Novosibirsk, the Russian equivalent of Silicon Valley, Novosoft is due to complete a contract with Norilsk Nickel, the global leader in nickel production, and is negotiating further contracts for future participation with the nickel giant, Novosoft founder and president Vladimir Vaschenko said.

"This type of company [Norilsk Nickel] is using a lot of equipment to support technological processes during all stages of metal production so we provide them with a system that manages all these types of equipment," he said.

Once a joint Russian-American venture, Novosoft split with its American counterpart last year, leaving the Russian and American partners headed in different directions.

"Novosoft Inc. declared its bankruptcy in the United States, or tried to declare it, but Novosoft Russia is working successfully here," Vaschenko said.

Although one of Novosoft's major focuses was offshore software development, the company has experienced loss since September 11 and is adapting to the change in demand by shifting its focus to shareware.

"The shareware model of business is to build a small program which costs an average price [of] 30 bucks so people can download it from the internet, install it and use it for free for one month...and then decide [whether] to buy it or not," Vaschenko said. "And you can do everything using the internet only. You can download it, install and make payments on the internet and you don't need to go to any shop."

Shareware is particularly popular because it is simple, inexpensive and can be managed by small companies and even one person.

"A lot of individual developers are doing this business in Russia," Vaschenko said. "I see this as a good direction for growth in this industry, in Russia especially."

Jul 06, 2004

La nouvelle force scientifique russe

où l'idée générale comme quoi les indiens et les chinois sont les plus forts est un peu battue en brèche ;-)

A Renaissance For Russian Science
Student enrollments are up, and multinationals are chasing grads

It's an emerging-market economy that still suffers from widespread poverty -- but somehow manages to produce more than 200,000 science grads a year. Students so well-trained in computer science, physics, mathematics, and engineering, that growing numbers are being snapped up by some of the world's biggest tech companies.

India? Wrong. China? Nope. The correct answer is Russia. "We continue to see very good students come out of the universities," says Steve Chase, president of Intel (INTC ) Russia. When it comes to writing complex computer programs, "the Russians are absolutely tops," he adds.

It's one of Russia's surprising survival stories -- the resurgence of the country's once-superb scientific education system. State funding for scientific research and education plummeted with the collapse of the Soviet Union, and many of Russia's best and brightest left the country, lured by higher-paying jobs abroad. But Russia's universities and scientific institutes are slowly adapting to the harsh realities of a market economy, by tapping private funding and research contracts and forming partnerships with international heavyweights such as Intel, IBM (IBM ), and Cisco Systems (CSCO ). Meanwhile, enrollment in science courses is rising once again.

That's the good news. The bad news is that the ranks of Russian academia are thinning, as most of the newly minted science grads are recruited by the private sector or foreign universities. Without an influx of qualified teachers, Russian science may be living on borrowed time. "Russian basic science is still at a very high level, but when the current generation of teachers retires, the experience may be lost," warns Irina G. Dezhina, senior researcher at the Institute for the Economy in Transition in Moscow.

WOWING THE WORLD
For now, at least, Russians young and old continue to wow the world with their scientific and mathematical talent. As has happened in three of the past five years, a Russian university won top honors at the 2004 ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest, an IBM-sponsored competition that pits university teams from around the world against each other in solving complex problems. Universities in the ex-Soviet Union took 10 of the top 30 slots this year. "The educational system has become shaky but still works well," says Natalia Kasperskaya, CEO of Kasperskaya Labs, a local software company.

The system might have collapsed altogether without a recent increase in state support, made possible by Russia's economic revival since the end of the 1990s, coupled with a growing stream of private funding. Government spending on science is up by 90% since 1998, although it remains a fraction of what it was under communism. Meanwhile, private finance now makes up around 45% of all research funding. "The 1990s was a difficult time for the whole system of education, but since 2000 we have been able to work more or less normally," says Nikolay Kudryavtsev, rector of the Moscow Institute of Physics & Technology. Founded on Joseph Stalin's personal orders in 1951, Phystech remains one of Russia's leading scientific universities. These days the institute no longer gets its electricity cut off because of unpaid bills -- and can even invest in much-needed student dormitories.

Some of the partnerships between academia and the private sector have already began to bear fruit. Take Unichimtek, a company founded by a group of Moscow State University researchers with the help of local investors. The enterprise invented Graflex, a material that can be used to insulate everything from electric cables to space ships, and now employs some 700 university chemists and research students. "It's a good example of the cooperation of Moscow State University with industry. That's exactly what our science needs now," says Moscow University Rector Viktor Sadovnichiy.

SCOUTING TALENT
Russian science is also getting a helping hand from international heavyweights. Trailblazer Intel Corp. began working with a half-dozen Russian universities back in 1997. Intel Russia President Chase explains that the chipmaker usually starts off with an equipment donation, and gradually becomes more involved, helping develop curricula, and even contracting out work to university research staff. Right now, a team at Nizhny Novgorod State University is helping Intel develop security software for high-speed wireless communications.

But the biggest draw for Intel is the chance to scout for new talent. "We're partly doing this because we want a good pipeline [of students] in the future," explains Chase. Intel already employs 500 Russian engineers at research centers in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Nizhny Novgorod, and plans to recruit 500 more this year. Chase says Russian programmers are remarkable for their creative approach and for their grasp of complex mathematical algorithms. It helps, he says, that unlike their counterparts overseas, many of the best Russian programmers trained as physicists, chemists, or mathematicians.

Luckily for Intel and others, there's a growing pool of Russian science grads to fish in. According to research by Auriga Inc., a Russian information-technology company, this year's graduating class of computer scientists, engineers, mathematicians, and physicists will be 11% larger than last year's, totaling 225,831. Despite the recent vogue for management or marketing, Russian youth is rediscovering its traditional interest in old-fashioned science. Moscow University's Sadovnichiy says there are now six applicants for every place at the university, compared with just two or three in the mid-1990s, with the most intense demand for places on science and mathematics courses.

Trouble is, these newly minted grads are opting out of teaching, so Russia's professorial ranks are graying. "The main problem is low salaries," says Walter Pogosov, 28, a recent graduate of Phystech, who now works as a postdoctoral researcher at Okayama University in Japan. Pogosov earns $3,700 a month in Japan, while an assistant professor in Russia collects a mere $100 a month. He says around half of his classmates are working or studying abroad, while others have become millionaires in Russia by ditching science for banking or business.

According to a report that Moscow State University's Sadovnichiy prepared for the Russian government earlier this year, almost two-thirds of Russia's scientists are over 40. If current trends continue, 42% will be over 60 by 2010. In March, Sadovnichiy presented his findings to President Vladimir V. Putin himself. "It seemed that the President is very interested," he says. To draw more candidates into science careers, Sadovnichiy recommended a range of steps, from channeling funding to the most promising research areas, to allowing innovative scientists to get more of the commercial benefit from state-funded projects.

A further boost in state funding would help enormously. Despite the increases in recent years, Russia spends just 1.24% of gross domestic product on research and development, half the level of France or Germany, and a 60% decline from 1990 levels. The comparison is less flattering still when defense-related research -- still a huge chunk of Russia's science budget -- is excluded. Still, even expatriates like Pogosov aren't ready to write off their homeland. His ambition is to earn enough money in Japan so that one day he can return home to work as a scientist. With dedication like that -- and more support from government and business -- Russian science may yet have a future as well as a glorious past.

By Jason Bush in Moscow

Même dans l'aveyron, on se met à la délocalisation ;-)

Sur le blog de Richard Menneveux, un article intéressant sur une petite entreprise, Nexxis, spécialisée sur le bluetooth. Le marketing, le design, la commercialisation sont fait en France, la production des produits est faite en asie du sud est.
Un exemple intéressant de "surf" sur les délocalisations tant décriées parfois dans ces départements.

Gartner targets offshoring 'myths'

IT research and analysis provider Gartner has questioned the negative coverage about offshoring in a report presented during its sourcing and IT services summit.

The Myths and Realities of Offshoring report by Gartner analyst Bob Hayward discusses the better side of offshoring and disputes the common negative beliefs of people in the industry regarding the issue.
Hayward said he admits that some people in service-oriented roles in developed economies will lose their jobs to offshore services and that offshoring may not always be the best option to reduce costs or gain efficiencies in service-oriented processes.
He added that because of this, government and businesses need to provide safety nets and assistance to workers who are displaced.
The report pointed out common offshoring "myths", such as that offshoring has caused the loss of over 3 million jobs in the US during the past three years; that lost jobs are never replaced; and that offshore services are the reason it took so long for new jobs to be created in the current US economic recovery.
Hayward's report also claimed that offshore services "do not create downward pressures on local wages, that a nation's competitive advantage is not eroded by exporting skilled jobs and that protecting local jobs and restricting offshore services will not be good for the nation's economy."
"Job losses to date from offshore services has been grossly exaggerated," Hayward said. Delayed job creation in the US recovery had nothing to do with offshore services and more on governance reform, investor competition pressure on costs, global economic and geopolitical conditions."
Hayward pointed out that the offshoring of local application development work represents only 2 percent of the Australian market and that the government should not be protecting old jobs, but instead should support the creation of new ones.
Hayward also advised companies not to put "all their eggs into the Indian basket" since eventually, wages will increase in India and it will not be so cost effective as "an emerging economy doesn't stay emerging forever."
Many of the jobs that are being offshored now are jobs that will eventually end up being automated in the future, Hayward said. He added that although these low-level IT jobs, like coding, that are being offshored will mean lesser jobs and lesser experience for graduates, these "will soon be automated and what is considered graduate work will change as the IT industry evolves."
Hayward suggested in his report that the government and businesses should craft policies and programs to create new jobs rather than to protect old jobs. He also suggested that the government and institutions assist people who have been displaced by offshore service to return to the workforce quickly through training programs and welfare assistance.
Hayward also raised the question of changing the immigration policy since it would attract the "best and the brightest globally." Taxation and education reforms, Hayward said, will reward entrepreneurs, encourage innovators and promote free and fair trade.
"Regulations like imposing a special tax on companies that use offshore services will drive business away. Highly regulated locations have higher unemployment rate," Hayward said.
Jobs most at risk of being sent offshore include lower-level services work like certain types of computer programming, technical writers, and contact centre operators for non sensitive and non-critical functions.
Certain high-end business process outsourcing services such as network consulting and management services, market research and competitive intelligence, and product development are also at risk, according to Hayward.

L'Anvar et son homologue russe signent un accord

L'ANVAR et son homologue russe dynamisent l'échange technologique
L'Agence française de l'innovation et la FASIE russe ont signé un
nouvel accord visant à promouvoir le transfert de technologies entre
entreprises.

Après quatre ans de collaboration, l'Agence nationale de
valorisation de la recherche (www.anvar.fr) et son homologue en
Russie, la FASIE (www.fasie.ru), ont conclu un nouvel accord visant
à promouvoir le transfert de technologies entre entreprises.
A travers cette initiative, entreprises françaises et russes vont
avoir de nouvelles opportunités d'échanges, en plus de celles
offertes dans le cadre des Centres relais innovation (CRI), centres
créés en 1995 par la Commission européenne.

L'ANVAR et la "Foundation for Assistance to Small and Medium
Innovative Enterprises" ont déclaré en mars 2000 leur intention de
développer et de co-financer des projets technologiques communs
entre PMI russes et françaises.

Depuis, les deux partenaires ont fondé le Réseau technologique
franco-russe (www.rfr-net.org) et un volontaire civil de l'ANVAR
installé en Russie, a été chargé de superviser la coordination des
projets.

Du côté russe, "plusieurs dizaines d'organismes de recherche,
d'entreprises, de consultants, sont émetteurs et récepteurs de
propositions", selon l'ANVAR. "L'Agence française de l'innovation",
de son côté, dispose notamment d'un fonds d'évaluation des
technologies russes, mis en place par le ministère français des
affaires étrangères.

Offshoring dos and don'ts

Offshoring dos and don'ts
silicon.com
Bundeep Singh Rangar

Do pay for talent... Don't bet the house...

Offshoring may be the right option for your company, but for the project to be a success you've got to do it right. Bundeep Singh Rangar, COO at venture capital firm Ariadne Capital, offers some words to get wise.

The SWOT analysis of my first major project involving offshore software development in early 2000 can be summed up like this: strength - I saved my company £500,000 by spending 30 per cent of what the project would have cost in the UK; weakness - the system delivered didn't quite look like what I had envisioned; opportunity - the learning experience made the next several projects easier; threat - I had more grey hair at the end than when I started.

My position was interim CEO for a Yellow Pages business. I was responsible for transforming it to an online business and keeping IT costs down during the transition was a big consideration. There was simply no other way to do so than by having software developed and our data entry done at a low-cost offshore centre.

The trick was to ensure that nothing was 'lost in the translation'. Tell a programmer in Europe the software he's constructing should look like a fine building - and he'll come back with the equivalent of the Eiffel Tower. Tell the same thing to an Indian programmer - and he'll come back with the Taj Mahal. Both are beautiful buildings - just very different.

At Ariadne Capital, we consider offshoring a good option for companies with at least 15 per cent of their cost base dependent upon IT services. That's usually enough of a critical mass to justify the increase in capital expenditure for setting up an offshore partnership and the additional operating costs for logistics and communications.

Given my experience managing offshore development as well as advising FTSE 100 companies and high-growth start-ups on their offshore development strategies, here are a few tips to help prevent offshoring from becoming an insurmountable mountain.

Cover your Achilles heel
The biggest reason for an IT offshore development project to fail is the Western company not being sufficiently prepared for it. Choose projects and departments that are not going to threaten existing staff. The offshore facility should be a way to scale operations, not politicise them. Get project managers who are accomplished at delegating tasks, monitoring workflow and policing and communicating with external suppliers. Start with a small project that is low-risk before betting the house. Actually, don't bet the house - your core competence and mission critical elements are almost always best kept onsite.

Talent is king
Tata Consulting Services and Infosys Technologies Ltd, among India's largest IT services companies, had one million job applicants each in 2003 - and offered jobs to fewer than one percent of them. That's a Darwinian filtering of talent if you've ever seen one. The people working in top IT services companies in India and China aren't just smart - they're super-smart. Your desire to access this superior talent across the world should be a big motivation to offshore. The fact that you'll experience lower churn than in the UK is a bonus. The fact that you'll pay less for the work is an additional bonus.

Peanuts attracts monkeys
Since you're paying less than what you'd pay for a comparable skill set in Europe, don't be a tightwad. If you only go for low cost (i.e. less experienced and lower skilled workers), you'll end up paying a high price in the end. Choose a partner company and personnel for their quality, not just their price. Offshore companies come in all shapes and sizes. If you pay peanuts, know what to expect.

Real goods differ
Offshore outsourcing is not the cost reduction panacea for all types of manufacturing. Take, for instance, businesses which create 'real' parts or products as opposed to software or services. As you plan for the transfer of parts and products currently manufactured in the UK to offshore facilities, they will often be estimated to have lower unit costs. However, the total cost of ownership (TCO) may actually be higher than manufacturing them in the UK since the goods have to be physically packaged, transported and delivered. TCO will have to include capital expenditure as well as the 'landed costs', such as freight, duties and insurance.

It's the people, stupid
The best protection against failure is not an airtight service-level agreement or the latest remote workflow management product. Neither will help when you find out your software isn't ready just a day before expected delivery. Build a relationship with your supplier so that open and frequent communication is de rigeur. If you can, eventually build your own subsidiary. Find someone who understands the local milieu to advise you on choosing the best local supplier or partner with whom to build a lasting business relationship.

There's a reason why Edmund Hillary partnered with Tenzing Norgay. You need help finding your way to the top of the mountain - and your way back too.

Bundeep Singh Rangar is COO of Ariadne Capital.
Ariadne Capital is a leading investment and advisory group, which helps companies access capital, manage M&A transactions, build management, secure customers and incorporate innovation.

Meta Group: l'externalisation des services IT devrait s'accroître

L'externalisation des activités informatiques d'entreprise devrait continuer à s'accroître dans les années à venir. C'est le principal enseignement que l'on peut tirer d'une récente étude du Meta Group. Selon l'institut américain, 80% des entreprises sous-traiteront au moins l'une de leurs fonctions IT d'ici 2005. Autre tendance annoncée : le périmètre et la durée des contrats signés pourraient avoir tendance à se réduire au fil des années.