Homegrown software firms join hands with international giants

Used to consider the multinational software companies in the Philippines as threat, homegrown software companies are up to joining hands with the giants in a desperate bid to make the country as the center for software development in Asia.

The Cebu Software Development Industry Association Inc. (CebuSoft) is actively participating in the Fly High: Philippine Software 2010 program initiated by both the government and the multinational software firms in the country like Microsoft, IBM, among others.

"The small software firms like the members of the CebuSoft may adopt technical support, as well as customer service strategies from the multinational companies. We realized that we have to work together in order to strengthen the software industry in the country," said Toy Paralisan, CebuSoft executive director.

The Fly High: Philippines Software 2010 program was created and presented to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo during this year's International ICT Congress held in Cebu last June.

The program is aimed at enabling the Philippines software industry for breakthrough technology, supporting the homegrown software developers, and encouraging the Filipino talents to set up new software development companies.

One of the realizations of the homegrown software development companies is to have their companies comply with the international certification, such as the Capability Maturity Model (CMM), or the ISO.

He said if a software company wants to thrive in the international competition of the software development, it has to conform with the international standard and demand, although it would entail huge investment.

"Now we are forced to comply with the world standard to be competitive," Paralisan said.

Through the CebuSoft organization, smaller software companies can avail of the expensive international certification standard, through consolidation of resources.

CebuSoft, a "baby" organization in Cebu, is expected to work on this priority to help its members survive and maximize the Filipino talents' potential.

Also, realizing that most homegrown software companies in Cebu are run by technical people, not business oriented owners, CebuSoft will also formulate programs that would help local software firms to professionalize their operations, in order to keep talents from jumping from one company to the other.

Worst, if a potential software firm cannot keep its good people because of mismanagement.

Part of the highlights of the Fly High: Philippine Software 2010 program is to encourage the birth of 100,000 software developers in the Philippines in the next five years.

In Cebu, there are about 30 homegrown software development companies, but only 15 are members of the CebuSoft. Some had to close shop because they cannot sustain the stiff competition, while others were affected by the brain-drain problem.