September 26, 2007
An SIIA Webcast

Moderator:
Ajay Kela, COO, Symphony Services
Speakers:
Sudin Apte, Forrester Research
Syed Hoda, Chief of Staff, Cisco Globalization Office
Uresh Vahalia, VP Engineering, EMC

A direct sales force is a powerful force for driving top line revenue but it is not the only force. There are many go to market strategies (e.g., value-added resellers, telemarketing, Internet channels, strategic partners, etc.); each with its own pros and cons. How can you tell if the go to market strategy you are using is the best one for your company and more importantly for your prospects and customers? Should you have multiple channels? Join us for our September 11th webinar entitled Selecting the Appropriate Channel as we explore the pros and cons of alternative go to market strategies.

Over the past two decades, ISVs have increasingly off-shored product engineering activities with the primary motivation to cut costs. But that’s changed significantly. Today, growth, time to market and competition are driving the emergence of a global development model, alongside cost savings, as evidenced by reports from Duke CIBER/Booz Allen Hamilton and the SIIA.

What started as staff augmentation 20 years ago has emerged as a mainstream strategy and has evolved from low-level tasks to encompass the most complex architectural and development roles. Today there is virtually no aspect of the product development lifecycle that isn’t being done offshore.

Hundreds of ISVs have moved a portion of their R&D operations offshore to India, China, Eastern Europe and other locales. Some have set up their own captives, some work with providers, and others employ a combination strategy. How are they faring? Which strategies work and which do not? We’ll get the industry perspective from Forrester Research, in addition to real-life feedback from Cisco and EMC, who have taken different paths to a globalized R&D model.