Message from the CEO
Using a body shop halfway around the world with a huge cultural, language and
process gap is destined to fail. The outsource company's management is only
concerned about extending the contract. Developers want just enough experience
to jump to another company and get a raise. No one is worried about delivering
world-class innovative product on time and with high quality.
The movement towards globalization of technology is unstoppable - if anything,
it is accelerating despite the real risks. These changes represent a challenge
and an opportunity. The opportunity is to harness this technological wellspring
into accelerated productivity and growth and let US companies do what they
ultimately do best - lead the world in innovation. The challenge is how to
overcome the real problems of managing multiple locations, languages and
cultures to maximum benefit.
Unfortunately there have been a lot of offshore outsourcing mistakes made over
the past decade. Although US companies were experienced in distributed software
development, many were not prepared for development spanning the globe. Having
gained experience as an operating officer for several companies I have many
stories of how global outsourcing failed to meet its objectives. Supposed "full-time
resources" are commonly double and triple booked. Attrition translates to failed
engineering projects as the developers move to better paying jobs every few
months. Language and technical skills limitations are a real impediment in
certain geographies which are still developing basic skills to join the world
economy. There have even been reports of core American IP "going out the back
door". When my previous firm announced a financing round, my inbox quickly
filled with proposals from outsourcing developers offering a "body shop" model.
One company actually stated "get two engineers and you get one free." All that
was missing was the Ginzu knife set.
Neubloc presents an entirely different opportunity based on an entirely
different model. Neubloc is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ameritege Technology
Partners, a privately equity firm, headquartered in San Diego, California, with
a focus on investments in more than a dozen enterprise software companies. The
origin of Neubloc was to provide engineering services specifically to develop
software product for the portfolio companies. In each acquisition company
resources were evaluated and in turn, a development team was selected to
leverage the best of in-house/onshore resources with offshore resources. Over a
span of six years, engineering processes and project management systems were
created and refined to manage these companies. Practical steps were taken, such
as the acquisition of various global engineering firms (concentrated mostly in
Eastern Europe in European Union nations) to ensure the proper cost and IP
controls could be put in place. This allowed Ameritege to instill American-style
process and culture into these companies. An American design and development "lingua
franca" developed between the domestic and foreign Ameritege resources. Lastly
innovation centered in the US - close to the ultimate customer. All of these
elements were combined together - what the company came to call
Product Evolution Science.
This model resulted in enormous advantage for Ameritege. Each of the portfolio
companies experienced remarkable improvements in their financial performance.
Offshore outsourcing did not create this success - it was simply a tool used to
achieve the ultimate objective. Ultimately it was this careful and measured
development process that led to the financial results of the Ameritege portfolio
companies. It created companies in the US that Americans were proud to be a part
of - Americans always want to be a part of winning teams. The "rightsourcing"
model led to success.
Software rightsourcing works.
In 2005 Neubloc was born as a separate entity. This step was taken by the
principals of Ameritege in recognition that they had invented and developed a
core competency - how to manage global software product design and
development. Neubloc customers are already experiencing the financial, time-to-market
and user experience benefits of this unique approach. I encourage you to
reference through the case studies on this
website.
I am proud to get the opportunity to lead the Neubloc team. I am also proud of
the benefit that it can provide in this next phase of evolution of the
technology industry (even without the Ginzu knifes...).
Armando Viteri
President and CEO