Price
of quality or the lack of it
Daily Mirror - Monday September 13, 2004
Suren
Kannangara, the head of Affno, one of the leading software engineering
companies in Sri Lanka, in an interview with the Daily Financial
Times shares key insights on quality software solutions, the pitfalls
and the cost of low quality work and how the Company has differentiated
itself from the rest in offering reliable and quality solutions.
Following are excerpts
Q:
Today everyone is conscious of costs. Do you find that clients shop
around for the best bargain when it comes to software?
A: When clients outsource components of their software
development this may be partly true. But when it comes to commissioning
a total bespoke software development or to buying a highly customised
software product, very rarely would a client go for the lowest price.
And the fact is that there’s no cheap way of delivering quality
in such cases. There is a price for quality and there’s a
price for the lack of it. In the case of the former, one might end
up spending a little extra money. But in the case of the latter,
one might pay the price of losing everything because the software
is not capable of doing what it was meant to do.
Q: What does one mean by quality of software?
A: In a very basic sense it means that the software works and is
bug free. But that’s not all. Quality is really about meeting
client requirements. It is also about enabling users to learn and
start using the software quickly. Quality would also mean easy modification
and adaptability of the software to changing needs as the client
organization grows and evolves.
Q: How do you ensure that you deliver quality?
A: If I take Affno as an example, we have an Affno
process of software design and development that we follow for all
our projects. It starts with a detailed study with the client. Here
we get totally immersed in the client’s problem or opportunity.
We study their existing systems and hardware to ensure that prior
investments made by the client are maximised. We also ascertain
the skill levels of the people, who will use the software. We then
go through a process to ensure that the client also understands
how the new system will fit in to their organization, how it will
be used and how it will benefit them. We also follow internationally
accepted coding standards and quality assurance systems. However
coding is only one aspect of the process. Being involved in the
full spectrum from conceptualisation to design, development, testing
and deployment we require a combination of both left brain and right
brain work… thus delivering quality in our type of Software
Company is both a Science and an Art. The relationship with the
client does not end on successful deployment of the software. In
fact we encourage clients to look in their software development
as ongoing continuously improving projects and encourage a long
term partnership. The nuances of a client’s problem or opportunity
can be appreciated only if you let them unfurl over a period of
time. To build such relationships you have to earn a reputation
of being reliable and dependable.
Q: What are the reasons for failures?
A: It could be primarily for one of two reasons.
The first is a lack of an in-depth understanding of the client organization
and the users. For instance this happens with some software sourced
from overseas because software doesn’t always cross geographical
boundaries very well. Sri Lanka may be a victim of a relatively
high percentage of failures of this type. And in these instances,
chances are that the client may have also paid an exorbitant price.
The second reason is the lack of proper development and quality
assurance standards. In these instances chances are that clients
would have gone for one of the lowest bidders, although it may not
always be so.
Q: Is Sri Lanka Competitive in terms of its cost
structure?
A: Not really. Also our productivity is not known
to be the best. For instance the large number of holidays doesn’t
help. We cannot as a country sustain a positioning that is based
on price because there will always be another country that could
do it cheaper. Also if we say that we want to build a position based
on price, we are indirectly telling ourselves that we choose to
remain a poor country. We need to compete on delivering end-to-end
solutions, with a significant design component and top class quality.
We at Affno have found time and again that people are willing to
pay a premium for quality.
