Software development is difficult and adding time differences to the equation only makes the process more difficult. Engineers know that to solve difficult engineering problems, all parties involved in the development process must be able to communicate easily with their counterparts. Usually, a local team holds meetings, talks face-to-face or over the phone, and uses e-mail, instant messaging, and other technologies to communicate. Communicating with any member of your team Quarksoft is just as easy. Our development team is located no more than two(2) time zones from any customer in the continental United States and our local support team is located in San Jose, CA. Quarksoft also aligns US and Mexican office hours so the San Jose office and the development teams are in contact for at least eight hours every day.
Our geographical locations make communicating real-time as simple as picking up the phone. If you try calling India while you are at work, since they are generally sleeping while we're awake, you will most likely just get their answering machine. Another benefit of the our locations is that if you ever want to "kick the tires" of your development team, Mexico City is only a 2-6 hour flight from any location in the continental United States. From most locations, you can fly to Mexico, meet with the development team and fly back to the US on the same day, with no jet lag. Compare that to traveling to India, which takes approximately 22 hours one way. A "quick" visit could easily use up more than a week of your time (and the jet lag). Travel to China and Vietnam require similar amounts of time and money.
In 2003, Mexico's university and technical college system graduated over 25,000 engineers; in 2008, this number will grow to 60,000+. Of these 60,000 graduates, research indicates that 42 percent are suitable for software development activities. This percentage is almost double the rate of qualified Indian graduates and over four times the percentage of qualified Russian graduates.
By working with leading Mexican universities, Quarksoft plays a direct and active role in increasing the number of qualified engineers. We are advising the universities on curriculum development which resulted in more rigorous training in mathematics, technology, software engineering and specialized areas. As a result of these efforts, Quarksoft is able to select the best candidates from a pool of over 200 well qualified graduates. In addition, Quarksoft new hires also receive an additional six weeks of technical and process training upon joining the company.
Is a critical factor when developing quality software and delivering the solution on-time. Quarksoft has a very low turnover rate, less than 6% so our customers are assured that the developers initially assigned to the team, remain on the team until the solution is delivered. Similar to Japanese work values, Quarksoft employees are dedicated to their jobs and producing excellent work and delivering on-time.
On average, Indian developers are facing extremely high turnover, 40%+ ,with some experiencing over 90% turnover and Chinese firms have more than 25% turnover. One result of high turnover is increased wage demands. both issues have detrimental affects on product acquisition costs, product quality and scheduled delivery.
IP protection is the same in Mexico as in the United States so customers do not need to worry about losing their IP. The North American Free Trade Agreement, NAFTA, protects Intellectual property rights (patents, copyrights, and trademarks) and internally, Quarksoft respects the IP of our customers.
As Professor Geert Hofstede, Emeritus Professor, Maastricht University said, "Culture is more often a source of conflict than of synergy. Cultural differences are a nuisance at best and often a disaster." Due the high level of integration of the American and Mexican cultures and economies, the nuisance level is already extremely low and in Quarksoft's particular case, cultural problems don't exist. If you say, "Yes.", we understand, "Yes". If you say, "No.", we understand, "No." which makes working and effectively communicating with your Quarksoft team members almost effortless.
When all product acquisition costs, travel, local management and engineering expenses, longer communication times, are taken into consideration, current research indicates that Mexico can be up to 35% less expensive than doing development in the US and 20% less expensive than offshore development options.