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From Accessory to Necessary- How Software Evolved

There is nothing ‘soft’ about software in this new world that we inhabit. A CTO elaborates the switch

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Pratima Harigunani
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Pratima H

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MUMBAI, INDIA: Just a few years back it would have been either redundant or amusing to talk of APIs, application economy, Ops, services and DIY IT teams to any OPD major around.

But the earth does revolve every now and then setting a lot of 'how things were' spinning around. As we get a chance to chat with Jim Walsh, CTO at GlobalLogic during his brief visit to India; we get our head around the new status-quo and new elements defining it that have emerged, particularly in the realm of software. Well, it is not just an add-on anymore; as he rightly nails.

Let’s spell this out.

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How much has the product development industry changed in the last few years, specially from an enterprise angle?

We have been a pure-play product-services company and it is interesting that we are witnessing a big change in the last few years. Earlier we used to deal with packaged software companies mostly but now suddenly every company is a form of Software Company. Software is not a mere add-on but central to any business today. The world has changed and people – customers, employees, and partners- expect enterprises to work with digital lenses. If businesses do not recognize this shift they will fail. Transforming is the only option. It also sends many companies running scared as the world keeps turning more and more software-centric.

Even traditional product vendors have started spreading far on the product-services continuum. Is that a big disruption for what you do?

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For us, it is a real opportunity. For instance, one of our clients was becoming a SaaS Company and was looking at 500 customised versions of software but at the same time had needs around operating costs and a unified code base. We are working closely with the CEO and helping the product company become a true-blue SaaS company. Service economy is a big trend and it has to be real-time leveraging data analytics, technologies and architectures in a new way.

Jim Walsh, CTO, GlobalLogic Jim Walsh, CTO, GlobalLogic

As we march into an application-economy milieu, and as developers start occupying more of the front rows along with a growing appetite for DIY apps for CIOs, what new challenges or factors will emerge?

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In traditional areas we develop both back-end and front-end of an application, from system of record to UI etc. For CIOs, the speed to engage with customers is paramount and that’s where speed at the back-end and at other areas also comes into play. We have offerings where we turn into an integral part of customer’s lifecycle. We have use cases in diverse verticals like automotives, retailers, coffee chains etc.

Where does the new gamut of APIs and most of them opening up everywhere fit in?

APIs are key when it comes to having a clean technical interface. In terms of systems of engagement with non-SaaS companies, API strategy plays an important part. We work with CIOs to wrap their legacy APIs and build systems of engagement on top of that. Whether it is a CIO or a CMO, speed is crucial and hence system of record and system of engagement respectively, have their new potential. Putting a good API platform in between makes a lot of difference here.

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Any word on another buzzword called Dev-Ops?

We have a modern software development practice and we find it important for non-ISV clients. Everyone talks about being lean but the secret is in making everything revolve around the customer or user. Dev-Ops is core to what we do. We do have Ops, and continuous deployment and engagement as a key part of what we do and user-driven/design-oriented development is our expertise.

As a CTO, have you been trying out any innovations internally too?

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Yes, we have a very active enterprise unit. Like-We have realized that typical age of developers is in 20s and they may not want to use conventional systems so we have created social and enterprise-flavour answers for collaboration and micro-blogging etc, as well as tool-sets for agile development. A lot of our IP is being applied for new impacts. Product development is swiftly evolving into a globally collaborative effort, often involving many teams that are distributed across different locations and time zones.

Examples?

To more effectively engage distributed employees, as well as to optimize collaboration and encourage innovation, GlobalLogic initiated and has developed an enterprise networking platform called GLO, our proprietary internal social business platform transforming the way employees work, connect and collaborate – improving business agility, productivity and employee engagement. GLO today is an invaluable asset to the company both in terms of connectivity (amongst employees, amongst the executive teams and employees, amongst teams) as well as productivity.

How is the company’s strategy moving forth, specially in and for India?

As a full-lifecycle product development services leader, headquartered in the US and strong operations in India; we see India as GlobalLogic’s largest hub for design and engineering with centres in Noida, Bangalore, Gurgaon, Hyderabad and Nagpur. We are working with business and technology leaders to make amazing products, help them discover new revenue opportunities, and accelerate their time-to-market and have been involved in large innovation programs with companies in healthcare, communications, media, hi-tech businesses and Retail/e-commerce. GlobalLogic expects to double its revenue growth in the next three years and to match up with the constant and long-term growth, the company is also hiring new designers and engineers around the world. We recently announced the opening of a new engineering center in Poland to provide increased customer support in the region.

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