Tuesday at 6 p.m. took place one of the most expected keynotes of MWC 2012. Expected particularly due to the presence of Eric Schimdt, chairman at Google.
 
The presentation started with a little demonstration by Hugo Barra (Product Management Director, Android at Google: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/hugo-barra/0/59/833) on the Android related Chrome strength.
This integration has three goals:
- Providing a faster mobile browser
- Providing a clearer and simpler mobile browser
- Making the cloud more user-friendy
A small demo followed, first on a smartphone, to show Chrome’s speed on mobile applications, then a functionality which enabled the user to easily zoom and click on a web page, as well as to view different sites open on the mobile through vertical tabs.
 
The last functionality relates to the cloud. Hugo opened several links on his laptop (a Mac), which he switched off, while the links and searched information were displayed on his smartphone.
In a nutshell, there was nothing really ground-breaking about this presentation, and the audience got it right, as they responded with weak applause.
Eric Schimdt took over for the second part of the conference. The conclusion reached was that, among the 7 billion people on Earth, only 2 are connected, and there is a risk that the gap will continue to widen with the ever increasing technology acceleration.
Several years from now, Internet connection will be as transparent as electricity use. The technology related to new applications could save lives and change the world, as the Arab revolutions have demonstrated, and this is even more likely to happen if more people are connected.
According to Eric Schimdt, the first thing to do, which is also obvious, is to provide access to the Internet in poor countries, whereas it is in these countries that Internet access is currently the most expensive. He is confident that, afterwards, once this stage is completed, the intelligence and ingenuity will do the rest (with a little help from Android J).
Google will definitely take part in this big connectocratic movement, but it remains to be seen how, with all the security, confidentiality and monopole issues which remain unanswered.
While looking around the MWC (MobileWorld Congress) trade show, I got the impression that the French and Israeli pavilions were the largest. This first impression was confirmed by the figures shown in the chart below. There are 163 companies in the French pavilion and 58 in the Israeli pavilion. Well done Romania, which is the only “Eastern” country with a pavilion together with 9 other companies, Pentalog being one of them!
With Apple missing, the whole community of manufacturers , as well as Google with Android, went all out to display their products. In particular, the Android stand has everything it needs to seduce geeks including an invasion of green little men, a moving belt displaying 300 devices using Android, a special corner for gamers and a … toboggan.
 
As for manufacturers, Samsung has, in my opinion, the largest stand in the showroom with a special place for presenting Galaxy Notes. Thus, the stand looks somehow like Montmartre with dozens of draftsmen commissioned by Samsung in order to caricature the visitors using the Photoshop application and the associated stylus. Great public success.
On that note, I took advantage of the presence of Nicolas Latte, designer in Barcelona, to ask him to test the tool. First contact has been an easy one and Nicolas has been rather seduced by the feeling very close to a pencil or a brush. Nevertheless, a professional use of this tool is not necessarily possible and one may deplore the lack of a vectorial tool similar to Illustrator, in order to completely subdue graphic artists. (video to come)
Huawei challenger has also gone all out by displaying its products in a space digitized from the floor up to the ceiling. The only problem is that its offer is a little poor and we are left wanting more.
We ended our first little tour with a visit to HTC that presented especially smartphones equipped with a double camera for 3D with quite impressive demos.
The sequence will come today or tomorrow with Asus, LG, Acer and Windows!
And I can hardly waitto attend Keynotes by Eric Schmidt (Google)…
Eight years after setting up a Java development team for a French client in Barcelona, I am back in the Catalan capital for the first participation of Pentalog in the Mobile World Congress.
Mickael Hiver, Business Line manager for mobile applications, accompanied me on this occasion.
We have a double objective: to establish contracts with potential clients and to get into the swing of the latest technology.
Pentalog has been present in the field of mobile applications for a long time, well before the invention of the iPhone. Already, in 2002, we worked on business applications in the field of traceability and inventory by means of “PDA” type terminals with bar-code reading technology. At that time, the market was represented by Windows mobile with a poor black-and-white interface and a stylus intended for business use only.
In 2009, we have developed our first iPhone application still in the field of B2B. Since then, there has been an increase in the number of projects, and the technologies have diversified.
Even if only a minor part of the sales is generated from this activity, the volume of requests received from our prospects has taken the lead, surpassing Java, Dot Net and PHP orders.
We have developed a highly advanced competence cluster not only for technologies, but also for ergonomics and user experience, first in the Republic of Moldova and later in Romania and Vietnam.
We’ll have to put forward this expertise linked to our offshore methodology in order to obtain “sexy” projects for our teams.
Mickael and I are going to make you live the MWC on this blog right to the end.
At its second edition, the Loiret Company Trophies, hosted by journalist Jean-Marc Sylvestre, rewarded eight companies from the Loiret department in the following categories: Hope, Innovation, Competence management, Sustainable development, International, Consortium and Special Prize of the Jury.
This was an opportunity for me and five other Pentalog employees who were present to discover other local companies, some of them operating in rather surprising fields (pallet selling, aeronautics, electric vehicles, electronic waste management etc.).
Pentalog received an award in the International category. Having a presence in six countries, both in terms of sales and production, and speaking seven languages (French, English, Romanian, German, Vietnamese, Hebrew, Russian, to name just the most widely used languages) this is a prize that suits us well.
For 10 years, since we opened our first office abroad, we have always sought to eliminate distances. Products developed in Romania are sold in Germany, products developed in France and Vietnam are sold in Romania etc. French employees have chosen to work in Romania, Moldova, Vietnam, Germany, Romanians are working in France or in Vietnam… For us, globalization is neither a vain word, nor an obstacle, but a tremendous innovation and growth leverage.
Today, sales outside France represent one third of our sales figure and are progressing. It is the international factor that has instilled dynamism into our group.
The incubator that we created a few months ago is based in Romania, but includes Romanian, French and Vietnamese employees. It has already given birth to a Romanian company which served as a model for its little French sister whose manager appeared on the cover of the latest issue of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry magazine. We have come full circle!
We take pride in market recognition, as we enjoy a strong organic growth. And, of course, we are also proud of this award which is a brilliant way to end a year in which we received numerous distinctions: 2nd place at the national strategy competition; we were present for the second year in a row in the Deloitte Technologies Fast 500; Frédéric Lasnier was present at the Academy of entrepreneurs where he stood among the top 120 most dynamic entrepreneurs of France.
I would like to thank the members of the jury and Pentalog employees. Go on!
 
Since I became Sales Director I haven’t taken yet the time to look at all the indicators in this sector. My first responsibility was to boost sales and only then count the points.
Since early this year I have become more involved in this part of my activity and have taken the time now to step back from our commercial activities.
In Pentalog France we have an enormous advantage: years of market development, web ranking, with innovations that allowed us to receive requests from prospective clients “naturally”. Whether by searching the web or through social networking, we received on an average 0.71 requests per day since the beginning of this year!
Amongst these 25 requests, some did not complete their requests, others have already received a negative response but there remain a good fifteen dossiers waiting for a response or for which an offer is being elaborated.
And since we also have started using the metric system in our business proposals, I can announce that the average time spent responding with a complete proposal is just less than 3 days.
It will take another few weeks to refine this data and a few months to see if time spent on offers can be correlated with the outcome of the business proposal.
A new client (which I can not mention the name) has chosen Pentalog to develop a new module for its software.
The technology is C # 3.5, the methodology, agile and the location is in Iasi. This dedicated team will be comprised of a project manager and 4 developers who will start in early January.
After months of requests almost exclusively using Java, Dotnet has come forth.
Microsoft developers, you can send your CVs to: jobs.ias@pentalog.fr
Selected from amongst more than 40 solutions, MonA is competing for one of the Innovation Trophies 2009, organized by Orange Business Services and Syntec Informatique in partnership with the French newspaper La Tribune.
MonA (My Personal Assistant) is an artificial intelligence solution developed by Pentalog High Tech, allowing a member of the company to interactively communicate with the information system through various media (chat, phone, SMS, email). Through its interactions with the company’s various information sources, MonA informs and assists, reminds each user of all the things he has not yet done. More interactive than a sticky or a task list, MonA is just in front of the users and communicates with them, with the sole purpose of helping them to increase their productivity.
To see a demo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aAbboKgdwE
This solution has been developed by our teams, under the direction of Peter Peutin (IS Business Line Director).
I will soon give you the results of the race!
We had fallen behind in the release of this indicator. It is now available again with some modifications.
Here are the following Average Daily Rates for each of the countries in which we work. We have made a distinction between Bucharest – offshore, and the division of technical assistance to local clients.
France: EUR 460
Prices are progressing. This is logical since we have reinforced our team of project managers whose services are invoiced at a higher rate than that of technical assistance services. However this indicator hides many un-invoiced days. We have not yet completed the total invoiced cost for these profiles. Nor has their work schedule been lightened yet; they are regularly solicited, almost daily, for project evaluations for clients or prospective clients.
Romania: EUR 175
This figure is just a little below the price of our catalogue for dedicated teams (EUR 180) and so it still remains a competitive price.
Moldova: EUR 137
Our lowest ADR in Europe which also takes into account a few BPO services. These services are invoiced at around EUR 110 / day, lower than the Average Daily Rate.
Vietnam: EUR 91
This ADR is well within the range that was anticipated; this rate is for the moment entirely composed of the development of information systems. With new projects expected to arrive shortly (especially in the BPO industry), we should see these rates lower slightly in the coming months.
Romania – Local Clients: EUR 256
This is the average fee charged for technical assistance to local Romanians clients. It integrates an average rate for technical and functional experts, as well as for junior developers in the more conventional technologies.
The next indicator will be proposed towards the end of October and thus it will focus more on the rates of the 3rd quarter.
Yesterday evening I was at the inauguration of Nekoe. Nekoe has been established as a “center of excellence” in innovation for the service industries in Orleans. Pentalog had to be there for two reasons; first as a service company based in Orleans, and second, we were responsible for the development of the dynamic part of the website www.nekoe.fr, in partnership with Oxyneo who took charge of the graphics and SEO.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Wilfrid at Orleans, and Ionut at Brasov, who invested so much time and effort to complete this web site on schedule, despite the rather short time limit given.
The current site, which is destined to be a community portal, is still in its early beginnings. By the end of the year the site should provide web networking tools, including management tools for project stakeholders in Nekoe.
We’ll talk about this when the time comes.
Why innovation in services, what does this mean? It’s easier if I give you an example. I want to get around town by bicycle. First solution, 1 buy a bike, Option 2, I rent a bike, (e.g. Vélo+ in Orleans) and thus I have innovation in a service industry.
For industries such as Michelin, IBM, and Lexmark, they have converted part of their industries into service industries: rental and maintenance of Michelin tires for example. The President of IBM France explained to those attending the conference that the company nearly died in 1993. At that time the mastodon was operating at 80% production and 20% in services. It had to reinvent itself under this pressure and now the proportions are reversed and this has saved the company.
This mutation is lagging in France, far behind other European countries, especially in the northern countries and the United States, where it is seen as a necessity. Today it is the service industries that are driving growth upward and are creating the jobs in France.
The aim of Nekoe is therefore, to develop innovative service industries in the region, but for a clearer picture visit the web site www.nekoe.fr. In particular you can watch the video of Charles Eric Lemaignen, president of the Orleans Agglomeration who will explain this all very well in 6 minutes.
For a company as innovative in the service industry as Pentalog, it is a chance to be close to such a dynamic and proactive pole. We will follow its development closely.
Now that we have opened an office in a new country, I’m wondering about the number of working days there.
In Romania, there are 7 public holidays in 2009. We get the same number for Vietnam, by subtracting Saturdays and Sundays. In Moldova there are 11 public holidays, out if which a Saturday and a Sunday, but in these cases the days are made up for. In France, there are 8 public holidays in 2009.
There is an average of 20 vacation days per year in Romania and Moldova. This totals 234 worked days for Romania and 230 for Moldova, in 2009. The French 35-hours annual system leads to 217 working days, whatever the number of public holidays.
Many of you know these European figures, but what about Vietnam?
Officially, there are 12 annual vacation days in Vietnam. It is customary for foreign companies to grant some extra days; therefore, for Pentalog Vietnam we have 15 vacations days.
This totals 239 working days for Vietnam, in 2009.
Comparing the number of employees in all Pentalog offices, Romania represents 55% of invoiced days, Moldova 28%, Vietnam 10% and France 7%.
For the sales figure, Romania represents 58%, Moldova 20%, France 16% and Vietnam 6%.
There’s an annual difference of a little less than EUR 10 000 between a working man-year in Romania/Moldova and Vietnam.
The low figure in Vietnam is calculated using a low-hypothesis. Still, with the large production capacities and attractive prices, we have all we need to do better.
Summary of public holidays in the Pentalog world
Romania
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Friday, January 2, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
Friday, May 1, 2009
Monday, June 8, 2009
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Friday, December 25, 2009
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Moldova
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
Monday, April 27, 2009
Friday, May 1, 2009
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Monday, August 31, 2009
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
France
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
Friday, May 1, 2009
Friday, May 8, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Monday, June 1, 2009
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Friday, December 25, 2009
Vietnam
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Friday, May 1, 2009
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Despite the worrying global economic situation Pentalog will report an 80 % growth for the fourth quarter. This performance is due to the 2 recently created branches of Pentalog Romania, Iasi and Sibiu, each employing now over 30 people and working at their full capacity. During this quarter Pentalog has reached a level of more than 300 employees. The 9% bench time rate at the beginning of the quarter fell under 6% in November and December.
Business has been going well. A series of new deals have been signed: in Germany with LHS, belonging to the 5 biggest German software editors and number one on the global mobile phone invoicing market, and in France with NG Travel in the tourism industry and finally with Mousset in the logistic sector.
Following these quarterly results, the annual growth will be of about 60% with a sales figure of EUR 8, 5 – 9 M, whereas the annual growth objective was 30%, which means the group achieved twice the expected results.
Pentalog has also been granted a “Deloitte Technology Fast 50″ 2008 prize.
The Vietnamese branch may not have a significant contribution to the turnover until the second quarter of 2009.
50% output increase for the second quarter
Pentalog will report a 50% production increase for the second quarter 2008 compared to the same period in 2007.This booming activity was mainly drawn by the expansion of Eastern-European business (bank, telecom, industry). On the German side, the Frankfurt subsidiary, focused on java and dotnet development activities achieves 7% of the sales figure and 20% of the group’s total growth. The Ukrainian subsidiary is still at an embryonic stage and thus will probably not contribute significantly to the group’s growth before the 4th quarter. The Kiev team is currently working for a local subsidiary of the European leader in the banking sector.
If we look at the offshore production, a certain number of clients (particularly innovative companies) have clearly increased their development operations. During the second quarter the group experienced its first failure with an offshore client and will make sure that this does not happen again in the future. Regarding engineering activities, the trend is a rising demand in R&D (especially in embedded software) which jumped by 100% in Pentalog’s business. These activities represent 45 employees and several bids are still being analysed.
The BPO contracts have significantly contributed to the company’s growth, with 22 persons involved in the contact centre (call and data management), 10 in finance and accountancy, 5 in DTP and content management. This business does not yet account for a big part of the sales figure since the prices are very low. However the net profit ratio meets our objectives.
By the way the group is searching for a partner to manage and market the “contact centre” offer.
After reassessing the growth rate to 5% for the first quarter, the company should confirm a 50% progression in turnover for the first semester, with 80% of organic growth, far ahead from the usual 6% expected in most of the Western European countries.
Pentalog will have at least 240 employees by the end of June and sales will exceed the 2006 level by the 15th of June. For this year, the sales objective is EUR 7 – 7,5M. The operating margin meets the group’s strategic expectations.
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