It is not our business policy to speak about potential contracts before signing them. However, these 3 particular business deals have a highly significant meaning. Their respective volume, in countries which are very far from each other, prove to what extent our nearshore service brand has henceforth become well-known. In Romania, Pentalog brand stands out as a national leader whose name is the first conjured up by those who want to carry out significant projects in sectors like software and internet. In Germany, our IT services company holds a place which can be henceforth comparable with the one held in France, not so long ago, in 2006 or 2007. We have gained our position in less than 3 years and we can see that things are definitely evolving. At the end of 2011, Pentalog is known practically throughout the EMEA area, as one of the main players of the Eastern Europe nearshore.

How much are these 3 contracts worth?
At least €11M overall per year. In a more optimistic view, these 3 business deals could yield €17M sales figure per year for Pentalog, which equals roughly our sales figure for 2010. These 2 contracts would have a minimum life span of 3 years… so this could mean a total amount of as much as €33M to €51M!
If I’m talking about it, it is because in 2011 Pentalog managed to sign a few contracts worth several millions. In addition, there are also smaller offers, which are still under negotiation. Therefore, I am fairly more optimistic as to 2012 than my colleague Monica, who shows more moderation .
Then of course, we might sign none of the 3 contracts… and this has to be considered. Or, on the contrary, all 3 ? The smallest is worth 2 millions per year and the biggest up to 10 millions. I consider that, whatever the case may be, although 2012 is heralded as a very difficult year, Pentalog’s position and market share on its areas of choice will record new progresses and that our company will become even more appealing, thus continuing to attract the best employees in the countries where it operates. We remain one of the few platforms in Romania which is able to develop projects involving up to 100 employees and which allows our project managers, Delivery Center managers and project directors to benefit from a 40% average annual growth in the last 4 years.

Therefore, keep an eye on our recruitment offers in case we sign these contracts as they will bring great technical and management opportunities. And in case we don’t, well, we’ll be happy to have been considered for so highly rated projects and it will be just a matter of time until we make it!

I wish you all have lovely winter holidays and a great new year in 2012!

On November 12th-13th, I had the chance to attend the amazing meeting of Académie des entrepreneurs held in Prague. The organizers (Ernst&Young, La Compagnie Financière de Rothschild, Les Echos, L’Entreprise and Roularta Media Group) gathered a group of first class experts, among whom: General Georgelin, former Chief of the Defence Staff and current Great Chancellor of the Legion of Honour; Cynthia Fleury, research fellow and associate professor of political philosophy at the American University of Paris, researcher at the Institute of Communication Sciences of CNRS (The National Center of Scientific Research), lecturer at Paris Institute of Political Studies and professor at École Polytechnique; Christian de Boissieu, economist, member of the Attali Commission for the liberation of growth and Chairman of Council of Economic Analysis; Dominique Netter, chief economist at Rothschild; and, as a matter of course, Eric Orsenna, Councillor of State, member of Académie Française, of Attali Commission for the liberation of growth, writer, entrepreneur, former adviser of François Mitterrand and… member of Académie des Entrepreneurs.

This year, the topic under discussion was the Future of Progress and the approach was so comprehensive that it would do no justice to it to attempt a summary. What I would like to point out from our debate is that Progress, which aims somehow at the pursuit of happiness through the transcendence of our destructive impulses (Hegel’s vision), shall not arise under any historical circumstances. Even worse yet, it is often followed by waves of fear originating from people who do not grasp its meaning and it can sometimes have dreadful results. So, we could wonder about the road leading from Marie Curie to Oppenheimer. Or even about the coincidence occurring in historical events such as Queen Isabella I sponsoring Christopher Columbus’s expedition to reach the Indies, and then ordering the exile of the Jewish subjects from Spain, despite the fact that they were traders who had been contributing to the power attained by her country! As a good politician, was Isabella putting her stakes on the fears of some in order to give way simultaneously to a major innovation which was to change the face of economy and geopolitics forever?

Was there any post-Auschwitz future for Progress on the old continent?
Europe was for a long time the continent of progress. Technologies might well have been created elsewhere, but it was in Europe that they were transformed and prepared for universalization in order to achieve a shared comfort, a lesser effort and an increased confidence in the future… Yet, it is also in Auschwitz, in the heart of Europe, that the most intricate death machine was set up, which couldn’t be further from the idea of progress. Was there, post-Auschwitz, any future for progress on the old continent? This is a question that remains without an answer 70 years later. This is too short of a period and there are too many signals saying yes or no. Meanwhile, Europe is no longer the only place in the world where progress has become a common place. Many of the European scientists from the first half of the 20th century were of Jewish origins. U.S. and Israel have become new areas of confidence in the future for the myriads of brilliant minds and their unique comprehension of difference. This year, the Nobel prize in chemistry went to Israel. U.S. universities started exerting their influence worldwide while painfully giving birth to the first model of modern and genuinely multiracial society. The Far East could now become the leading continent in the energetic sector. As to India and Latin America, people there are aware of the social disparities existing in their societies and there are incredible energies unfolding, according to our criteria, in order to allow anyone to climb the social ladder: entrepreneurship classes from the youngest age, classes of tolerance and respect (!), participation of disabled and autistic people in order to enhance ergonomics related to space or products! Meanwhile, Europeans are considering deglobalization, without ever having witnessed these new forces of progress… , which is evidence for the excessive old age of the electorate in our nations! They are the ones who impersonate, behind seemingly noble ideas, the fears that have accompanied the large phases of progress. Mass mobile data telecommunication and genetic engineering are fundamental areas of progress of our time. They are still in their infancy, certainly, but they will change the geopolitical map forever and they will distribute differently the world’s wealth, breaking old oligopolies set up in Europe and the U.S. at the beginning of the 20th century. Why defend them? What would be the point of it?

Make Europe, not war!
What is there left to do? Plenty! We are the only continent that conquered war… after having been the one that had refined and generalized it to its highest levels. This is a huge achievement within a geographical, demographic, economical and cultural space as important as ours! What a wonderful leverage for our future! The Far East is still fighting its wars! Why is it that India represents 10% of the world’s weapon imports? In Latin America, wars, guerillas and the horrible mafias have not yet completely disappeared. What about Africa? Under such circumstances, have the Europeans, who have won their biggest battle when they chose a common currency, nothing better to do than to destroy this powerful symbol to the world’s eyes, the only symbol, for that matter, of their unity? This continent, that has invented enduring peace between nations who used to be at war, did it not achieve the greatest progress in humanity? We shouldn’t allow this remarkable achievement to be destroyed by the populist and the fearful, brought together by the drive for the worse! If you want to achieve progress for everybody, worldwide, make Europe, not war!

Since I’ve returned from the US, I’ve been trying to find the time and inspiration to express the feelings I had there. I must say I owe my inspiration to the loss of triple A and the political antics which preceded it. As for the time, as usual, a short flight made it available.

My comments won’t be very long. I remember the New York potholed streets, just like after an earthquake. I remember the economic, social and cultural fragmentation which makes Californians say that it is easier to understand and communicate with a Calcutta call center employee than with a native American from the Gulf of Mexico. Travelers will probably wonder if the people who live along the coasts, East and West, belong to the same nation as the ones in the central area of the country. This country where, presently, even the rich middle class is ashamed when it comes to government schools or to the health care system. This magnificent country of Yale, Berkeley, and Harvard, which inflames our imagination, is also the first to have its life expectancy decline.

The other facet of this everyday America is that of the world’s largest arsenal of war, counting such a large number of aircraft-carriers (11?) in operation that the American president doesn’t probably know where he has parked them all. It is also that of the development programs for nearly infinite budget combat aircraft (see F35), of hundreds of thousands of soldiers deployed on various terrains, in wars with a whiff of XIXth century colonialism… Everything the USA save on the back of the American people is then spent on shiny death toys intended to keep up diplomatic appearances in front of all the world’s nations.

I can’t stop thinking that this state, which doesn’t react to the factual, intellectual and moral impoverishment of its population, which limits the resources allocated to the most elementary economic development tools (education, infrastructures), which makes up threats in order to justify military actions to its people, displays the budget and philosophical finery of a hard right state-controlled economy. Is there a contemporary history sub-discipline which makes the radiography of political regimes only by analyzing budgetary ratios?

The US financial resources are allocated to questionable needs from a historical perspective (the recent withdrawal of troops from Iraq, in a context of return of violence, demonstrates this fact), while tangible needs in the field of education and health protection have not been covered. Nothing seems to be too good for the industrial, military and energy sectors, completely outdated in the world race, but which keep on getting richer while impoverishing the nation. The future American president, unless paranoia sets in completely, will not have the financial means for this hard right South American dirigisme substitute. What will he make of this opportunity for historic change of course?

For those of you who don’t know me, I must point out that I love America and I have often written articles on the American genius. The same budget analysis, concerning France, with its 56% of public expenditure in GDP, would lead to the conclusion that France is also an ersatz of totalitarian socialist regime. Is this a compulsory passage for old democracies?

Pentalog received, on May 26th, a delegation of French deputies led by President Luca in our Romanian-Moldovan headquarters of Brasov. Following a lunch with a deputy mayor of Brasov and a visit to Sacele, a suburb of Brasov which is twinned with the town of one of the French deputies who were present, they paid us a visit in the late afternoon. My impression is that they were surprised by the French speaking skills of Pentalog employees, by their class and the scope of the operations that they handle. One of them said to me in an aside that he had discovered at Pentalog a different Romania, of a high technological and conceptual level, that he wasn’t aware of. He continued by saying that he found the country to be a natural European alternative to India in terms of large IT centers. I believe, despite the fact that this subject cannot easily be grasped by a Western European elected representative, that they understood that Europe was lagging behind in the field of software production because of the lack of engineers. Romania represents a possible solution to the current deadlock. Europeans must be all the more vigilant as Canadian and American offices are constantly recruiting Eastern European graduates and contribute to the migration of people who might as well join European projects.

The policies of certain European states resemble those of North-American countries in that they try to draw this population to their soil. Pentalog, a nearshore outsourcing company, uses another approach, as it contributes to the technological industrialization of an emerging European country by offering a high-level production infrastructure to professionals worldwide. Thus, we bring profits to our country of origin and export even from France, within and outside the Union. We have a European project, which was launched by French businessmen and which must now expand all over the world. We are very fond of our European framework which plays a vital role within our group and offers a privileged position to France and Romania.

The President of the delegation solemnly awarded us the National Assembly medal before taking his leave. I would like to thank them all, as well as the French Embassy, for the interest they have taken in us.

“On January 25th 2011, at 12.30pm, the Résidence de France (13-15 Biserica Amzei street) hosted the signing of partnership agreements between French companies (Orange Romania, Thales, BRD Asigurari de Viata, the Gide Loyrette Nouel law firm, Pentalog Romania, Lafarge Romania, Automobile Dacia and Colas Drumuri) and the French Embassy, which have thus chosen to become associates in order to enable Romanian students and young company managers to benefit from a scholarship co-financed by the Embassy and the above-mentioned companies, beginning with the next university year. Scholarship owners will attend a master’s programme in France which will include a six-month internship in a French company and, in the end, they will be recruited in Romania by the company which sponsored them, in a position of responsibility.

Several calls for application are currently posted on the website of the French Embassy at this link.

This action illustrates the shared will of the French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs and French companies in Romania to promote excellence and occupational integration for young talents.

After the signing ceremony which took place in the presence of Mr. Henri Paul, French Ambassador in Romania, and all directors of the partner companies, a press conference was organized at the Résidence.”

(You can view photos and listen to the Ambassador’s speech in French by following this link.)

The beautiful story continues, despite occasional setbacks. Long live Romania, long live France!

- What the frak is Quora? (January 20, 2011, IT World)
- Cloud deployments blocked by execs over privacy concerns (January 21, 2011, IT World)
- Mobile cloud services to emerge in 2011 (January 20, 2011, ZDNet Asia)
- UK enterprise IT budgets to shrink by 6.9 per cent in 2011 (January 21, 2011, Computing)
- 5 Innovation Opportunities for CIOs in 2011 (January 20, 2011, CIO)
- 9 Ways to Find Hidden Savings in Your Outsourcing Invoice (January 20, 2011, CIO)
- Chinas Wirtschaft wächst wieder über zehn Prozent (January 20, 2011, Handelsblatt)
- CIOs setzen Fokus auf Cloud und Virtualisierung (January 21, 2011, IT Magazine)
- 1,3 Millionen Jobs gehen offshore (January 18, 2011, CIO)
- 6 IT-Trends bis 2032 (January 20, 2011, CIO)
- IT-Dienstleister erwarten mehr Umsatz (January 17, 2011, CIO)

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Are the social benefits gained by Europeans, and financed by emerging countries, an overweening imperialistic claim? Who other than populist nationalists can ultimately defend them?

Thanks to the internet, the world is ONE. Cultures are gradually converging. Not that they could disappear in a Hollywood type of fusion, it clearly appears from the web that the peoples’ new expectations are the same everywhere. I noticed this a long time ago among our Romanian, Moldovan and Vietnamese developers. The global village, a popular expression during the early 2000s, is now a reality. How could we not be happy about this?
Of course, from a less positive perspective, the explosion of the western public debt bubble will contribute to the convergence of the economic situations of formerly rich countries with those of developing countries. This debt, withdrawn from the trading surplus of developing countries, which are still financing what the French call “acquis”, their social benefits (are we, in fact, buying annuities on credit?) is, first of all, the result of the confiscation of riches produced by Chinese, Brazilian, Russian employees, and many others. After being recycled by financial markets, this money coming from the East and South finances European pensions, reduction in work hours, instead of paying employees and financing their education and health infrastructures, their houses, their right to consumption, and thus reestablishing Western economic competitiveness.

In this context, the preservation of our social gains is becoming an exaggerated claim of tapping into the riches of others who work more and sometimes better. Yes, social claims in today’s France represent a nationalist attitude proven by facts, as if the French had a right to better conditions by putting in a smaller effort than others on account of history and a (Western, European ?) sense of history. The triple A, this continuous and inexpensive tapping into the riches of others, is a form of post-colonialism, undoubtedly one of the last avatars of a Western imperialism at the end of its road. By simply reading economic facts we realize that the triple A, designed and managed by and for Western institutions, is a political imperialism. How else could France, the USA, the UK, Japan or even Germany obtain the triple A, with their current debt equity ratio?

Don’t tell me it isn’t true; because if this manna were to be stopped tomorrow, either our social bodies would suspend payment after a few days, or the euro, the franc, the German mark would collapse in a few days, bringing the litre of petrol to 10 euros, as well as the loaf of bread, sugar and products manufactured outside Europe… The lender countries, finally wealthy following their work efforts, would then resort to the same raw materials as us, to a considerably greater extent. You may notice that this is already a reality. In fact, it is not essential in the recent events in Tunisia where the people has begun to revolt out of hunger and because inflation on raw materials was becoming unbearable… reasons that are a lot stronger than the establishment of democracy (which I support with all my heart).

Why should then progressive people of all sides not consider a review and audit of their value system, accepting to face the numerous positive effects of globalization? If regulated and, above all, understood, globalization can bridge the most unbearable gaps and put an end to the tyranny of a 2000-year old Western imperialism over the world.
Don’t they risk falling into the nationalist trap and claim, in the name of social gains, the maintenance of a completely iniquitous world financial status? Who else than the beneficiaries of populism can, in the end, give this speech?

There is a solution, based on an old Western and Christian value: work. If French and European citizens want a social system, they will have to pay for it themselves, as part of a collective and lucid ambition, by placing work at the centre of everything and eliminate the principle of “social acquis” (a French tropism) and that of financial speculation (an English tropism). Both of them are immoral consequences of a search for unjustified income and idleness, be they gained by exploiting the work of other nations or on the equity markets.

This article was inspired by Jean Viard, a Sociologist and Research Director at the French National Centre for Scientific Research – the January 16th issue of Journal du Dimanche.

The world is moving at a staggering pace. A few weeks ago, I lost myself in a political and economic analysis of the emerging world. Could I have been mistaken? Whatever the case may be, the tragic events of Tunisia, where people are dying today, are putting into perspective this geopolitical, or even geostrategic criterion. What about the wikileaks? Shouldn’t we fear that, sooner or later, this model will affect international companies which often indulge themselves in secrecy and political schemes that the politburo is claimed not to have denied?

All types of fears are surfacing:

1. The fear of technological plunder
A proof of this are the numerous and alarmist speeches on the risks inherent in technological transfers. Renault (a company which has fallen into the trap of a Chinese subcontractor) gets a rap on the knuckles from the state, while in the last few days, the Chinese army was carrying out the first flights with its stealth fighter-bomber (!), which is fueling justified fears related to the level reached by Chinese R&D. After all, the Rafale fighter jet made its first flight around 1990 if my memory serves me right. There is no doubt that the large offset contracts, in the weapons and civil aeronautics field, are transferring, in the narrowest sense of the word, a know-how that has been acquired over decades, thus enabling beneficiaries to make enormous shortcuts on the road to technological progress. Of course, offset contracts don’t have much in common with offshoring activities… which are being carried out in parallel. Competition on the aircraft market is so fierce that industrial manufacturers are going to greater and greater lengths to find more and more complex subcontractors, or even sub-assemblies. Isn’t the result analyzed today based on the emergence and boom of Embraer, of the Chinese C919 model or of the 100-seat Russian plane? Whatever the case, after having cut down on costs, aircraft manufacturers will now have to share their benefits. Louis Gallois gave a reminder in the press today that the world market of 100-200-seat aircraft would not be able to support the six competitors operating today.
As regards the “ Renault Gate”, it will probably not be the last. The culture of business relations has not reached the same level of maturity in certain regions and local court decisions on the breaches of confidentiality clauses discharge the guilty employees in almost all cases. For the time being, international groups have almost no control in this respect.

2. Instability risks
Due to regional tensions in the Far East, in the Arab-Muslim world and in Africa, all those who intend to establish long-lasting partnerships in these areas are having second thoughts.
Acts of violence against Christians in Egypt, the events in Algeria and Tunisia, in Niger or in the Ivory Coast, all of this does not encourage anyone to outsource services in the Maghreb or in Western Africa. In certain regions, when conditions become difficult, it can become virtually impossible for technological equipment to be passed across the border… except by offering a more or less substantial financial enticement. Pentalog had this experience in Moldova two years ago. Events lasted only for a few days but everything became a lot more complicated during that time. We only had to face a one-hour power cut and several hours at most without internet. The never-ending power of the old and weakened presidents of Tunisia, Libya and Egypt could bring about complex scenarios that could spread in the whole region. What about Libya? Won’t the USA try something in order to push the old dictator down the history ladder? Will Uncle Sam remain insensitive to Algeria, with its generals, its Islamists, its oil and its old president? In this context, Morocco, the only monarchy in Northern Africa, has undoubtedly become more popular. But let us keep in mind that not even Morocco is completely safe from the great interests that seem to draw to Northwestern Africa Islamists from all over the world, the French army, the Chinese… and the Americans who are only waiting for a French failure.

3. The legal criterion
The questions related to the movement of people, goods and equipment within the EU plead in favour of European nearshoring. I have already expressed this opinion in writing on several occasions.
But this criterion, which is the first to come to mind, isn’t the only one! Even the European tax system is about politics! While R&D operations are booming at Pentalog, French companies are making more and more requests for their services to be included under the research tax credit system, thus eliminating the competitive edge (price) of certain regions outside the European Economic Area. In certain fields, it so happens that, research tax credit included, our services are cheaper in Romania, which somewhat affects our strategy… but it is meant precisely for that.

At the end of the day, it is up to every offshore customer or investor to choose their constraints, needs and ambitions in terms of cost reduction. 2011 will be the year of Eastern Europe in France, I am almost sure of that. Actually, this is the region with the highest boom today, exceeding by far the other areas. India is clearly declining, while China is exploding. My best shore remains Romania, surpassing Bulgaria by a little, whereas Poland and Hungary are close behind. Therefore, I am placing EU in the lead. Outside its borders, former Soviet Union countries are leaders on the English-speaking work market: Russia is on top, followed by Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova. In the Far East, I find India to be a more inappropriate solution than ever for French companies. Its tariffs are high and its services must practically receive the same amount of support as in China or in Vietnam. Therefore, the last two hold an advantage, as their markets remain particularly stable for the moment.

Here’s the first IT offshore press review for 2011!

- BI is Growing Up (30 December 2010, Information Management)
- Enterprise developers want strong platform support (31 December 21010, ZDNet Asia)
- 2010 Review: Top 10 SME IT stories (31 December 2010, ComputerWeekly)
- Incest in the industry? (17 December 2010, Outsource Magazine)
- Trends in software testing for 2011 (30 December 2010, CIOL)
- Facebook passes Google as most visited site of 2010 (02 January 2011, Computerworld)
- Three Innovation Takeaways from Asia (31 December 2010, Business Week)
- Chance Cloud Computing? (29 December 2010, IT Business)
- Heimlicher Run aufs Offshoring (28 December 2010, Computer Woche)
- IT-Recht 2011: Was Unternehmen tun müssen (03 January 2011, Silicon)
- Überraschungen, Highlights und Flops des IT-Jahres 2010 (31 December 2010, ZD Net)
- Zu wenig IT-Support (30 December 2010, CIO)

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Only a few days ago I was talking to you about the M2M solution that Pentalog intends to put on the market soon and that will join Pentalog’s “cloud” of solutions in order to meet the needs of tomorrow’s economic players.

Among the array of projects deployed in the lab, there is a project which is apparently less avant-garde because it focuses on social networks. Out of thousands of existing projects, wasn’t there a single one that could draw Pentalog’s attention?! In fact, Pentalog wishes to start from the basic structure of an open source platform and initiate a process of reflexion that can lead to different versions of the social network concept. We are going to push this concept towards such fields as skills management, recruitment, market places, helpdesk, crowd sourcing, front-back office relationship etc. I don’t know how to express this yet, but let’s just say that we are dreaming of a social network platform that could become a sort of OS of clouds. It could allow for intelligent and context-based communication between systems and users and it could also enable users to have general functions aimed at finding help quickly, all of this in a natural language and within a very simple interface. Moreover, I have a long-standing belief that social networks are the true market places of online services and that it is the latter that should become the providers of the former. But for that they need semi-plug&play solutions, a field in which Facebook, which is leading the world market, is truly king. Nevertheless, in the era of the cloud, not all service providers will resort to Facebook in order to build their user community; some will want to build exclusive communities while others will want their own community… which will be partially open to Facebook and Google, though.

We have therefore opened an R&D operation dedicated to social networks in the lab. Like for M2M, we already have two early adopter projects which, although they won’t revolutionize the field, will help place Pentalog among the players on this market. The Hanoi site has been chosen to carry out the RS platforms, as well as the web services that will enable providers to present their offers in the best places possible, in corners, groups… you may call them as you like.

This project will prove the intellectual force of an R&D solution based in two emerging countries, like Romania and Vietnam. The origin of these projects (Vrotnamia ) will make the difference in comparison with West European and Californian competitors and will also help reduce costs, which will undoubtedly increase agility during the design phases. I am particularly optimistic about the feasibility of this choice when each day I notice the amazing dynamism of Social Networking in these countries.

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Pentalog has grown a lot and has succeeded in taking on important contracts with some of the largest companies in the world. Larger… means listed, it means also more media-orientated, with more charters, more visible, and more… politically correct. And I am not throwing stones at them, it is just the system. But of course we must follow them in this political system. Our services must be compatible and easy to incorporate for them.

I must say at this moment my little fellow entrepreneurs make me laugh on Facebook. Hey guys, I don’t mean to hurt you but it is turning ridiculous: the one with the greenest networks, or those who propose the latest green gadget or a thingamajig in rattan. What energy!! But what to do, how can I avoid plunging us into this collective hysteria precisely because Pentalog is now a supplier, sometimes strategic, for super green enterprises?

I admit we have thought about this question with more consideration for the communication associated with it than for the level of CO2 produced by our activities. I am one of those who think, on a more personal level, that the solution to the problems of the planet can be found more in the philosophies and religions than in consumer behaviour. They must be integrated into the energy requirements of raising livestock for meat, energy for tractors which are required to produce grain, and fishing boats that are used to feed 6 billion people. In the three major monotheistic religions, you are inded asked to “grow and multiply.” And I do not think I’ve heard to date, of a green version of these three books. The variation of this dictate that has come down from on high has won both the Conservatives over, and of course, the Left, as demonstrated particularly in France, with the weight of the law in favour of family policies the country proclaims with so much passion as Christine Boutin!

So yes, of course, when we are 6 billion (of merry repugnant revellers, as the poet says), it’s necessary to organize ourselves, to cultivate, produce, fish… In short, I do not believe this millenarian bla bla (storms, grasshoppers, soon we will say that these repetitive earthquakes are the result of oil extraction!). And in a few more years maybe we will be switching over to a new form of post industrial animism which would make Pasteur and Leibniz both laugh, wherever they are now.

But why not? From the 1950’s to 1970’s, informed scientists told the French people that they had to eat at least 5 dairy products per day (I think it was rather a means to consume the surplus)… and they did, committing themselves resolutely to the path of cholesterol for all! But let’s forget about rationalism, the Grenelle Environment Round Table and the Picnic tax has showed us the way and we all will soon be eating just fresh mint. Pentalog will then become green with the same conviction as the rest of the enterprises… My opinion does not count.

In this case, if we have to do it, why not think outside the box of a green IT (consumption of servers, air conditioning, server rooms and offices), of course without forget it but pose the real energy issues connected to the production of software? After all, scientists who talk about this subject show that truth is not necessarily within the reach of anybody. So here we go, let’s get on this paradigm of chlorophyll and look deeper into this question. So I used a specialized firm, led by two friends, less skeptical than myself and more scientific, and with the assistance of Pierre Peutin we are examining what could be a green IT software industry.

Continued…

PS: I do not want to sound like a reactionary. I do not see the interest in making smoke when you can avoid doing so. I do believe in renewable energy and efficiency. I do not believe however that they can bring us, any more than any other innovation, the solution to a problem which is essentially a demographic problem, a problem of extracting water or desalinate, or the question of mass production of proteins and carbohydrates. To the overall issue, I see no solution and I fear that these observations, today address less than 5% of the problem.

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Here is an article that Livia Rusu asked me to publish:

“OPENi is a project organized to bring relevant and valuable impact on all its participants in terms of IT knowledge to which they don’t have access during their studies.
Professors, IT Companies and IT Experts have the opportunity to interact with each other and with students.

Aleth Delcenserie, our Quality Manager, had a presentation this morning on “Sensibilization to Quality in software development process”.

Don’t hesitate to follow also Monica Jiman, Pentalog COO – Vice President Business Development, online on http://www.privesc.eu/ at 4PM presenting “ITOO strategies for East Europe”.”

How long has this lull lasted? Thursday, the 4th february saw the return of fear in the financial markets. The debts of developing countries have created a lot of panic. Whether it’s in countries like Greece, Portugal or in Spain. What I find extraordinary when listening to JC Trichet (head of the ECB), Ben Bernanke (from the FED), the Spanish Prime Minister, or the Bank of England, is that they keep repeating the same discourse that we have been hearing from the bankers for a little over a year now. How pathetic. The same central bankers and politicians were demanding the truth from the banks concerning their actual situation. They must play fair and finally tell us the truth now. What will Spain do now with its 20% unemployed, with no budgetary room to maneuver? What will happen to American power if it loses its triple-A standing? The truth about markets, and the truth about power, is simply that no one is telling us the truth.

However, some members of Congress and Joe Bidden, the American Vice President himself, acknowledge the fact that the U.S. debt raises a national security issue.

The response of supporting the concept of consumption is fundamentally the most stupid idea that anyone could have been imagined. This demagogic shortsightedness will widen even further the deficits of developed countries and will simply strengthen the Chinese and Indian industrial and commercial machines. Fiat asked Rome to stop paying car scrap allowance! All for what? Gain 6 months, one year for something that will eventually happen? All these astronomical sums that today’s parents are transferring shamelessly on to their children! Do they really care for them or are they simply simple-minded, glued to the radiators of the Euro and the Dollar, in a class were the best would be the Brazilians, Indians and Chinese?

The financial and monetary wars are perhaps not very far away. Obama took a tougher stance with China last week, but isn’t it too late for America? Europe can still do it, but it has no economic government. So what will happen? Cyber attacks, massive sale of currencies, bull operations on the Brazilian Real, border closures… I do not know, but this is probably the most disturbing part of the crisis which is just now beginning. And when we see the politicians who have not been able to confront the banks seriously, how can we imagine they will be able to reform the state, in short, to reform themselves? Here, we are at the top of the pyramid in regards to responsibility. After this there is nothing. And courageous politicians, well, there are few of them around.
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In this context, deflationary pressures on intermediary prices and sub-contractors is not yet over. I return now to the realities of my management, tactics and strategy. Companies like Pentalog must remain focused on their business model and control their prices. The companies which benefit from government contracts and nationalized companies, everywhere, will see their orders drop and then collapse literally, starting in 2011 because of the failure of the states. Central banks are on the verge of running the printing presses at full speed. Otherwise, how does one support Greece? What to say, in the context of the huge volume of demand in our industry (Pentalog has never had so many requests for a month of January in its history)? But isn’t this just a “technical” recovery following a year of downturn? Certain projects must be started! We feel the febrility in every decision that our big accounts must undertake. Only those working in Asia are a little more confident in themselves.

I have no regrets over our past strategies that have enabled us today to dispose of an economic situation and financial margin which allows us to have significant growth opportunities. We will remain very attentive, torn between these tremendous opportunities and the obligation to be careful.

I never thought one day of attending business meetings wearing snow boots… In Russia, it is common. And rare are the few people who do not wear the fur hat, it is THE essential accessory for your survival on the streets of St Petersburg as well as in the Ural countryside in winter. There are hats for everyone, of all colors, leather, rabbit skin, felt, with brilliants, pearls, but in any case, always something that goes with your coat! Going up Nevsky Prospect in the early morning, amid all these people wrapped up in their own way, going to work with a firm step, reminded me of my literature courses in highschool, and the grotesque characters that Gogol portrayed in a satirical tone in his St. Petersburg Short Stories, which I reread at the moment of this trip: Akaky Akakyevich Bachmatchkine, petty official shivering in his worn coat on the way to the Ministry (The Overcoat) or Major Kovalyov who awoke one morning without a nose (The Nose)…

In Perm, after we had been introduced to the ritual of tasting the “Ruski Standard” (remember to drink only half of your glass and then leave it on the table is very rude to the person who invited you to drink), Denis and his colleagues talked to us about survival skills in the taiga, that we (thankfully) did not have the time to practice. Besides these very good moments that made me completely forget my prejudices about Russian austerity. Anyway, our friends both in Perm and St. Petersburg demonstrated to us their strong commitment to international development and improving their technical and business skills from every point of view. This was an encouraging attitude when thinking of creating a prospective partnership in this country, despite the past legacy which seems to continue to weigh heavily on professional relationships. One entrepreneur explained to us how he launched his business at the time you could read signs saying “No business is no good” in the streets. Today the dream of Russian entrepreneurs is to do business with France, Germany …

Fred spoke of the language problems in his post; it’s true that the use of English is not yet systematic amongst IT engineers. But after thinking about it, overall I didn’t feel any more difficulty in communicating than I did in India, where people spoke English well enough but with a “local” colored accent and with various expressions which I didn’t have the habit to use. I will not speak of French language (the “Alliance Francaise” courses in Perm seemed to be attended mostly by young women from well-to-do families) but on the other hand we met German-speaking people, which is an additional positive point. The language problem is of course less obvious in Saint Petersburg which is a doorway to the Western world, a very cosmopolitan and modern city of 7 million inhabitants, with 120 universities and engineering schools. It is probably the 2nd largest city in the world for engineering outsourcing, maybe even the 1st when compared to Bangalore in terms of the percentage of the population going to university.

So in conclusion, many interesting things to think about after this trip, both in terms of SAP, as well as embedded systems or the opening of new markets in Scandinavia. We were really impressed by the people we encountered. Russia almost seems an obvious choice for the future development of our business and the presence of Pentalog. These projects came at the right moment; the France-Russia year was inaugurated yesterday in Paris… We will return with great pleasure to these frosty regions, but so welcoming!

Pictures can be seen here: Perm & Ural, Saint Petersburg

December 08, in Iasi (Romania), December 09 in Bucharest and finally on the 15th of December in Orleans AFNOR auditors in charge of monitoring our ISO9001-2008 certification, which we acquired last year, came to make their first monitoring audit.

Development projects (our biggest one and 3 smaller ones), the Human resources process, Technical assistance services and facilities management but also the transversal processes (IS, sales ,..) were scrutinized. The findings were direct and unambiguous: 7 strong points, 0 sensitive issues, 0 non-compliance, and 4 process improvement tracks.

These results are very encouraging concerning our approach to quality. Our improvement loops (PDCA) will continue to monitor our development program to approach CMMI level 3.

This could not have been possible without the effort of everyone involved in executing the processes but also those who were audited and those who helped in the preparation. I would also like to note another key to this success: Aleth and her strong personal investment in her function as quality director.

The next set of guidelines has already been launched. I will soon write another note on a topic which I hold close to my heart: Change management and the training we will provide to Pentalog managers on this topic.

When Croissance Plus proposed to us this trip to the heart of the Israel Valley last July, I did not hesitate one second but without really understanding why. Was it for the leads and the potential partnerships that we had received in Romania and Moldova, from Israel? Or was my motivation the magazines or stories extolling the dynamic innovations coming from the Hebrew State? I really did not know until this morning, when I had breakfast with Frederic Beudin, the President of Croissance Plus. After spending the last 24 hours in a coma, laying on my couch in front of the fireplace, after a chauffeured limousine – goodness gracious! -picked me up at the Roissy airport, I really couldn’t figure out why I ended up again in Terminal 2A this morning!

Frederic then reminded me why we were going there, which helped me to better formulate a few ideas what I could expect from this trip. Israeli technology, he reminded me once again, was probably the second global source of IPOs on the Nasdaq and if these companies succeeded, it is because of the local venture capital that had the nose, and the balls and means, well… Perhaps also, there are incentives and innovations particularly efficient in terms of taxation. This is what we will look at tomorrow with Christian Estrosi, when he gets there. Because, if we can find a few good ideas there we will bring them home to France, and suggest them to our government. In this regards, without playing the alarmist, I must say I felt a lot of panic in the French entrepreneurial movement, whether it was with the Medef people in Hanoi or amongst the other members of the delegation. Whether it is the professional tax reform or the budget deficits, many fear the uncertainties of the government and the storm is far from being over. I saw many difficult moments between the political and business leaders. I saw tears in the eyes of a founding chief executive who is 70 years old or more, because he believes his group which had sales of over € 350M in 2008 but realized only 150 in 2009, may not get through 2010. I’m not allowed to share names, but I am speaking of a great innovator, someone that the recovery plan should have saved but has not. Because the recovery plan finances have already been invested in the automotive industry, at a pure loss!

Because the world is in bad shape and we know that France needs GOOD reforms, Croissance Plus is playing its part in finding solutions on the eastern borders of the Mediterranean.

I am going there also, because actually twice in the past two years we have been consulted in Romania and Moldova, by companies from Israel, whose leaders have remembered their family histories are also Romanian, Ukrainian, Russian or Moldovan. Pentalog has received an active partnership proposal from Israel and is considering with interest all the potential lines of distribution of its services and technology. A country that is so innovative cannot be ignored, especially when the opportunity arises.

The Israeli economy is now benefiting from an important effort in R&D in the public and private sectors which has been done over the past 15 years. The country has become a technology hub which has gained international recognition, with a sustained growth of 5% (average) per year since 2003. The French presence is increasingly being felt.

From 22 to 25/11 Frederic will be in Tel Aviv, with a prestigious delegation from Croissance Plus to meet with the Israeli High Tech sector. On the agenda: meeting with start-ups, potential customers and partners, R & D centers and local personalities.

For more information: http://www.israelvalley.com

- China verbietet Twittern zum Mauerfall (29 October 2009, netzeitung.de)
- Firms turn to IT outsourcing to lower costs (28 October 2009, Business and Leadership)
- Who do you trust when you’re spending your IT budget? (28 October 2009, Silicon.com)
- Die großen Widersprüche Chinas (27 October 2009, Financial Times Deutschland)
- Deutsche vertrauen der IT-Branche (27 October 2009, Silicon.de)
- British Software Industry Is Still Alive (26 October 2009, BusinessWeek)
- Zweistellige Wachstumsraten trotz Krise (26 October 2009, Computerwoche)
- Unternehmen wollen 2010 sparen (26 October 2009, Silicon.de)
- China ready for cyberwar, espionage, report says (23 October 2009, Computerworld)
- Africa to compete on outsourcing (23 October 2009, Offshoring Times)

- Gartner: flat IT budgets, but get ready for growth (08 October 2009, ComputerWeekly.com)
- Indian IT mid-cap firms to post mixed Q2 results (08 October 2009, CIOL)
- Deutsche Unis in weltweitem Ranking abgeschlagen (08 October 2009, Financial Times Deutschland)
- 60% of outsourcing firms hiring more this year: Survey (07 October 2009, Sourcingmag.com)
- How To Deal With Corruption In China (07 October 2009, Forbes)
- Mehr Intelligenz fürs Software-Outsourcing (07 October 2009, Silicon.de)
- Study: 54% of companies ban Facebook, Twitter at work (06 October 2009, Computerworld)
- Bulgaria Gets Real about Its Economy (06 October 2009, Business Week)
- Indien verliert an Boden im Offshoring-Markt (05 October 2009, CIO)
- China’s Statistical Setback (01 October 2009, Forbes)