3 days is definitely too short!

Speaking of products and concepts, the main idea that I have retained from this trade show is that the Embedded business is turned resolutely towards the End User, to make his life and the use of new High Tech technology easier:

• The HMI has become very intuitive and clean: touch screens, motion sensors, acoustic sensors… Intel has built a wall dedicated to the customer in a store (clothing and shoes): half transparent allowing for the selection of an article in the store (as shown on the screen) and information concerning prices etc., all downloadable to your Smartphone, the other half is a touch screen to show you wearing the selected items by means of multiple cameras embedded in the wall.

• Robotics were also very present with flying cameras for video surveillance, mechanical spiders for hazardous environments, and robotic arms that can keep a stick balanced on their fingertips…

• Concrete applications in different sectors and occupations that will link computers and electronics with simplified applications (allowing the end-user to refocus on its core business and not on the need for technical knowledge of the tools): medical (patient monitoring, disability aids…), military (vision, guidance, and logistics), industry (assembly, logistics), M2M (communication and action)…

• Mobility: Smartphones were also very present at the show. All major manufacturers were fighting around the portability between Symbian, RMI, and Android. The iPhone was absent from this portability (strange isn’t it? ).

In short, Thomas and I got back on the road to our office in Frankfurt with our heads full of images and new ideas. It is now up to us to find some way to use them!

… is it about innovation?
CeBIT is more than a crowded place full of executives and key people from big companies. CeBIT is a platform for IT companies from all over the world to exhibit their strategies, to innovate and discuss current and future trends in the industry. You have the opportunity to generate new business and consolidate your position in the ITC market. The lead “the more things you see, the more ideas you have” applies here more than ever. And you really see a lot of interesting things at CeBIT… .You see from USB keys in every imaginable shape to foldable pianos or dollhouses (don’t ask). It is what they called the Digital Fascination. Cloud computing and Green IT were read on everybody’s lips. “Is the cloud the second industrial revolution? Does it also mean the simplification of IT? “– were some of the main questions at the CeBIT conferences. But it is not just about technology… Maybe you can get an interesting marketing idea when you see the events – the actually salt and pepper of the whole show. The lights, the colours, the know-how … There are plenty of reasons why the prestigious exhibition attracts more than 700,000 visitors, every year.

… is it about opportunities?
This year, under the brand Romania IT, 14 Romanian companies participated to CeBIT. We noticed a growing interest from the Romanian companies for the German market (the most attractive destination for new business after the U.S), especially in outsourcing activities. The interest was reciprocal, because also many German companies asked for nearshore outsourcing in Romania and came to Romania’s stand with lots of questions. Here Pentalog had a big advantage because it was the only Romanian company that knew German. We were not only the largest company from Romania, but also to one with the most powerful business in Germany. We had some interesting discussions with German software houses but also with big companies like T-Systems and Kärcher. We were pleased to receive regards from our clients (DMailer, etc).

… is it about the glamour?
Every morning, before the exhibition starts, there are concerts organized for the participants. Giant exhibitors like T – System (only their stand cost about 33 mil euros) that prepared special events and contests for the visitors. Intel had a whole hall just for their products. Social networking activities were made between the participant countries (and we should not forget that almost all the countries of the world are represented at CeBIT) – for example between Romania and India, etc… Pentalog made new friends during the exhibition and was pleased to be surrounded by very powerful neighbors: in front by T-Systems, in the right and left by our competitors from India and Egypt.

So it’s not just the business that makes CeBIT so special. It’s an interesting mixture of innovation, opportunities and glance that makes CeBIT through definition one of the most glamorous events in the ITC industry. It is a place – as they well say- where you can push your business! See you next year at CeBIT!

Concerning Israel, we can say that this investment is justified by the insolent health of Israeli high tech and ultimately the entire economy of the country. Israel is the only non-Asian developed country to display a positive growth rate in 2009. This performance of 0.5%, although modest, is quite remarkable and demonstrates the incredible investment effort of an entire nation in the entrepreneurial and innovation sector. Not less than 6% of their GDP is invested in R & D when Europe displays an ambition of 2 and reaches a performance of … 1.

But more surprising still, Christine Lagarde, while attending a France-Israel gala dinner Tuesday evening, said that the amount of Israeli investment in new technologies was identical to that achieved by… France. Settling into the Israeli city that houses 50% of the total investment, would place Pentalog at the heart of an innovative center more than 100 times more powerful than that of Sophia Antipolis and much more comparable to Silicon Valley.

Knowing that Pentalog has become in recent years the leading provider of maintenance and R & D services for French start-ups, a French presence in the heart of this “Start Up Nation” is very strategic. I can not help but think at this very moment of Pentalog Lab and its’ strategy to break with the traditional world of IT services. To promote its products from Israel would be positive in terms of image and would help us to work our way into the U.S. market. Scouts of Uncle Sam did not hesitate to come here do their shopping, in this supermarket of innovation.

Our partners are very experienced people, and this just puts the icing on the cake, they have over 15 years of experience in offshore in Romania and Moldova. All the conditions have been met to do something great… let’s make it happen!

Our stand is representative of our company’s internationalization: Thomas answering in German, Romanian and English, and I in French and English.

Below is a picture of our stand, as it was opening.

We are presenting developed solutions to our prospective customers. Energy management, Bluetooth devices and wireless solutions with ultra low electrical consumption are on the program for our visitors. And for dessert, I prepare Popcorn from my iPhone: yes, there is also an application for this!

Feel free to come and meet us at Hall 11, booth 121. We look forward to welcoming you.

In January and February, business has been particularly hectic with the conclusion of several new business affairs in France, Germany and Austria. In France, Pentalog has signed an initial deal in January (for a fixed price project, to be developed in Hanoi, Vietnam), which will start in February, with a company from Sofia Antipolis. Production operations also were launched with a leader of free ads in Paris (to be developed at the Competence Center in Iasi, Romania) and with a software company in the tourism sector in Lille (with development also at the Competence Center in Iasi, Romania). Furthermore from Lille, a subsidiary of a well known telecom operator has placed an order with Pentalog to put into operation a small new Competence Center in PHP along with another-one in Java. With clients in Ile de France, in the West, South West, South, Southeast and Northeast, our operations now cover almost all of the French territory.

In Austria, Apa IT (the IT department of the Austrian Press Agency) who is already a Pentalog client has ordered a new Competence Center, to be located in Sibiu, Romania.

In Germany, LHS-Ericsson (Frankfurt) has also increased the size of its Competence Center and this is being done in two stages, going from 12 to 25 employees. 6 new engineers have already joined the team in February.

The total number of business proposals established in the first quarter could exceed the previous record and it will help sustain a higher growth rate. All the new sale services and online references are definitely having their effect.

To learn more about these new online tools:
- www.choosingmyitserviceprovider.com:
An innovative and user-friendly assistant allowing a customer to browse the key questions when looking at offshore services. At the end of the questionnaire, you will receive your proposal and at the same time you will be able to make an appointment with a Pentalog director. At any moment during this process you can save your data, to return to it later in a secure and authenticated zone. This site assists you in your process of purchasing IT offshore services.
With www.choosingmyitserviceprovider.com, it is now possible to build an offshore dossier in 10 minutes.

- A price maker:
You’ll find completely transparent rates for all of our available services in EUR and USD, for time & material as well as fixed price projects. You can even create your own dedicated team.

- www.madeinoffshore.com:
This site contains some of the Pentalog client references. These case studies illustrate the experience Pentalog has in projects that go from ten man days projects to 10 man years projects. All our success stories can be sorted by type of services, by industry, by team size, country or type of project.

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.

“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”.”

I believe that never before have our seminars reached such a high level of professionalism and innovative research. Pentalog has indeed recognized the sustainability of the crisis. If we want to defend our jobs, employees, growth, revenues, we need to develop strategies that make us stand out even more so, with rare offers, justifying the higher margins than those of our competitors which give us the means to develop projects even more rapidly.

It is difficult for me to touch on each subject that was discussed. Generally in technology, infrastructure, quality, software groups, we particularly focused on different ideas concerning the Pentalog Lab and the Incubator. We now can do an X-ray on the Lab: 4 vertebrae, corresponding to 4 projects embodying a new strategy, breaking with the past. The Lab’s mission has been clarified, equally in the manner that it functions. It will work, as I already have mentioned, for the ENTIRE group that is to say by integrating the present and future subsidiaries. It will also participate in client missions.

From the Business Lines meeting, I retained 2 principal ideas complementary to each other: Cloud and Green IT. How, indeed, to offer support to our clients in these difficult times? We must be with them, both in technology and development and by adapting to their business models. But what is true for our clients, can it be less true for us? Pierre, who is possibly the most aware amongst us about Green IT, he may possibly be in the future responsible for the carbon assessments for offshore activities generally. Furthermore, we believe that all of Pentalog must build a real cloud for its proposed intellectual services; this should be built around the brick & mortar structures already in place, in order to facilitate access to human and technical resources. I am thinking about management tools for dedicated teams and other competence centers, I am also thinking about project managers and productivity, management of the skills of our team members… All these tools will be offered to our clients, both to optimize overall management of our competence centers but also for their own teams. Already, two companies, in addition to Pentalog, are using these new production tools and perhaps soon a third-one.

The sharpest minds have already understood that the 4 innovative projects which I spoke of for the Lab will include some of the services of the first IT Cloud that I already mentioned… Of course, the major projects, related to the metric system and productivity management will be among them, as well as some of the projects of People Centric concerning skills assessment and management.

These projects will improve the Pentalog services, to distinguish them, making them even more accessible than they already are by using our intensive online marketing, which is already one of the best of many online services. But they will also provide solutions in a market that is redefining its services, where it has been forced to face simultaneously the challenges of the cloud, industrialization… and finally to propose innovations for the future of our profession.

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During this past year we have studied many packaged solutions with a “Western” budget. We have also tested extensively different cameras but the quality of the images was not sufficient.

In 2009, we used a support solution for audio conferences and more intensively since we took over the management of our Centrex (internalization). According to our compiled statistics, there was an average of 450 conferences per month for an average duration of 26 minutes (since September 2009 to January 2010). When we need the video (for management meetings, and training) we use Skype or Yahoo but the low quality images is a problem. This video is basically used to confirm the people’s presence.

These studies, tests and low resolution videos helped define our needs. We need a solution with the following characteristics:

• Organization of HD video conferences. I do not automatically think of tele-presence (level 1) but something that comes close to this.
• Organization of video meetings in an isolated environment for certain occasions (chat room – small meeting room).
• Filming of interviews with groups or individuals in order to supply content for Pentalog TV.
• The cameras should be PTZ (pan / tilt / zoom). This means it can be moved on 2 axes and is equipped with a zoom lense. The value of a fixed camera is minimal.
• The consumption of bandwidth should be limited, so as not to overload our infrastructure during these video conferences. In order to resolve this problem we will be using standard protocols such as H.264 video which will allow us also interoperability.

Recently new models have come onto the market at a reasonable price. I am therefore pushing forward with this internal project so that we can finally reduce our carbon footprint by reducing air travel.

Following a market analysis over the past few months, I wonder if there isn’t a place in this market for solutions which lie between Skype and Polycom / Cisco / Tandberg.

“In 2009, estimarile PAC indicau piata de servicii IT la aproximativ 350 de milioane de euro, in scadere cu 5% fata de anul precedent.” (ZF.ro).

Pentalog reprezinta 0,75% al efectivului national din sectorul IT iar cifra de afaceri reprezinta 2,28% din PIB servicii IT. Cresterea, la nivel de grup, in 2009 a fost de 50%. Iar in Romania cresterea efectivului a fost de 44%.
Companiile romanesti, care au pus accent pe productivitate si pe ameliorarea continua a acesteia trebuie sa beneficieze de oportunitati generate de catre criza.
Ceea ce am sustinut de multa vreme incepe sa se adevereasca, anume ca sectorul servicii IT si software a devenit un sector matur si industrializat. Multumesc tuturor pentalogienilor care impart aceasta viziune si care demonstreaza in fiecare zi excelenta IT-ului romanesc si moldovenesc.

http://www.wall-street.ro/articol/IT-C-Tehnologie/80236/Outsourcing-ul-si-criza-Cum-abordeaza-Pentalog-anul-2010.html

For non-Romanian speakers, in short, the main point we tried to emphasize is the attractiveness of Romania as an offshore/nearshore destination, that we need to maintain. Now the domestic market is still not big enough to create new business. The local IT services market significantly dropped in 2009 and for this year forecasts are directed at the same trend. The public sector used to be a good customer some time ago but now the budgetary deficit has turned the state into a question mark in the new business equation. And when I think of sectors such as embedded systems, I cannot imagine how a market without any strong production (I don’t even dare thinking of R&D) can provide work to thousands of engineers. Therefore let us keep our assets and continue to grow in the framework of international projects, where Pentalog is really successful, with over 50% growth rates our competitors are jealous of.

Pentalog will be an exhibitor at this year’s CeBIT in Hanover Germany, the largest trade show in the world dedicated to the IT sector. In 2009, during a year of an especially acute economic crisis, this event drew nearly 4,300 exhibitors and more than 400,000 visitors.

In the context of a continuing crisis, companies will need solutions particularly profitable. As a global player, Pentalog will offer our prospects IT solutions in Nearshore, in the Euro zone, as well as Offshore in the Dollar zone, to particularly competitive rates. Many French, German and Austrian companies have already been convinced of the irreproachable quality and the excellent support services offered by Pentalog in regards to the exceptional value based on quality-price.

Through its IT development centers, Nearshore and Offshore, Pentalog offers ideal conditions for outsourcing of research and development activities for its customers. The organizational and technology structure established for this purpose can provide many services:

• Software development
• Development of E-Commerce tools, product development
• Development of embedded systems
• Third-party application maintenance, third-party validation
• Research and Development
• Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)
• Infrastructure Management and Technical Assistance
• Testing & Debugging

95% of our 430 Pentalog employees are English-speaking and have graduated from the best local universities. We invite you to discover our services: Pierre-Jean and Mircea will welcome you at the stand B56 in Hall 4. Feel free to visit them!

Contact us for free tickets to this trade show and arrange an appointment on site with: Pierre-Jean CAYZAC.

The momentum which started nearly a year ago has accelerated with several specific sales approches. Our latest newsletter has generated 3 leads which are presently being discussed. The NL prepared in Romania also surprised us, since it has generated a lead too, while we were just launching into the process of looking for new customers, in the style “we make iPhone applications, therefore we are cool…”

Pentalog seems to be in a position to become rapidly the leader in the Balkans in this area. The first application based on geo-location, is well known as it is one of the most downloaded Apps in France, found in the Appstore (Cityvox). Admittedly, it was a bit laborious in the development stage, but it’s now perfectly reliable and has been available for several months and is regularly used. I can say, as a user, it is absolutely wonderful. The next two that were developed did not give us any problems. Our friends from Wirecom Technologies asked us to transform the iPhone into a remote control device for the home which we were perfectly able to do and “on time”. Today it is a Skype-like application, merging an iPhone via WiFi with a Pentalog VoIP network that we are preparing to launch.

I won’t talk about the applications that have not yet entered into production, but let me say that we shouldn’t lack any work in this sector over the next two years. We are beginning to feel the interest in this market for Android, a system which is at least as powerful, portable and a lot less expensive. It’s simple, the Google platform will be in my opinion, present in this range of products along with 100% of the smartphone manufacturers in the next 18 months (except Apple of course) and in my opinion the app activities will continue to grow much stronger. The same thing could happen between Apple and Google which happened at the time of the first Windows OS in the 80’s. In the end, the one which is the most open wins… I think Jobs knew this.

From the production side, we should find the development of iPhone will continue to be present in the group, as it seems to have become a generic request. The Chisinau site also seems to be one step ahead of many others and could become the No. 1 Competence Center in this sector for the group. We will soon be making a decision concerning this subject.

I also wonder about the necessity or not, to develop a new generation of mobile platforms in the future Pentalog Labs, which has grown rapidly, thanks to an Executive Meeting with Aymeric Libeau (responsible for R & D, information systems and quality of the Group) held last weekend. I will try to get back to this subject of Pentalog Labs before the end of this week.

Well, no it isn’t yet the New Year for us

Vietnam (and other countries across Asia) is celebrating the New Year following the lunar calendar. In Vietnam this period is called the Tết. The first day of the year usually falls in January or February depending on the year. This year it will be Sunday 14/02 (and yes, a promising year for love!)

Tết is a special time for all Vietnamese, whatever they do, wherever they are. All Viets want to go home, and spend time with their family, relatives, and friends. Just look at the number of Viet Kieu (overseas Vietnamese) returning back to Vietnam during this period of “chaos”: there are many people traveling on the roads now because all those who work in big cities return to their hometown.

I would like to use this post to wish you all a great year of the Tiger, only happiness, success, and health. I wish that the Tiger will be with you in this exceptional year.

Chúc mừng xuân Canh Dần 2010!

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.

From 2nd to 4th of March 2010 in Nuremberg, for the second time, Pentalog will be part of the exhibitors at Embedded World, the largest exhibition in the world, dedicated to embedded technology. This event draws nearly 700 exhibitors, and 17 000 professional visitors.

Since 2007, Pentalog has considerably expanded its embedded activities for projects in software development, maintenance and quality assurance. Major customers like Parrot or ST Ericsson have placed their confidence in Pentalog and 70 of our engineers are working in Romania and Moldova on complex projects in the field of telephony and energy management.

The objective of Pentalog for 2010 is to continue to develop this part of its activities in embedded engineering throughout Europe. To optimize and accelerate this development, the group is seeking to create partnerships similar to the joint-venture Pentalog Technology created with Ausy, a French IT company, in Brasov. Embedded World 2010 will be an excellent opportunity to identify potential partners amongst the IT companies specializing in embedded services.

Come discover our embedded engineering services, but also our services in information systems, Business Process Outsourcing and our low tariffs. Mickaël and Thomas will welcome you at the Booth 121, in Hall 11. Feel free to visit them!

- Flight Bucharest Paris canceled. Shall be in plane at 6.50 am!
- Already 10 iPhone AppS in pentalog’s road map! Will Chisinau become skill center?
- Reading: “Net : un outil de recrutement pour 48% des employeurs par Neteco.com” ( http://bit.ly/9nQPTl )
- Will you attend #Cebit2010?
- Reading: Felicitations! “Eric Isabey, nouveau Président du directoire chez Pierre Audoin” (http://bit.ly/ajWhCs)
- Reading: “LeMagIT::Choix d’un prestataire : se repérer dans un discours désormais banalisé” ( http://bit.ly/anHkzi )
- Pentalog Good news: Global IT industry to return to growth this year – http://bit.ly/dqB6Dd
- aponcier Très cher serious game pour recruter http://bit.ly/aCzdkH
- Montez votre dossier #offshore sur http://www.jechoisismonprestataireit.com/ en moins de 10 minutes.
- Venez découvrir nos prestations d´ingénierie embarquée au Embedded World 2010 sur le stand 121, Hall 11. N’hésitez pas à nous rendre visite.

Why another website? It’s like iPhone applications, we considered we needed to provide a site to meet each customer’s needs. Some customers are reassured with references, they will find this in madeinoffshore, there are those who want to discuss, and they will find this opportunity on choosingmyitserviceprovider. Those who want to look at our prices will have pricemaker and those who want it all will find it on the next version of www.pentalog.com.

Having “vocation” websites will also allow us to better steer our adwords budget by offering everyone, in sponsored links, to respond promptly to the questions they may wish to ask.

Pentalog sites now receive 60 000 hits per month. Do you know that our service catalog is downloaded 1,000 times… every month? Definitely with a bilingual catalog this makes Pentalog a key player in determining prices in Europe. Presently, we are now considering the possibility to request contact details of all those desiring to access to this information. We are now aiming at one million visits annually on our sites in 2010. We can only succeed by providing the answers, as transparent and well structured as possible… but also better referenced, and that is not easy.

- Pentalog remporte une consultation de l’Agence de Presse Autrichienne. Bravo à Pentalog Deutschland !
- Reading: “Des blogs dénoncent les dérives en #SSII” ( http://bit.ly/aOYIPC )
- Reading: “Les prédictions 2010 de Deloitte pour l’IT” ( http://bit.ly/dpT7ui )
- Reading: “Les éditeurs de logiciels doivent se préparer au tsunami du Cloud” ( http://bit.ly/9NAXbE )
- @networkvb Merci.
- Vous cherchez un presta? Vous voulez faire vous meme votre propale en moins de 10 minutes? www.jechoisismonprestataireit.com
- Yesterday evening with Eric, Virginie and Monica we quoted all international development opportunities. We are satisfied with the result.
- “Blog de l’offshore / nearshore outsourcing, de l’Europe à l’Asie » Les crises… car ce n’est pas fini” ( http://bit.ly/a85I0x )

- 2 seminars in Brasov this WE. All eastern unit managers are talking about recruitment&management. IT,R&D, infra managers focuse on strategy
- Coliba Haiducilor in poiana brasov cu prietenii
- Day 1 for Pentalog labs!
- We never have saluted Pentalog De’ s since its creation. I vote for 99 luftballons! Ramstein verboten!
- @Pentalog Deutschland bitte
- @Pentalog Deutschland jetzt gehen wir ins night club mit anderen collegen
- Pour un grand projet bancaire Moldo-franco-roumain : Felicitare tuturor! Ati facut un great job! Bravo les gars, champagne !
- Bucarest est dans la neige…
- Thx to this WE seminar we have a clearer idea of the Pentalog Labs’ organization. It’ll be both multi-projects/multi-expertises
- ANIS_20 RT @newad: White Paper: Business Outsourcing Process, an Effective Answer to the Financial Crisis http://bit.ly/a17pMW
- Pentalog validates an attribution of free shares to 16 managers (rank 2 to 4) representing some 6.45% of the company’s total equity.

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

I would first like to thank them for their incredible hospitality. We did some ice fishing in a frozen river, visited an ice cave… drank lots of vodka, and ate very well wherever we went. In this regard, I would like to emphasize the quality of Russian cuisine, with salmon and other fish, pickled or smoked, caviar, and delicious meats. In short, even the most demanding gourmets among you would not have been disappointed in Russia.

Professionally, we really appreciated, again, the quality of the people we encountered. I would first like to thank Evgenia, Denis, Maxim, Evgeniy and Victor for having accompanied us every hour of our journey. Their professional availability was incredible and I would like to note this amongst these young developers, project managers and managers.

Yes, there were a few difficulties and if I did not mention them, you would not believe me Both Alex and I noticed the same difficulty with foreign languages, as I have previously mentioned concerning Morocco and Ukraine. English is not yet the universal language and we definitely need to encourage the use of the French language if we are to go further… you see were I am going? Anyway, I can assert that nothing in the world, reaches the level of Romania and Moldova when it comes to finding people who can converse both in English and French.

I cannot in fact, help thinking of our 100 Moldovan employees, of whom 80% are francophone, almost 100% English-speaking… and 100% speak Russian.

Before starting the SAP adventure, I promised myself to prepare a “killer proposition” for this market. We will only propose the best-in-class services, whatever their nature. Otherwise, we should not get involved. Have we found this offer for SAP? I do not know yet. Alex and our market intelligence team are still going through the pre-qualification stage looking for at least one other operator in another geographical area, before making a final decision, whether to go or not to go for SAP, and / or, whether to go alone or accompanied?

The idea of this article came to me while visiting St Petersburg when Alex and I visited a very promising local IT company. What did we see? A company, having a structure of 160 employees completely centered on the Scandinavian countries with work groups organized in competence centres dedicated to clients, having teams of 5 to 50 employees, just as we do in Pentalog. At Pentalog, we have 5 teams with over 20 employees, including two of 50. These large projects, let’s not deceive ourselves, is the dream of every large French IT company who often struggle to sell their solutions, then implement them and exploit them. Meanwhile, more and more middleweight offshore companies, comprising 100 to 1,000 employees, sign these projects, that fear, the lack of ambition and investment prevent older IT companies from signing.

We have not lost a SINGLE deal against the leaders in this sector in France for years, even when we were opposed by their best offshore centers. Why is this? Very often their sales force imagines that question is who has the lowest prices. This is totally false. The client is not looking at -42 instead of -39%. It makes no sense. Instead, we often had the opportunity to justify the slightly higher prices from those of our competitors by demonstrating proven, systematic quality systems and the importance of a management who is extremely involved in the production unit. Finally, we demonstrate that all the Pentalog actors behave as entrepreneurs. When I think about all these middleweight structures, often locally owned, they share these same qualities as we do. So yes, I do not really see the agility or the strength of these major French companies. They are big and do not take advantage of their weight when preparing a very big contract. And when comparing them to the giant Indian companies… only Cap could possible resist, and perhaps Steria?

Old? In regards to their offers, first of all. Competence centres, dedicated teams, fixed price packages are not a standard practice and this is felt commercially. The businesses that we are in competition with, usually do not have the legs for those matches of 5 sets or a dozens points, even a hundred or more. Their offers and their talk of quality is generally not sufficient to reassure a client that is sending offshore the maintenance or development of their owner applications. Most are too prosaic, glued to the price and technology, when it is a complete business model that they have to sell. The business method of these structures has not been reviewed in a long time. What about their means of steering and project management? They usually are completely non-existent in comparison with the smaller structures I spoke of; the NATIVES they offer complete outsourcing and a full line of tools to steer the project but also the contract. They have the methods, tools and the discourse. They are young and do not need to renew the old methodology.

Perhaps the picture I have painted is quite black but this is reality of the situation and I just cannot justify the “dreadful” reality that comes to mind. But, these companies end up seducing no one. Their employees do not adhere to the company’s project, which remains absolutely illegible most of the time and concerns only the investment and pension funds. Their customers post pitiful rates of satisfaction in quality surveys. Yet, as a result of industrialization policies, new architectures and maturity of our industry, there is a great deal to be done to create new markets, renewing methodologies, organization, work tools and control and finally the image of this sector. Instead of this, because of the dictatorship of financial markets (shares, always shares!), they continue to fuel gross margins, while with competence centers and clouds, capital expenditures have heavily appeared among the pioneers of the industry. Imagine for one moment the capital expenditures of Infosys! Meanwhile, the French IT system is losing its market share. It is fortunate for emerging countries and companies such as Pentalog are in the hands of real entrepreneurs, and how necessary it is to know how to make bets a little more complex than those of external growth and to dare to evolve towards a global market through industrialized competence centres, in order to give this sector its patent of nobility.

In a few days I will come back to the dissatisfaction they generate for their shareholders too, finally, by comparing the results of offshore players, French tenors and Pentalog.

- Reading: “Marc Simoncini va miser 100 millions dans des start-up ” ( http://bit.ly/cT1Y8R )
- Reading: “« Social business » : Muhammad Yunus promeut son modèle via les partenariats” ( http://bit.ly/9iXSUh )
- Reading: “Le Performance Management, un antidote de la crise ?” ( http://bit.ly/aVKXtR )
- 0,00% d’intercontrat à Pentalog en octobre, novembre, décembre ! Malgré des recrutements continus ! Nous devons recruter plus !
- Reading: “Avis d’expert : Etat de l’art du marché des prestations intellectuelles informatiques par Laurent Levi” ( http://bit.ly/9lJoV7 )
- Reading: “LeMagIT: #SSII indiennes : la fin de l’année confirme le retour de la #croissance” ( http://bit.ly/9fyoWD )
- might go to Chisinau between the 22 and 26… to welcome there some russian friends
- Pentalog_de Elaborate your #offshore project with Pentalog in less than 10 minutes. Offshore profiles starting from EUR 70 per day http://bit.ly/dzuI7l
- #Pentalog développe une solution de #gestion de ventes pour Altadis. Regardez le cas partique: http://bit.ly/cbWqZr
- Talking about #metrics.. http://bit.ly/ct5Kjr And we wrote on the same subject too: http://bit.ly/akyiPO
- Pentalog_de Demand for #IT #Outsourcing jumps http://bit.ly/9zyR6Z
- gilldelia utiliser twitter pour l’entreprise : http://bit.ly/53AGte

- pense à lancer son blog perso sur l’ensemble de ses projets, essentiellement liés aux ressources humaines et la gestion de compétences
- Could St Pertersburg be bigger than Bengalore among ITO cities? Unusual point of view… needs clarification.
- 7 pentaloguiens francais au soccer ce sour
-Reading: “#Externalisation : le #nearshore vole la vedette à l’#offshore – Journal du Net Solutions” ( http://bit.ly/aH6XON )
- LaurentClementz Dans les SSII, on parle beaucoup de besoins de recrutement de consultants MOE MOA Banque Finance Assurance. C’est un des sujets du moment.
- Reading: “#Gartner : prédictions sur l’avenir des #réseaux communautaires par Neteco.com” ( http://bit.ly/czKNm7 )
- Reading: “#Facebook, #Twitter : trois fois plus d’attaques en 2009 – Actualités Internet – Le Monde Informatique” ( http://bit.ly/aAfFRa )
- les petites villes françaises sont plus pauvres industriellement que leurs homologues hongroises,roumaines.Sans réaction de pouvoirs publics