Pinnacle offers a wide range of software outsourcing services allowing us to respond to the unique needs of each Healthcare customer and throughout the evolution of a customer’s offshore program. Specific services include:

• Offshore Development Center (ODC) Services – Pinnacle manages a dedicated team providing continuous support to a Healthcare customer’s IT organization.

• Application Development and Maintenance (ADM) Services – Pinnacle takes full responsibility for developing and maintaining entire Healthcare applications.

• Test Outsourcing Service – Pinnacle manages all aspects of software test, including manual and automated testing.

• Software Internationalization – Pinnacle develops new or converts existing applications with double byte Asian language support.

Pinnacle’s services are delivered through a highly disciplined, repeatable process, allowing us to meet the quality and schedule requirements of the most demanding Healthcare customers. Pinnacle's project management team are all PMI certified Project Management Professionals (PMP) and integrate all of the key development processes and tools, as well as a customer communications system that provides our Healthcare customers with real-time visibility into every projects status.

Our onsite-offshore service model allows Pinnacle to work onsite at each Healthcare location defining requirements and deploying projects, while the majority of the development work is done offshore in China. And strong customer communications are enabled by maintaining a high English proficiency across the organization.

China is Open for Offshore Software Outsourcing

China is rapidly emerging as one of the world’s leading suppliers of offshore software outsourcing services. To date much of the growth and news related to developing software overseas has been focused on India where the practice first got started. However, a research note published by Gartner says that companies should plan their offshore outsourcing strategies to take advantage of China’s emerging strength as an outsourcing center, including looking for ways to take advantage of the country’s current software strengths.

Specific reasons for considering China as a offshore destination today include:

• Access to highly skilled developers fueled by the world’s largest education system for science and engineering graduates.

• Attractive alternative to India where overwhelming demand makes it increasingly difficult to access quality resources.

• Aligns customers’ software outsourcing programs with their Asia/China business development initiatives.

These reasons combined position China as a critical component to corporate strategies for business continuity and geographic diversification. A poll conducted by IDC found China to be one of the top four countries companies are leveraging today or will leverage in the future for IT services, the other three being India, Canada and Ireland.

The primary driver behind China’s emergence as a software powerhouse is its large and growing labor market of skilled software professionals. To get a sense of the size and growth of this market, consider that China, a country of 1.3 billion people, produces 350,000 graduate engineers every year, compared with 90,000 for U.S. engineering schools. In addition, most of the world’s largest IT firms, including Microsoft, IBM, Oracle and Sun are working with the top Chinese universities to set up cooperative software engineering institutes.

As an emerging market, it is hard to find employees with ten years experience, however, what a developer might lack in experience is made up for in intelligence and work ethic. A large number of professionals have learned and practiced the most advanced software development based on the Java and Microsoft .NET platforms. There are also a large number of professionals experienced with legacy platforms, including COBOL. And although it can be challenging to find workers with strong project management skills, more and more are being certified by the worldwide Project Management Institute.

Lack of English language skills is often cited as a weakness, all Chinese students are required to study English with some of the larger cities starting as early as primary school. At the University level, undergraduates are required to pass the Chinese English Testing Level (CETL) 4 and graduate students are required to pass CETL 5.

Quality is also an increasing focus with Chinese software companies beginning to adopt the Software Engineering Institute’s Capability Maturity Model, the worldwide standard for measuring the maturity of a company’s software development process. Pinnacle is at the forefront of this movement as one of China’s only Level 4 companies, the second highest level possible, with plans to reach Level 5 by the end of 2005.

The China government recognizes the strategic importance of the software services industry and has put in place a number of programs to support its development. Software companies receive certain tax benefits and some cities, such as Shanghai, will reimburse companies for investments made towards successfully reaching specific CMM levels.

Probably the most cited concern with outsourcing to China is the country’s negative image for protecting intellectual property. Although warranted based on historical business practices, China recognizes the importance of protecting intellectual property to the development of its society and economy. As part of its entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO), China has been adopting laws and enforcement practices conforming with the WTO’s Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). Recent actions including the prosecution of local companies infringing on the music and video rights of multinational companies are good signs of China’s willingness to enforce these new laws.

Infrastructure is another critical factor when deciding where to outsource. Inside the country, China is rapidly developing its voice and data networks with the world’s largest wireless network and fiber optics reaching the most remote areas. Between the U.S. and China, Internet speeds can be experienced similar to what is available within the U.S. and between the U.S. and India. If additional bandwidth is required, large telecommunication companies, such as Global Crossing, offer dedicated network lines.

Travel to Shanghai and Beijing is easy relative with traveling to India, with United Airlines alone offering four direct flights each day. Once in China, one can easily find hotels and restaurants meeting the highest international standards. A great example of China’s development is Shanghai’s new magnetic levitation train, the fastest train in the world, running between the city and its international airport.

It’s important to keep in mind though, as in outsourcing to any country, including within the U.S., the most important decision factor is to identify an outsourcing provider that is able to deliver the appropriate mix of experience, quality and cultural understanding. Pinnacle Software stands alone in China for delivering on the offshore software development promise.