PSEB (Pakistan Software Export Board)

                                                

REPORT ON

PAKISTAN SOFTWARE EXPORT BOARD (PSEB)

CONTENT:

•      INTRODUCTION

•      INDUSTRY OVERVIEW

•      STRATEGIC STUDIES & REPORTS

•      GLOBAL IT COUNTRIES WITH PRESENCE IN PAKISTAN

•      RESEARCH PARTNERSHIP

•      STATISTIC OF PAKISTAN’S IT INDUSTRY

•      CLASSIFICATION OF INDUSTRY

•      POTENTIAL AREAS FOR PRODUCT & SERVICE FOCUSSED  COMPANIES

•      MARKET DEMAND

•      MARKET STRATEGY

•      MARKETING MIX FOR PRODUCT SOFTWARE

INTRODUCTION

Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) is an apex Government body mandated to promote Pakistan’s IT Industry in local and international markets. PSEB facilitates the IT industry through a series of projects and programs in infrastructure development, human capital development, company capability development, international marketing, strategy and research, and the promotion of innovation and technologies.

PSEB has more than 1500 IT companies, which possess expertise in custom software development, enterprise Resource planning (ERP), financial solutions, mobile content, document management, enterprise computing and business process outsourcing (BPO).

Like the ISO 9000 standard, the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) is also a model-based software process improvement approach. PSEB recommends that, for the growing number of Pakistani software and service companies that are already ISO 9000-certified - and are now hoping to achieve a higher level of process maturity - should consider qualifying for a CMM certification as well.

The CMM is a collection of best practices grouped into five levels of maturity, specifically developed "...to help others make measured improvements in their Software Engineering/System Engineering and Project Management capabilities."

INDUSTRY OVERVIEW

EXPORT TARGETS AND PLANS:

As per the PSEB figures, there are total 300 software houses with valid registration in Pakistan. The number of ISO 9000 certified IT-BPO companies is 70 and 30 other companies are in the process of acquiring certification.

One of PSEB’s major objectives is to enhance Pakistan’s software export, and these targets are annually set for it by the Ministry of Information Technology. PSEB has consistently exceeded expectations for the last two years.

•     IT exports in FY 2005-2006, as reported by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), were US$ 72.210 million, thus exceeding the target of US$ 72 million. This represents an annual increase of 56% over exports of US$ 46.355 million in FY 2004-2005. It has also been noted that the SBP reports call center revenue under telecommunication services rather than IT services. PSEB is working with the SBP to reclassify this revenue stream under IT services, which should give a significant boost to IT exports as reported by the SBP.

•     PSEB has proposed a four-year draft strategic plan, which will increase the IT industry’s size to US$ 10 billion in the calendar year 2010. Eight strategic areas with missions and annual targets have been identified. These include facilitation; human resource development; industry finance; marketing; office space provision; public policy; quality and telecom bandwidth provision. PSEB has provided an export plan to the Planning and Development Division for incorporation into Pakistan’s overall export strategy and targets.

TOTAL PRODUCTION IN 2011:

Pakistan has exported $750 million software solutions last year. PSEB is facilitating software houses to expand their capacity to further boost software exports, Pakistani software houses are selling their solutions to world’s leading organizations like New York Stock Exchange and other countries

Pakistan’s IT industry has been rising steadily since the last three years. A marked increase in software export figures are an indication of this booming industry’s potential. The total number of IT companies increased to 1306 and the total estimated size of IT industry is $2.8 billion. In 2007, Pakistan was for the first time featured in the Global Services Location Index by A.T. Kearney and was rated as the 30th best location for offshoring. By 2009, Pakistan had improved its rank by ten places to reach 20th.

Pakistan’s exports of IT and IT-enabled services witnessed an outstanding growth of 32.6 percent in the first quarter of 2011-12 compared with the corresponding period of past financial year, reflecting improving penetration of local IT companies in different countries of the world.

State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) statistics showed that Pakistan IT and ITES exports increased to reach US $ 61 million in Jul-Sep 2011 versus US $ 45 million exports recorded in the same period of 2010.

INDUSTRY SURVEY:

No organization can strategically plan, manage and interact with its stakeholders in the absence of accurate data. PSEB also takes into account the industry’s statistics, and notices variations in order to have an insight regarding its needs and expectations from its partners.

In this regard, PSEB commissioned a survey of Pakistan’s IT companies in June 2006. Its objective was to acquire the latest data regarding the number of companies, growth, space requirements, and classification by type of business. The goal was to visit every IT company in Pakistan by September 2006.

Preliminary results indicate that:

•     There are almost 700 active IT companies in Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore, which are roughly evenly divided among the three cities.

•     Other cities are being surveyed, and it is expected that there are around 50 IT companies in other smaller cities and towns.

•     Growth in Islamabad over the last three years has been around 300%, Karachi has been around 180% and Lahore has been around 150%.

•     Lahore has been most adversely affected by the downturn in the USA and global IT markets – probably because it houses the most export-oriented IT firms.

•     It appears that Islamabad might be the destination of choice for returning expatriates following the events of 11th September 2001 in the USA

STRATEGIC STUDIES AND REPORTS:

PSEB also conducts research and reports regarding Pakistan’s IT industry. These studies prove insightful for strategic policy and decision-makers, the Government and stakeholders in the IT industry.

PSEB has also coordinated with various international research bodies, such as Gartner, Forrester, and the IDC. PSEB has purchased their reports regarding the global IT industry and its growth, and reports outlining which factors can make Pakistan a strategic player in the highly competitive outsourcing industry.

STRATEGY FOR INCREASING THE EXPORTS OF BUSINESS PROCESS OUTSOURCING:

Pakistan differs considerably from other competitors in the BPO marketplace because of the geopolitical constraints that it finds itself in. Any workable strategy hence needs to take these ground realities into account and action plan needs to be developed that work around some of these constraints. This study provides a long-term sustainable and comprehensive strategy for developing the outsourcing industry in Pakistan. It also contains useful statistics on IT Professional Services industry of Pakistan.

The three major components of the infrastructure, which affect the BPO sector, are internet bandwidth, telephone & electricity. Electricity problem can be addressed through company owned power generators but the internet & telecom, which are of crucial significance, are beyond BPO Company’s control.

GLOBAL IT COMPANIES WITH PRESENCE IN PAKISTAN:

Many global IT companies are present in Pakistan and their revenues are growing 30-40% annually. They view the local IT market as very promising. Multinational IT companies such as Oracle, IBM, Cisco, and PeopleSoft reportedly have annual total revenues in the range of US $ 200-300 million in Pakistan and their percent increases  during the financial year 2003-05 was from 25% to as high as 70%.

ASSESSMENT OF PROFESSIONALS IN PAKISTAN’S IT SECTOR

Although a large number of professionals are already working in the IT industry, and new IT graduates are joining the workforce every year, the exact number of these professionals, their qualifications, and their needs’ assessments remain largely unknown.  PSEB, therefore, has undertaken a short survey in order to estimate how many people are professionally involved in the IT sector, which can provide a basis for further study, and provide some assistance to the policy-makers in the industry.

Most IT companies are small and are run by young entrepreneurs who do not have a management background. The average size of larger companies is about 150 people each with a turnover of about US$ 2-3 million on the average.

TARGET AUDIENCE:

•     Government of Pakistan

•     Non Government Organizations

•     Prospective investors

•     Entrepreneurs

•     Financial institutions

•     Print and Electronic Media

•     IT Industry

•     IT Students

SETTING UP OF VENTURE CAPITAL FUND:

IT firms are often unable to get financing from banks and traditional forms of raising capital for business development and expansion, as banks are usually reluctant to lend large sums of money without tangible collateral that could be sold off in case of default. VC fund would facilitate the growth of the IT industry by providing capital to IT firms.

DATA CONFIDENTIALITY LAW AND FRAMEWORK:

Keeping in view the worldwide outsourcing requirements of safeguarding electronic data and intellectual property rights and the demand of the IT industry, Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) has outsourced drafting of ‘Data Confidentiality Law and Framework’ to a highly reputed law firm - M/S Jamil and Jamil.

Drafting of the new proposed law is underway and it is envisioned that the proposed law will help ensure the confidentiality of corporate data, both domestic and international, and will thus boost the IT enabled services sector.

STRATEGIC REVIEW OF THE PAKISTANI IT INDUSTRY:

PSEB has engaged the services of Gartner Consulting, a leading International firm to conduct a study on the Pakistan IT Industry.  The objectives of this study are to undertake a review of the existing conditions of the Pakistani ICT sector with particular emphasis on the software and IT services and develops a practical strategic blue print that will assist the government and the companies operating in the sector to achieve a step-change improvement in performance.

RESEARCH PARTENERSHIP:

While the benefits of ongoing research and development are clear to everybody, it is sometimes not possible for companies to maintain the levels of staffing and expertise necessary to ensure the viability of such activities.

PSEB has established close working relationships with leading Pakistani universities that are active in research and development in the field of IT and telecommunications. An important component of PSEB’s strategy is to ensure that the educational curriculum remains updated and industry-driven. Strengthening industry-academia linkages is also a priority area. PSEB can help interested companies form research partnerships with these universities to allow the transfer of new technologies into existing development lifecycle processes.

Funding for R&D activities of interest to IT and telecommunications companies in Pakistan is relatively easy. PTCL's R&D Fund, managed by a 17-person committee, annually receives 1% of the gross revenue of all the telecommunication service providers in Pakistan. Funding is disbursed for activities defined by the fund in its guidelines. The process of obtaining funding is relatively straight-forward, with the quality of the proposals being the most important factor in the decision-making process. Typical timelines between the submission of proposals and the selection of projects is between 2-3 months, as a stringent peer review process is followed in order to ensure transparency in decision-making. Typical grants range from US$ 200,000 to US$ 600,000. Proposals jointly submitted by a university and an IT/telecom company are preferred.

Pakistan's IT exports set to witness tremendous growth

Pakistan's information technology (IT) industry is set to post a robust growth in the coming years, as global economies have started recovering from the shocks of recession.

"Global economic recession had a negative impact on the growth of Pakistan's IT firms. But we were not as badly affected as IT industries of other parts of the world. We have created our space globally, and the world now looks at us as one of the viable options," said the Managing Director of Pakistan's oldest and largest software house, Systems Limited, Ashraf Kapadia while talking to Business Recorder.

He said that according to some official reports, the country has over 1200 IT firms catering to diversified needs of local and foreign clients. According to State Bank of Pakistan's report, total export of software and IT-enabled services stood at $204 million in 2009-10. Industry believes that the country's exports of software and IT-enabled services are close to $1 billion annually.

Pakistan Software Houses Association has estimated that if the current growth rate continues, Pakistan's IT industry will exceed $11 billion within the next 5 years. The country has enough potential and manpower to create a way for its IT exports globally, said Ashraf who is also Chairman of Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA).

"In terms of exports, by far the major market is US, especially if you take a company like Systems Ltd, almost 100 percent our export is to the US. If you take most of the other companies they will have a very large majority, probably 70-80 percent, as US market. Although recently past three years or so the African market is growing and a lot of Pakistani companies are now working in the African market. In terms of Pakistan, if you look at the domestic industry, it's the standard, banking is by far the largest then you have telecoms as major user".

Statistics of Pakistan’s IT/ITES Industry

IT companies registered with PSEB	1082
Substantial IT companies region-wise:
Karachi	611
Islamabad/Rawalpindi	479
Lahore	544
Other regions	105
Foreign IT and telecommunication companies	60
Number of CMMI-assessed companies:
CMM Level 5	1
CMMI Level 5	2
CMMI Level 3	3
CMMI Level 2	16
Total industry size	US$ 2.8 billion
IT and IT-enabled services exports	US$ 1.4 billion
Percentage growth in exports (2009-2010)	19%
IT graduates produced per year	Approx. 20,000
Export targets for fiscal year 2010-2011	US$ 350 million
Number of institutes offering IT/CS programs	110
IT professionals in export-oriented activities	More than 15,000
IT professionals employed in Pakistan	110,000
Space utilized in IT & Software Technology parks	11 parks covering 750,000 sq ft

CLASSIFICATION OF INDUSTRY

On the basis of reports and research software industry can be categorized as follow:

i) Product /Service Base

·       Product Focused

·       Services Focused

·       Hybrid Operation

ii) Market Base

·       Domestic-Focused Local Firms

·       Export-Focused Foreign Firm

·       Export-Focused Local Firms

·       Export-Focused Foreign Firms

·       Dedicated Development Centre

 Product/Service Based Classification

In terms of product/service strategy there are product focused or packaged software companies, software/IT services and software/IT consulting companies working in a niche product/service market.

Product Focused

In Pakistan numbers of products have been developed and are successfully working in multiple organizations. However, there is still plenty of room for growth in this area.

Potential Areas for Product-Focused Companies

i) Financial Management System

ii) Payroll/ Supply Chain Mgt. System

iii) Share & Portfolio Mgt. System

iv) Flagship Product.

v) Medical Insurance Plan

vi) PBM (Project Building & Monitoring)

vii) E-Call , E-Share and E-CRM Solutions in B2C

viii) Purchase & Inventory Mgt. System

ix) Fixed Assets Management System

x) Real-Estate-Property System

xi) Hospital Mgt. & Patient Filing System

xii) MOR (Manage Your Own Risks)

xiii) Software Measurement and Metric Tool (SMMT)

xiv) E-CRM Solutions in B2B, E-DoX, E-FaX, E-College

 Service Focused

The second largest focus area is the customized services. Companies focusing on customized services provide standardized software applications with some customization. In this category a software house can work on more than one project.

Potential Areas for Service-Focused Companies

i) EPR Solutions & B2C & B2B Business Model- KalPoint

• IVR Systems

• Public Map-Geographic Info System

ii) Web Designing and Development

• TTI Voice hardware platform mostly for banking sector

 Hybrid operations-Changes in Existing Product

Another area that has potential in Pakistan market is implementation of already developed Standard ERP Solutions like Oracle, SAP-R/3, SAGE and ACCPAC etc. In this area there is very little competition prevailing in local market.

 MARKET BASED CLASSIFICATION

Another way of classifying the software industry is according to their market orientation i.e. those companies that are predominantly export-focused, domestic-focused and with hybrids working in between in both export and domestic markets.

 The Export-Focused Local Firm

These firms are owned by Pakistan-based entrepreneurial team (that may or may not have been aided/encouraged by a group of expatriates), but with an explicit purpose of exporting software products or services. Majority of firms are targeting on offshore programming and coding for foreign clients. In this category, the companies focusing on products have numbers relatively smaller than those focusing on export of services. Companies that are following this business model are:

i) Three sixty Degrees (Lahore)

ii) Post Amazers (Karachi)

iii) Advanced Communications (Islamabad)

iv) Makabu (Islamabad)

v) Netsol (Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad)

vi) Autosoft Dynamics (Karachi and Islamabad)

 The Export-Focused Foreign (Expatriate) Firm

These firms are based either overseas or in Pakistan and are usually run by an expatriate entrepreneurial team, with an explicit purpose of using Pakistan-based offshore development facility to deliver a product or service demanded by foreign market. This type of business model has been adopted by services and product-focused companies alike. Within both services and products domains, this type of model has been more valuable than Export-Focused Local Firm model. Some salient examples of companies following this business model are:

i) Elixir Technologies (Islamabad)

ii) Etilize Inc. (Karachi)

iii) Ultimus (Islamabad)

iv) MixIT (Karachi)

v) TechLogix (Lahore)

vi) Prosol (Islamabad)

vii)Xavor (Lahore)

 The Domestic-Focused Local Firm

These firms plan to export its products or services abroad and are merely using the domestic market as a vehicle to gain reputation. These companies first do enough “large” projects fairly quickly in the local market to build a reputable portfolio of customers, to develop a domain expertise, and to migrate effectively to a much more sophisticated and quality conscious foreign market. The more successful of these firms have already begun to look overseas, primarily the Middle Eastern region, for a portion of the export market and have been fairly successful. Some salient examples of this type of business model are:

i) 2B Technologies (Karachi)

ii) ZRG (Karachi)

iii) TPS (Karachi)

iv) Lumensoft (Lahore)

v) Yevolve (Karachi)

vi) SI3 (Karachi)

vii) Softech Systems (Lahore)

viii) AppXS (Karachi)

ix) Genesis Solutions (Karachi)

The Domestic-Focused Foreign Firm

The Domestic-Focused Foreign (Expatriate) Firm is almost non-existent due to the small size and lack of maturity of the local market. It does, however, find some expression in the relocation of Pakistani expatriates back to Pakistan with a desire to set up companies that either serve the local—the prime example being SI3 whose expressed purpose is to work on the domestic front—or the export market but who end up doing quite a fair bit of work in the domestic market as well.

 Dedicated Offshore Development Centre

There are fairly limited offshore development foreign companies. It is different from the Export-Focused Foreign (Expatriate) Firm in the sense that it is often an “add-on” to an already existing company who’s strategic and managerial processes and controls are quite well-established. It, therefore, does not get an equal say in the long-term vision and strategic direction of its parent. Some salient examples of this type of business model are:

i) MetaApps (Lahore)

ii) ITIM Associates (Karachi)

iii) Clickmarks (Karachi)

iv) Trivor Systems (Islamabad)

v) Strategic Systems International (Lahore)

 Market BASE BUSINESS MODEL

Domestic-Focused Local Firms	Export-Focused Local Firm		Export-Focused Foreign Firm		Dedicated Development
ZRG	Three Sixty Degree		Etilize		ITIM Associates
TPS	Post Amazers		Prosol		MetaApps
Lumensoft	Advanced Comm.		Adamsoft		Clickmarks
Yevolve	Netsol		Ultimus		Enabling Tech.
2B Technologies	Makabu		MixIT		Trivor System
S13	Autosoft Dynamics		Techlogix		Strategic System
Softech System	Sidaat Hyder		Xavor		ESP Global
Genesis Solution		Avanza Solution		Elixer
Alchemy Technology			Gonet
AppXS			Kalsoft
Oratech			Jinn Technologies

MARKETING STRATEGY

If we look the software industry and its various marketing approaches used by software houses and their perception of “successfulness”. The following seven successes of marketing strategies are used by them;

• Word of Mouth Approach (Client referrals etc)

• Advertising in trade local/foreign journals

• Attending local/foreign trade conferences

• Initiate 1-to-1 communication with potential clients

• Use pre established networks/personal relationships

• Alliances and agreements with channel partners

• Depend on a “Captive” client since formation

 MARKET DEMAND

Foreign-based companies have entered the recovery phase and started outsourcing their multiple services to the IT and IT-enabled companies of various countries. Pakistan has potential to grab its share in IT-enabled services market although it is also competent in providing software applications to various developed countries, demand will be flourishing in the upcoming years.

United States of America is the largest buyer of Pakistan IT-enabled services with the share of 58 percent in the overall country’s exports. It is followed by UK, where the exports are hovering around 10 percent. The pie of total exports shows 16 percent share to the other countries including Australia, Canada, Thailand, UAE and others.

Companies such as IBM, Microsoft, Cisco Systems, Hewlett Packard, and Novell choose to get services from sub-contractors in low cost countries with strong IT capability, HR capital and infrastructure and low risk. These companies are also moving many development and support jobs to such locations.

Ratios of revenue generation from export and domestic market are approximately 60:40. In export, revenues generate from products and services are 22.55% and 38.55% respectively. Majority of the product-exports are “customized” rather than “shrink-wrapped” products.

Exporters are optimistic on the sustainability of export growth gradually in tandem with the recovery of developed economies where country has good markets. The demand of local IT services has gotten better in the traditional exports’ market in the recent times.

Pakistan’s market demand can be viewed by last year’s growth at around 37% in revenue and 27% in terms of technical and professional employment. Another encouraging sign is the reverse brain drain caused by returning Pakistani entrepreneurs who see the relatively less competitive and virgin market at home as a tremendous opportunity for setting up a Pakistan based company.

There are quite a few hundreds of software houses in Pakistan and the count is increasing rapidly. These software houses are working to make Pakistan a bright mark in the world of IT. They are producing many useful products which have modernized the processes of traditional industries and also increased their productivity. As we see, computer has become a significant part of every walk of our lives and many processes have become automatic now. All the big shopping malls have computerized billing system now. Almost every organization keeps its data in computerized form. Computer and internet awareness is also increasing and the trend of e-commerce is emerging fast. People, whatever field they belong to, consult internet for any queries which come into mind.

Most of the Pakistani companies are working for financial institutions, automobile, call centres and miscellaneous services sectors in different countries.

The demand in the market exists for the following solutions and services

 Market Demand

• Financial and Leasing Solutions	• Banking, ATM Solutions
• Inventory, Payroll and Marketing	•Retail Store Systems
• Mortgages, Portfolio Management	•Call Center Automations
• Health Care Solutions	•VOIP Billing
• Manufacturing and ERP Solutions	•Traveling & Hotel Management
• Project Management & Business	•Human Resource Solutions

Services Available in the Market

• ZRG – Call Center & Telephony Solutions	• Softech Systems–Financial & Trading Systems
• TPS – Banking and Switching Solutions	• Genesis Solutions–ATMs, Info &Vending Kiosks
• Lumensoft – ERP & Inventory Systems	• Alchemy Technologies – Risk-Mgmt Solutions
• Yevolve – Software for Handheld in Transport/SCM	• AppXS – Financial & Trading Systems
• 2B Technologies – Call Center Solutions	• Oratech – Oracle-based Applications
• SI3– System Integration & Back-Office Outsourcing	• Askari Info Systems – ERP, Financials-Accounting
• Acrologix – ERP, Archiving, foreign-language OCR	• Concept – Communications Systems
• LMKR – Large DBs, GIS, Petrochemicals etc.	• CARE - Telecom Eqpt., ASICs, EDA Tools etc.

PRODUCT/SERVICE

The project concept is of a software development house, catering to both local and export markets, with corporate presence in Lahore, Pakistan. The company will offer a full range of business application solutions for the corporate, financial and industrial sectors and its international target market will be USA and UK. The project's strategic vision will provide the clients with quality systems to stimulate their growth in the existing competitive markets. Three important aspects are being considered while developing the project:

1. Robust, and extensible architecture and design

2. Good software quality

3. On-time delivery

The strategies required to achieve these objectives are:

• Employing a highly professional and experienced staff in all aspects – project management, architecture, design, development and Quality Assurance

• Ensuring continuous personal and professional growth through on-going training

• Having a well-developed organization structure, and well-defined responsibilities within the company in order to ensure good teamwork, coordination, and timely product delivery

• Providing good customer support and services

 Services

The main technological services that will be offered, by category, include:

Systems Integration

Due to the dynamic nature of the business environment & the increasing demand for efficiency in today’s world, expertise is required in systems integration at enterprise wide scale. Systems integration capabilities are required to help minimize risk & maximize security, interoperability & compatibility.

Technology Outsourcing

Technology Outsourcing solutions will be offered to clients all across the globe by providing technology, processes, domain, resources and management experience and expertise that are crucial to navigate various business environments. There is a high level of competition in the fast-paced IT industry; Technology Outsourcing is a necessity to maximize a company’s potential by outsourcing resource-consuming processes and controllable costs.

However, understandably there are numerous risks associated with this. Using experience and management skills one should ensure that the offshore solution is predictable and cost-effective by successfully managing and mitigating risks associated with outsourcing and hence, enabling the customers greater profitability by extracting maximum reward with minimal risk. Consistent and reliable communication channels aid in virtually eliminating the risk of an off-shore partner by use of state of the art video conferencing equipment and a dedicated high speed fibre optic connection.

 Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)

The most successful businesses of today have outsourced their processes and saved time and money to focus on customers and marketplaces. Companies are looking for ways to reduce overheads and focus on their core business, thus outsourcing is the best solution available to them. In most countries, the acute shortage of qualified personnel combined with the ever increasing salary levels has placed an enormous burden on firms and businesses alike.

In a recent Accenture survey of more than 800 companies, in the US and Europe, 86% of the companies said outsourcing gives them more control over business results in a variety of critical areas, the most important being the ability to plan. While cost savings are an important consideration the executives also reported a number of other benefits such as reliability and the effective implementation of ideas. Pakistan has an abundant supply of qualified accountants at all levels to undertake the necessary work for clients.

Customized Application Development

This service should include creating customized e-business software solutions based on unique specifications to give the competitive edge in an increasingly competitive market. The company's core business principles should include a methodical, solutions-based approach to developing software applications.

 IT and Business Processes Consultancy

Information technology services are valuable only if they fulfil the business strategy and project objectives set forth. The company's expert consultants should have the technical knowledge and business experience to ensure the optimization of the development process in alignment with basic business principles. The consultants will aim at maximizing organizational efficiencies through enhanced business processes and cost savings measures that cater, not only to the clients’ immediate needs but also to the long-term goals. The company will provide the streamlining, realignment and restructuring of the business processes of an organization that help gain meaningful business value from planned IT implementations.

As the state of affairs of businesses change, organizations feel the need of moving to state-of-the-art IT enabled solutions to survive and participate in the competitive market. This particular service will help organizations todo just that virtually trouble-free. The company will undertake the following tasks to make software technology work for its clients:

1. Check commercial viability of client's existing technology

2. Determine new technology outside of the client's industry

3. Compare client's technology with the best in its industry

4. Suggest, develop and implement the best solution

5. Integrate and automate client's work flows and business processes

 Information Security

Information is the lifeblood of all organizations – be it written, printed, electronically stored, transmitted or communicated verbally. In today’s global economy, the success or failure of an organization, from SMEs and large corporations, depends upon the confidentiality, integrity and availability of corporate information. As a result, Information Security has become one of the most important topics for modern organizations.

The information security services will be designed to ensure protection from threats and vulnerabilities while ensuring seamless operations for organizations.

Professional Services

1. Security Policy Development

2. ISO 27001 ISMS Life Cycle Consulting

3. Penetration Testing and Vulnerability Assessment

4. Business Continuity Planning / Disaster Recovery

5. Secure Network Architecture Design and Deployment

Benefits

1. Lower operating costs

2. Better regulatory compliance

3. Dedicated expertise allow focus on core business

4. Professional processes

5. Continuous management and support

6. Network and System integrity

Products Based Solutions

The company will provide a number of mature and comprehensive IT solutions successfully implemented. These products extend to various domains; standing out in which is LeaseSoft, a comprehensive end-to-end product for the lease and finance industry.

The major products are:

1. LeaseSoft - a suite of four software applications, an end-to-end solution for the lease and finance industry

2. Motor Transport Management Information System - a distributed database system for the complete automation of motor transport information

3. iBanking - A fully integrated solution for the Wholesale & Finance industry

4. KB Vault - A Knowledge Base Management System

Opportunities in Market

The following opportunities are present in IT Sector of Pakistan:

• Development of packaged software

• Quality training and development of specialized human resources

• Re-engineering and computerization of government/public sector and private sector organizations installation of network (LANS, WANS, etc)

• E-information switch over to Urdu as a computer language

• Reorganization and growth of communications infrastructure

• Foreign exchange earning potential utilization of available educated human resources pool unlimited e-commerce potential

• Global and domestic Internet explosion

• World-wide growth and lowering of cultural barriers due to the use of the internet and globalization will drive IT usage

• Government drive for documentation will provide growth opportunities

• Entertainment potential of IT and the internet

MARKETING MIX FOR PROUCT SOFTWARE

The marketing mix for product software parallels the notion of marketing mix for general products and is likewise composed of the four controllable factors of marketing managers: price, promotion, product, and place (Kern, 2003). There are some characteristics that differ for software products than other mass produced goods such as clothing.

    PRICE

Price of software can be a fixed rate paid to a store or vendor. Additionally, it can be a subscription for usage of software with an application service provider like Salesforce.com (In 2010, this has become known as software as a service, or SaaS). Price can be determined by number of licenses and/or users. Mainframe and other large processing software is still sold by the type and number of processors the software runs on. Virtualization is changing pricing models for software across the industry.

  PROMOTION                                                                                                           Promotion of software can use traditional methods such as advertising. Furthermore, the testing of software products is usually possible before purchasing with either limited trial application for a specific period of time or free-ware containing limited functionality. An example is the month long trial of statistical software from SPSS. The software industry is known for its use of trade shows as a promotional tool

    PRODUCT                                                                                                                              The actual product differs from normal mass produced goods since the vendor company actually stays the owner of the original code and auxiliary materials, while product is used by consumers under a license, either signed or shrink-wrapped. (Open source software was created to combat this; it allows users to download full code and use it for non-commercial purposes. However, it is still offered under a license, often the GPL, that has restrictions on usage and re-distribution.)

    PLACE                                                                                                                                    

Place refers to the distribution channel of product software. Typically this consists of either Direct or Indirect distribution. Direct Distribution refers to a customer having a direct relationship with the producer of the software, with no intermediaries. Direct product is most often delivered in an intangible digital form that can be downloaded off the internet such as Adobe Acrobat 7.0 from adobe.com. Indirect Distribution comes in several forms: specialized software resellers, shrink-wrapped product located in a store or value added resellers (VARs) who combine software with another service. The end user customer may have the license or the intermediary may be the licensee in this structure. Typically, producers offer intermediaries a substantial discount for volume purchases, which makes the transaction more cost effective for an individual consumer.

Posted in: PSEB (Pakistan Software Export Board)