Software industry aims for int'l standardization

The local software developer companies in Cebu through its support industry organization Cebu Software Development Industry Association, Inc. (CebuSoft) gears up towards implementing international standards in operations and quality.

CebuSoft executive director Virgilio Y. Paralisan said the organization is now working at helping its members to adopt International standard in software development operations, so that the industry will have the capability to market the Cebu-developed software products to other countries.

However, since CebuSoft is still a newly formed organization, Paralisan said it has to strengthen its membership base, and invite other software development companies to join the organization to pull up the software development industry in Cebu.

One of the realizations of the homegrown software development companies is to have their companies comply with the international certification, such as the Capability Maturity Model (CMM), or the ISO, he said.

He added that if a software company wants to thrive in the international competition of software development, it has to conform with the international standard and demand, although it would entail huge investment.

"Now we are forced to comply with the world standard to be competitive," Paralisan said.

Through the CebuSoft organization, smaller software companies can avail of the expensive international certification standard, through consolidation of resources.

CebuSoft, a "baby" organization in Cebu, is expected to work on this priority to help its members survive and maximize the Filipino talents' potential.

Also, realizing that most homegrown software companies in Cebu are run by technical people, not business oriented owners, CebuSoft will also formulate programs that would help local software firms to professionalize their operations, in order to keep talents from jumping from one company to the other.

The call now, he said is to strengthen the industry's membership so that as an industry, it can effectively promote in other countries.

In Cebu, there are about 30 homegrown software development companies, but only 15 are members of the CebuSoft. Some had to close shop as they cannot cope with the stiff competition, while others were affected by the brain-drain problem.

Last year, CebuSoft was able to gain support from the Canadian government, through the Canadian International Development Agency's (CIDA), Pearl-2, as one of the beneficiaries of the Executive Director Series, which helped potential industries in the country achieve accelerating growth amid the threatening global competition.