Please describe the scope of their work.
At first, we needed them to rewrite the prototype software we had, in order to make it a more professional and maintainable product. Our software has three main modules. One is a business intelligence module, the second is a forecasting module, simulative in nature, and the third is an optimization engine. Today, they do pretty much everything, in all three modules, besides functional specification and high-level design. Their work started gradually in the beginning, with our people more involved but, very quickly, we adopted a position where they took over most of the software development and maintenance processes. We’ve retained the responsibility for the actual installation of the software at our client hospitals, also due to the strict data-security restrictions in the health care industry, as well as for first-line support.
When outsourcing a project, one needs to be very careful when defining requirements, and specifying timelines and deliverables. To this end, our head of R&D [research and development] spends about half of his time in India working with Girnar. Although we’ve learned to trust them even with high-end projects, we still find it better that our VP R&D is hands-on with the developers on the ground.
What was your process for selecting Girnar Software with which to work?
We looked at developers both in the Netherlands, where we are based, and in India. We identified Girnar as a candidate because one of our founders had a prior business relationship with the founders of Girnar.
We quickly realized that it’s not easy to find people who have skills in optimization as well as standard software programming, and this differentiated Girnar from other companies. Through the years, we’ve looked around at possible alternatives, but we still need someone with expertise in both of those fields. There, Girnar kept differentiating themselves in the outsourcing marketplace, certainly in India.
Can you provide a ballpark dollar figure for the size of the work that they’ve done for you?
The actual budget is commercially confidential, as you can imagine. But, to give you a sense of the size of the engagement, we work with a dedicated team of six to eight people from Girnar, who are working full time on our projects.
The applications have been very successful, doubling the number of original users. The team was very responsive and responsible, ultimately delivering a product that met the business needs.