2014.09.11
NTT Comware Starts Nearshore Services for Application Management Service (AMS) for Efficient Implementation of Additional Development /Modification to Conventional Applications
-- For low cost and stable ICT services --
NTT Comware Corporation (Head office: Minato-ku, Tokyo; President: Shinobu Umino, hereinafter, NTT Comware) started a nearshore-type Application Management Service (AMS*1) on September 1, 2014. The service enables users to implement additional development and modification of their conventional applications.
1. Background and Challenges
In the current business world, IT system administratorfs missions have become more strategic since IT has a direct impact on the competitiveness of companies.
On the other hand, they must heavily burden the development and adaptation of additional functions to existing applications as well as maintenance and management, which are costly challenges, before proceeding with the more strategic and high-added-value tasks of their IT divisions. In particular, companies in Tokyo and Osaka areas, where businesses are centralized in Japan, need secure services with an affordable price for additional development and maintenance/management of their conventional applications in order to maintain their systems by succeeding their knowhow.
NTT Comwarefs solution is to secure the local resources of companies over the regional development stations of NTT Comware for a certain period of time, and provides the project management teams specialized in AMS as well as SLA (*2) for quality and productivity assessment for quantitative management of their software assets and its continuous improvement. These features contribute to achieve the outsourcing services for high-quality nearshore application development to provide a low cost and stable resource.
NTT Comware, with many years of experience in large-scale application system development and maintenance, supports its clients to smoothly transfer their existing system to AMS through the succession of the existing development scheme to a system with new application knowledge and optimization of the process and organization.
** NTT Comware provides the following three services and the management model to manage and improve the services.
- "System architecting"
The entire range of development services such as adding application functions
- "Maintenance service"
The entire range of maintenance services such as receiving inquiries, e-inquiries, network errors, patching
- "Additional service"
Various support (e.g., requirement definition, acceptance test, transfer, and training)
- "Outsourcing management model"
Quality and productivity management and improvement by NTT Comware's project management team
The following three programs are utilized to implement this service:
- Communication support and corporate governance enhancement programs, which are critical for regional development
- Human development program for skills development of system development personnel and knowhow succession
- System development support tool utilization programs to improve productivity and quality of products
(e.g., reverse engineering, automated testing and control tool)
(1) Cost reduction for additional system development and maintenance/management of the existing systems
Aiming for labor cost reduction through a regional development scheme using the nearshore services, promotion and development of productivity improvement plans by AMS project management teams with expertise and knowhow, and cost reduction by saving extra costs for additional development and maintenance management.
(2) High-quality service
We define a quality target by setting SLA as an added-value service for customers. In order to achieve a certain level of service quality, the status data is regularly collected and monitored by the AMS project management team for maintaining the service level and further improvement.
(3) Flexible and secure service procurement
NTT Comware is able to secure capable personnel who have professional experience in system development methods in a certain period and provide their skills to customers whenever is necessary to meet various needs in the mid- and long-term resources plans of customers. For additional requests for resources above the base line, the human resources plan may be designed ahead of the project schedule thanks to a human development program to adapt to changes in the needs in volume for the system development tasks.
NTT Comware proactively introduces the service to various customers in various fields such as finance, manufacturing and distribution using AMS as well as to improve productivity and cost saving. Given the launch of the service, we aim to have five customers within five years.
(*2) SLA (Service Level Agreement): part of a service contract, where a service is formally defined. It is agreed between the service provider and the service user on particular aspects such as quality of services to be delivered.
