KMS Technology’s Head of Global Delivery shared about the partnership between clients and software services company
This article was originally shared on Cafebiz. We have included the translation below:
In the software industry, helping clients create value is of the utmost importance for a software services company. The challenge is, how do you build a strategic partnership with clients to maximize their business potentials?
Let’s meet Mr. Nguyen Lam Vinh Du – Head of Global Delivery at KMS Technology – a software services company with over 1,000 staff in Vietnam and the US. With over 20 years of experience leading software services companies in Vietnam, he is responsible for strategic planning and overseeing over 700 engineers at KMS, providing software services for major clients in America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific.
Please share the types of partnership models have between clients and software services companies.
In my 20 year experience in the industry, I believe there are three models:
Project-based partnership: The client has specific needs for a project with certain requests and clear criteria regarding quality and timeline. Software services companies actively do the job in the best way. However, this model is gradually replaced due to the rising popularity of Agile methodology practice.
Dedicated team/ODC: This model fits better with Agile methodology, which helps assure the partnership between clients and software services companies. The engineering team basically becomes a part of the client’s organization, which solves the problems that occur in project-based partnership (such as high costs arising from monitoring changes and little flexibility to adhere to the project’s requirements)
Managed services: Clients and software services companies define their Service Level Agreements (SLA), detailing the data regarding the effectiveness and quality of their partnership, and the clients will pay according to the level of fulfillment to those SLAs.
The Dedicated team model is generally the most suitable for the early stages of the partnership, helping the client and the software services company build convenient work processes and minimize any risks.
Do you have any advice for Vietnamese software services companies to build their credibility with international clients?
I can see that recruitment is a tough problem to solve; supply is always less than demand, especially for high-quality talent with strong teamwork and communication skills. While this is a national-level issue, from the perspective of business, we should pay more attention to create higher value from our existing teams. This is a strategy that can help Vietnamese companies boost their credibility in the eyes of potential international clients and contribute to their success.
KMS has been orientated from the beginning to maximize the existing pool of talents through investing in developing “made in Vietnam” software products for the world with successful products such as QASymphony, Kobiton, Katalon…
Another direction is investing and developing more closely in the healthcare industry in the US as well as shifting the partnership model to managed services and consulting to motivate both parties in the partnership and advance clients’ success.
At KMS, what are the success criteria?
KMS’s success is tightly connected to the client’s success. From sales to partnership stages, KMS always builds processes, mindset, and working procedures that revolve around the client’s success. Additionally, KMS also founded the Center of Excellence independent from the projects to evaluate its success based on clients’ success criteria.
KMS was orientated to be a one-stop-shop software consulting and development company, how have you and the leadership board prepared for that?
From 2019 – 2020, KMS has taken crucial steps in preparation. We have achieved successful outcomes that can be foreseen to become a tech unicorn in the upcoming 10 years since 2018. Most notably is the establishment of KMS Solutions which specializes in providing consulting solutions in digital transformation for the Banking, Finance, and Insurance industries in the Asia Pacific region. Additionally, KMS has chosen to invest in providing software solutions for the Healthcare industry (HealthTech) in the US. Soon, KMS is planning to transform its organization structure, invest in human resources, focus on advancing workloads, number of clients, and continue to deliver high service quality for current clients.
