ORCHARD INFORMATION SYSTEMS

	We chose to work with Harvey Nash Offshore as we were impressed with the professionalism of its UK team and the cultural fit between our two organizations.
	Tim Williams, Managing Director, Orchard Information Systems

THE FRUITS OF OFFSHORING

As a result of winning a major new contract in 2006, software company Orchard Information Systems decided it could fasttrack the delivery of the next version of its market-leading arcHouse Plus product, which is used by 140 UK housing associations and local authorities to manage their housing stock.

Orchard decided to deliver by July 2007 and needed to supplement its in-house resources to achieve that target. It considered forming a team made up of contractors and former employees to work on the development for a year, but, having met Harvey Nash through a mutual contact at IT company Progress, Orchard decided to explore the possibility of offshoring the development work to Harvey Nash Software Development in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Orchard had never offshored before. “It was a big step for us, and we had heard of good and bad experiences,” says Operations Director Alison Davis. “One of the things we liked about Harvey Nash was that they were very honest about the potential risks and diffi culties. Their experience also meant that they were able to help us spot and avoid pitfalls.”

Harvey Nash advised Davis and members of her team to visit Hanoi in order to see how things worked on the ground, to get to know the software development team and to select a potential team to work on the Orchard project.

Harvey Nash also facilitated a three-month visit by the seven-person strong Hanoi development team to Orchard’s Newcastle office. This visit allowed them to immerse themselves in the business and the product. Understanding that a good working relationship would depend on a happy team, Orchard housed them in two serviced apartments on the quayside in the heart of Newcastle.

The Hanoi team is now 18-members strong. However, rather than losing UK staff, Orchard has invested in developing and enhancing the skills of its Newcastle team. Davis explains: “The offshore team does the coding, test plan production and system integration testing, allowing the UK resources to carry out the business analysis, functional and technical design and user acceptance testing.”

Orchard has completed two interim upgrades to arcHouse Plus, and final delivery is on course for July. They plan to carry on using the Hanoi team to continually develop and enhance the application. “Taking the offshore route has allowed us to build capability that we can retain long term. It is cost-effective and gives us a scalable supply of resources,” says Davis.

• Orchard Information Systems needed to upgrade its market-leading arcHouse product used by housing associations and local authorities to manage their housing stock, but it needed to supplement its in-house capability.
  
• They outsourced much of the development work to Harvey Nash Software Development in Hanoi, Vietnam, which allowed them to build and enhance the skills of its home team.
  
• The new version of arcHouse Plus is on target for delivery in July, and offshoring has allowed Orchard to build costeffective development capability that is both long-term and scalable.