Muranosoft Blog

Murano team photos are on the website

myemail@myemail.com (Muranosoft site admin) — Fri, 25 May 2007 10:00:57 GMT

We are constantly improving our Web site to show you the essence of Murano Software. But how can you understand what the company is like if you don’t see its brains and soul: the specialists?

When working with clients, technology capabilities and services play a great role, but the most important thing in software outsourcing is the people who conduct the development process. Сhoosing the software development partner across the ocean and time difference, you probably would like to know who stands behind the company and drives its success.

Please visit the new section on our Web site – Our Team-Photos – to see some of the developers who turn the program code into the software solution for our partners’ businesses. There you can find photos of our working activities, corporate events and major holidays. We tried to show you the most memorable moments of company’s life and some personalities that stand behind our success.

5 things to do in Saint-Petersburg

myemail@myemail.com (Muranosoft site admin) — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 16:48:15 GMT

Saint-Petersburg is a popular place to go in 2007. So, if you arrive at this city you will find plenty of great places to visit and things to do. There are some sights in Saint-Petersburg that everybody has to see and a tradition that every self-respecting tourist follows when they arrive in this colorful city.

The Mariinsky Theatre
Mariinsky is one of the best opera and ballet theaters in the world. It competes with La Scala, The Metropolitan Opera and The Covent Garden Royal Opera House. This opera and ballet theater was world-famous even in pre-revolutionary Russia when the royal suite and the noblest Petersburg people gathered there on high society routs. Imperial interior and Baroque style design remained from those times. This opera house has a strong tradition that follows from Imperial Russia: the legendary operas of Michael Glinka, Modest Mussorgsky and Pyotr Tchaikovsky were first put on the stage there. In 1988 the genius Valery Gergiev started a new era in Mariinsky Theatre history: he began to stage Italian, German and English opera instead of the Russian that dominated before. So, in the 1990s tourists, theatre critics
and Russian intellectuals appreciated The Mariinsky Theatre in a new fashion.

Hermitage museum
When visiting Paris, you go to The Louvre. When you arrive in London, you first want to visit the British Museum. In New York tourists usually go to The Metropolitan Museum of Art. In Saint-Petersburg this “obligatory place to visit” is the Hermitage Museum. The first thing to know about this famous place is that it is the biggest museum in the entire world. It occupies six magnificent palaces situated in the very center of Saint-Petersburg, near River Neva. The main building of this ensemble is the Winter Palace that was the official residence of the Russian royal family. The collection of the Hermitage Museum counts more then 3,000,000 items sorted by historical period and geography. In this treasure-house you may find the most valuable works of Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Rubens, Rembrandt, Picasso and many others. If you are interested in the history of world art or just like visiting museums you will be delighted with Hermitage.

White nights
Due to its geographical location Saint-Petersburg is also famous for the so called “White Nights” that happen between late June and early July. You may take pleasure of this unique season if walk along the River Neva embankment or dine in open-air restaurants. Photos of White Nights look rather like late evenings then the night.

Black Caviar
If you visit Russia you should certainly taste black caviar in one of the numerous Russian restaurants. This precious product was extremely popular in Imperial Russia and contemporary wealthy people appreciate it for its delicate taste and of course extremely high prices. If you want to economize but still partake in monarchical traditions, you may buy caviar in special stores and taste it in a private atmosphere with your friends.

Boat trip
Saint-Petersburg is often called Northern Venice, and this city has a good reason to bear this name. Saint-Petersburg consists of numerous islands of different sizes that are connected by many bridges. On warm summer nights there is nothing better then go on board and take a journey around the rivers and canals of Saint-Petersburg. There are lots of various routs so each tourist may find something special. A pleasing detail of a boat trip is that most rivers and canals are situated in the center of the city so a traveler may combine a boat trip and sightseeing. If you want something imposing you should go to the Finland gulf area of water where you will see how River Neva transforms into the Baltic Sea.

Russia to grow; China and India have strong barriers

myemail@myemail.com (Muranosoft site admin) — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 13:58:52 GMT

“McKinsey Quarterly” asserts that despite that the Chinese and Indian economies develop rapidly, their economy systems have strong barriers to growth.
At first sight India and China are very different: China’s main traits are a powerful banking sector and larger population while India’s strength is its equity market. Their financial systems also have different histories and evolutions. India’s financial and economic systems formed when they were still a part of the British Empire. Their strong banking system is mostly due to Britain. China’s financial system formed in the second part of the twentieth century when its government proclaimed a liberal course of economic development.

These two different countries with their differing economic systems have one common trait: a strong government sector that allows authorities to intervene in market evolution and influence the allocation of capital. As a result economy growth slows down. Chinese state-owned enterprises receive the lion’s share of investments in order to fulfill the plan of employment. The Indian government expends large sums for development of agriculture and the defrayal of the fiscal deficit. In return private companies of both countries receive less investment and hold in the development. McKinsey suggests that China and India should create innovative financial systems that will increase efficiency and widen investment opportunities.

Different sources prove that Russia has a strong private sector and rich opportunities for investment; so many analysts suppose that this country is safe from crisis. Further development of the Russian economy may be reached by professional management, the growth of productivity and nonintervention of government. Russia has major potential of growth, especially in the IT sector that grew by nearly 20% in 2006. In absolute indexes Russian IT market yields to China and India in this industry. On the other hand, the IT sector, especially offshore outsourcing, grows rapidly. So in the nearest future Russia intends to occupy the deserved place in this sphere.

Who says that SME get significant competitive advantage by offshoring?

myemail@myemail.com (Muranosoft site admin) — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 09:45:01 GMT

One of the studies conducted by Value Leadership Group has proved that Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) in Europe benefit from using offshore software development partners.

Some SMEs are surely afraid of losing jobs if they would outsource development functions. Despite the fact that this fear exists, the study shows that none of the companies that took part in the research lost work places. Another important point is that brilliant IT engineers are in small in number in Europe but it’s possible to find them in the offshore (near shore) countries, for example in Russia.

Originally offshore software development services were widely used for low-level maintenance jobs. In recent years we have seen that globalization and a great increase in communicational technologies has made the world flat and connecting, putting new meaning into well-known things. The present-day trend of doing small and medium business effectively is using high profile offshore partners to establish and run a dedicated team overseas. The development teams of suuch partners not only should do coding, but they should also perform high-level tasks, such as product design and architecture. Sometimes the entire engineering department may be located overseas, while investors, top executives, sales and marketing people would be located in the home country. This refers both to the US and European copmanis . SME require extremely effective business strategies that create the best balance between costs and quality.

Who says that SME get significant competitive advantage in the global arena and occupy the leading position in the market by offshoring? We do say. We can also provide some examples where companies save their capital and get competitive advantages if they move part of their value chain offshore.

The software development market' 2006

myemail@myemail.com (Muranosoft site admin) — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 12:50:11 GMT

It has been estimated that the world market for software is rising rapidly. In 2006 this industry remained dynamic. The total volume of the IT sector, according to preliminary data, will be over 1trl 60 bln rubles ($60 bln). This is 20% higher than in 2005. Expected revenues for electronic services are 745 bln rubles ($28 bln), which is 21% higher than in the previous year, and prospective revenues on postal services are 54,4 bln rubles ($2 bln), which is 27,4% higher than in the previous year.

The lion's share of this market is either outsourced or offshore programming (offshore software development) when the on-demand of some large corporations is present. According to the research company Gartner, 72% of IT users opt to outsource.

Russia now is one of the leaders in exporting software and outsourcing services. Today in Russia , there is between 25 and 30 thousand people in the field of exporting software, while in 2004, exports amounted to 560 million dollars. It is expected that in 2007 this figure will exceed 1 billion. The growth of the industry is due to the increase in demand for programming in the Russian market. With the support of the IT sphere that could grow by 20% annually. The government concept of the IT industry development would be a further impetus for growth in Russian IT-businesses. The Russian resort developers and large companies have several advantages over their counterparts from other countries. These include high levels of training, the cost of services, geographical proximity to the countries of Western Europe, and the developed countries of South-East Asia and the Middle East .

Happy Holidays

myemail@myemail.com (Muranosoft site admin) — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 12:09:14 GMT

We hope you have happy holidays! – On behalf of everyone here at Murano Software, we wish you all the joys of this wonderful Holiday Season and the very best for the coming New Year.

The New Year's coming!

myemail@myemail.com (Muranosoft site admin) — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 11:58:48 GMT

Let’s see what we leave behind from the past year.

So, the landscape for outsourcing marketplaces is rapidly changing; with many new job web-sites appearing to change on daily basis. Software Development Outsourcing marketplaces provide people with a convenient opportunity to find new outsourcing business partners.

As Russian service providers have enjoyed long-term relationships with their clients and acquired adequate knowledge about their business, from a long-term perspective, the Russian IT stands to gain. From a demand viewpoint, the size of the offshoring pie is increasing--larger deals are flowing offshore, and more global organizations are coming to Russia to evaluate and finalize their outsourcing strategies. However, as offshoring has evolved, customers and vendors have discovered the benefits of improved processes and service quality as equally important factors in the choice of an offshore location.

"They come for the price, but stay for the quality" is the mantra which many offshore providers currently subscribing to. Today besides cost and quality, some of the other driving factors for offshoring are aspects like easy access to technical talent, flexible work practices and the ability to use different time zones. Creating 24-hour processes, which were previously limited to certain parts of the day, access to highly qualified and motivated staff diversifies an organization’s work culture and additionally assists in the improvement of service quality.

Today, there are multiple options for structuring an offshore arrangement for achieving financial and IT transformation objectives. The four preferred outsourcing models are: captive unit, build-operate-transfer (BOT), joint venture and dedicated offshore development center.

Joint venture is a model wherein a client and an offshore supplier set up a joint venture vehicle, which will predominantly service the client's business. Both the client and the JV partner share the risk and the revenues resulting from the operations.

Though each model has its pros and cons, businesses must choose a stand-alone model or a hybrid structure to maximize the benefits of offshoring and aligning the offshore initiative to their business model.

Clearly, there is no one fit for strategy. It is the consulting skills of the vendor and the client's desired end result that will result in the evolution of the offshoring model to meet business requirements.

In addition, economic and regulatory frameworks over the last few years have resulted in several emerging challenges for organizations. Such dynamic considerations have made it imperative for them to assess the financial viability of their IT portfolio, so that they can address the changes in a business scenario in an effective manner and optimize returns on investments in existing applications as well.

We are keeping up to date

myemail@myemail.com (Muranosoft site admin) — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 17:17:40 GMT

We are keeping up to date, and indeed ahead. Recently we even celebrated the New Year in Saint-Petersburg where one of the development centers is situated. The weather was not quite Christmassy, but it has not been a problem for those who are use to working agile and are always ready for unexpected situations.

Among the Holiday surprises was the visit of Dimitri Nikouline, Murano Software President. According to Dimitri, our clients trust us and are pleased with the outcome of our work. Some of them are glad to see the members of our teams not only as talented developers but also as those who have the same interests in life.

Informal communications during work that naturally take place speaks of understanding and is the key to successful cooperation in the future. Natural human communication among business (and development) partners is the basis for the most promising projects. We have everything, starting from outstanding and talented developers, in order to usher in the New Year.

Dimitri also said “Guys, you are simply the best”. Frankly speaking, we believe in it.

Google to open a research and development center in Russia

myemail@myemail.com (Muranosoft site admin) — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 07:15:13 GMT

Some respected Internet sources give very cognitive information and can influence thinking. One source displays a diagram that shows offshore software development destinations. You can find several countries there, but Russia is not represented. Where is it included? Is it located in the “Eastern Europe” or “Other Countries” category?

On the other hand, more and more large companies open development centers in Russia. This week Google opened its second development center outside the US in the same country. The country is Russia and the development center is located in Saint-Petersburg.

Google chose Russian specialists to develop innovative software solutions. Murano clients do the same. If you are looking to set up your own offshore development center in Russia, we would like you to consider working with our dedicated teams of talented and highly skilled technical professionals.

Murano Software has been invited to have their office on the east coast of the US, the hub of technology

myemail@myemail.com (Muranosoft site admin) — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 10:24:02 GMT

The Economic Development Authority in Fairfax County and Murano Software

The delegation of the Economic Development Authority in Fairfax County (FCEDA) including the president and chief executive officer visited the Murano software development center in Saint-Petersburg. The meeting was incredibly interesting as both sides interacted with each other quite well. We presented our organization’s, activities and benefits and discussed possible future collaborations with the FCEDA.

Our plans on the east coast

Since Murano’s headquarters is located on the west coast of the US, most our software development clients are based there. Recently, we’ve been considering expanding our operations throughout the United States. We considered expanding our operations in New York, Boston, Washington D.C., or Atlanta.

From the outset, neither northern Virginia nor the Washington, D.C area were not high on our list of possible locations. However, after we met with the FCEDA, we realized that Fairfax County is one of the best places to live and have a business in terms of economic growth, infrastructure, level of education, etc. We are grateful to the FCEDA delegation for giving us the opportunity to learn as much as we could about their region. We think they did a great job of promoting the county and providing assistance for international business development.

Informal part of the meeting

Our guests did not appear to be tired at all after their long flight and even kindly agreed to go sightseeing in the city on their first day in Russia. We really appreciated their willingness to discover Saint Petersburg!
The FCEDA delegation visited our office early in the work day, therefore they saw only a few of the Murano developers at work since they adapted to the time zone difference with our US clients. The delegation members said that it was interesting to visit our offices and see how easy it is to plunge into an atmosphere where the workers are highly enthusiastic even if the surroundings are unfamiliar.

What is the desired offshore effect?

myemail@myemail.com (Muranosoft site admin) — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 10:34:56 GMT

It’s obvious that lots of companies can minimize their development costs via offshore outsourcing. Thus usually one of the main criteria for choosing an offshore destination is price. Don’t you think this is a mistake?

If you seek a successful offshore outsourcing engagement, you must think of the results you want. You should pick a vendor that matches you in size or the size of your projects. It’s worth paying attention to developers’ abilities, skills and experience; put emphasis on people rather than on specific requirements of your project. >

As for Murano Software, we are quite effective at cooperating with small and mid-size companies that are innovative. We provide our clients with dedicated teams of talented and creative problem solvers who are able to realize the client’s ideas successfully.

In our opinion, the best offshore effect occurs when the finished software product delivers the full functionality required to meet the needs of the client and it is delivered on time and on budget without any unexpected changes in the process of the development.
To get the desired offshore effect, you should enhance your in-house IT-team by engaging the top specialists in the world. Therefore ask for resumes, don’t be immediately concerned with how quickly a project can get done. Ask for company hiring policies and strategy. And finally, you’ll benefit from having access to a diverse talent pool that can quickly fulfill your requirements and deliver the quality software products and achieve better ROI.