Offshore Development

Long before most other IT services companies in Switzerland, in 1995 ELCA started thinking about new approaches to software development and the possibility of having a software development center abroad. In 1998 ELCA opened an office in Ho Chi Minh City. Since then our team there has grown to over 70 people. ELCA Information Technology (Vietnam) Limited is 100% foreign owned by ELCA Informatique SA.

Evolution of our capabilities

Over the years we have developed the ability to manage more and more complex projects. Project size and interaction requirements are the two dimensions we use to measure complexity. 

One of the first projects ELCA worked on in Vietnam was the rewrite of a system to publish timetables for a transportation company. With more than 120’000 lines of code and with 4 visits of Swiss representatives to Vietnam, this was a classic example approach of what is considered an ideal candidate for an offshore IT project. The next step in our evolution was the development of a new strategic application for an insurance company to manage the fast creation and roll-out of new products to their agents. Even though the specifications covered more than 400 pages and the total engineering team consisted of close to 30 experts, ELCA was able to limit the number of visits to Vietnam to 5 and finished the project on time and within budget in only 10 months. The next level of expertise was proven with a project for the public sector and the task to develop a new business application for managing company profiles. With approximately 2.5 months of work and no chance to travel between Switzerland and Vietnam due to the SARS epidemic, we managed to deliver a project that would widely be considered impossible to offshore, both on time and within budget. At ELCA we never stop to looking for new challenges – that’s why we are now working on projects in the area of package parametrisation and are confident of success.

Current offerings

ELCA Vietnam is a production centre that is organized into several groups. Each Group Leader has five to ten years of experience and takes care of one large or several smaller projects. These, in turn are led by Project- or Team Leaders depending on the team size and the complexity of the underlying business and technologies.

ELCA Vietnam is currently in the process of becoming CMMI Level 3 certified and all projects follow our tailor-made Quality System. The resulting potential for personal development and the organizational impact of this certification project have been unexpected side-effects. New employees are now ready to become involved in projects after about three months with the company: a far shorter time than used to be the norm.

Our teams are working on projects that should average one to twelve man-years in efforts, and which actually take between several weeks and eighteen months to complete. We also have a group that is working on product developments, adding an important dimension to our management expertise. Most current state-of-the-art technologies and methods are used.

Further information

Our business model comprises project management by a representative in the home country who coordinates all activities and contacts at the development centre in Vietnam.