Kynetia has created numerous software engineering projects, developing custom applications tailored to our clients’ needs, from complex, mission-critical banking systems to corporate applications for major multinational concerns supporting numerous countries in different language and used by thousands of people. Kynetia has been able to achieve this because architecture has been key to our developments from the outset, ensuring that business dynamics are adequately supported by our applications.

As leading firms, our clients must always stay one step ahead of their competitors. To do this, they base their strategy on three pillars:

• Enterprise Architecture. This is the first and perhaps most important matter if market leadership is to be maintained. Only a strong EA containing the business strategy enables a company to maintain competitiveness. Technology and the business must go hand in hand, and Enterprise Architecture provides the framework.
• Custom development for core business processes. A leading company must necessarily differentiate itself from its competitors and provide its customers with value added products and services.
  
  
  

  Custom Software Development versus Software off-the-shelf
  What differentiates some companies from other is precisely their core business processes. Since technology increasingly supports the majority of business processes, our conclusion is that they must be supported by applications and software services that include the unique know-how that makes the firm different from and more efficient than the competition.
  
  One of the concerns here is whether to use off-the-shelf or custom developments. While this dilemma was far from trivial at a time when custom software was a world of shadows, the arrival of standards-based developments means the answer is fairly simple today. The development of standards-based software ensures that the investments already made will be protected, avoids conditioning future investments (because the buyer is not dependent on the manufacturer or the developer), and provides exactly what is needed. Above all, it hones a firm’s competitive advantage.
  
  This does not mean that off-the-shelf software does not have a place. Of course it does. As shown in the above chart, off-the-shelf software performs superbly in pure support processes that do not compromise a firm’s competitiveness. In the same way that it would not be logical to use custom software for processes of this kind, however, there is little point in using off-the-shelf applications for core business processes
• Permanent innovation. Only innovation over time will maintain competitive advantage. Hence, businesses must constantly launch innovations in the market and technology has to adapt constantly to provide the necessary support. In this light, we should forget about freezing requirements and set in train an iterative development program to allow the market launch of innovations in business processes as and when they arise. This philosophy is illustrated in the following chart.
  
  
  
  

  If requirements were frozen in times T1 and T2, performance would be F1 in T2. Given continual evolution and a continual development process for business needs, however, performance F2 will be much greater in T2 than in T1.
  

  
  This is also the case with competitors. If the benchmark firm in a given market launches an new business feature in T1, the competition will probably copy and develop the innovation. It will thus implement the performance enjoyed by the leader (F1), perhaps accompanied by additional developments. Logically, it takes some time to develop the full performance. Let us assume that T2 is the moment at which competitors succeed in launching the copies made. If the market leader has failed to innovate further, its competitors will catch up at this time. If it has continued to innovate, however, the leader will have performance F2 at time T2, which will still exceed the F1 achieved by its competitors.

These are the three principles that underlie our custom developments. Using Enterprise Architecture, Kynetia and our clients establish the bases for the business strategy (within the business strategy). Our Custom Software Development services involve modeling the core business processes that differentiate our clients. Finally, we use an iterative development methodology and Live Software Support to avoid freezing requirements and ensure that competitiveness is maintained.

Our development approach

At Kynetia we base on developments on three pillars:

• Multi-layer development – We approach all of our developments from the perspective of the three layers that make up the application. These are the front-end or presentation layer, middleware (where the application logic resides) and the back-end (where the data reside). In each layer, we provide our clients with a range of services depending on application needs. Read more...
• Iterative development methodology – While we define the development methodology to be employed jointly with our clients in each project in order to align our work with their management needs, our final objective is always to ensure that the client retains complete control over the timing and cost of the project. To this end, we may work with Agile models such as Scrum and Agile UP, or directly with RUP. Read more...
• Quality assurance– Kynetia’s quality policy is aimed solely and exclusively to ensure the full satisfaction of our clients, who will see their expectations more than fulfilled. This is a consequence of our working philosophy, which is based on attention to the specific needs of each client (providing the right solutions in each case), meticulous compliance with deadlines, swift resolution of any incidents and a friendly service at all times. Read more...
  

Conclusion

The development of standards-based software is the key to helping technologically with the enhancement of competitive advantage. It is no accident that the leading producers of off-the-shelf software are now switching rapidly to models that are as close as possible to custom development. However, standards-based development protects past and future development, and this is by no means easy to achieve with off-the-shelf solutions.

At Kynetia we have a strong track-record in standards-based custom software development, especially applications designed to optimize core business processes. These are critical systems because they must be integrated with transactional systems (as in banking and insurance) and because they require a high level of functional and operational scalability (millions of users).