Interview with Peter Harrison, CEO of GlobalLogic

Peter Harrison (Peter Harrison) has more than 20 years of experience in the field of software development. He led the company GlobalLogic in 2002, when it numbered only 20 people. During his leadership, the company has grown almost 150 times and has opened 20 offices worldwide.

Prior to Global Logic, Peter Harrison was Senior Vice President at Versata , where, under his leadership, the company's revenue grew from $ 1 million to $ 56 million. In 2000, Versata made an IPO and its placement of shares was one of the 25 most successful IPO examples. Prior to working at Versata, Peter Harrison was one of the founders of Seer Technologies , where, as vice president of sales, he increased the company's revenue from zero to $ 120 million in five years. As a result, in 1995, the company entered the IPO. Mr. Harrison holds a BS in Software Engineering from the University of Birmingham (UK).

- Peter, for starters, let's talk about the story. How did you come to this business? How did it all begin?

- I was born in the UK, in London, by education - a bachelor in software development. More than twenty years ago, I started working as a programmer at the Dutch company Logica - one can say that this was the first serious step in the IT industry. Further, my career has already developed in the United States. Before I founded GlobalLogic, I had two companies - both worked in technology. The first one was mainly engaged in research and development (R & D) in Russia - in 1991-1992. we had a team of fifty developers and consultants. For the second company, we created a development team in India - this was in the late nineties. In both companies, we struggled to be an R & D structure within the company and an IT structure — outside, for our partners and customers. In my opinion, this is what became the dominant concept when we created GlobalLogic. Of course, IT development cannot be discounted, but it is clear that R & D is the true engine of progress. GlobalLogic has impeccable qualifications in IT issues, however, world-wide fame provides us with the highest level of R & D.
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- In your opinion, when was it easier to start and develop a business related to software development - in the mid-nineties or now?

- In my opinion, the software market is becoming increasingly competitive. If earlier software companies competed in local or regional markets, today it has become global. We have to work in more difficult conditions than it was ten years ago, but this stimulates the constant growth of the company, its development.

- How will the economic crisis hit the IT industry? What should manufacturers and end users expect?

- R & D industry will not suffer as much as IT, since R & D is the basis of any progress. However, the decline will be observed in all segments. For GlobalLogic this is, in a sense, a positive experience, since we help R & D companies to conduct their business more efficiently, including cost-effectively. Many companies will have no choice but to turn to outsourcing services. We observed a similar situation during the dot-com crisis - it gave a powerful impetus to the development of the outsourcing market. It seems to me that the market will need a few more months to navigate and reorganize to new business principles.

- In which direction is the software development industry moving? Is it possible to identify trends that have emerged lately?

- First of all, it should be noted a clearly emerging trend of increasing the share of outsourcing in the process of creating software. In addition, this also applies to R & D development. Ten years ago, very few companies gave R & D research to outsourcing companies, but today the situation has changed dramatically. Grants such as Microsoft delegate a number of tasks to outsource - this is a landmark indicator. Many major manufacturers have adopted a new product development model: part is created on its own, part by outsourcers. Today, outsourcing companies are assigned not only primitive tasks that do not require high qualifications - we often communicate with the technical management of customers who entrust us with the most important areas of work. Another important trend: many IT-companies implement the concept of "Fabless", that is, completely abandon the physical production of products, focusing on the development. Two years ago, this process was just beginning, but today we can already speak about it as a fundamental direction for the development of the industry.

- Let's move from global issues directly to your company. As you know, GlobalLogic was formed by the merger of the American company Induslogic and Ukrainian Bonus Technology. What difficulties had to be overcome at this stage?

- We already had the experience of merging the two companies, but in this case we connected not only different companies, but also different cultures. On the other hand, at the time of the merger, we were already an international company: we had employees from the USA, Great Britain, South Africa, France, India, China ... We successfully integrated various people, different companies, different principles into our global structure. So the creation of GlobalLogic was not fraught with serious difficulties. But this would not have been possible without a clear organizational structure, in which all divisions of the company interact with each other as efficiently as possible - regardless of their geographic location. We do not have isolated teams: all regional divisions of GlobalLogic are closely connected with their colleagues from other countries - and this “network” structure seems to be optimal.

- Tell us about the business model of GlobalLogic. How does a company function and make a profit?

- As already mentioned, our company's business model is R & D outsourcing. Our goal is to provide high-quality development companies that need it - anywhere in the world. GlobalLogic's economic strategy is based on the differences in the cost of skilled labor in different countries, but our main trump card is the talented people we are looking for around the world. Many of our clients choose GlobalLogic, primarily because of our unique experience, and not because of economic feasibility. The price factor is only half the success. If we were not experts in our business, the cost of services alone would not be able to bring the company to the world level. Economic policy only makes our offers more profitable.

- Who are the largest customers of GlobalLogic services?

- We work with leading technology companies: among our clients are Microsoft, Oracle, Autodesk, Yahoo !, other market leaders. Among these companies there is a demand for services provided by GlobalLogic - and we are proud of our cooperation with the leaders of the IT industry.

- How does the company solve the personnel issue? What requirements must a candidate meet in order to join the GlobalLogic team?

- We are extremely interested in employees who have a certain understanding of R & D processes, in addition to IT skills. Ideally, they should have experience in product development before joining GlobalLogic, but we are ready to train employees who have only an IT background without an R & D component. A very important factor is fluency in English at a high level - if a new employee has problems with free communication, we will offer him appropriate training. Some outsourcing companies work according to the “black box” principle: it does not matter which of the developers speak English, only one person from the team communicates with the management, partners and customers, as a rule, the project manager. Our model is completely transparent: all company employees must and can communicate with each other, for this there should not be any obstacles, including language ones. Another criterion that helps us choose the best employees is the ability to think innovatively. Of course, each candidate should have some technical knowledge, but most of all we value non-standard, innovative thinking in employees. Our company organizes a competition of IT-specialists "Programming" - such events often allow to reveal real talents.

- And how is the top management of the company selected? Do you prefer to train your own staff or invite professionals who have already taken place?

- We use both approaches. GlobalLogic is developing rapidly: the last five years, the growth of the company is at least 50% annually. Not all managers within the company are able to grow as fast as ever-changing conditions require, so we have to attract new managers from outside. Of course, we strongly encourage the growth of top managers within our company: there are programs to encourage and promote talented employees. Another source of top managers is the companies that we absorb. Many of them have extensive experience in the market, so we are pleased to invite their top managers to join our team.

- The choice of Ukraine as a “forge of personnel” is due only to economic expediency? Is it possible to transfer the main development centers to other countries if the level of wages in Ukraine grows significantly?

- Of course, the economic factor is important when choosing a country. When we chose Ukraine, we paid attention, of course, to the cost of services. But no less important, we find the professional level of personnel. We look not only at individual professionals, but also at the general level of education in the state. Both of these criteria are key when choosing a country where GlobalLogic comes. I can not assume that we will ever leave Ukraine. Let's take a look at the history of our industry: 14 years ago, Ireland and Israel were the leading outsourcing countries. Over time, these countries have gained sufficient experience, significantly improved the skills of their specialists - and switched to providing services of a higher level of complexity. It makes no sense to leave a successful country, because in it you can conduct business at a completely different level. As for Ukraine, I can predict that we will strengthen and expand our presence in this country.

- A year and a half ago, you received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award in the Emerging category. What personal qualities and what business indicators did the company need to demonstrate in order to receive such an award?

- It seems to me that Ernst & Young puts the company's achievements, its performance in the estimated time, at the forefront. GlobalLogic was created 7 years ago - today we have more than three thousand employees. I think this is an adequate indicator of the success of the company and its strategy. Another question is how we achieved this success. My answer: passion and professionalism. This tandem is present in any successful venture. If you like your job, if you are in love with it - this is not just a job. At the same time, it is necessary to have a high level of discipline and responsibility. And the most important thing: always keep moving forward, despite the difficulties, without which no serious project can do.

- Tell us about last year's merger with the Israeli company InterObject. According to our information, the entire merger process - from the start of negotiations to the signing of documents - took about six months. How long will it take for the “seamless” integration of the InterObject team into GlobalLogic? What expectations do you place on the Israeli IT market?

“The hopes we place on InterObject are realized in the very near future. It is very important that this is an R & D company, just like us. Our companies are very similar - it greatly simplifies the integration process. We have a certain symmetry: GlobalLogic is present in Lviv, where InterObject is located, and the Kiev office of InterObject is adjacent to ours. We dominate in Kiev, having a representative office in Lviv - InterObject dominates in Lviv, limited to a small representative office in Kiev. We have unique opportunities to become an organic addition to each other. We are pleased that InterObject is an Israeli company, because the Israeli segment of the IT-innovation industry is inferior, perhaps, to Silicon Valley. Over the past year, more than three billion dollars have been invested in Israeli technology companies. Thus, we see that the Israeli IT market is one of the most impressive in the world, and InterObject is an integral part of it, and this will allow us to enter the market not from scratch. Of course, the integration of InterObject will be much faster and simpler than, for example, merging with Bonus Technology.

- Can you share your plans for further acquisitions of GlobalLogic?

- If we talk about the strategic direction, we continue to search for R & D companies that can become part of GlobalLogic. InterObject is a great example of such a company. In addition to activities, we pay attention to the size of the company: we prefer to integrate structures where the number of employees is in the tens or hundreds, but not thousands. The corporate culture of the company is also important. And, of course, we are looking for companies with the "right" experience and located in the "right" places where we are already present or are planning to be present. Last year we had two mergers: with the Ukrainian Validio and the Israeli InterObject. I think that we will maintain this pace of development, integrating two or three companies a year.

- Is there anything in Ukrainian outsourcing that distinguishes it for better or worse from, say, Indian or Chinese developers? Has the Ukrainian IT industry developed its “face” on the world stage?

- According to some estimates, in Ukraine today about 12 thousand people work in the field of IT-outsourcing. I am pleased to note that GlobalLogic is not only the largest employer in this field, but also has the most qualified staff. Speaking about the differences between Ukraine and, say, India, it should be noted that our business in Ukraine is growing much more intensively - despite the fact that the number of employees in India is still slightly higher. The main advantage of Ukraine is that here you can find more professional teams, because this is due to the established traditions of technical education. In addition, the peculiarities of the Ukrainian specialists' mentality perfectly correspond to R & D concepts: in Ukraine we find creators, not just performers. All this contributes to the impeccable quality of work. Unlike India, we don’t have to train new employees in Ukraine, since they already have sufficient qualifications. However, this does not mean that we intend to abandon the Indian development teams, since there is enough work for them, it all depends on the specifics of a particular project. After all, the mission of GlobalLogic is to combine the best in order to provide the client with the optimal solution to his task.