Smarter Software Outsourcing

In this episode, a dear friend and colleague, Dean Denny, gave me the chance to share the origin story of Arcanys, how my own experiences played a role in shaping our culture, particularly our holistic wellness initiatives, and how it ultimately led to the addition of the Arcanys CrossFit Gym. This episode was first published on the Open Source Growth Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/za/podcast/building-high-performance-software-teams-and/id1469951099?i=1000632773850 Open Source Growth: Powerful SAAS Marketing Strategies with Dean Denny: https://podcasts.apple.com/za/podcast/open-source-growth-powerful-saas-marketing-strategies/id1469951099 Need to grow your team and expand your software development capabilities with a reliable tech partner by your side? Visit www.arcanys.com. Get in touch with me: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fredjoye Email: fred@arcanys.com Website: https://www.arcanys.com

In this episode of the Smarter Outsourcing Podcast, Fred welcomes Jon Darbyshire, a visionary leader and serial entrepreneur who's made a great impact in the world of business process management. Jon talks about SmartSuite's unconventional software outsourcing journey by cultivating remote-first collaboration across 6 distributed teams. 00:00 Intro 03:40 You started with a comprehensive product at SmartSuite instead of an MVP. How did this approach shape your go-to-market strategy and the company's growth trajectory? 08:01 How did you have enough confidence in your product's potential to forgo building an MVP and instead invest in fully developing it from the start? 10:35 How did partnering with six providers to build a diverse and remote development team shape SmartSuite's competitive edge? How does the daily collaboration with multiple providers work? 14:01 How have your investments in various companies shaped your perspective on running SmartSuite, and what key lessons have you taken from these experiences? 17:14 What was the thought process behind SmartSuite, and how does it contribute to building a strong culture and enhance intergenerational collaboration? 21:13 How did you incorporate and represent the diverse cultures of your clients into a unified interface and user experience? 23:01How did you select the individuals you wanted to work with, and why is the ability to build personal connections with them so important? 25:43 You're offering equity to vendors in SmartSuite. What led you to choose this business model, and what makes you believe it represents the future for startups? 29:50 Have you seen more and more startups following this model since you started almost four years ago? 32:37How did you handle the cross-cultural environment while working with six different providers from various countries? How well do the teams collaborate with each other? 34:35 A lot of companies that initially adopted remote work due to Covid now bring their teams back to the office for improved cohesion and collaboration, and stronger company culture. What's your perspective on that? Subscribe to the Smarter Software Outsourcing show for actionable insights to better hire and manage offshore tech teams, even when you are on the go. Need to grow your team and expand your software development capabilities with a reliable tech partner by your side? Visit https://www.arcanys.com/ or connect with Arcanys co-founder Fred on LinkedIn ➡️ https://linkedin.com/in/fredjoye

A few months ago, Daniel invited me to talk about how culture, although not quite measurable, plays a significant role in the success and failure of a business. It was great being on the other side of the podcast fence, if you will. I loved having Daniel rack my brain a little bit about what culture means for Arcanys, and how it has evolved now that most of us are working remotely. I hope you enjoy listening as much as we have enjoyed recording it! This episode was first published on The Remote-Culture Podcast: https://www.remote-culture.com/1485994/11632390-1-helping-employees-feel-great-about-themselves-with-frederic-joye-from-arcanys Remote-Culture Podcast https://www.remote-culture.com/1485994 & its host, Daniel Abebe https://www.linkedin.com/in/abebedaniel/ Get in touch with me: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fredjoye Email: fred@arcanys.com Website: https://www.arcanys.com

In this episode of Outsourcing Stories, Fred exchanges with Jin Zhu to share their insights on where Duet Inc. has been struggling before the company worked with Arcanys, how the partnership has fared and how far the team has grown so far. Duet Inc. is a Silicon Valley startup with a simple yet powerful software solution designed for transportation service providers to improve their productivity. 00:24 About Duet, Inc. 01:12 Arcanys team overview 02:00 Start of the collaboration with Arcanys 03:08 Arcanys' role in achieving strategic goals 04:35 Value comparison: California Vs. Philippines 05:36 Distributed teams are changing the game07:11 Duet, Inc. x Arcanys: Daily collaboration 08:04 Project management: roles distribution 09:00 Travel perspectives to visit the Arcanys offshore team 10:46 The partnership's impact on Duet's business 11:16 Considerations for in-house Vs. outsourced team setups 15:08 Benefits of a Dedicated Team engagement model 17:26 Closing thoughts Subscribe to the Smarter Software Outsourcing show for actionable insights to better hire and manage offshore tech teams, even when you are on the go. Need to grow your team and expand your software development capabilities with a reliable tech partner by your side? Visit https://www.arcanys.com/ or connect with Arcanys co-founder Fred on LinkedIn ➡️ https://linkedin.com/in/fredjoye

A few weeks ago, I was invited to Derek Gallimore's show, The Outsource Accelerator Podcast. Derek is a serial entrepreneur and the founder of Outsource Accelerator, which he often describes as the 'Alibaba of outsourcing', providing the gateway for businesses to connect with outsourcing suppliers. In early 2022, I sat with Derek to study how the pandemic changed the outsourcing landscape and how the supply and demand for software developers were evolving (you can find that episode in the show notes if you missed it). Of course, a lot has changed since then, and we're discussing how in today's episode. We're also looking at the latest tech scene updates, outsourcing market trends for 2023, and what sets offshoring in the Philippines apart from other countries. I hope you enjoy listening as much as we have enjoyed recording it! This episode was first published on The Outsource Accelerator Podcast: https://www.outsourceaccelerator.com/podcast/offshore-developers-tech-scene-updates-from-fred-joye-of-arcanys/ Outsource Accelerator Podcast https://www.outsourceaccelerator.com/source/podcasts/ & its host and OA founder, Derek Gallimore https://www.linkedin.com/in/derek-gallimore/ Get in touch with me: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fredjoye Email: fred@arcanys.com Website: https://www.arcanys.com

Steve France, CEO of BloomLocal, sat down with Arcanys co-founder Frederic Joye to discuss his partnership with Arcanys, and how it propelled his startup company to build the software he needed — a scalable solution for small local florists to better market their online services. 0:00 Intro 0:43 What is BloomLocal? 3:06 Why did you pick Arcanys? 4:21 How did it start and when? 6:01 How is your team doing so far? 7:29 How does Arcanys senior architect help you? 9:01 What does your Arcanys team allow you to do? 10:14 Could you explain the benefits of the Arcanys work for equity program? 12:14 Were you coming to visit Arcanys team in the office in Cebu before the pandemic? 13:18 How the collaboration with has impacted your business? 14:25 Could you have achieved the same results with in-house developers? Subscribe to the Smarter Software Outsourcing show for actionable insights to better hire and manage offshore tech teams, even when you are on the go. Need to grow your team and expand your software development capabilities with a reliable tech partner by your side? Visit https://www.arcanys.com/ or connect with Arcanys co-founder Fred on LinkedIn ➡️ https://linkedin.com/in/fredjoye

Discover how Koobani CEO Geoff Robinson partnering up with a passionate, tight-knit teamof Software Development experts from Arcanys has unlocked Koobani’s full potential and helped them reach spectacular growth—eventually becoming a market leader in the B2B Sales space. 0:00 Intro to “Outsourcing story of Koobani: A full suite of B2B solutions and provider of technology services” 6:19 How is the team working for you? 7:25 How is the attrition in your team? 9:27 Why Arcanys? 11:02 How is your team doing so far? 27:15 How and when did the collaboration start? 35:57 How would you say this collaboration affects your business? 39:39 Could you have achieved the same results with in-house developers? 45:26 Any last words about your collaboration with us? Subscribe to the Smarter Software Outsourcing show for actionable insights to better hire and manage offshore tech teams, even when you are on the go. Need to grow your team and expand your software development capabilities with a reliable tech partner by your side? Visit https://www.arcanys.com/ or connect with Arcanys co-founder Fred on LinkedIn ➡️ https://linkedin.com/in/fredjoye

Albert founder & CEO Antoine Vatar explains how Arcanys’ technical expertise, problem-solving skills, and human-first approach were key to propelling their app to greater heights and improve on the work of a previous agency significantly. 0:00 Intro to “Outsourcing story of Albert: Driving employee engagement with a powerful white-label mobile app” 0:57 What is Albert? 3:32 Why did you decide to work with Arcanys? 6:06 How is your team doing so far? 9:37 What does your Arcanys team allow you to do? 12:15 How often did you visit the Arcanys team before the pandemic? 13:38 How the collaboration with Arcanys is impacting your business? 14:58 Could you have achieved the same results with in-house developers? Subscribe to the Smarter Software Outsourcing show for actionable insights to better hire and manage offshore tech teams, even when you are on the go. Need to grow your team and expand your software development capabilities with a reliable tech partner by your side? Visit https://www.arcanys.com/ or connect with Arcanys co-founder Fred on LinkedIn ➡️ https://linkedin.com/in/fredjoye

Payment Logic co-founder and CTO Mark Nimco explains how they became one of Australia’s fastest-growing technology companies with a 148% growth in 3 years thanks to the agility, skill, and dedication of their Arcanys resources. 0:00 Intro to “Outsourcing story of Payment Logic: Building a powerful payment platform for Australian businesses” 0:25 What is Payment Logic? 0:50 Before collaborating with Arcanys, how did you work? 1:17 How did you decide to work with Arcanys? 4:45 What results did you achieve when you started working with the Arcanys team? 6:21 Why did you pick a dedicated development team and not remote freelancers? 7:06 Where did you hear about Arcanys first? What picked your interest? 8:34 You sent a test to several companies in the Philippines. How did the Arcanys team do compared to the other teams? 9:10 Aside from technical skills, was it also different in terms of communication? 9:59 Can you describe how it is working with Arcanys? 12:07 How likely are you to recommend Arcanys? Subscribe to the Smarter Software Outsourcing show for actionable insights to better hire and manage offshore tech teams, even when you are on the go. Need to grow your team and expand your software development capabilities with a reliable tech partner by your side? Visit https://www.arcanys.com/ or connect with Arcanys co-founder Fred on LinkedIn ➡️ https://linkedin.com/in/fredjoye

In this episode, Fred and Derek study how the pandemic changed the outsourcing landscape, the trends to watch in 2022, and how the job market and demand for software development professionals have evolved. 00:23 Intro *Outsource Accelerator* 2:00 How Covid has initially impacted the outsourcing industry and Outsource Accelerator? 8:58 What is the biggest industry learning from the Ukraine crisis? 14:04 How do you see a post-Covid or "new normal" world for the outsourcing industry? 18:04 Any advice for companies looking at outsourcing right now? *Arcanys* 21:10 How does Arcanys make sure they are sourcing good candidates? 25:27 Who is in charge of the quality control of what your developers do? 29:14 Can you tell me a bit about the salary inflation of your developers in the Philippines? 35:27 What is your take on short vs long-term development projects when it comes to outsourcing? Looking for a complete video guide to thoroughly evaluate software team augmentation providers and pick the right one? We walk you through every step here 👉 https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLb... Subscribe to the Smarter Software Outsourcing show for actionable insights to better hire and manage offshore tech teams, even when you are on the go. Need to grow your team and expand your software development capabilities with a reliable tech partner by your side? Visit https://www.arcanys.com/ or connect with Arcanys co-founder Fred on LinkedIn ➡️ https://linkedin.com/in/fredjoye

What time is the right time to outsource? In this new episode of the Smarter Software Outsourcing show, we talk about what sparks the need for specialized support from an outsourced tech team, and the situations in which outsourcing becomes the best strategy. Specifically, we discuss: 00:35 Intro 01:29 Is there a good time (or a bad one) to consider outsourcing software development? 03:20 What makes companies want to outsource their software development or extend their development team? 03:52 1. Hiring the right IT talents takes time 04:31 2. By fast-tracking the digital transformation of many companies, the pandemic has increased the need for IT talents 06:21 3. The salaries onshore have shot up massively 07:15 4. Turnover: retaining developers in SMEs in the long term is increasingly difficult 10:59 Have employers become more open to remote teams? 13:28 Why does developers' scarcity not impact all countries equally? 18:04 What are the first steps to take when looking for outsourcing options? Subscribe to the Smarter Software Outsourcing show for actionable insights to better hire and manage offshore tech teams, even when you are on the go. Connect with Fred on Linkedin here https://linkedin.com/in/fredjoye Need to grow your team and expand your software development capabilities with a reliable tech partner by your side? Visit https://www.arcanys.com/

This episode was first released on the Leadership Conversations show, where I chatted with Australia-based podcaster and fellow leadership development expert, Jonno White, about what being a leader means today. We talk about leadership being so much more than just influencing people and organizations, and I explain why I think it must hold values and carry meaning to inspire. Specifically, we discuss: [0:00] Intro [1:39] Background and founding of Arcanys [3:18] How Fred's childhood moments shaped the leader he is today [5:37] First steps towards Leadership & Entrepreneurship [10:54] Leading 300 people: differences, revelations and pivotal moments [12:52] Co-founding Arcanys: the entrepreneurial journey [22:52] Breaking through the 50-employee ceiling to achieve growth [24:37] To leaders out there hitting the same ceiling and looking to scale their team: balance your resources to avoid bottlenecks [27:50] Leadership Express: favourite reads, podcasts, the role of CrossFit, and more [29:46] Best piece of advice ever received [32:58] Impactful movies & TV shows [35:55] Connecting with Fred & discovering Arcanys Follow the Leadership Conversations show for more inspiring stories and leadership tools. Subscribe to the Smarter Software Outsourcing show for actionable insights to better hire and manage offshore tech teams, even when you are on the go. Need to grow your team and expand your software development capabilities with a reliable tech partner by your side? Visit www.arcanys.com.

In choosing your software development outsourcing partner, the factors with which you evaluate service provider should not only be limited to the strict technical capabilities, but should also include the collaborative and operational aspects of the process. Why? Because at some point in the outsourcing process, you will have to decide whether you want to keep your own operational practices and tools, or adopt those of your provider. The decision would heavily depend on your maturity in the software development lifecycle, as well as on the provider’s proposed degree of involvement. 0:00 Intro 1:13 There’s no one-fits-all configuration 2:55 Company-wide processes 6:56 Team-wide processes 9:23 Work environment and location Need to grow your team and expand your software development capabilities with a reliable tech partner by your side? Visit www.arcanys.com.

In this episode, we discuss what Arcanys believes are the key drivers that propel customer satisfaction in an offshore team services provider and client company relationship. These are the same guiding principles that have allowed us, as a company, to keep partnerships going, providing invaluable assistance to clients in various industries in our many years as a trusted outsourced software development services provider in the Philippines. Happy listening! Need to grow your team and expand your software development capabilities with a reliable tech partner by your side? Visit www.arcanys.com.

Once you understand the process of getting the best value for money from an augmented team, what’s not to like? You are able to fill in the crucial ‘missing pieces’ in your core team while maximizing productivity and getting projects off the ground—and in a cost-effective manner, at that. But while it’s true that the right outsourcing partner is an invaluable asset to your business, approaching the extended team model with misaligned expectations and rushing into it unprepared can introduce substantial risks of failures, additional costs, and loss of time. So, what can you do? Well, I don’t have a foolproof recipe for success to share with you, I’m afraid. But I can tell you the 9 greatest mistakes I’ve seen in over 20 years in the outsourcing industry. The kind of mistakes you want to stay away from when you engage with an offshore partner. [00:00] Intro [2:01] Thinking a fixed-price project is the safest move [6:24] Thinking that the requirements can be built on the fly with no clear roadmap [8:18] Building your site on a proprietary framework, CMS, or platform that is developed & owned by your software provider [11:04] Not having access to your source code on a regular basis [12:02] Looking for an outsourcing vendor that will blindly execute software development [14:51] Believing that doubling the team size will double the output in a linear fashion [17:05] Treating the outsourced resources as a different team separate from your company [18:35] Confusing price with value [20:40] A Startup special: Thinking that there is such a thing as a free lunch. Work for equity deals Need to grow your team and expand your software development capabilities with a reliable tech partner by your side? Visit www.arcanys.com.

With the rise of the global remote workforce and the resulting talent wars, employee poaching is a growing threat — especially in the technology world, where a lot of professionals say they’re continuously on the lookout for better career opportunities. So how do you keep your developers happy and make sure they are productive? Here are 7 ways to help you do that. [00:00] Intro [1:43] Have clear and attainable goals and milestones [2:32] Clearly define roles and responsibilities [3:59] Give them the right tools [5:16] Provide mentorship, training, and continuous education [7:00] Encourage open communication and feedback [8:23] Keep non-coding tasks minimal [9:46] Get them into the flow Need to grow your team and expand your software development capabilities with a reliable tech partner by your side? Visit www.arcanys.com.

In this episode, we want to shed light on the risk of delegating project estimation by way of quotations or free appraisals. And discovering if a lack of commitment to detail will come at a cost versus paying to uncover the detail. [0:00] Intro to project estimation: free appraisals, are they ever really free? [2:09] What are the key reasons you think “free appraisals” are so appealing to customers? [5:31] Are there any particular type of projects or companies that are drawn to free appraisals? [10:36] What are the hidden costs to clients attached to free estimations? [16:01] If a “Free Appraisal” isn’t practical due to the sheer scale of a client’s requirements, what do you suggest to help them move forward? Need to grow your team and expand your software development capabilities with a reliable tech partner by your side? Visit www.arcanys.com.

Explore the hidden costs in project success and why fixed price locks you into something you can't change and will live with until your next project. [0:00] Intro to Fixed Price Projects: Why disappointment is inevitable [2:26] Tell us about your experience running fixed-cost projects. But first, could you describe what a fixed cost project is? [7:20] What kind of expectations did the clients have, and do you think some of them could have been run differently and more efficiently without that fixed constraint? [25:42] Do you feel there is still a place for fixed price projects in the industry? [30:08] Can you tell us why, even if the project is deemed a success, it still always disappoints? Need to grow your team and expand your software development capabilities with a reliable tech partner by your side? Visit www.arcanys.com.

Risks appear as technical roadblocks and costs during the life cycle of the project. Predictable billing puts clients in control of their spend. [0:00] Intro to Open ended contracts: How wielding predictability can mitigate risk? [2:33] What is an “open-ended contract”? [29:17] Open-ended contract as a client [43:54] Who are “open-ended” contracts best suited to? [45:39] Don’t “time billing” arrangements cause a conflict of interest? [47:59] What happens if a team resource is underperforming? [52:38] Is this level of control for the client diminishing the responsibility of the provider? [54:55] How can clients “wield” or use the predictability of this approach to their advantage? [58:22] Does Arcanys offer any unique options as part of their OEC? Need to grow your team and expand your software development capabilities with a reliable tech partner by your side? Visit www.arcanys.com.