In the early 2000s, Time Management Corp’s CEO, Barrs Lewis, concluded he needed a technical partner to assist in developing his company’s labor management software. So he turned to his colleague Igor Epshteyn, CEO of Coherent Solutions, a custom software development firm that was in the process of establishing a new development center in Eastern Europe. Thus Time Management (later purchased by Agilysys) became one of the first clients to work with Coherent’s new model for international collaboration.
Believing that excellent service delivery management is the key to a better model for globally distributed teams, Igor and COO Rob Duff created a system and processes to manage accounts via U.S.-based service delivery managers. These delivery managers have strong experience in consulting, project management and software development, and are key to clients realizing the advantages of offshore software development while mitigating its risks.
“We were just setting up our development center in Minsk and were able to prove our ideas with Agilysys,” Rob explains. “Tapping the technical expertise in Eastern Europe was one thing, but we needed to create the processes for working seamlessly across an ocean. We believed delivery management would be a vital link in establishing standards of transparency and assuring our teams would understand client business goals so they could stay in alignment with them.”
The model proved itself and has been working for Agilysys and many others for over a decade. Coherent’s strong partnership with Agilysys was founded on core delivery management principles which still include:
- Deep business knowledge
- Extensive experience in custom software development
- Clear understanding of clients’ business goals
- Inclusive, transparent communication
“Coherent Solutions has been a trusted partner with us for over ten years,” says Tom Mayer, Senior Director of Software Development at Agilysys. “There is no reason to change that relationship for as long as I can see.”