Indigenous Software Has Equal Value with Foreign Software
Contrary to general belief that foreign developed software is superior to indigenous software in quality and standard, the Managing Director, UpperLink Software and e-Payment Solution Development Company, Mr. Segun Akano has said both foreign and indigenous developed software have equal standard and quality and that most times, the locally developed software addresses more of the indigenous challenges than the foreign software.
He called on Nigerians and multinational companies operating in Nigeria to disabuse their minds over what he described as status symbol for their preferred choice of software, and encouraged them patronise indigenous software that is cheaper, secure and easy to deploy.
He explained that the quality of any software, be it indigenous or foreign, depends largely on the benchmark of its quality certification and encouraged Nigerians to seek for software that had international standard and international certification, which he said, should be the parameter for assessing the quality and standard of a particular software.
Akano who disclosed these parameters for assessing quality of software, explained how UpperLink recently got international certification from CMMI Institute, which appraised and certified UpperLink as Level 3 Certified Software Company, which only two companies in Nigeria have so far been able to attain. The other Nigerian company is Interswitch, which attained the Level 3 Certification on July 29, 2015, while UpperLink got the same certification on August 4, 2015.
UpperLink, which got the registration of Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Number (ICANN) in 2014, was tested by CMMI Institute on Software Engineering Category and Project Management Category before it became CMMI Level 3 Certified.
Although there is another higher level of certification, which is the Level 5 Certification, Akano explained that only Egypt, among African countries, has attained that certification. Another country that has attained the CMMI Certification in Africa is South Africa, making it the third country in the whole of Africa to attain the CMMI Certification. South Africa also has Level 3 Certification.
Akano advised Nigerians to look out for software companies with standard international certifications, to do business with, rather than relying of status symbol in partronising foreign software.
Akano said although Level 5 Certification is the highest level of certification, which has to do with network optimisation, UpperLink is working harder to attain the certification also.
He said CMMI assesses organisations based on live projects and data handling, and that UpperLinks started the process, which he described as rigorous, just last year, and thanked staff and management of UpperLink for their commitment to develop indigenous software with standard quality.
Giving details of UpperLink service offerings, Executive Director at UpperLink, Mr. Festus Ugwu said “the company is into domain name and payment system, which include developing specialised software for banking solutions, as well as customised solutions that cut across several sectors like health, agriculture, manufacturing, among others. He said UpperLink is also involved in developing software for added value services like Google Plus, and it is currently in partnership with Google on that aspect of business offering.
He explained that all businesses in today’s technology world, are largely driven by software and advised organisations to consider software developers with standardised certification, when considering making choice for the right software to patronise. He said cost saving is key to business growth, which is a trademark of indigenous software, but insisted that organisations must watch-out for companies that that have international certification, to do business with.
Article Culled from thisdaylive.com
