TITEL

Global recession: the opportunity of a lifetime

SPREKER

Rob Howe, CEO, Verum

TAAL

Engels

ABSTRACT

Software development in high-tech Netherlands has been weighed down too long by out-of-date work practices and inefficient business models. We have become the Swiss watchmakers of software: lovingly handcrafting every line of code without regard for efficiency or cost. We have no competitive supply chain to deliver us economies of scale, efficiency improvements or cost reductions. Seen from a global perspective, complacency and the status quo have reigned supreme.

Fortunately for us global recession has shaken the market to its roots and threatens the status quo. For those bold enough, recession represents opportunity. A new generation of metrics, tools and methods are emerging that offer quantum performance improvements in software development. Backed by companies with bold business models, these technologies offer us the chance to become the Japanese manufacturers of software: engineering software efficiently at low cost.

Will the status quo prevail? Or shall we exploit the opportunity that recession represents to affirm our place as the world leaders in embedded software engineering?