Archive
2008
High cost of open source freedom
23 August 2008The worsening IT skills shortage in South Africa should be given serious consideration by organisations planning to take advantage of the perceived cost benefits of open source software.
That’s the view of Karl-Heinz Wessinger, from The IQ Business Group’s Software Engineering division who points out that the perception that open source software is “free” is not always correct. Open source is “free” only in so far as it is exempt from the conventional licensing charges attached to platform software.
Cost-saving software quality assurance more than software testing
5 August 2008The cost to businesses of dealing with governance, risk and compliance requirements is considerably higher than it should be, largely as a result of a duplication of control activities.
So says Sean de la Rosa, Senior Manager ERM at The IQ Business Group who explains that the risk management, compliance and governance reforms that followed the spectacular corporate failures of the past decade have placed today’s organisations under increased risk and regulatory pressures.
Cost-saving software quality assurance more than software testing
28 July 2008The earlier comprehensive Software Quality Assurance (SQA) processes are applied in the Software Development Life Cycle, the more project costs are reduced and the less chance there is of a high defect count, business process misalignment and lost productivity wiping out a good portion of whatever business benefits the project should and could have delivered.
More focus on merger than acquisition required
18 June 2008Why is it that when it comes to evaluating the success of a ‘Merger & Acquisition’ (M&A), most attention is directed at the ‘acquisition’ and very little at the ‘merger’? Yet the sustainable benefit of any acquisition usually depends on what happens after the financial deal is signed.
That’s according to Rogan Davies, head of Financial Services at The IQ Business Group who says integration of the acquired entity is required in order to try and extract real value from the deal.
Medical scheme administrators must get house in order
2 June 2008Non-healthcare expenditure in South Africa’s private health care sector is greater than that paid to GPs and to clinical specialists, excluding radiologists and pathologists. In fact, of every Rand members pay into their medical schemes every month, at least 16% goes to non-healthcare expenditure such as administration fees, managed care costs and broker fees. GPs & clinical specialists, on the other hand are paid a cumulative amount of approximately 6% and 10% respectively on every Rand contributed. Even the total cost of medicines to all schemes is less than these non-healthcare costs.