Alex Golod has a master’s degree in applied mathematics and computer science as well as a master’s certificate in IT project management from George Washington University.

He has more than 10 years of progressive IT management experience in several prominent U.S. companies including Motorola, GGP, the former Ameritech and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois with an emphasis on Oracle databases, IT outsourcing and project management.

Since establishing headquarters in Chicago in 2003, Golod was instrumental in developing corporate and business development strategy and alliances worldwide. The growth of Wilmette, Ill.-based Intetics is reflected in a wide array of industry recognition. Listen to the interview by searching for “Michael Muth” on iTunes and make a comment about this interview at Muth’s blog.

Golod serves as vice president of business development and one of three managing partners for Intetics. In part one of a three-part Q&A, Golod discusses the evolution of Intetics, how quality is guaranteed and Asian competition.

Michael Muth: Is Intetics a test lab or software developer?
Alex Golod: As our Web site is fairly dynamic, the content changes frequently. While you might have seen compatibility testing offering, it’s not our main revenue-generating service.

First and foremost, Intetics is a global software development company that’s focused on custom application development and offshore staff augmentation. Our most popular service offering is our offshore dedicated development team.

MM commentary: When I checked their Web site, it wasn’t immediately clear to me what they do.

MM: With compatibility testing, you test for compatibility with what?
AG: Compatibility testing is a technical term that describes any tests on any operating systems, platforms or browsers to ensure that new products brought to the market work with all browsers and platforms. The scope of compatibility testing is normally dictated by the client requirements.
We have an in-house quality assurance lab staffed by 10 full-time professionals involved in all aspects of testing.

MM commentary: While I tried to narrow this down, I couldn’t get any more specific than this.

MM: What happened to Web Space Station?
AG: Intetics is a fairly new name that was adopted five years ago. Web Space Station (WSS) was the old brand name. It’s a European trademark. WSS came about during the Internet craze when everyone wanted “Internet” or “Web” in their name.

The name Intetics actually has a meaning: “Internet. Technology. Ethics.” I will be the first to admit, though, that it’s difficult to pronounce or remember.

MM commentary: This is still up under the “white paper” section of its Web site, which I suspect could be a little distracting to those who come across it.

MM: In what areas do you specialize?
AG: We specialize in new technology consulting and software development. We have several groups centered on various technologies including Java, .NET and other Microsoft technologies, PHP and Perl, Web design and Flash. Though it might sound strange to say, we are technology generalists. We are technology agnostic.
We have some people who specialize in more than one technology. We are not a vertically oriented company. Other competitors specialize in financial or insurance systems. Though we have plenty of experience in implementing those types of systems, we don’t limit ourselves to those industries. We’ve simply implemented more systems in some industries than others.

MM commentary: In looking at Intetics, they appear to be a Jack of all trades and a master of none, which has its advantages and disadvantages.

MM: How do you guarantee quality?
AG: We’ve been in business for more than 12 years. We’ve initially struggled through some projects. In the last five years, we’ve made tremendous progress in quality. We’re ISO 9001 certified now in both our software development centers in Minsk, Belarus and Kharkiv, Ukraine.

Certification guarantees all of our processes adhere to strict standards. Though certification is an expensive and time-consuming process, it’s definitely a competitive advantage. We will pursue it in the future. Also, we have certification for 78 percent of those among our technical staff. Quality is one of our best advantages.

There are several benchmarks and internal studies demonstrating that defect density is consistently lower than the average statistical data across the industry. Moreover, productivity of our software engineers with reference to the volume of source code developed is 25 percent higher than industry average.

MM commentary: ISO certification is more appreciated abroad and should be more strongly considered in the U.S.

MM: How can you customize an offshore dedicated development team to your culture?
AG: While the concept of offshore dedicated centers is not new, our offshore dedicated development team offering is a unique service. It’s really an extension of the IT department in the U.S. or Western Europe. Our offshore dedicated development team basically redefines the offshore dedicated center model from “technology positions” offered to customers into a close partnership with a client to create the offshore team.

It puts the control of our team in the client’s hands. For the success of this engagement, the client must devote a contact person to the project. They participate in all phases from the phone interview on. They give us feedback if a person isn’t the right fit for the team so we can replace them. These people in our offshore dedicated development team are still our employees. They are full-time workers on the project for the long haul.

When it shuts down for any reason, they move on to the next project. Most are on projects for a minimum of 12 months and up to a several years. They don’t get bored because they are working on different projects and platforms. They are part of a global team. The advantage here is a totally customized client solution. There are some cultural barriers – say from a language standpoint – but they’re not as significant as some people think.

There are some employees who don’t have enough language skills. In that case, they’re not client-facing workers. The majority of our workers, though, face clients. Most have adequate language skills to work with clients. It’s very rare that they’re not able to work with U.S. clients.

MM commentary: Intetics serves clients in a number of different countries throughout the U.S. and Western Europe. I still wonder how they adapt to each different business culture.

MM: Intetics seems to be facing off against Asian competitors. How do you beat them?
AG: We cannot beat them on price. That’s almost impossible (except for a few major organizations in Asia). We excel in professionalism, quality, focus on the customer, expertise and a mature software development process. We have a very strict approach to our hiring. People who don’t deliver don’t stay with us long. We still have a low attrition/turnover rate, though.

We just have better quality. We also have more continuity.

Our clients can be fairly certain people will be working with them who have worked with them in the past. Indian companies have huge turnover and $50 a month is enough for them to jump. There is a labor shortage that’s affecting them, and frankly speaking, it’s affecting us, too. It’s not about us versus them. There are clients who are good fit for Indian firms, some for Chinese and some for us. The current trend is multi-sourcing.

Major organizations (i.e. Fortune 100 companies) want to mitigate risk. They’re outsourcing to India, China and Eastern Europe. Our larger clients aren’t working exclusively with us. It doesn’t bother us. The pie is still growing. There’s enough work for mature service providers right now. The price differential is not static. It’s changing all the time.

Our rates are probably 20 percent higher than the standard Indian provider. However, the salaries and rates heavily depend on company locations. In capital cities, the developers have higher salaries that translate into higher rates for the customers. Our offshore dedicated development team is definitely more cost effective for our clients and less risky for us because it’s longer term and provides guaranteed workload for our developers.

MM commentary: Multi-sourcing seems to be a solution that could solve some problems while creating more problems, too. Regardless, I think this will be an emerging trend.

MM: How can you afford to charge fixed fees for your offshore dedicated development team when volumes vary widely?
AG: Everything is in the contract. It’s a longer arrangement. We started with a six-month minimum. We’re moving to a one-year minimum. The client hires its team for one year. They pay them full time and the charge is monthly. As there’s no risk for us, we can afford it. It’s a guaranteed workload. If the client is very small and financially challenged, then the offshore dedicated development team is probably not for them.

If they don’t have intensive IT needs and workload for a whole year, the customers should probably opt for another model. The offshore dedicated development team is generally designed for larger IT organizations in the U.S., Germany and the United Kingdom. While there are a few, well-financed start-ups that are customers, they certainly have a plan, goals and an IT roadmap.