Can CMM certification help in getting more business?

Posted by Arsalan

November 29, 2008

The simple answer is No! The misadventure and misplaced faith in CMM is exactly the reason why we have not been able to divert our energies in the areas that actually deliver value to the offshore clients. CMM cannot be used as a sales tool it can be used as a supporting tool. The primary sales tool remains the value-add that an offshore engagement brings to its clients. That value-add cannot be demonstrated to the clients unless we have deep understanding of the business and its utilization of technology. The CMM bandwagon has been around for many years in Pakistan but its impact in securing new business and beating competition from other parts of the world remains to be proven.

In any software related project, there are three steps:

1. Conceiving the project
2. Structuring the project
3. Delivering the project

Value-add to the clients comes from the first two while the third is just managing the cost. CMM doesn’t help at all with the first and only peripherally in the second and therefore the idea that CMM somehow will get more business has no base.

Here is an interesting article titled “Software Quality: Bursting the CMM Hype“, that dispels the myths surrounding CMM. It was published in CIO Magazine in 2004.

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