In the turmoil of today’s fluctuating IT markets, a Calgary company which specializes in systems building for businesses is turning to Vietnam as a stable source of technical expertise.

Lisa Dempster, Business Edge
Tond Frantzen (left) and Michel Dauguet sign alliance deal.

PowerPlus Systems Corporation has sealed a partnership with Saigon-based RIM Technologies Vietnam Ltd., a deal estimated by CEO Trond Frantzen to be worth upwards of $5.5 million in helping generate new business for his consulting firm.

And while lower labour costs may be a considerable incentive for many Western companies looking to do business in southeast Asia, Frantzen said PowerPlus Systems, which counts American Airlines, Sabre and Aon Corp. among its blue- chip clients, will pay RIM the equivalent Canadian salaries for work performed by the Vietnamese software engineers.

The high turnover rate in the IT sector is hampering companies which require experienced personnel from investing time and training in their employees, says Frantzen.

“I think we would hire a Canadian if there was stability in the marketplace,” he says.

“I’ve noticed in the last few weeks that the number of resumes I get have literally tripled. Every dot-com is letting people go, and they’re people with a whole lot of skills, quite frankly. But they don’t have the qualifications we’re looking for. They’re fresh out of school, which is nice, but in our business it just doesn’t work.”

RIM CEO Michel Dauguet, who travelled to Calgary from his home in Ho Chi Minh City to sign the PowerPlus alliance, says the socialist republic is keen to encourage foreign investment and develop its software expertise on an international scale. Such partnerships help retain skilled workers in their home country, he adds, and help stanch the east-west brain drain.

Vietnam, which has a population of more than 78 million and an unemployment rate hovering around 25 per cent, realizes it can leapfrog into the software industry quickly with minimal infrastructure costs and no added pollution, says Dauguet, adding the Vietnamese workers are eager to work for a company that offers above-average wages.

“The software industry is far different from other industries, like toy manufacturers in China, that are associated with exploitation,” added Dauguet.

“It’s far from the cliche of exploitation of the Third World, where we export unwanted or polluted industries. It’s a different relationship here, not just subcontracting but partnering together.”

Frantzen agrees, saying he wanted to encourage a partnership based on equality. “We’re definitely not dealing with sweatshops or slave labour or any such thing. We’re dealing with good, qualified people who are eager to be part of the international community,” he says.

“They’re well-educated and focused, and they want to represent themselves very well. It’s a true dedication that we used to call professionalism at one time here. It’s not that it’s lacking here, it’s just that it’s more challenging to find.”

The head of another Calgary company currently doing business in Vietnam agrees the country is pushing hard to upgrade and utilize its software talents.

David Aftergood, CEO of Applied Gaming Solutions, which next year will expand the first online sports betting system in Vietnam, says he’s found the Vietnamese “to be very hardworking, diligent people.”

AGS is in the midst of finalizing a merger with U.S.-based international gaming firm CCA Companies Inc., which operates a casino in the South American country of Suriname. The new company, to be called Lottery and Wagering Solutions, will be run out of Calgary with Aftergood remaining in the CEO chair.

Frantzen says PowerPlus Systems, which does most of its business in the U.S. and eastern Canada, will continue to develop business requirement specifications for its clients, and utilize the RIM team to move projects forward into system design. RIM will receive a percentage of the revenue generated by the extra business, which Frantzen estimates will be worth up to $2 million for Dauguet’s company over the next five years.