Understanding cultural differences in Software Industry

Kishore C.S. (Feb 2000)

In the Global competitive market understanding global trends and cultural factors is very important for success. This article gives a few points to be kept in mind in IT industry. India is a major software supplier to U.S. Understanding the cultural differences between India and U.S. can help Indian community do better business with U.S.

I visited U.S. once and though my trip was very short I was surprised at the sharp cultural differences. I tried to analyze how they can influence our business in IT industry. Ask anyone who has been to U.S. they may vouch for the points made here.

1. Hardware and Infrastructure: India is not able to catch up the rapid technological changes in U.S. So the software we develop does not make the best use of latest infrastructure available in U.S. For example, the advanced communications industry in U.S. in terms telephones, usage of mobiles, pagers, modems cannot be fathomed by a person devising software for the same sitting in India.
2. Industry Trends: IT industry trends change so rapidly that we have to keep a continuous watch on the same. If a product/software development is being developed with trends that was prevalent a year back, at the time the product is released it becomes out of fashion. Especially the Operating Systems, RDBMS versions keep changing every year. We need to catch up as early as we can.
3. User Goals: In India usage of Software is not part and parcel of our life. Whereas in U.S. the whole life revolves around quality software. You will rarely find an area of life in U.S., which is not influenced by software. In India Computers and Software are treated as luxury. It is something that the relatively ‘rich’ use. So we imagine computers and software we develop will be put on display like furniture. This is not the case in U.S. They intend to use the Software everyday. This particular aspect makes ‘Usability’ of the software we deliver as a major irritant to U.S. customers.
4. Quality Expectations: India provides cheap labor of developing software. This is the root cause for proliferation of Software companies in India. India by itself is not a major user of Software. It will take some more years for India to catch up. All software companies are competing to meet Quality Expectations of U.S. customers and prosper. Average Indian attitude towards Quality is quite different from average U.S. citizen. (Inferior quality goods are ‘chalta hai’ for an average Indian). U.S. citizens are used to Quality Service. Customer is God. Our high quality goals are basic expectations of U.S. users. Inferior quality upsets and irritates U.S. customers. Understanding this is very important.
5. Cultural Differences: Indian customers display higher loyalty and sentiments compared to U.S. customers. U.S. customers are relatively less sentimental. They assess quality of work 'professionally'. Once they are convinced of capability of your work, they respect and appreciate you professionally. They will vouch for your work without any inhibitions. But you cannot take it for granted and take it easy. Once you have achieved a standard you need to maintain and if possible surpass the expectations.
6. Affluence: Another major factor is ‘money’ they are willing to invest. Firms in U.S. understand the necessity of IT and invest huge amounts towards the same. In India we want to achieve maximum benefits with minimum investment. Because of this basic difference we fail to recognize the potential of customer and meet the expectations. They want the ‘best deal’ and investment is not always a problem if it is deemed right. A simple example can be: we cannot replace our infrastructure overnight. But in U.S. if it is deemed necessary they will do it. Imagine you are using Windows 95 as OS in your office. As long as you are able to use the same without any problem you do not think of investing and replacing this with latest OS (say Windows 2000). Whereas if you tell your U.S. customer that they have to replace all OS to utilize latest capability they will just get the funds and do it.
7. Documentation: Another major deliverable in software is Documentation. Average U.S. Citizen relies heavily on systematic documentation. Their expectations from documentation are quite high. In India we rarely follow the rule of books. In U.S. they adhere to rule of book. Inferior quality documentation upsets and irritates U.S. citizens.

The above are a few points I could bring out based on my little experience. Next time your U.S. customer is upset about your project do not wonder why? You might have ignored a simple aspect like the above which makes all the difference despite your best job.

The objective of this article is to bring an awareness of the cultural differences which might be influencing your business. Finally the simple truth cannot be forgotten: ‘Put yourself in customers shoes to understand his requirements.’

I recommend key people in IT industry to make atleast one trip to U.S. to be able to do better business. Also get your project leaders to visit and understand the role the cultural differences can play. This will help your business and our country in doing better business with U.S.

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