Sourcio’s success was made possible through USAID-funded Competitive Armenian Private Sector (CAPS) Project support for a holistic approach to improving quality standards in Armenia’s IT sector. As a result of CAPS efforts, an agreement was reached with SRA International and the USAID-funded Regional Competitiveness Initiative (RCI) to implement a pilot IT Mark program in Armenia with the ultimate goal of increasing the competitiveness of Armenian IT enterprises.
“IT Mark”: IT Mark was developed by European Software Institute (ESI), and aims to provide software businesses with the means to enhance their business information, security management and software development processes, as well as gain recognition for their level of capabilities through the IT Mark appraisal process.
Following the signing of the program agreement, two “IT Mark Overview” seminars were organized in Yerevan in June 2007 aimed at building initial awareness on IT Mark and CMMI among local companies. A SEI-authorized “Introduction to CMMI” course was then organized in Yerevan, aimed at creating local capacity for CMMI implementation. 20 representatives from 7 companies participated in the course. The last IT Mark Appraisers training was organized in Sofia, Bulgaria, in July 2007, to coach the Candidate IT Mark Appraisers on the IT Mark methodology components and the IT Mark appraisal process.
The final stage of the pilot program involved conducting appraisals of the four Armenian IT companies participating in the IT Mark pilot program. By successfully satisfying the IT Mark appraisal requirements, Sourcio became the first company in Armenia to be awarded the IT Mark certification.
“Sourcio will continue its efforts towards improving our business management and software development processes and will go forward to obtain next level certification”, Mr. Avoyan stated.
