ThoughtWorks Leads Agile Development Adoption in South America as Demand for IT Services in Brazil Grows

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• Brazil - Português

PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil, June 27, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- ThoughtWorks, Inc. (www.thoughtworks.com), the global leader in enterprise Agile development services, today announced two thought leadership events in Brazil featuring Agile expert Jim Highsmith and the continued demand for its Brazil-based software development services from IT organizations in both North and South America. ThoughtWorks' opened its first office in Brazil in 2009 and has experienced continued growth as the use of "near-shore" IT services based here increases due to a highly skilled talent base, convenient time zone proximity and travel accessibility via overnight flights from the United States.

"As we reach the mid-point of 2011, we are extremely encouraged by the increasing demand for IT services delivered from Brazil and the continued adoption of Agile-based methods within the local software development community," said Gary DeGregorio, South America market principal for ThoughtWorks. "We are excited to welcome industry luminary Jim Highsmith to Brazil and to have him engage with both practitioners and IT executives during the Agile Brazil 2011 conference and the ThoughtWorks Executive Forum we are co-hosting in Sao Paulo with Locaweb."

Highsmith will deliver his presentation: Adaptive Leadership: Accelerating Organizational Agility, on June 28 at an invitation-only executive event co-sponsored with Locaweb at the Grand Hyatt Sao Paulo. This inaugural event kicks off an on-going series of ThoughtWorks Executive Technology Briefings designed for Brazilian CIOs, CTOs and IT Directors. To request an invitation to this event please send an email to [email protected]. Highsmith also will deliver the presentation during a keynote on Wed., June 29 at Agile Brazil 2011 (http://www.agilebrazil.com/2011/en/).

"In 2007, Locaweb started working with Agile methods as a way to adapt faster and more adequately to growing complexity and changes in the market," said Joaquim Torres, director, product development and product management at Locaweb. " As one of the largest Agile shops in Brazil, we are excited to co-sponsor Jim Highsmith's presentation in Sao Paulo. We want to help other companies learn more about Agile from one of the co-authors of the Agile Manifesto and a leader in developing advanced best practices."

ThoughtWorks, Agile and Brazil

Brazil is one of the few countries that has managed to prosper during the recession, virtually unscathed by the economic downturn that rocked financial markets in 2008. Brazil also is the fifth largest nation with respect to land mass, and has always had a historical presence in the IT industry, with approximately 2 million people currently working in the technology sector. While the cost benefit of near-shoring to Brazil is less than Asia, Brazilian IT costs are still favorable when compared to North America.

With its office located in the TECNOPUC Technology Innovation Park on the campus of Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul in Porto Alegre, ThoughtWorks now employs 100 technologists with an additional 20-40 consultants expected to join the company by the end of 2011. Globally, the firm points to several factors that make Brazil well suited to deliver quality IT services, including a vibrant and growing economy, a commitment to open source software, strong English language skills, outstanding talent and close proximity within the Western Hemisphere. The region also is embracing Agile software methods, with the Brazilian IT community being the leader in South America for adopting and scaling Agile in the enterprise.

"Companies throughout Brazil are looking for better ways to obtain and contract for high-quality IT services, and to build lasting relationships that will solve their problems and add value to the business," said Dr. Rafael Prikladnicki, professor, researcher and Director of the Technology Management Agency at PUCRS, coach and instructor on Agile Methods and distributed development. "In this scenario, lean and Agile approaches fit quite well and the Brazilian IT industry has learned much from ThoughtWorks as we improve the way we do business, make changes and add value."

The ThoughtWorks Brazil office is an important part of the firm's strategic growth plan, which includes continued support for software excellence by expanding its global footprint into economic regions beyond its existing operations in North and South America, Europe, India, China and Australia. Brazil is important due to the country's wealth of highly skilled information technology workers, its commitment to the advancement of emerging technologies, such as dynamic languages, and its support for the advancement of open source software. The ThoughtWorks Porto Alegre office supports the local market, marrying large enterprise application development capabilities with personalized, small-company service.

"ThoughtWorks has played a significant role in evolving the way we develop and deliver software using Agile methods within a very complex and dynamic environment," said Ricardo Sazima, head of development for digital products at Editora Abril, South America's leading publisher with more than 80 dedicated portals. "Continuously improving the customer experience across all of our content websites is critical to our growth and success, and ThoughtWorks has helped us achieve these goals through its professionalism, hard work and experience."

About Locaweb

Locaweb is the leader in web hosting and services for Brazil and Latin America, according to IDC LA IT Services 2009 Report. The company has more than 220,000 clients and 600,000 domains hosted, including partnerships with more than 17,000 web professionals. Three main business areas include: software-as-a-service (SaaS), platform-as-a-service (PaaS) and infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS). For more information please visit (www.locaweb.com.br).

About ThoughtWorks

ThoughtWorks, Inc. is a global IT consultancy providing Agile-based systems development, consulting and transformation services to Global 1000 companies. It has pioneered many of the most advanced and successful Agile methods of software development and best practices used in the industry today. At its core, ThoughtWorks helps its clients maximize investment and performance across a portfolio of complex, business-critical applications, while reducing time and risk. Its products division, ThoughtWorks Studios, offers tools to manage the entire Agile development lifecycle through its Adaptive ALM™ suite, comprised of Mingle®, Go™ and Twist®. ThoughtWorks employs 1,700 professionals to serve clients from offices in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, India, the United Kingdom, Germany and the United States. For more information please visit: (www.thoughtworks.com).

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SOURCE ThoughtWorks, Inc.