What are the attributes of a software company?

One of my friends told me, "Check out my startup's website"! I was quite amazed, then started thinking. How easy it is these days to start a website and it does not cost so much if its a no frills site (I mean no large data, no database connection etc). I asked him, what does your startup do? He said, they offer unique customer experience, they are into training, they are into product development etc. He mentioned that at the moment he is the only one and looking for freshers because they are less expensive. This made me think on the above subject. How much the traditional business has been changing.... one could ask what are the attributes of a company - the answer is readily available. What are the attributes of a manufacturing company? One could answer without hesitation. But, what are the attributes of a software company? To make it worse, how much thin line of difference exists between ITES and IT Services Company. I tried searching for this answer over the web and found one article that is quite interesting. I will not copy paste entire thing.. but here is what the author feels are important attributes of a software company.

• Requirements Management
• Change and Configuration Management
• Effective communication among development teams
• Appropriate defined processes
• Reviews

If you observe most of them align with SEI CMM assessment requirements. This would then showcase the capability of a software organization. A software company begins with a commitment to learn and employ the fundamental principles that govern the development and management process of software.

For further details, Roger Pressman's book on Software Engineering is highly recommended.