How to Choose an Offshore Outsourcing Partner
Offshore software development outsourcing has become a multi-billion dollar business, with estimates as high as $60 billion for 2007. Areas like India, Russia, China, and Eastern Europe offer large pools of talented programmers who can be hired for a fraction of the rate of U.S. developers.
Businesses have found that, with the right offshore partner, they can speed their time to market, lower development costs, spare their own personnel to focus on core competencies, and gain access to high-level talent without hiring hassles.
Just like software development itself, choosing the right offshore software development partner requires a proper methodology, one that ensures that no important factor is overlooked, that the vendor chosen matches your needs and can deliver on time and in budget. Fortunately, this methodology is considerably simpler to understand and execute then RAD or the waterfall model of software development. It comprises three simple steps that help you quickly focus your efforts on the vendors most likely to succeed, and select the one that's right for you:
- Take the Survey: decide which vendors you'll interview to create your short
list.
- Create a Short List: get more details to narrow your choices down to three or four vendors
- Project Overview Document (POD): work with your short list to specify business needs, deliverables, and other details to get the information you need
to make a final choice.
Part of your preliminary survey on-line, or through a consultant or analyst, to help you decide just how detailed a selection process you want or need to execute. But this overview will give you a sense of what's needed to avoid problems and help ensure success for your software development outsourcing project.
Outsourcing: Is it for My Business?
Offshore software development outsourcing offers many benefits, among them faster time to market, lower costs, access to high-level programming talent without hiring hassles, and more time to focus on core competencies.
However, there are also some disadvantages to outsourcing, and you should definitely take those into account as well.
The key phrase, “the right offshore partner”, covers a wealth of details, any one of which, if overlooked, can doom an outsourced project and put a business behind the eight ball at a critical point in its go-to-market strategy. Horror stories abound: over-promising, under-staffing, security breaches, culture shock, and many other factors can turn a dream of profits into a nightmare of cost overruns and software that falls far short of what's needed to deliver the competitive edge desired.
So you'll get all benefits of offshore outsourcing development only if you choose the right outsourcing partner—the wrong choice can leave you worse off than before.
If you outsource, it means that you’re going to have to work very closely with the company that you outsource your work to. Otherwise, you won’t get the finished work as soon as you need it. Having another company involved in your business might get tiresome after a while.
Since this is such an important decision for you to make regarding your company, you should make sure that you take a good look at both sides of the issue before you make your decision.
In the end, however, the question of whether or not outsourcing is right for your business can only be answered by you.
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10 Tips for successful
outsourcing
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Clearly define the scope and schedule of your project
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Evaluate a service provider like you’d hire a full-time employee
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Look for specific experience fit
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| 4. |
Don’t choose a vendor based solely on price
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| 5. |
Review portfolios and samples
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| 6. |
Start small
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Tie payment to clearly defined project milestones
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Negotiate ownership of work up front
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| 9. |
Don’t forget about support after the project is complete
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| 10 |
Get it in writing - Delivering results that work Offshore IT Outsourcing Consulting
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