The Outsourcing Top Ten
Plan carefully or it can be an expensive experience (We know -- we’ve been there.)
During the dotCom boom and through the late 90’s telecommuting was all the rage, but supervisors had problems with managing resources that were not physically present.
Moving halfway across the globe does not make those problems go away.
Outsourcing can be a major cost saving, and an excellent way to get projects done. However, you need to know what to outsource and what not to outsource. Also, you need to
take the same care that you would when hiring any new employee or establishing a critical business relationship...something very few companies actually do.
These are the most common problems with offshore development. The list is not by any means complete. If you are planning on moving work overseas, you might want to give us a call first.
1. What Time Is It? India is over 10 hours ahead of an office on the east coast, or 11 behind one in Palo Alto. Moscow is 8 hours ahead of Charlotte, North Carolina.
When you are at work, they may not be. Telephones and E-mail take on a distinct time lag that can cause major delays. Adjusted work schedules make a big difference.
2. Who’s on First? If you are told that your team will be made up of Tom, Dick and Harriet, how do you actually know that Tom, Dick and Harriet are working on your
project? Are they working exclusively? What if their skills are need for another project?
3. Resumes and References? Most firms will carefully check the references and work experience of a Harvard grad, but fail to perform even basic dilligence on an offshore worker whom they’ve never met?
4. We’re Counting On You. At $20 per person, a team of 4 cost $80 dollars an hour. How do you know that all four are actually assigned to your project? You might be paying
$80 an hour for one person, and not necessarily a senior one at that.
5. A $150,000 Education for a $5,000 paycheck. In the US, people stretch the truth on resumes. It’s not unheard of elsewhere in the world. Be leery of offshore workers who
claim to have attended prestigious US universities and now work for $5,000 a year. Like Ronald Reagan said: Trust, but verify.
6. Beware of Free Gifts. When projects start to miss deadlines, outsourcing companies may offer to add staff to the project at no extra charge. Stay focused. Your unit cost
is not going down, your overruns are going up. The problem is that the project is late and they are billing. Also, adding people to late projects usually just makes it later.
7. License to Deal. Make sure that the members of the overseas team are using licensed, supported software. Address licensing and liability as part of the contracts.
8. Who’s in charge. Your remote resources need management. How much project management and staff management is dedicated to your effort? Project managers split across multiple projects will use the
resources to their, not your, advantage.
9. Need a Support Group? Has the remote company contracted for a sufficient levels of support from their major software and hardware vendors? Getting reasonable turn
around time on support questions requires costly support contracts. If the vendor is cutting costs, or worse, using unlicensed tools, resolution time may stop your project dead for weeks.
10. When Murphy Strikes. You’ll obviously require frequent staus reports. The standard answer always seems to be that everything is going perfectly -- until it isn’t. Make
sure you clarify reporting, escalation, resolution and recourse processes. Even at very low contracting rates, the hourly cost of someone fixing their own problems adds up quickly, and schedules go out the window.
|
