Choosing
your IT partner is the business equivalent of choosing a spouse- you're hoping for
a happy, long-standing relationship or perhaps like choosing a builder for an
extension or renovation- an offering that can work with your style, needs and
budget and most importantly, a contact that you have a rapport with. These
kinds of relations assist in communications which are key to any IT project- be
it enterprise scale or start-up. Considering that communication will be the
single most important factor in success, it goes to show that choosing an
off-shore provider, sourced through a trade directory, with project managers
that you will never meet face-to-face, can be likened to choosing a mail-order
bride. Risky at best.
There are
key aspects that should be explored and considered when it comes to choosing
the right company to supply you with IT services. It should be a 'partnership',
not a 'contract', and you should aim for a long-standing relationship that will
provide your company with what you need, when you need it, within the time and
budget constraints of your organisation. You might not always know exactly what
those needs will be at the outset... often this becomes apparent and is
demonstrated only further down the road.
If you are
considering offshore IT resources, consider why people are uncomfortable with
the idea that their personal information is stored in another country where
there are different cultural attitudes to personal information and different
laws. A lot of countries do not provide
secure property laws which make it easy for economic espionage to occur and
those with the most sought labour costs are the ones that are still busy
developing their political systems and labour laws.
Offshore
outsourcing also relies heavily on documentation needed to comply with certain
policies and procedures and to increase the chance of IT projects meeting
objectives. This could lead to a lengthy waiting period before you can actually
start working and producing what you need to, not to mention the expertise and
resource required to complete technical software requirements and specifications.
Local software experts tend to specialise in specific industries reducing the
need for such extensive specifications and usually offering added value in many
areas due to specific, localised industry knowledge.
Another
aspect to consider is time zones. Even though the offshore company you are busy
forging a relationship with might not be a whole day ahead of you, even a few
hours can make a difference. Say you request a task for completion at 8am in
the morning and the country of your outsourcing is 2 hours behind, it will be
10am before they receive the request. They might only complete the task by the
end of their day, which is already 2 hours after you might have left, making it
a whole day of waiting on a simple task. Had you asked a local company, they
could have received and completed the task within the day. Doesn't sound so bad
waiting 1 extra night on 1 task, but multiply this by the number of tasks and queries
on a complex IT project that runs for 6-8 months and what you end up with is
basically just a waiting game.
It is true
that cost reduction plays an important part in the decision to choose offshore outsourcing
as an option. Most offshore companies usually offer competitive labour rates
that can be very appealing, but most businesses that choose this option rarely
ever look at the fine print or the hidden costs behind it. These costs are
usually not calculated into the overall budget and should be analysed
carefully. There are things like costs for long distance communication,
training, and travelling. Any long distance relationship requires a large amount
of effort, money, and time and it can become taxing on your everyday work
situation.
More often
than not these relationships are not always maintained. It's breakdown is so
fast and severe that it can cause major damage to your business. Common causes
for these breakdowns include an insufficient number of individuals involved,
poorly designed policies, gaps or uncertainties in the contracts, and poor
execution of roles between the two parties.
So the
vital question that still remains is the following: is offshore outsourcing
something to consider when delivering an IT solution? Evidence shows that it is
not something that you should delve into blindly due to the factors that can
hinder it. Onshore business will save you costs, time, and money, and the lines
of communication will be open and easily accessible for all.
In short,
it is acceptable to outsource certain elements of your IT function, and in
certain situations can make sense, but it is better to use local companies in
order to save in the long run and ensure seamless integration. Even if your
local IT service provider does manage to successfully outsource some of the
development to offshore resources, let them do the project managing and
technical integration. The cost savings will still be passed on to you as the
client.
George Toursoulopoulos is a technology specialist and CEO of Synetec, one of the UK’s leading providers of bespoke software solutions.
