IT Employment

Ask something
Discussion Locked

What to outsource?

0 helpful
5 replies

by four-eyes 1 view

Closed to new repliesThis discussion is closed. It stays readable, but it takes no new replies.

I'm still having doubts about which projects to outsource. Should I outsource the small, easy-to manage ones or should I outsource the really BIG ones that make up around half my company's annual revenue? I sometimes get the feeling that quality will suffer if I outsource since I wont be there to constantly oversee the work being done. My co-workers jokingly say that i'm too much of a control freak for my own good...

I'd really appreciate feedback from anyone who's been through this situation before.

5 replies

by steve

A good place to start in looking at any outsourcing is to have a clear picture of the business objective of outsourcing. Are you looking to avoid permenant headcount? Are you looking to supplement expertise you don't have in house? Do you need toexpand bandwidth? Are you looking to save money with off-shore resources?

In any case, assuming you have a good handle on the business objective and that objective isn't tied to the content of what you outsource, the most critical factors in a successful outsourcing partnership is the clarity and stability of the requirements. If you can clearly articulate what is needed (independent of it's complexity) and are relatively comfortable that changes will be minor, you have a good candidate tooutsource.

I have been on both sides of this issue - as the manager outsourcing and the consultant taking on work. There are many factors that come in to play, but in my experience clear, (relatively) stable requirements are the best foundation for outsourcing success.

Steve Beebe
-----------
Active! Focus
Driving Development Success
Requirements, Change and Risk Management
www.xapware.com

by rcobun

In using outsource resources you need to make
sure that all documentation is in place.

by joshayoung

Four-Eyes -

I have quite a few thoughts on the topic and would be glad to share them with you if you haven't already come to some conclusiong.

- Josh Young, joshayoung@yahoo.com

by praveen.saini

Business Process Outsourcing has taken a new dimension with Clients seeking to outsource their business process to vendors who provide the advantage of more than one offshore location for outsourcing. This is increasingly becoming the trend due to high competition, high customer satisfaction requirement and the need to push costs to the bottom in any given industry.
I have a very good example of how a company has successfully provided offshore outsourcing services to major clients from their centers located at the India. If you are looking to offshore your operations and would like to know how a BPO can bring optimum benefits for your business, then drop me a line.

Regards,
Praveen

by indigenious

Hi,
your points and concerns regarding outsourcing are valid.I have been working with clients in an offshore mode from India for most of there outsourced requirement and the bottomline which we can arrive is that, you outsource what is deviating from your core focus and gives you the right cost benefit ratio.
We get projects anging from building a complete core application for an organisation to building customised controls for there existing applications. In both scenario what comes out distinctly is the quality of the outsourced partner, the cost of the outsourced partner vis a vis your own inhouse development and the level of clear communication and documentation between the two parties for successful project implementation.
All of the options needs to explored from you, but i would recommend you to start small and then build the relationship. You can get in touch with me if you need a partner obviously :)

This discussion is closed to new replies.