12 factors to consider before you Outsource

In today’s world as we slowly make our way out of the pandemic that hit the world, it is imperative to resume our businesses and get back to our ways of making the world a better and safer place for the oncoming generations.

Not surprisingly, we see that the post CoViD-19 world is emerging stronger, more resolved and more accepting of the remote workforce. In today’s IT world, there is hardly any difference between hiring Engineers on your own rolls to write software or outsource the work to a partner or hire technical resources from them to work as your own workforce. 

Working from home is the norm today so how can it be different whether that home is in the United States of America, the United Kingdom or India? All you need today to be effective is a strong and reliable broadband network, access to systems & an open communication channel.

As you look for a partner that you can trust and work with, here are 12 factors to consider before you engage with an offshore firm.

1.     Leadership Team – First and foremost, look for a Leadership team that has corporate experience.

It is very important that the Leadership team consists of experienced individuals that have the necessary experience in working in environments like yourselves. This brings an important characteristic to the table that might seem like it is irrelevant, but the ability to understand what the stakeholder stands to gain or lose through the project in question, is an important, and often underrated trait an experienced Leadership team provides. 

What that does mainly is percolate down the value chain, the quality of being completely “customer focused” through the entire organization.

Once that ‘customer focus’ is shared by everyone working in the company, every single individual starts to rise above and goes beyond to bring to you work that is of the highest quality and reduces friction between you and that vendor. This eases your experience throughout the project and makes the whole software development process pleasant and seamless.

2.     Customers & Past projects

Equally important is the fact that the outsourcing partner you choose has some long-lasting relationships with their customers. Repeat business in this industry is the most important and credible testimony to your software provider indicating they are being able to add value to their customers. Happy customers are what everyone strives for if they look forward to growing their companies and also as individuals. 

They should have an impressive portfolio of past projects and even if you don’t find anything exactly similar to what you want developed, if your partner has a team that has already done work in that area, they are in a better position to understand and deliver what you need, and more often than not, will exceed your own expectations

3.     Quality of the team members

A high-quality team is reflective of the environment your offshore vendor provides to their own workforce. In what is often referred to as the ‘Knowledge Industry’, it is the people that are any software development firm’s biggest and most important assets. The more competitive the environment, more the ability to soak up knowledge and keep abreast of the rapidly changing trends in technology. 

Look for a team that has confidence in its ability to deliver, based on the pride that it takes on the difference it has made to their customers over the years. Look for phrases like “Our customer X has never had to pay penalties based on SLAs” or “Our customer Y has saved over 30% in costs they would incur in just the 2nd quarter after working with us”.  

This is an important indication of what the priority is, for your offshoring partner. Customer success is something that your outsourcing partner needs to live by. The ability to understand what difference their efforts have made to their end customer is also something that tells you of the maturity in the organization.

4.     The Quality Assurance process

Any organization that has a strong Leadership team and high IQ individuals providing the design and code, still needs to have all its members to have some sort of consistency in the way they do things. What that does is makes YOUR experience not people-dependent but brings about a systematic way of delivering to you what you expect, even if your team there changes in the minutest form. 

The one way to achieve this is to have a strong QA process which is widespread and strictly adhered to. This is an important “behind the scenes” function, which makes sure your experience being happy, is not limited to a few superior resources but is common across your partner’s workforce. 

It is a process that constantly raises the bar for your outsourcing partner and should be an equally important factor for you, when you are choosing to place your trust in people you may never physically meet.

5.     Processes & Tools used

While building Software or Data assets, Design of the highest quality & execution in a diligent, meticulous & efficient manner is definitely important but equally important (in the long run) are other things like Documentation, Repeatability & using tools that can cut down the time and effort required to achieve the necessary milestones.

Using processes like the Agile Methodology makes sure tasks are broken down, deliverables are well defined and milestones are organized in a way that makes it visible that your project is going ahead in the exact way it is planned/designed and the execution and monitoring is in a way that course correction is easily possible with not too much costs in terms of overheads.

Project Management is an ever-evolving function and adopting such practices that make things efficient is extremely important. Look for a partner that adopts these methods not just as an outcome of your insistence but as something that can make lives easier for them and meanwhile make the whole project development process, transparent for you. This results in not just cutting down costs, but also makes the whole experience enjoyable & worthwhile.

6.     Retention strategies & Long-term employees

As an organization grows, it functions like a child in its formative years, soaking up knowledge while gaining precious experience. The child’s brain where all this data is stored in this case is the employees themselves. In case of employee churn, all this knowledge is lost in bits and pieces and the organization itself gets left with the remaining bits and pieces that make it like a jigsaw puzzle with vital pieces missing.

Look for an organization that treats its employees well and as a result, that respect between employer and employee is mutual. Ideally look for a partner which has successfully retained more than 60% of their first ten employees over a period more than 7 years – This is an ideal ratio which indicates employees are happy, sharp and confident and you would not have to worry about constant changes in the composition of your team.

Anything better than this only makes your quest for an ideal partner, shorter. 

7.     Inter-company Collaboration tools

This might seem like an unimportant factor, but once you have worked long enough, you come to realize that this is the glue that holds the pieces together or for a better analogy, this is actually the lubricant that makes a software development team function like a well-oiled machine.

Every organization is really a bunch of people forced to work together due to different motivations and circumstances. At every workplace, new people start as strangers and get to know each other only when their paths cross. As an organization if your outsourcing partner facilitates collaboration at every level, what it means for you is less trial and so obviously, far lesser error. 

Vital information resides in any organization as disparate data in different data-stores that are it’s people, through their varied skill sets and experiences. But if a company is able to put those together in a way that makes sense, it will only lead to lack of exasperation for you and will make your journey pleasurable on a path that is well paved.

8.     Ability to provide a variety of services

As your business grows, your needs grow and as your needs grow, your ability to service those growing needs will obviously have to be addressed. As a business decision you may opt to staff to fulfill these needs yourself or to continue outsourcing these disparate needs.

Having a partner that can service those varied needs, in terms of technologies or in terms of tools or platforms you may choose to use, is a real blessing. This enables you to pilot the new plan and make better informed decisions.

Having a partner that is married to only a particular technology or a platform will limit your own abilities to service what may be urgent and important asks from your teams.

It is very important to look for a partner who may have a couple of niche skills but also possesses the ability to service its customer’s needs and if they do not possess the gamut of skills you require, still have an open mind and policy to go out and acquire the skills in a turnaround time that will be shorter than your own, were you to staff for that skillset.

9.     Budgets and Accountability

This is one of the main factors to consider especially when the scope of the project you are working with the partner on is open-ended and you are working in a ‘Time & Material’ mode. The biggest pitfall of the T&M model is Scope-Creep and you, as a customer, might be at wit’s end to have this situation addressed before it gets out of hand.

Very few outsourcing vendors work with this sort of accountability and although “Under Promise & Over Deliver” is a principal that is most spoken about, very few of your potential software development partners will be in a position to actually adhere to the principal. It is not always their fault, but instead the outcome of having grown organically and with no plan.

The 8 points mentioned above and 3 points to follow are actually what makes an organization, one that will understand the importance of sticking to a budget and in the worst case, accept responsibility and take measures to ‘do the right thing’ to remedy the solution and do it – IN TIME, EVERYTIME!

10.  Transparency

As a customer, you need to be in the know of everything that goes on with your project. An ideal outsourcing partner is one that has put in place - processes, tools, collaboration & communication channels and also provided you with whatever access you require to be independent of the developers to have the status of your project at ‘run time’.

The world as we know today has all tools necessary for collaborating during the software development lifecycle. A partner that let’s you into their processes to get a view of even the roadblocks they may be facing at any given time, is the only kinds you should be working with.

11.  Accounting Practices

This is a point that is connected with point 10 above. Transparency should stretch into the aspect of your periodic invoices that are raised and your outsourcing vendor should be able to substantiate their ask of payments with Timesheets recording even granular tasks that they attribute to your project.

As mentioned above, the ‘Knowledge Industry’ does carry with it substantial amounts of time dedicated to Research & Development, but you should be in the know of the whats and whys of this R&D time associated with your project.

Also, the point above of collaboration coupled with this aspect of accountability has the potential to reduce this R&D time significantly, resulting in making your software assets development a lean task and thus end up helping you save on hours that you may otherwise have to pay for.

12.  Long term relationships

Lastly, but in no way the least, look for a partner that believes in having long term relationships and is willing to walk with you every step of the way through troubled times as well as good. Go with someone that believes in your vision and is willing to be part of your journey.

Tomes have been written in non-fiction and fiction alike, about the dangers of associating with ‘fair weather friends’ and ‘fly by night’ operatives. This is mainly why we have stressed on points 1 till 11 about important factors to consider while choosing your outsourcing partner and especially if it is an offshore vendor.

Prepare yourself for the long haul and accept the fact that along the journey, there will be roadblocks as well as well paved roads with breathtaking scenery and views coming straight out of pretty postcards. There will be the burning of midnight oil as well as REM sleep. There have to be continuous cups of strong coffee before you hear the pop of the Champagne. Find someone who will be true, honest & brave to be with you, fearlessly, and every step of the way through this exciting adventure.

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