One of my contacts on LinkedIn recently asked a question about out-sourcing and I thought it might be useful to post my thoughts on this:
Having been through a vendor selection process which encompassed 32 different companies, some off-shore and some on-shore I’ve seen a massive variation in quality, costs and skills. I found the principle of caveat emptor very relevant.
My key learnings were firstly that off-shoring is not cheap, it is cheaper, but it isn’t cheap. Secondly there is a significant variation in quality which a properly run RFI and RFQ process can help select out. Many of the companies we included in our process I would use again, several I would not.
In my experience, there are two pitfalls to avoid when out-sourcing, both of which a professional client can avoid. Firstly the client must prepare a clear specification of what they want – in order to communicate precisely what needs to be developed across timezones and continents the client needs to know exactly what they want. My understanding from talking to off-shore developers is that they frequently receive little information about what needs to be developed.
Secondly, out-sourcing still requires time on the ground with your development team, all the technology in the world won’t replace the accuracy of face to face communication. In addition careful and close management is necessary – speaking to your developer on a daily basis helps to prevent costly errors.
I am also of the view that, assuming the development company has the basic technical skillset to deliver your project then any failure to deliver will be as much in the hands of the client as the developer.
In the end my company we went with a development partner based in India and so far we’ve been very impressed with their professionalism and skills.
See my LinkedIn profile to link to the full range of answers: http://www.linkedin.com/in/mrogers
