What is your experience with outsourcing.
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I am curious to know what peoples experience has been with outsourcing.
In the UK there is a lot of tension over IT jobs being outsourced to India and other low-wage locations.
What are peoples experiences, good and bad?
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I have worked at a couple of different shops that have outsourced and they had the same outcome:
1.) 4 - 6 outsource personnel to do the same job as in-house
2.) 4 - 6 times longer to complete the project with the outsourcers
3.) HIGHLY difficult to coordinate anything with the outsource individuals due to time differences, different cultures, holidays, etc..
4.) English - English translations fail miserably
5.) Manageability of the product and ability to manage expectations goes out the window.
However, outsourcing in the US from the US goes pretty well. No communication problems, and you can stress urgency and get the developers via pager/phone
Good Hunting!AJ Ahrens
webmaster@kritter.net -
I would like to hear more,
cause' I am from one of those "low-wage" locations.
Regards.
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I actually need to write something about this, but here's what I know.
1. This has happened for years in the US. But not to other countries, to lower cost US locations. the uproar over India that is currently dominating the headlines is lots of fluff.
2. There are challenges with outsourcing to other locations, but they are similar challenges with outsourcing down the block.
3. You can't generalize about outsourcing.
That being said. I've worked with consultants/contractors in long term situations where an entire project/dept has been given to the group and the experience is mixed. In general the most successful projects I've had experience with have the people sitting in your room. When they are in another building, whether down the block or on the other side of the world, you have communication issues, technical issues, etc. Size of attachaments, length of time to checkout files, communication down, etc.
About the low wage thing. It really depends on what is a low wage. If I hire a group in the US to handle my call center calls and pay them US$7, then I get substantially worse service and higher turnover than if I pay US$10 an hour.
Now if I pay US$2/hr to a programmer in India is that a low wage? Compared the US it is, but in India (I don't know) it might be a high wage. And I might get better quality.
Long Story short, outsourcing will always occur, but there are issues, sending your IP to someone else, not building your own value, saving short term $$ in salary, but spending in communication, etc.
IF you want to do ANY outsourcing, pick your partners carefully, spec out and communicate in detail and often. You have to look beyond the $$.
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Another thing to consider is security (both data and network). IF you outsource AND the skills are no longer available at your company to check the system how do you know that your information is secure? How do you know that your customer information is secure?
Not only in the code of the system to trojan it away BUT in the transmission of the data to the outsource company for testing....
It is a very often missed part of the equation because everyone assumes that the transmission of data is not compromised, etc...
Recently a company here in the US lost a HIPAA case because of the following:
Outsourced project with all the proper security, encryption, etc... no risk of divulging customer information.
Outsource company farmed work out and provided the same customer information without the knowledge of the original customer. Data was leaked and the original company was at fault......
Good Hunting!AJ Ahrens
webmaster@kritter.net -
I have to admit outsourcing scares me witless.
In the States it may have been the case of someone working for US$7/hour instead of US$10/hour but outsourcing to India means competing against someone who will work for 70 cents/hour. Now I can tell you that even if the quality was poor (which it is emphatically not) at this price it is a very attractive business proposition.
One of the keys to successful outsourcing is when the company that is outsourcing has a clear idea of what it wants to achieve and is able to articulate it. Now anyone who has been the industry for a while will know that there are VERY few cases when this is truly the case. In my work I think I have come across two cases in the passed 5 years!
My fear is that the decision makers can see the clear chance of a short term profit and a hefty bonus from the city as a reward. By the time the chickens come home to roost they are already onto their next golden hello and their successor can safely blame the outgoing decision maker.
My other fear is in my own ability to sell my skills. I am 37 years old in a technical role. Over the years I have won the respect of my peers and superiors and - thank God - my clients, but it took a lot of hard work and time. I am not someone for whom selling myself comes easily and the IT press is packed full of people of my age who feel that they are on the scrap heap.
I have been downsized once before and it wasn't fun. This time around I have gained a wife, 3 kids and a mortgage so the prospect is frankly terrifying. The knowledge that industries come and go and it is part of the natural ebb and flow of an economy doesn't make it any less terrifying.
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