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IT Outsourcing

How to fail your offshore outsourcing project in 5 steps

PentaGuy
PentaGuy
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Offshore outsourcing is a real change management issue. Regardless of the underlying reasons (economic, acceleration, recruitment difficulty, etc.) of an outsourcing project, there are certain pitfalls you should avoid. Here are the top 5.

1. Disregarding the internal HR issue

Whether we talk about IT, accounting or other type of outsourcing, the definition is the same: a provider/partner takes over an activity performed internally until that point. Not taking the internal HR component into account when organizing your outsourcing project is brushing aside any questions the persons in charge may have. The emphasis should be put on making them reflect upon these issues, explaining them the added value and expectations of outsourcing. The result? Make them support the change and avoid frustrations.

2. Considering the destination as futile

The destination country should not be chosen lightly. Outsourcing to Eastern Europe, Asia or Africa does not translate into equal benefits and does not meet the same constraints. Language, time difference, transportation and recruitment potential are extremely important criteria. To appreciate skills and make an idea, visiting the target site quickly becomes essential.

3. Selecting the partner based solely on cost

When choosing the partner, you must make sure that it can cover all the services it offers. Price is an important axis, but you should also assess the attractiveness of the local partner (recruitment facility), loyalty of the partner’s collaborators (turnover level), trainings for collaborators (languages, techniques, etc.), animation on site and within the teams. All these aspects are important in your company. If they are not included in the price, they will never be covered or they will not be for free. All this should be integrated in the financial analysis.

4. All developers are equally good

Yes, all human beings are equally good but this is clearly not the case of developers! Creating a team is only an issue of technical skills. And if you want a high-performance team, always take into account the technical level, professional experience, expectations and attitude. It is therefore important to validate the profiles proposed in CVs as well as during a video interview. Language barrier can be a problem, but it should be easily solved during the project.

5. Not thinking of the team as an extension

The team made up of developers, testers, scrum master and other profiles is created for a mission. If you choose an agile organisation, this does not mean that you can do whatever you want. Priority changes, orientation and strategic changes should not be constrained just because you’re using an outsourced team. On the other hand, when you start considering it as an extension of the internal team, what you get is a higher force of proposition and a higher involvement level as the team feels completely integrated into the project. As a consequence, attention should be equally paid to both the team and the collaborators.

Pentalog provides its clients with cutting-edge IT outsourcing services: Information Systems, Embedded Systems, Mobile solutions and cloud computing. On the other hand, Pentalog Institute, besides its technological expertise, assists its clients with change management towards outsourcing these services.

Put all the chances on your side and outsource your project with Pentalog


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