In last couple years, I am seeing more and more discussion on why companies in the west should look for better alternatives (especially on IT outsourcing). Many times such discussions are propaganda from companies of competing countries but many are genuine concerns as well. Concerns like: why they continue to face challenges in outsourcing, quality problems, debate on “Offshore Vs Nearshore”, etc. Everyone has their own share of challenges with many common factors but I consistently see everyone missing one primary factor. i.e. “the quality of onsite team”.
Common reasons:
Outsourcing is happening at expense of local jobs
It’s great to think about your own country and community but let’s think logically and not emotionally. Fact is that many companies have survived because of outsourcing. Outsourcing is not a choice in many cases and helps companies to grow. Eventually, it results in local jobs and healthier eco-system.
Working in difference time zone
A valid reason for a smoother communication if everyone was on same/similar time zone. However, fact still remains that team is not in same office in nearshore as well. Working odd hours continues to address this issue. Better organized team will face fewer problems because of different time zone. At the same time, organizations are able to function 24x7 because of offices in different time zones.
Cultural affinity and better communication
I see this as an irrelevant factor. I have not had or seen any major communication breach in my career so far. Even though there is vast different in accent and culture of west and India, Indian professionals have adapted and so has the professionals in the west. Openness in global business and travel has helped in breaching this gap.
Other factors
There can be few more major and minor factors but everyone is missing one important driver of getting better outsourcing experience
Missing factor:
Quality of onsite team
I have consistently seen companies stressing more on offshore units/dept for quality. No one seem to realize that this is a team work and adding better technicians and more head counts is not the solution. You tend to think it’s working when team is onsite because then you have the luxury to sit with them, clean up the mess and keep the problem under carpets. You can’t get a quality output from a crap input. You got to have a solid analyst and project/product manager onsite to get the best out of offsite team. An idea may look simple, a few pager document may be enough for the customer but when any project goes in development it requires clear instructions on what is to be done and what not.
Conclusion:
“Quality of onsite team” is paramount in making an onsite-offsite team work efficiently with high quality. Over the years, I have consistently seen that better the onsite team, better are the results from offsite team.