Professional Experience – Offshoring IT Project_________________________________________________

A decade ago, when I was overseas interacting with Global Clients, the impression about India being unbearably backward was inescapable. “Are you from the land of snake charmers?” became an often asked question .I was compelled to educate my clients on the competence and customer satisfaction that India strived to achieve. Since then Indians determinedly marched fast out of the past into the future with a fury to “know and be known”. That was then.

Today stands so different. I ponder for a moment and can’t help but wonder, “India is no longer the land of snake charmers but mouse-movers”. True. Very true.

It was a windy evening in the Silicon Valley, USA, the breeze blowing over the apparels and washing down the face, I smiled to myself. The winds of change had started to blow. I set out for a dinner meeting, hosted by one of the prominent businessman. Once there, when someone introduced me as an ‘Offshore Center Head’ from India, I was beseeched by many in the meeting. Now these gentlemen – venture capitalists, angel investors, given their backdrop and background are luminaries by their own right and to call them any less would be sacrilege, yet they came around enquiring.

“Skills are available and so are the talent but how to get the right people into the organization?”,

“For that matter, how do you build an organization?”

“With so many technological changes churning out, how do you manage change?” “How much would it cost to deliver engagements?”

In as much as I was flattered and flabbergasted in being the subject of their interest, I was very much fascinated by the interest generated by the same people who had all the knowledge and know-how but didn’t know how to go about. That was sometime ago when off-shoring was rampant in Engineering fields but not so very stable in Information Technology as Software is a mix of art and science. Today Off-shoring is no longer an option for corporate – it’s an OPPORTUNITY.

‘Why, What, Where, When and How’ to Offshore? Interesting questions that can’t be answered in isolation but by a collection of metrics that demand merit. Corporate look at IT Off-shoring in terms of quality, availability of skill-pool at cost, level of skills with a reference, or can we sum it up as ‘Reduced Total Cost of Ownership of the Product’.

We are a witness to unprecedented times of many a companies mushrooming round the corner, hither and thither. Never was India assaulted with the arrival of so many MNC’s until now and the ascent still continues unabated.

Though Off-shoring existed since time immemorial (remember the British using India to build their ships that sailed all round the globe), the concept now is picking up fast and will mature in near future for Information Technology. In IT, Everything cant’ be off-shored; and even if it can, there is a price attached.

So, is Offshore the trend now ? -The business chance to capitalize or a choice of convenience to ease out the burden so as to effect existing resource into more enterprising avenues? One is not sure for there are far more questions that Offshoring raises than answers. As much as instituting offshore is interesting, it’s indeed intriguing to initiate any venture.

What then is the prime factor to pursue Off-shoring? Achieving the ultimate goal of adding value to customers and in turn to their customers – this should be the driving factor. For the success of Offshore there is a lot of thought processing involved complimented with a genuine effort, which is not for the sake and where cost isn’t the only benefit.

What are the typical challenges of Off-shoring? – well, from my experience in working with a horde of Software giants where Off-shoring was a key component. As I was in the committee that actually did the assessment, I could say with conviction that challenges can stem from every walk of life, like Communication, which per-se is an important factor. I remember during a stint in Japan, where we hired an interpreter who knew English to ensure we were in the same page with the customer. That was a stiff challenge. Interpretation is important!

How do companies keep in sync with the rapid and fleeting technological upheavals?

In US, long considered as the Silicon Valley capital of the world, challenges were stiff in the form of technological changes: What holds good today is history tomorrow. Such is the advent and advancement in technology. The best fit for Offshore is Product Incubation and Development, but how did we counter the challenge? By our immense skill-pool that anticipated and kept abreast of the changes that can be conceived to be in line with what’s happening in the industry. The Onsite team closely collaborated with the offshore to effect knowledge-transfer translating the details to deliverables. Adaptability and flexibility fixed firm our foothold while our morale and mindset made sure we stood up and delivered. We not only rose up to the challenge but exceeded expectations as well.

Another challenged that cropped was culture – Mexico could be a classic example where we were to balance culture by becoming sensitive to the sentiments of the locale in managing solutions, effecting knowledge transfer and creating a win-win situations. All these constitute the challenges Off-shoring calls for. There are others as well.

How to go about off shoring? – This is where experience plays a major role.

In my years of experience in off shoring, I had engaged my services in helping global customers to succeed with off-shoring engagements. I have built parameters and tools which can convert subjectivity to objectivity, Created tools for assessment - for assessing and getting the right expectation & objective for off-shoring; securing better ROI and better value for engagement. To me, having gone through off-shoring exercises many a times, I realize, the more I do, the more is the enrichment in experience. Unique. Customized for every engagement.

The ride in Offshore engagements so far proved refreshing and even more rewarding. How do I then Leverage the Knowledge in Offshore – by application of successful experiences into more success; for I believe “knowing and not applying is a crime that mankind can be without”.