Outsourcing Interchange Notes
October 9, 2007

Focus: This Interchange focused on determining if an IT department, or areas of, were good candidates for outsourcing, and how to manage outsourcing effectively.

Issues:
Manage Outsourcing
Pitfalls
Process
Metrics
Communication

Managing:
Have a one-day lag time
Develop tech specs
Have people come here and send someone from your company here to go there
Have right people involved
Communication is key (Have a regular conversation with them to see if you can communicate with each other.)

Pitfalls:
Language barrier - Make sure they understand what you want
Time difference - Have someone here work at same time as outsourcers so they can answer questions, or send a person over there to work.
Need to know each other’s culture – Have a seminar on cultures to better understand what they mean and for them to understand you.
Comprehension of process

Ideal time to outsource is when there are a lot of projects. They should be a part of the team.
Break project down in small tasks. Assign these tasks to outsource group.

Process:
Determine which process is right for outsourcing
- Take existing process
- Take existing process problem and fix it
- Take broken process and fix it (this is a disaster). Fix process before outsourcing.

Whatever process you have make sure it is documented

If outsourcing is handled right, retention of employees here should go up. Use outsourcers to handle simple things, and the people here can move up. Outsource non-value jobs. This helps the employees you have. They aren’t afraid of losing their jobs.

Each client needs to figure out what they need to measure.

You and outsourcer need to be on same tool.

Shadow resources – have more than you need

Toll gate process – sign off scripts at end of projects

No point in outsourcing with broken process.

Easier to outsource when you have proper documentation

Company needs to be ready

When you first start to outsource start with small project

How Do You Find Good Outsourcing People?
- Gartner
- Make sure that the vendor has local presence – either an office or a representative
- CAHABA – They look at process; Identify local outsources; Identify who might be best for what you want; Help with evals and RFP
- There are many people available for outsourcing in the secondary towns, but they may not have as many skills. The Help Desk is good for outsourcing to the secondary towns.
- Find people that want to migrate back to India, and use them as your offshore co-ordinators. They will have the communication skills you want, and will be your eyes and ears on site.

Different Countries are Better for Certain Outsourcing Skills:
IT – India
Telecom – China
Graphic Design – Eastern Europe

Tools:
Use cases
RUP
Agile
Function Point