Offshore Development has seen tremendous growth in recent years, primarily among Indian software development companies. The benefits of outsourcing projects in India are numerous; be it offloading application maintenance, product development, help desk operations or numerous other projects, clients are assured of the best among Indian software developers, forming vital partnerships and mission-critical Extended Development Centers, at phenomenally lower costs. So dynamic and well adapted is offshore development in India that management gurus are now heralding its longevity and the effect it will have.

The typical Offshore Development engagement in India, will last for a number of years, and be governed by a contract setting the terms and conditions between the client and Indian software developers for the duration of their relationship. To measure whether that relationship is working and how well, Service Level Agreements are established, which define the boundaries of all offshore projects or offsite projects in terms of functions and services that the service provider will provide its client, the volume of work that will be accepted and delivered, and acceptance criteria for responsiveness and the quality of deliverables.

Opportunities with our company :

•  provides enormous cost benefits

• center works according to Internet time

• provides an extended resource pool

• allows focus on core competencies

• – Risk factors

Ensuring quality is difficult in project :

• Communication is a problem in an offshore development project

• Cultural differences form hindrances in an offshore development relationship

• Infrastructure challenges hinder work in an offshore development project

• Offshore development relationships may also be fraught with political and natural disasters

IT columnists and strategists echo the success of project, citing cost efficiencies and time advantages. But the extent of its potential is yet to be realized. Many believe that the project model is still facing teething problems of its infancy. As increasingly complex, business-critical projects are developed offshore, the offshore development industry will mature and contribute substantially to a global economy.

In the interim, the offshore development industry is fraught with challenges such as inferior quality; inflexibility; slow-adapting infrastructure, political and natural disasters.

Possibly the biggest challenges that will hinder the natural progression of the offshore development industry are - communication and cultural differences. Trying to communicate the intricacies of a project across continents, through a constrained medium, can lead to confusion and misunderstanding. The success of offshore development is also hindered by culture as it differs vastly from region to region, saying nothing of country to country. As a result, companies continue to burn their fingers experimenting with offshore development and offshore development centers.

Discussed above are the operational hazards of the offshore development model. How can you traverse beyond that and move from mere cost saving to strategic value? Select the right supplier – the single factor that successfully smoothens rough edges and ensures that any offshore development venture is a multicrop harvest – compatibility. When selecting your offshore development supplier, the question that needs to be asked, and answered, is – “Pepsi or Coke”.

Preferences, goals, objectives, drivers are all important inherent traits that define the rhythm of an organization, an important criterion when you need to tango to the frenzied pace of the Internet economy and when you plan to leverage on offshore development.

This has led to a paradigm shift in the traditional, widely accepted concept of ‘supplier = partner’. According to the management consultants, Everest Group, offshore development suppliers need to be allies, rather than partners, as “Partners share joint liabilities and ownership. Allies act together for each other’s benefit where and when their interests are aligned.” There is a common goal and both parties leverage their strengths to achieve it. Everest goes on to recommend this shift in perception as the most important best practice for outsourcing decision makers.

With so much at stake in an offshore development relationship, the act of selecting the right ally needs careful consideration. According to the Offshore Development Group, “One of the biggest challenges facing potential buyers of IT services from offshore development organizations is identifying appropriate vendors and performing due diligence.”

Location - Location plays an important role when outsourcing to an offshore development supplier. The choice of location determines the caliber of resources available, language and cultural compatibility, time zone differences, innate quality consciousness, availability of infrastructure, political stability and, most importantly, cost. It is extremely beneficial if the offshore development provider also has a local presence in your country or has extensive experience working with other clients from your country.

All roads lead to India - India is the undisputed leader in offshore development and offshore development centers. The country enjoys first-mover advantage and is the most mature market in the current scenario. It has a large population of culturally sensitized, technically advanced, English speaking professionals (most of the higher education in India is in English), who are available at low costs. Outsourcers with operations in India or offshore development centers in India are reporting 45 to 60 percent annual growth. Gartner Group predicts that within two years, 40 percent of its clients will spend up to two-fifths of their legacy budgets on offshore outsourcing to India.

India is an attractive location for the following reasons :
Cost Saving - Fully loaded costs for offshore work and offshore development centers in India are 30-50 percent lower than those in the U.S. and Europe.

Faster time to market - Time reductions result from 24/7 development cycles. Offshore development allows for rapid ramp-up through access to a large pool of resources and faster learning curves in some areas stemming from past experience.

High quality - According to research findings by CIO.com, “India has the highest number of CMM-certified companies in the world—37 companies meet CMM minimum standards while 5,554 have ISO 9000 certifications. 260 of the Fortune 1000, including 3M, Amazon, Nortel Networks - outsource to India.”

Greater value - many companies are leveraging the technical expertise of Indian resources for activities such as R&D.