Complete Outsourcing Guide (FAQs)
What
is outsourcing?
As described in the Webster® dictionary, "Outsourcing: the
practice of subcontracting manufacturing work to outside and
especially foreign or nonunion companies".
The development of any software, quite logically, falls within
the terminology of the word 'manufacturing' & hence, when
used for the software industry, the word 'outsourcing' means
"offloading the development work to other companies".
Why do we need outsourcing?
For several reasons:
- Due
to the tremendous pace & sheer vastness of the IT industry,
it is preferred by most of the companies to focus on their
respective core competencies & manage a structured growth,
rather than a haphazard one.
-
By
opting to outsource the work which does not fall within
your core competencies, you will still be able to retain
the client (everybody knows how difficult it is to get
one!) for any such work, without increasing the capital
expenditure.
-
Additionally,
since you tend to choose an expert for such jobs, the
end client's satisfaction is almost always ensured & thus,
in all probability, your client will also consider you
as a preferred supplier of work / services & hence continued
business.
- By
outsourcing some of the regular & routine work, you can
drastically reduce your operating expenses, provided you
have carefully chosen the outsourcing partner.
Undoubtedly,
outsourcing is fast becoming a strategy for forward thinking
IT managers. No longer just a means of reducing costs, it
has become a tool for adding value to business, simultaneously
enabling organisations to concentrate on their core business.
Furthermore, it helps managers to re-engineer business processes
and provide the necessary information to assist effective
decision-making and ensure quality and cost control.
Why should we outsource
when we ourselves can recruit professionals to do it internally?
You will require to hire an entire team to execute the projects
with variable needs. The size & skill sets of such team may
vary as per the project requirements & scale. So you end up
increasing your capital as well as operating cost. Also, for
the projects with altogether different requirements than your
core competencies, the chances of abnormal delays, frequent
change requests from the client & over all inadequate control
on the execution are always higher, adding further to your
operating costs.
The following is a quote from an April 1999 issue of Time
by Bill Gates. "As a business manager, you need to take a
hard look at your core competencies. Revisit the areas of
your company that aren't directly involved in those competencies,
and consider whether Web technologies can enable you to spin
off those tasks. Let another company take over the management
responsibilities for that work, and use modern communication
technology to work closely with the people - now partners
instead of employees are doing the work. In the Web work style,
employees can push the freedom the Web provides to its limits."
Why should we outsource
to India?
India has an enormous supply of qualified, technical, literate
& English speaking/fluent workforce and the salary rates compare
very favorably with other developed / developing nations around
the world. And hence, India is an obvious choice, more so
for Information Technology (IT) sectors, and sectors where
Human Resources is the key factor. The reason is not far to
seek. There is no dearth of companies who have made (or are
in the process of making) India as an outsourcing base due
to all these reasons.
Why
does it cost less in outsourcing to India?
The cost of living in India is much lower than
most of the Western countries. The salaries are generally
in the range of 20% to 30% of what they are in the Western
countries. Even if we consider the capital expenditure at
par, we are able to carry out your work at a much lower cost
as our operating costs are much lower. This is one of the
main advantages of having India as your outsourcing base.
Why should
we outsource to ACE?
- Indian
quality and cost advantage
- ISO
9002 certified for business processes (for data conversion
& GIS services)
- A
public limited company associated with IT business for over
10+ years
- Appeared
in the list of top 1000 Indian companies across all the
sectors by Business India (Sept. 1999 issue)
- Single
point contact for all the coordination, right from the first
stage
- Well
defined & structured processes
- Very
fast turn around time
- An
access to the information, skills & expertise gained
over a period of 10+ years
- Facility
to pay in local currency (at select countries only)
What are your areas of expertise?
We undertake software/web development projects
primarily on Microsoft® platforms. However, we can also offer
solutions based on Unix/Linux platforms, on a case to case
basis. Besides the software development, we also offer integrated
back office management solutions & IT enabled services.
Following
summarises the solutions that we provide:
- Web
design & development
- Web
promotion & maintenance
- Portal
& Vortal development
- Integrated
e-business solutions
- Software
development
- AM/FM
& GIS as well as CAD solutions
- Database
building & conversion
- Back
office management
What is the pre-sales
process?
On receiving your inquiry, we respond within one
working day for any clarifications. We also send you a summary
of our understanding about the project, if there is no clarifications
to seek. Further on receiving your confirmation, we then provide
you with a ball park estimate of the project as well as the
development tools that we intend to employ. On case to case
basis, we offer the ball park rates for the project either
on hourly basis or on 'not to exceed' basis, and sometimes
an option for both to choose from.
What is your privacy
policy?
We never ever interact with your end clients, until & unless
you specifically requested us in writing / by e-mail. The
solutions developed by us for you are handed over as a package
without the slightest of indication about the origin of the
same.
What is the post-sales process?
Once the project is agreed upon, based on the size & terms
of the project, we then request for a detailed design document
(or, if the need arises, we carry out the requirement analysis
for you) and freeze the scope of the work in consultation
with you. We derive the functional specifications & technical
specifications after freezing the scope. After which, we provide
you with a development schedule & milestones in accordance
with the overall time schedule agreed. The actual development
is then undertaken.
Once the project is accepted & undertaken, we assign it to
a Project Manager/Coordinator & intimate the contact details
to you for further communication. We also create an FTP area
on a server (either on your server or on our server, as per
the mutual convenience). The necessary data/content/copy/images
etc. is exchanged through this FTP area. If the internet connectivity
is not feasible at your end, we also exchange the same through
e-mail. The progress reports are submitted to you on a weekly
basis either by e-mail or through Work Extranet. On satisfactory
completion & acceptance of the project, we sign off & declare
the project as closed. Any request for a change is taken care
of & if required, quoted separately based on the amount
of work involved to accomplish the change & the stage of the
project.
How do we send across the data/content/images
to you?
There are several ways you can do that.
Generally,
we create an FTP area on our server for every project that
we carry out. The FTP rights for that specific area is given
to you. You can upload all the necessary content/data/images
etc. on the specified directory. If
the Internet access is not very feasible, we also accept
the same through e-mail. The required details can be sent
across to us from your regular e-mail id. If
the time frame permits & it is not possible for you to provide
us with the electronic copy of the images, you can opt to
send it across by regular post/courier.
What is your turn around time?
Obviously,
it varies as per the size & the complexity of the project.
However, while providing you with the ball park estimate,
we also provide a tentative time frame. On receiving (or after
preparing, whatever the case may be) the design document,
we provide you with the exact time frame & the milestones.
We have executed projects of varying time frames, ranging
from 100 man hours to 5000 man-hours.
How
do we keep a track of the project?
Once the project is accepted & undertaken, we assign it
to a Project Manager/Coordinator & intimate the contact details
to you for further communication. He/she, then becomes your
single point of contact for all the communication & keeps
you posted with the progress report. Based on the complexity
& the size of the project, the progress reports are sent across
on a weekly or biweekly basis. The reports are either sent
across to you by e-mail or can be viewed from the client work
extranet.
How do you handle the change requests?
The change requests are handled & if required, quoted
for on the basis of:
- the
stage at which the change is requested
- the
complexity of the project & the implications of the change
- the
volume of work involved to accomplish the change. We prefer
not to charge you extra for any minor changes. Major changes
are quoted separately at the time of occurrence and before
the implementation. They are implemented only after receiving
your acceptance.
How
do we pay?
Payments
can easily be made by telegraphic transfers through your bankers
without any difficulty.
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