FAQ on Offshore Development and IT process Outsourcing

Offshore outsourcing is undoubtedly a strategic boom for any business. In this unstable market, you need a trust-worthy business partner to make pertinent business decisions in your absence. The Offshore development team is that business partner that you can rely on for all your strategic needs.

When you are planning to outsource, certify the country and culture of the offshore company well before finalising anything. Check their past projects. It will give you an idea about their working style and their in-house skills.

When you work with an outsourcing company, it is essential to be extremely specific with your requirements to get the desired output. Likewise, many pointers need to be taken care of before you get carried away with the outsourcing benefits.

Let’s have a quick look at the FAQs on Offshore Development and IT process Outsourcing.

What is ‘Offshore Outsourcing’?

Offshore Outsourcing is employing a third party located in a different country to perform your business tasks, which are currently being operated from your source country. Offshore outsourcing gives you a platform to expand your business globally. Businesses usually go offshore when they see the potential of their project scaling up in a particular nation. It majorly benefits you in terms of time and cost, followed by many other gains. Furthermore, the employment cost reduces as the outsourcing provider manages all the employee settlements.

Why Should I Outsource My IT Operations?

Operational cost holds a major portion of business expenses. IT operations usually require bigger apportionment of resources. Cutting down on operational costs will have a direct impact on profitability. Outsourcing IT operations improves the efficiency of the business by reducing and controlling the cost.

Do I Lose Control over the Process When I Work with an Offshore Team for My Business Processes?

When you are loaded with so many outsourcing benefits, you have to be prepared for some of its shortcomings as well. When you get into an offshore agreement, you are giving the management rights of your company to a third party, but the control will be with the business itself. When you have a firm agreement with the vendor, the process will drive the business. Also, the goals will be driven with the same perseverance as your company. You can fix this by getting firm agreements from the company before finalizing the commercials.

How to Handle Confidentiality and IP with the Offshore Team?

Protecting the Intellectual rights of a company is an important concern in offshore outsourcing. To avoid any seepage of data, you should place a strong security policy and a proper NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) in place with the vendor. Besides, you should ensure technical safeguards installed by the outsourcing company is much better than the ones installed at your place.

You Can Follow These Measures at Outsourcing to Maintain Confidentiality and IP:

• Block the data transfer modes for employees who don’t need to have this resource to perform their operations as it is the most common technique used to steal confidential information.
• Encrypt all incoming and outgoing data.
• Secure data with complex passwords.

Infrastructure & Security Issues

Using outsourced development services surely has a list of benefits buy at the same time; it introduces various levels of risks in the form of security threats. Each outsourced application should undergo a risk valuation. The risk factors involved in this process include operational risk, financial risk, confidential and IP information disclosure, and other regulatory compliance desecrations.

Ensure not to expose sensitive data to the offshore team as this can lead the business into trouble. Also, the employees should be trained on how to handle sensitive data. Encourage the use of application layer firewalls to ensure complete security of data. Employ modern technology to control data flow.

How to Monitor Progress and Productivity?

• Communication with the offshore development team becomes very difficult due to geographical reasons. Let English be a global language. Link your business with a team that can communicate in English to keep you updated on the progress of work. Creating a work group or chat room will also help in getting regular updates.
• Give them a comfortable environment where they can ask questions if something doesn’t work.
• Allot team leaders for various jobs. This will bring in the sense of responsibility within the employees to work towards the betterment of the organization.
• Ensure to visit the offshore site at least once a year. This will help in building a bond between you and the offshore employees, which will work towards the proficiency of the business.
• Hire a local manager who will act as a consultant to your company. Let him do the local research to compare the outcome of the business for you to make strategic decisions wherever required. It is also important to make sure the team has a Time tracking tool like Hubstaff or Timecamp to find out the time taken to get a task completed. Also, make sure the team has tools like Basecamp, Allthings, or nTask to manage the projects wisely. Not to forget, document sharing services like Dropbox, iDrive, Google Drive, or iCloud, etc are also vulnerable in monitoring progress and productivity.

If I Hire a Developer Full Time for My Project, Will the Developer Work Dedicatedly on My Tasks?

A dedicated development team works as a stand-alone application, assuring timely delivery, and high-quality products. Offshore app developers who work full-time for you are solely devoted to your company. They invest their full time and energy in your company and have entrusted curiosity in the positive output.

Who Will Own the Source Code Produced by the Offshore Development Team?

As per the rule, the source code belongs to the Client. However, the client can modify this rule by signing an agreement with the offshore company where the client lets the outsourcer keep the code. In such an arrangement, the client gets a good discount, and the outsourcing company receives the right to reprocess the code in other projects.

What Level of Education and Training Do the Developers Hold?

A bachelor’s degree in software engineering or computer science is the basic requirement for a developer’s profession. A master’s in Business Administration is always an advantage.

Arrange for regular training as that works as a perk for the team to work competently. The more you upskill them, the more productive they will turn out for your business. The client needs to keep a regular update of the training process of the offshore team and consider it as a part of the process.

Meet the Offshore Team?

A yearly meet with the offshore team is mandatory for smooth regulation of the business. It gives an understanding of the team’s working manner and helps analyze their performance. You can accordingly make decisions on improvements and further investments.

Visiting the offshore location also helps you understand the local environment and its effect on the team and their work. Getting personal also assists in building a great bond with the team, which ultimately upsurges the productivity of the business. Physically meeting the team helps understand the business and operational challenges from a clear view.