Offshore
outsourcing is the process of delegating a business process to countries other
than the home country, where the company is situated. It is similar to import
and export of services. The outsourcing has lead to increase in employment
opportunities in countries like India and Philippines, who have been the
fore-runners and the top two choices for years. Most of the outsourcing task
comes from the US, Canada, European Union and Australia. Outsourcing is a
contractual relationship between the outsourcing vendor and the client, not
just allocation of work.
Why outsource?
Outsourcing is
done to save costs. One or more business processes are outsourced for which the
company does not have a set infrastructure. The process is not important enough
to be eligible for a large investment and is thus, outsourced. This prevents
money blocking and reduces operating expenses. Outsourcing is also done to get
better quality work at cheap rates.
Offshore development centre
Offshore
Development Centre (ODC) is a group of highly trained and experienced technicians that develop, test and launch
software solutions. It is a dedicated team of professionals that takes care of
outsourced tasks. This is an engagement model adopted by outsourcing vendors
for long term commitments. In this the whole or part of a business process is
outsourced to one single client. For example, research and development, BPOs
and KPOs. Neither the duration of the contract is fixed nor the amount.
In this model,
the complete investment is of the client, who has a running infrastructure and
adequate resources. The outsourcing vendor only maintains the quality control.
This model is cost-effective only in case of big contracts.
Benefits with ODCs
Offshore
Development Centre is an adequate model for long term contracts that do not
require constant innovation. Its benefits are:
·
The model is cheap and saves heavy
capital investment.
·
It has a large pool of resources,
experts, knowledge, technicians, developers etc.
·
Fully equipped and has a set
infrastructure.
·
Gives quality outcome at cheap rates.
·
Time difference saves cost and
increases turnover.
·
Foreign exchange difference, that
further decreases the cost.
Appropriate tasks
The tasks best
suited for this type of engagement model are:
·
Testing: Offshore testing focuses on
complete verification of the system. It includes various types of testing like,
unit testing, system testing, regression testing etc. It also includes
conducting multiple tests for a number of times, until the consistent results
are received.
·
Project analysis: This includes
analyzing the whole project, that is from the beginning to the end. It takes
into account risks, market trends, competitors, etc. It defines major functions
and points out user requirements with practical estimates and solutions.
·
Design and development: In this
phase, the product or software architecture is designed and layouts are
finalized. The prototypes are developed and tested. Once thats done, coding and
phase-wise development begins.
·
Maintenance: The system is kept under
supervision and flaws are rectified as soon as they are detected. Regular
maintenance us done to prevent system from crashing. The system is run under
various environments and its performance is recorded.
·
Support: Along with technical support, it
also includes after sales services, like call centers. The queries and
complaints of customers are taken care off and prompt solutions are provided.
These tasks are
the most appropriate for the offshore development center engagement model.
The development
centers that are located domestically or in the same country are called
nearshore or domestic development centers. One can also opt for their services
if they fulfill the requirements. For instance, at times multiple opinions are
required, like onsite and offshore testing of software. During those times,
nearshore development centers come handy.
The offshore
development center model is effective if the project is big, in terms of work
and remuneration. Choose this model if you need a long term contractual
relationship.
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