6 Ways To Choose the Right Offshoring Partner

• Engage the right offshoring model for your software development needs

Before you hire an offshore company, examine your needs thoroughly and understand what kind of an offshore set up is required for your product development.  Your options range from extending your software development team to engaging for a project at a fixed price.  When opting for a project based model, there has to be a high level of clarity as far as the requirements are considered because this directly affects workload estimates, and hence the cost. On the other hand, hiring a dedicated team would give you more flexibility in hiring and training. It is also more cost effective in the long run because you have complete control over planning, requirement specifications, workload, and so on. The IP remains with the specific team that is hired as opposed to changing team members in the case of a project. That’s something to consider.

• Do your homework. Learn as much as you can about the software offshoring company

Once the evaluation is made as to which model is best suited for your organization’s needs, give the best due diligence for the company you’re trying to hire. This is an important step in succeeding with an offshoring partner. Time and research spent in thoroughly investigating the company and its practices will serve you well in the long run.

• Talk to both previous and existing customers of the software offshoring company

References should form a crucial factor in your decision-making process. Obtain contact information of atleast three existing and previous customers of the outsourcing company who have a set up similar to yours.  This will give you a way better understanding of the future dynamics of a relationship with this company than any other research you can conduct.  

• Visit the offshore center of the outsourcing company

It is imperative that you meet the management team of the offshoring company directly before you commit to any engagement model. Examine their facilities and infrastructure to understand whether they will meet the needs of your product development team. If it is not up to your expectations, you can still engage with the company if they are flexible in adapting and customizing to your needs.

• Interview your software product development team

Once you freeze on the model of working, the next step is the hiring process. This is crucial in finding success with offshoring. Ensure that every member of the team is interviewed personally and hired directly by the on-site team that is going to be engaging with the offshoring team.

• Once hired, train them and bring them on board as per your expectations

Once you have hired an exclusive team, focus on making it a part of your in-house team. Encourage team spirit. A quick enthusiasm-killer is forcing the offshore team to perform mundane tasks.Ensure that you are distributing interesting and challenging work equally and giving them scope for growth in their respective areas of expertise.