Q: Why do we need outsourcing?
A: For several reasons:
Due to the tremendous pace & sheer vastness of the IT industry, it is preferred by most companies to focus on their respective core competencies & manage a structured growth, rather than a haphazard one. By opting to outsource work which does not fall within your core competencies, you would still be able to retain the client (everybody knows how difficult it is to get one!) for any such work, without increasing your 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 & outine work, you can drastically reduce your operating expenses, provided you have carefully chosen your 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 organizations to concentrate on their core line of business. Furthermore, it helps managers to reengineer business processes and provide the necessary information to assist effective decision-making and ensure quality and cost control.
Q: Why should we outsource to India?
A: 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. Hence, India is an obvious choice, more so for the Information Technology (IT) sector and sectors where Human Resource 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 an outsourcing base due to all these reasons. As per the last statistics published by NASSCOM, about 185+ of the Fortune 500 companies are outsourcing their IT services to India.
Q: Why does it cost less in outsourcing to India?
A: The cost of living in India is much lower than most of the Western countries. The salaries are generally in the range of 30% to 40% 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.
Q: What are your areas of expertise?
A: 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 software development, we also offer integrated back office management solutions & IT enabled services. Following summarizes the solutions that we provide:
* Web design & development
* Web promotion & maintenance
* Portal & Vortal development
* Integrated e-business solutions
* Software development
* Data Entry
Q: What is the pre-sales process?
A: On receiving your enquiry, we respond within one working day for any clarifications. We also send you a summary of our understanding about the project, if there are no clarifications to seek. Further, on receiving your confirmation, we 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.
Q: What is your privacy policy?
A: We never ever interact with your end clients, until & unless you specifically request 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.
Q: What is the post-sales process?
A: 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 this, 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 mutual convenience). The necessary data/content/copy/images etc. are 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 and if required, quoted separately based on the amount of work involved to accomplish the change.
Q: How do we send across the data/content/images to you?
A: 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 are given to you. You can upload all the necessary content/data/images etc. on the specified directory. If Internet access is not 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.
Q: How do we keep a track of the project?
A: 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 reports. 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.
FAQs
Q: What is outsourcing?
A: 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".
Q: Why do we need outsourcing?
A: 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...
