In the most successful cases, according to our experience the outsourcing company and the offshore software development company builds a strong long-term relationship. Often the outsourcing company sends 1-2 people to visit the offshore company to start a personal relationship with the programmers they are going to work with. This also helps to understand the cultural problems and settings and can therefore help to build much more confidence than is possible to build via email communication.
Starting with a small pilot project might be the best way to start and establish a long term relationship... Some of our clients have given the same task to different offshore software development companies and then after evaluation selected the best one.
Project Management - Offshore software development
To safeguard the development process there has to be established practices where the offshore software development company keeps the outsourcing company informed about the progress on a regular basis. Both parties need to follow a communication methodology wherein they acknowledge mails immediately and also ensure that emails are not lost or left unanswered. This email communication plays a vital role as most of the dialog between the engineers and the client is done via this mode. We have found that communication between the offshore software development partner and the outsourcer through document sharing intranet sites like www.intranets.com or certain chat-group-ware like ICQ to be the best means of ironing out technical problems. Please check out http://www.icq.com. This doesn't replace Email but is a very good compliment to Email.
It is also important that clear specifications are made. Based on the specs, engineers from the offshore software development company ask questions and get answers to get a full understanding of the project. Good specifications result in good quality software and considerable savings in time taken to complete projects. In the case of research or in cases when the offshore software development company actually produces the specification, this process of course has to be modified to suit actual requirements.
We believe a project should start with a meeting or an email-dialog* between the parties, to define the business problem and the software solution. This meeting will also include setting project goals, milestones and time frames
Software Piracy and theft
The government of India looks at software exports as one of its key growth areas and has set up an environment, which very strongly discourages any and all forms of software piracy and theft of software in India. One such measure that has been incorporated and instituted in India is the Indian Federation Against Software Theft. INFAST is responsible for policing and tracking down any software theft, and formulating policies, which act as a strong deterrent for personnel and companies.
India is also a signatory to the GATT trade agreement and has agreed to the international laws against software piracy. Make sure your offshore software development partner signs an Intellectual Property Right Pledge and a confidentiality statement / non disclosure agreement as part of the initial stages of your partnership
Conclusions - offshore software development India
If you are careful in your selection process; we believe that you can and will achieve great success with offshore software development projects. Here are some key guidelines, which will help you:
Find a good software development partner, who has a proven record in offshore software development activities over several years
Choose suitable projects
Possibly send a pilot project to the offshore software development company and evaluate the result
Work towards establishing a long term relationship
Visit your development partner (if possible)
Establish good management practices
Don't expect too much from the start. Offshore Software Development in India is profitable in the long run; not just for one-time projects.
