Offshore Today

Outsourcing Journalism: The New Haven Experiment

The New York Times reported that the New Haven Advocate outsourced their content to Mumbai India based freelancer writers. This Alternative newspaper outsource articles on the arts, sex and music. Initial reviews seemed positive, which translates that this kind of outsourcing is possible. BUT is it real?

“A city is best reported by people who live in it. Period.

”...maybe it showed something else: that breaking the mold did work, that you could reinvent the wheel and come up with something pretty fresh.

From the NYTimes article ("Made In India, but Published in New Haven", by Peter Applebome, May 31, 2009)

We believe offshore outsourcing can present advantages to business and in our discussion about KPO, there can be strong benefits to outsourced research and social network content writing. The experiment seem to show that this kind of journalism can be outsourced, which may or may not be a good thing.

Communications Tips with Your Offshore Team

We read an article today entitled: "7 best tips for communicating with your offshore team in india", and was distressed at some of the suggestions presented. The point of view was from the India side of the equation, yet we felt that the tips gave doubt that cross-cultural communications can be effective. Maybe we misread, what do you think?

The writer makes the following assumption, and thus his seven suggestions are rooted:

Mostly you are born & brought up in western country, having some cultural inclination and English language knowledge. Receiver is mostly the person in India, who knows English, but finds it hard to understand American English accent as well as having different cultural & geographical understanding.

The fallacy, from our personal experience, is that professional Indian's communicate quite well with their western counterparts. Naturally, at some levels the command of English is more colloquial (ya ya instead of yes for instance). However, to make the assumption that there are breakdowns in communication and cultural differences, we believe, brings great disservice to the Indian/North American offshore relationship.

In fact, we believe it is a critical step in the initial evaluation period for the US based client to speak with the offshore team. To guage not only technical know-how and innovative motivation, but also the ability to clearly understand and speak with each other. We have seen this communication go very well - enough to ensure a deal will be at hand.

We do agree with the comments in this article that for more technical discussions, the use of Skype chat and other digital means makes sense to ensure that there is clear documentation. This ensures there is a digital paper trail for technical points and agreements/understandings.

Just don't sell the verbal communication short - or perhaps find a more professional service provider.

 

Improving Outsourced Sales Force Effectiveness; A Webinar

A brief webinar from a India based outsource call center company - VCare Call Center, with tips and suggestions for establishing an effective outsourced relationship. The information is relevant to other offshore outsource services - not just the call center trade. Some of the key points presented:

Cost Focused Outsourcing - this is a major pitfall. Cost is only one reason for considering an outsourced solution. However, if this is the primary reason, there could be major pitfalls to the programs success.

Garner Group continues to show growth in outsourcing - with Indian BPO revenues doubling by 2010

Companies that focus on their core-competency, and leverage outsourcing for competitiveness will prevail.

Success with your offshore partner through effective communications, setting clear goals, monitoring and reporting on these goals - keeping in mind that the  outsource partner is an extension of your team. The better the relationship - the better the outsource outcome for your business.

View the webinar.

 

Outsourcing: The Singing Telegram - Offshoring to India

It was bound to happen - now the singing telegram has been outsourced... offshore to India. Yes, with TajTunes, you can send that special greeting delivered right to the... phone (or email).

Outsourcing "Never Sounded so Good" - clever.

Elderly Care: Sending your loved ones to.... India?

A brief blog article discussing elderly care - in India - caught our attention. If this is indeed true, honestly, not sure what to think.

The story is about how Steve Herzfeld sent his elderly parents to India for care; since costs are significantly less than what was available in Florida. Is this a trend, where we ship our elderly to India? I certainly can hear the advantages with regards to elderly in-laws, yet find this offshore trend disturbing.

Speed Sourcing: new outsourcing trend - slow down!

CIO Online discussed a new concept called Speed Sourcing. This is a methodology where a company locates an outsource partner based on rough scope and guidelines - relying more on trust and pre-existing credibility with the vendor.

"In outsourcing, the contract process is like taking a piece of granite and carving a horse," EquaTerra explains on its web site. "But in speed sourcing, you're just going to carve out some big chunks to form the semblance of an animal; the actual horse will shape up later."

The question however - when you sign on, will you get a horse or will it become a broken piece of granite. Cross Sea believed that it takes time and due diligence to find a strong and worthy partner. The more risk and expense, the longer the process should be. Not long for long sake - but just enough time so that both parties fully and completely understand the scope, risks, contingencies, costs and so on. Speed Sourcing? Slow down.

Advice: Selecting an Outsourced Service Partner

Selecting an outsourced service partner, especially one that is offshore, requires more than just sending out an RFQ. Some tips and suggestions from our own experience the three "C's for selection:

Cost: The cost of the offshore service provider should not be the number one factor. You get what you pay for can really hit you hard if you consider the lowest dollar-per-hour rate as your principle driver.

Communications: Does the offshore outsource provider have a good command of English? Most will say they do - we suggest trying them out. In our role selling offshore technology services, we often pro-actively suggested that a prospect engage us in a conference call. Hearing is believing.

Contact: Can you reach an offshore's representative at YOUR timezone convenience? We recommend considering an offshore partner that maintains a North American representative to handle client service issues. At the least, does the offshore provider have personnel available at their location - during your business hours?

And once you select an outsource vendor (on or offshore), be very detailed and specific to the scope of their responsibilities and maintain a high level of frequent communications on status and results. Outsourcing can enable your business, so select wisely.

Humor: Employee's Outsourcing their own Jobs

Got to hand it to The Onion for their high quality presentation of the...  news. In this story, we learn how employees are outsourcing their own jobs offshore. And how some of the more creative offshore resources - are re-outsourcing. Everyone wins, including the poorest man in the world, who is projected to be doing 83% of all the world's work.

Enjoy....  

Spotlight: Outsource destination - Philippines

Language and similar cultural values are criteria that can be included in your evaluation for offshore outsourcing partners. The Philippines offers a unique advantage, as this was once an American Colony, and English is a major part of their lives.

From a recent ezine article (the full story):

"Studies from Gartner Research have shown that the Philippines is the most Westernized of any Asian countries that provide offshore outsourcing. A former US colony the political and educational systems are modeled after those in the United States."

"Recent studies by Kelly Services study in partnership with Singapore-based ACA Research, Inc. show that Filipinos are healthier, more loyal to their employers, and have better language skills than all other offshore outsourcing countries..."

Language is only one criteria that should be researched in making an offshore partner decision. However their command of the English language and cultural advantages may provide benefits for offshore telemarketing and other customer facing interactions. Other country spotlights will be in this blog... fair & balanced.

#Offshore Development Teams: Technology and Communication Keys to Success

Offshore development teams can be highly effective and an important asset to your organization. However, like so many team structures - lack of strong over-sight and communications can cause harm to the relationship, giving outsourcing a bad name.

The critical element of success is to establish a strong open communication between the on and offshore teams. Set expectations early and monitor progress on a very frequent basis. Leverage  technology - other than email - to create a well documented environment.

Employing enterprise/social technology tools such as Twiki.net collaboration tools, or Jive Software's enterprise social business tools may help bridge both timezone and language issues - while maintaining a unified playbook.

In a blog article found on trybpo.com - we think that their oversight strategy is somewhat heavy handed, with agent screen monitors. With screen monitoring and video cameras in the agents offshore office, we feel there is an established lack of trust... from the get go. For work that may be highly sensitive or require high levels of security, perhaps these steps should be considered.

The bottom line from our experience with offshore IT development is that team members have a strong desire to be highly productive and produce high-end quality work. And like any team, they want to feel part of the organization, trusted and ... counted on.

Use communications and technology to ensure that your offshore team is in the game and playing on your side - for your win!