We have all heard about outsourcing to India and how the Indian way is very different to our own.
We outsourced a large chunk of our new web application to a company in India and the outcome was positive. However when choosing a company you will need to do due diligence on who they are and what work they have previously completed. Here are a couple of points.
- Try to visit the Indian company to get a feel for their size and shape.
- Ensure the company has real experience in the type of application you are building – actually contact previous customers.
- Check and test the company uses current technologies – have they used AJAX before, do they create tiers, where do they place their business logic etc. You need to get down to this level!
- Don’t be tempted to pick a company by price – good companies can be really cheap.
- Verify their process – For web apps, build the HTML GUI first. Its amazing how many functionality issues arise from developing the GUI. After signing off the GUI, move on to the database design and finally, join the two.
- Consider exchanging staff for short durations.
On a daily basis here are a few hints
- Agree on clear and achievable milestones.
- Keep in constant communication to ensure their understanding of a requirement is your understanding (there is a good chance it won’t be!) .
- Keep in communication to ensure their progress is ongoing. If not, help them resolve technical issues.
All in all, we really enjoyed the experience and cost savings of working with an Indian company.
