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Offshore Outsourcing : A Growing Practice

Indian Economy Overheats - Hiring Becomes Harder

Friday, November 23, 2007

We hire in India and are aware that hiring is an important issue and hiring the right talent can be hard sometime. New Research from Mckinsey points out this very fact with data:

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  • Research conducted by The McKinsey Quarterly over the past four years finds that executives in India are much more optimistic than those in the rest of the world.
  • The surging Indian economy, which grew at 9.4 percent in the most recent fiscal year, and the rapidly expanding middle class are two elements fueling such optimism.
  • The confidence of these executives is demonstrated in their plans to increase their workforce abroad.
http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Indias_executives_Confident_in_their_economy_and_eager_to_hire_2059_abstract
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[tags]India,Mckinsey[/tags]

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posted by Ishwari, 2:33 PM | link | 0 comments |
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See the Growth With Accounting Outsourcing Services

Source : Click here

The very existence of an organization is determined by the profit and loss that the organization incurs. A known fact in the corporate world is that however big or small an organization is, one of the most important targets of that organization is to be able to manage the finances with suaveness and do all the calculations perfectly. The more the involvement of finances, the more becomes the responsibility of the professionals working in the accountancy department of the organization. With the constant rise in competition, every businessperson thrives to make his or her business one of the best businesses in their domain. This is not at all a wrong thought and it is this very thought that makes people working in an organization give their best shot in everything they do. The accounts department of any business, be it small, medium or large-size business, is considered to be one of the most efficient teams, and why not, they help to determine the future of the organization. However, at times it becomes difficult to handover all the work to the in-house department, which leads to many problems. However, taking the help of accounting outsourcing services from any accountancy firm that outsource services can prove to an advantageous and a profitable move.

In fact, we can say that accounting-outsourcing services can actually turn out to be one of the most dexterous ways of handling and managing the accounts of any given organization. Well, when you hire the services, you must be aware that there are some techniques and strategies that these firms follow and these strategies generally differ according to the nature of the business. However, there are certain basic strategies that these accounting outsourcing firms follow. These strategies include the maintenance and managing of the book records of any firm for a particular financial year and they make sure to include each transaction that has taken place in that financial year.

Moreover, a known fact is that accounting needs loads of patience and at the same time, the person has to be very careful while entering any financial data because one mistake can lead to many problems. However, if you take the help of accounting outsourcing services from any accounting firm, you will not have to worry about these factors, as these professionals know how to take care of all the aspects. In fact, any firm that provides accounting outsourcing services has n numbers of accounting professionals who are thorough with their work and can execute their work at the command of their fingertips. Therefore, there is nothing you will have to worry when you hire the service.

However, you too will have to give some inputs like explain the professional the nature of your business and give him or her detailed accounting record of your firm. Once these are done, you can be rest assured to get the best accounting outsourcing services. However, you must a constant eye on the person and make sure that he updates you about all the work that he is doing. This will also help you.
posted by John Parker, 2:11 AM | link
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The Advantage of Offshore Financial Outsourcing

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Source : Click here

The trend for outsourcing lower level IT functions, requiring generic and easily acquired (and replaced) skills, has been sustained and popular with financial companies. Offshore destinations such as India offer scalability because their working population is significantly larger than the domestic market. They also provide a pool of skilled graduates, as well as impressive language capabilities, and a compatible culture.

Initially big business took the plunge and directed IT functions offshore, but today even smaller companies with a turnover of less than £5 million and/or less than 100 employees are happy to outsource. This reflects the growing trend for a wide range of companies to outsource all manner of business to offshore destinations. Even the smallest start-up will look east if they have a suitable project in hand and an eye turned to the best deal.

India is the most mature offshore destination, closely followed by Sri Lanka. The Far East and South East Asia are alternative destinations, although not as popular. Another emerging trend is for IT functions to be outsourced to nearshore destinations like Russia, the Czech Republic and Poland, where security might be tighter and management-time can be more effectively utilised.

However, the market trend for finance companies to outsource relatively simple IT functions to Sub Continental Asia is being superseded by a growing desire for suppliers to build systems and applications that supersede anything that they could build in-house. From wanting 'yes men' companies are now keen to engage with suppliers who will bring their own skills sets and help improve the quality of the project.

According to a 2006 National Outsourcing Association research report, 73.3% of respondents outsourced application development. The second most popular function was application re-engineering and migration at 36.7% . The study attracted seventy-six responses from outsourcing decision makers within financial organisations throughout the UK.

This trend for outsourcing increasingly complex projects perhaps isn't so surprising. Most finance companies that outsource IT functions prioritise fluid communication, domain and technology expertise and security, with cost perhaps fourth on the list – important, but of no real use without the other three. Without expertise or good communication skills, a supplier could take up valuable management time. At worst, miscommunication can be disastrous.

Businesses should carefully consider the full advantages (as well as potential disadvantages) of offshore financial outsourcing, before committing to a supplier. India has experienced wage inflation because of competition in the market – the ITO skills pool is finite. So if labour costs rise, it makes sense to outsource higher end projects, if that is both possible and desirable.

Whether a project can be outsourced still depends on its complexity and size, as well on management time, security and adherence to regulation, but there seems to be an increased belief that offshore suppliers can enhance the value of a project, rather than simply completing a given project in an unimaginative fashion.
posted by John Parker, 3:40 AM | link
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Accounting Outsourcing Can be your Business’s Pillar of Strength

Source : Click here

It takes a lot to run a business successfully and as an owner, you have to ensure that all departments of your firm are in perfect working condition. Each department, be it marketing, human resource or finance, have their own contribution towards the profitability of the company. In this context, one of the major aspects of any business is its accounting division. Each income or expenditure that the business incurs can make a major impact on the financial standing of the business. An efficient accounting division should maintain all the records in journals, profit and loss statements and balance sheets to reflect an accurate status of the business. However at times, it becomes difficult for a company to sustain a full-fledged accounts division to maintain its records on a daily basis and this is where accounting outsourcing can make a difference.

Many companies are opting for the convenient and safe option of getting accounting outsourcing done for their business from a third party vendor. The vendor in turn hires efficient accounting personnel who competently maintain the financial records of the clients. Accounting outsourcing ensures that the client has instant access to his financial records as and when the need arises. The regularly updated accounts provided by the outsourced vendor benefit the company by presenting accurate image of the company standing to the shareholders, investors, creditors and the public in general. This increases the credit worthiness and credibility of the organization in the market. Another advantage of having accurately maintained accounts is that the dealings of the company remain above board at all times and no embezzling of funds can take place.

Accounting outsourcing services of a reputable vendor ensures that the financial records of the business are available at a short notice hence there is no mad scrambling to adjust accounts once the tax season approaches. Payment of taxes is an important duty of every business and the scrutiny of tax officials is very detailed. In such a scenario, having accurately maintained accounts of every business transaction creates a positive impression of the company on the tax officials. In addition, the instant accessibility of the records enables the company's senior officials to take decisions regarding the future growth of the business. Any expansion or diversification can be planned only when you know you actual standing in the market and the accounts are the only source for such information.

However, when you are trying to hire a vendor to handle all your accounting outsourcing work, it is advisable to do a little background research on the vendors before you finalize such a deal. The financial records of any company are highly confidential and the security provided by the vendor should be your utmost priority. Also, ensure that the accounting professionals working for the vendor, who will be handling your accounts, are well acquainted with the latest accounting softwares available in the market. A past reference from other companies is also helpful in selecting the right vendor. Once you have handed over your accounting work to the right vendor you can then rest easy regarding the maintenance of company records.
posted by John Parker, 3:39 AM | link
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Pharmaceutical outsourcing: people on the move

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Source: Outsourcing-pharma.com

AstraZeneca, Encorium, Icon and Eden Biodesign have all had people on the move in the world of pharmaceutical outsourcing.

As of January 1 next year AstraZeneca will have a new regional supply VP for the Americas, this week naming Kenneth Murtha as the new post holder.

In his expanded role, Murtha will oversee distribution in Latin America, and supply sites in Argentina, Brazil, Puerto Rico and Mexico in addition to his North America responsibilities.

On of three regional supply VPs, Murtha will serve on the company's worldwide operation team to help drive improvements in productivity and optimise the end-to-end supply chain.

Meanwhile, Dr Linda Nardone has been appointed as the new chief operating officer (COO) of US-based contract research organization (CRO) Encorium Group, and will report directly to Kenneth Borow, company president and CEO.

Prior to joining the firm, Dr Nardone was working as General Manager for Zila Biotechnology and has a total of 20 years of clinical trial management experience at a range of firms.

Dr. Borow said: "…we sought an individual who could contribute significantly to our senior management team while leading our Global Operations and Regulatory Affairs groups".

Ireland's Icon Clinical Research has brought two new staff members on board in its Medical Imaging division. Dr James Conklin is now the senior vice president of Medical & Scientific Affairs and will oversee regulatory, medical and scientific issues worldwide and provide client support in designing strategies for medical imaging analysis.

posted by John Parker, 3:14 AM | link
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Outsourcing for Business Growth

Tuesday, November 20, 2007



Source: Cxotoday.com

Infrastructure Management Outsourcing (IMO) has gained impetus in today's business scenario as CXOs want to keep their workforce agile and focus on their core business competencies and business strategy. By exercising this option, the total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is optimized while managing the complexities of today's diverse IT environment. It also helps in providing flexibility to transition and transform to the next generation of infrastructure and applications without investing in retraining or expensive skill upgrade.

"Although initially it was mostly the non-IT companies which opted for IMO as they lacked the competencies in managing a growing IT infrastructure, today even large IT companies opt for this business model as they believe in concentrating on their core objective of delivering value to their clients, rather than spending additional effort in maintaining a growingly complex IT infrastructure," said Kaushik Chandra, CTO, PricewaterhouseCooper.

KNK Venkataraman, vice president (global delivery) for technology infrastructure services at Wipro Technologies says that independent research firms estimate the worldwide IT infrastructure and applications outsourcing business to be now worth about USD 120 Billion per year, and Wipro's revenue for FY 06-07 stands at USD 657 Million.

Right from data centre management to the entire IT infrastructure management comes under the ambit of IMO. Desktop management, server management, help desk or level 0 database management, as well as network management are some of the services provided under it.

posted by John Parker, 1:40 AM | link
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Few law firms in Canada are outsourcing legal work to India



Source: Lawyersweekly

It’s already happened for a variety of manufacturing, accounting and information technology companies who seek cost advantages that Canadian industry can’t match. How easily could legal services follow suit offshore?

Offshoring, a form of outsourcing, initially attracts interest because it’s cost-competitive. Service providers work on different continents where labour costs are substantially lower.
Knowledge process offshoring became practical only recently. According to Thomas Friedman’s tome The World is Flat, a trillion dollars of broadband capacity was strewn all over the globe during the Information Superhighway 1990s.

When the dot-com bubble popped, opportunistic service providers acquired the wires at fire sale prices, and today they deal with far lower overhead than that which plagued their predecessors. Connect highly commoditized computing capacity and advanced workflow software to those fast wires and you have the express lanes that permit internationally dispersed teams to collaboratively drive a project.

The cost advantage Indian knowledge process outsourcers enjoy doesn’t seem set to disappear anytime soon. Consider: widely quoted statistics put the number of lawyers in India at one million, and Indian law schools graduate another 80,000 each year. Economics 101 dictates that wherever supply outstrips demand, prices fall or, at worst, stay stable. All things being equal, India’s legal industry should continue to reap huge crops of talent from which KPOs can pick the cream.

posted by John Parker, 1:03 AM | link
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RIL buys copters for offshore work

Monday, November 19, 2007



Source: Economictimes

Reliance Industries will begin operating its own helicopters in its hunt for oil from next month. The company will take deliveries of two Bell 412 machines in the second week of December. RIL has increased its oil exploration acreage over the years and is now prospecting for oil as well as developing oilfields on both coasts of India.

The Indian oil major joins several global majors like Shell and Qatar Petroleum who have their own aviation operations for offshore support. ONGC is the other Indian oil major that has made the backward integration into helicopters through its stake in Pawan Hans.

RIL’s fleet is likely to go up in the future as offshore activities grow. The company now relies on machines chartered from other operators. Helicopters are used extensively in offshore oil exploration primarily to move men and material.

RIL has floated a tender inviting bids to operate and maintain the machines. The two helicopters will be maintained by a third-party operator in the initial period, it is learnt.

Finding pilots and engineers to maintain aircraft has become very difficult because of the huge growth in oil exploration activity.

Sources in the helicopter charter business say high oil prices have led to increased mobilisation in the Gulf region as well as countries like Nigeria and Indonesia. Like most other oilfield services, helicopter charter rates too have shot up as a result and so have crew salaries. Indian offshore operators like Global Vectra have recently begun employing expat helicopter pilots.

posted by John Parker, 1:35 AM | link
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Managing compliance in an outsourced world



Source: Modplas.com


In light of well-publicized recent problems and product recalls, it’s evident that even the biggest and best OEMs can stumble in their offshoring attempts. Here are some pitfalls for which a processor should prepare. Outsourcing has been getting a lot of attention recently, almost all of it negative, with millions of dollars in product recalls and untold damage to some leading brand names. “Despite the significant benefits that come with outsourcing, there are also risks and challenges for OEMs to consider,” said Mark Holman, senior vice president of operations for Arena Solutions (Foster City, CA), a provider of on-demand product lifecycle management (PLM) programs for manufacturers. “Outsourcing, by definition, leads to a loss of control. Done properly however, outsourcing is a good strategy, but don’t confuse outsourcing with offshoring.” Arena recently published a white paper on potential pitfalls when outsourcing manufacturing.

The first pitfall to avoid involves selecting the wrong contract manufacturer (CM). But how do you identify the right CM? If a processor or OEM and a CM are separated by 10 time zones, it’s easy to lose control of standards and specifications. Plus, if the only criteria for outsourcing is to make products as cheaply as possible, it is easy to see how corners could be cut by CMs keen for new business, but interested in their own profit.

According to Holman, “Working with the wrong contract manufacturer is the root of many problems that we observe in outsourcing. An OEM selects a handful of contract manufacturers—or worse yet, a single CM—and starts discussing business without having a clear understanding of the appropriate selection criteria.” He says selecting the right CM has two key elements: first, select one that is in alignment with your needs, size, and stature. “We work primarily with mid-sized manufacturers. If some of these work with the very large CMs, they get lost in the machine,” Holman explains.

A little OEM won’t get the attention of a large CM, and a big OEM will overwhelm a small CM. Second, find a company that has the skills you need. Understand that their procurement policies should match your policies. “When you outsource you’d better put your ‘A’ team on the outsourcing project or you’ll lose your competence,” Holman cautions.

posted by John Parker, 1:28 AM | link
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Outsource for strategy not just savings

Saturday, November 17, 2007




Source: Computerweekly.com

Businesses are increasingly considering IT outsourcing for strategic benefits and not just as a means of cutting operational costs, according to the latest survey from Harvey Nash.

In its ninth annual outsourcing survey, which questioned 650 senior IT professionals, the IT outsourcing consultancy found that outsourcing is booming as businesses recognise its strategic benefit.

The research also found that businesses are gaining access to specialisations in a number of countries by multishoring. "If companies are outsourcing IT support to India and admin tasks to the Philippines, this allows them to make use of each countries strongest skills," said the report.

It added that with half of CIOs expecting their IT budget to grow next year and planning to spend more than 10% on IT outsourcing programmes, the outsourcing industry will continue to grow.

The National Outsourcing Association said, "It is about time businesses realise that there is more to outsourcing than just operational cost savings. The specialisation that outsourcing brings can deliver a number of strategic benefits such as responsiveness and flexibility, as outlined by Harvey Nash."

"Although companies are focusing their outsourcing strategy on non-cost related issues, it is important not to dismiss the cost element. Cost is still a key driver when companies make the decision to outsource."

posted by John Parker, 1:44 AM | link
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HMRC to launch a second offshore disclosure facility



Source: Moneymarketing

HMRC is planning to introduce a second offshore disclosure facility in an effort to catch tax dodgers with offshore accounts. An HMRC spokesperson has confirmed that plans are being put in place to repeat the ‘amnesty’ that was carried out earlier in the year.

She says: “Yes there will be another facility but we’re not sure when or how that will operate.”

Grant Thornton tax investigations director Gary Ashford says a second disclosure facility is unlikely to generate much additional revenue for the Treasury, as the first hasn’t been as successful as HMRC expected.

He adds it is likely there will be a late influx of payments under the first ‘amnesty’ before the November 26 deadline. But says that HMRC will still be somewhat disappointed with the amount of revenue generated.

He says: “It was initially thought billions could be recovered. It's now likely to be more like millions that will surface. It may even be a case of HMRC having overestimated how many people hold undisclosed offshore accounts.

“However, it looks like HMRC are about to embark on a second amnesty. They are already targeting another group of around 150 financial institutions in a bid to gain customer details. Given the existing legal rulings on the large banks it seems likely that HMRC will be successful in obtaining customer information relatively quickly. HMRC is determined to make examples of tax dodgers but will be looking to encourage them to disclose as they did with the Offshore Disclosure Initiative.”

posted by John Parker, 12:54 AM | link
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Bio-informatics Outsourcing to India to Grow at 25% CAGR Despite Critical Challenges

Friday, November 16, 2007



Source: Newswiretoday

Indian vendors have a huge emerging opportunity in bioinformatics services from pharmaceutical companies in customization of existing products and creation, licensing and manipulation of databases.

Contract research assignments usually generate large amounts of data, leading to problems in data storage, management, retrieval, and analysis. The application of IT to the life sciences sector - bioinformatics, assumes increasingly higher significance as the use of bioinformatics tools lower costs, improve efficiency and reduce development-to-launch timelines.

Indian vendors have a huge emerging opportunity in bioinformatics services, customization of existing products and creation, licensing and manipulation of databases. However, they face certain critical challenges like the lack of standardization in service platforms and modular systems, problem of market / data heterogeneity, and an acute shortage of qualified manpower. They would also need to find a niche focus, in order to move higher up the value chain of services.

However, Indian bioinformatics vendors are aware of these challenges, and have started improving their processes to succeed as preferred outsourcing partners to global research clients. They have enhanced investments in innovation and are also forging partnerships with reputed academic institutes to ensure a healthy flow of employees. Poonam Bhana, analyst at ValueNotes, estimates that “the bioinformatics outsourcing services sector in India will grow at 25% CAGR over the period 2007-2010.”

ValueNotes has launched “CRAMS Insights” - a bimonthly newsletter as an update to the report “Pharma Outsourcing in Drug Discovery & Development: Contract Research Opportunity in India”. The newsletter focuses on shifts in business models, M & A trends, emerging technology platforms, service capabilities of vendors, and a macro level view of the Indian pharmaceutical business against a global backdrop.

posted by John Parker, 2:23 AM | link
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Medical OEMs see outsourcing as lifesaver



Source: Purchasing.com

Under pressure to cut costs and get to market faster, medical device makers are slowly overcoming their doubts and turning to electronics manufacturing services providers.

Medical-equipment manufacturers are notoriously skittish about outsourcing the building of their products. But indications are that they are getting more comfortable with the idea. The reason: Like manufacturers in other fields they are under pressure to cut costs, avoid capital investment and bring products to market sooner. Enter electronics manufacturing services (EMS) providers.

Only about 10% of electronics in medical equipment is outsourced now, but that percentage will grow over the next five years, according to medical OEMs and EMS providers. In fact, the medical EMS market will more than double from $3.3 billion in 2006 to $7.4 billion in 2011, according to researcher Technology Forecasters. And much of that outsourcing will be for entire systems rather than just printed circuit boards. In addition, the OEMs will look to their EMS providers to help them design products.

The nervousness many medical OEMs have felt about outsourcing relates to the special requirements their products have to meet, and the applications they are used in.

Medical equipment design issues are often different than the issues with computers or telecom equipment. Failure of medical equipment could be catastrophic. That's why U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations govern medical-equipment products. "With medical equipment you are not just building a box, you are building something that can save a life or take a life if it is not done right," says Andy Hyatt, vice president of Plexus' Medical Sector in Neenah, Wis. "When the FDA issues a consent degree that shuts down shipment of a given medical product, that gets a whole lot of attention," he says.

As a result medical OEMs have traditionally felt no one can build a piece of medical equipment as well as they can, Hyatt says. In some cases, they're right. Not all EMS providers have expertise in medical equipment manufacturing. Many EMS providers are good at high-volume, low-mix products such as computer and cell phones, but aren't as proficient at low-volume, high-mix products such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) systems or computed aided tomography (CAT) scanners.

Medical OEMs are slowly gaining more trust that EMS companies are capable of building higher and higher levels of their products, says Hyatt. "However, the acceptance rate is much less than more mature and established outsourcing arrangements in networking and computing," he says.

posted by John Parker, 2:08 AM | link
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C4 looks to outsource operations

Thursday, November 15, 2007



Source: C21media.net

UK pubcaster Channel 4 is looking to outsource a range of its broadcast and production services to Red Bee Media.

The proposal affects more than 100 staff in the network's broadcast engineering and transmission teams, as well as post-production, library services and on-air graphics, in C4's operations and 124 Facilities divisions.

It would also deliver annual savings of 10-15% on the channel's current operations budget.

The deal is aimed at giving C4 access to flexible, purpose-built facilities, with staff working in the affected areas expected to transfer from its headquarters in London's Horseferry Road to Red Bee Media's broadcast centre in White City over 12 months from the second quarter next year.

Those working in post-production and on-air graphics will remain at Horseferry Road, in Red Bee Media’s employment.

And under the new contract, Red Bee will also make a significant capital investment in new state-of-the-art facilities at White City.

The proposal is subject to contract completion as well as consultation with staff over how their terms and conditions of employment will be affected.

C4's group finance director Anne Bulford said the board decided there were "significant" benefits to be made after its extensive review of the service.

"Making our unique public service content available across new digital platforms is placing considerable financial and technological demands on the channel," she said. "Outsourcing these functions will allow us to tap into the more considerable and flexible resources of a big, specialist provider and help us stay competitive in the face of rapid technological change."

Red Bee Media's CEO Pam Masters said the company would welcome C4's staff, having been part of the original C4 team and instrumental in setting up the channel 25 years ago.

posted by John Parker, 1:57 AM | link
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Some Evils of Outsourcing



Source: Compositesworld

About 15 years ago, aircraft companies hired business school graduates (MBAs) to gain fresh insight into the best business practices taught in our American institutions of higher learning, such as Harvard, Wharton and Stanford. The then-current thinking was that the costs associated with operating and maintaining factories in the U.S. were excessive and that OEMs could save money and increase profits by jobbing out fabrication and assembly work. Because labor was a large part of the cost of production in U.S. facilities, a key part of the revised business plan involved moving production to Mexico or “offshore” to locations in Eastern Europe, China and India.

As U.S. shops closed, workers were laid off and equipment was sold off. The capabilities to build in-house diminished or vanished entirely, but outsourcing did reduce the OEM’s capital expenditures to modernize shops with new equipment and train replacement shop technicians. And in the short term, profits certainly increased.

What wasn’t factored into the outsourcing equation, however, was the inevitable loss of a critically important com-ponent of any manufacturing process — design expertise — the cost of which is not easily quantified. When engineers design and shops build products in-house, there is a feedback between the two departments that are generally located in the same facility. Designers can easily walk down to the fab shops whenever a problem arises to see the effects of their design and to immediately propose a corrective action to a problem. And the engineers receive a definite advantage in recognizing faults/weaknesses in their designs by seeing the tangible results of their ideas. During the fabrication and assembly of the DC-XA reusable rocket in 1996 during my tenure at McDonnell Douglas (Huntington Beach, Calif.), the designers actually were located on the shop floors to expedite immediate solutions to problems and to keep the work flowing. When a part interfered with another during assembly, the remedy involved a quick walk to the shop to see and redline a drawing for an immediate fix, followed by a design change the next day.

This system worked very well for 80 years, and the close rapport established with the shop technicians who physically built aircraft produced some of the best aerospace designs and products in the world. This exchange was absolutely necessary when doing development work on new programs where new technology was being generated each day.
posted by John Parker, 1:37 AM | link
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DMS India Launches Online Outsourcing Projects Marketplace

Wednesday, November 14, 2007



Source: Pr-usa.net

DMS India launched the "Online Marketplace" to provide all businesses a single point where they can post their projects onto an open online marketplace and invite RFPs from various service providers or suppliers in a reverse auction real-world environment. The Online Marketplace aims at helping micro, small and medium sized enterprises take advantage of the benefits of outsourcing and showcasing their skills to larger firms who are streamlining the way they manage the services spend.

DMS India online outsourcing system will bring in a pool of all kinds of projects of any size from various countries, taking advantage of e-world and e-working brought about by Internet technologies. Companies will be able to post projects and access to projects which will include tenders, contracts and trade leads from all business industries. The Online Marketplace will not just concentrate on IT projects outsourcing but all industries including home decorations.

“It is a evolutionally way of doing modern business by companies who would like to stand tall and keep themselves afloat in this global economy where the challenges of survival and satisfying shareholders are enormous,” said DMS spokesman. “If you don’t outsource to reap the benefits, then your competitor will to sink your business. Service spend account over 50% of Fortune 1000 purchasing budgets, and all what we are saying is save at least 15% to 50% of those hard cost by using our Online Marketplace, where the small businesses would be able to do those projects.”

The recent global economy trends has been "outsourcing" where firms want to hire the services of an outsider to provide project-based work. Analyst reveal the need to maximize shareholder values, the forces of the need to survive in a global marketplace, high cost savings and the ability to access unique skills not readily at home as primary drivers of this trend. Outsourcing was initially thought to be for large corporations but now micro, small and medium sized enterprises are joining to fully discover and enjoy its benefits.

posted by John Parker, 5:10 AM | link
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India, China Look to Collaborate on Software



China is captivating the worlds largest population that makes out to be a huge workforce. China outsourcing has soon come up as a strong gesture in the Asian outsourcing market. China is rapidly emerging as one of the World's leading suppliers of Offshore Software Outsourcing Services due to its incredible development rate. With the wages being cheaper than that of India, China Outsourcing is drawing attention of a lot of investing organizations.

Recently the steps taken by the Chinese Government to open up and collaborate in terms of economy has resulted in a comparatively transparent situation which has certainly encouraged China's Outsourcing environment.

With a vast force of computer literate waiting to explore and earn, China Outsourcing is all set to get into competition with its neighboring Indian market. The main reason for the development of China Outsourcing stands to be the cost factor.

China has recently set up a special division to lure the major Indian software firms. It is manned by Chinese officials who will work with Indian companies to understand their needs in order to get them to set up new centers in China.

Moreover a leading company based in Pune in India has signed a pact according to which the company will be training about thousand software project managers in India. It has been found that the project management skills are quite scarce in China and they are facing difficulties to get there programmers well trained.

The training would also include the communication and negotiation skills and work with the Zensar for its clients in eastern Europe and U.S.

Most large Indian software firms have small development centers in China and now determining whether the decision will make long-term business sense.

As per the planning the Chinese government is thinking to add another $100 million companies to train people with best skills in next three years.

posted by John Parker, 4:06 AM | link
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Offshore Software Outsourcing Risk

Tuesday, November 13, 2007



Source: Prurgent.com

Differing Internal Processes - The vendor's processes sometimes could be a lot different from what Client is using for executing their internal projects. If these differences are not discussed beforhand, they could become a risk and cause project delays.

Differing Internal Processes - The vendor's processes sometimes could be a lot different from what Client is using for executing their internal projects. If these differences are not discussed beforhand, they could become a risk and cause project delays.

Each vendor will have somewhat unique processes and methodologies that they follow when developing a project. It is important to evaluate how this differs from your in-house processes, and how the two differing approaches can best be “meshed” together during a development project.

It is best if a development project is guided by a well-defined, common software development and project management methodology. The best vendors follow industry standards, such as CMMI and ISO 9001 QMS. This common methodology should cover libraries, tools used, version control and quality assurance processes, as well as security metrics for each project.

Once the process is agreed upon and established, it is equally important that monitoring is in place, to ensure that these processes are being properly followed. Clients should have each project milestone clearly defined, including what deliverables are planned during each phase, with specific deadlines for the completion of each. The client should also have a clear understanding of what their obligations are in regards to reviewing and approving each delivered product, including the requirements documentation, the system design, test cases, and any test issues that arise.

In general, the more involved your company is with the project, the more smoothly the project will go. This is why it is important to have a designated contact within your firm, whose role is to communicate with the vendor project manager and/or development teams.
posted by John Parker, 2:23 AM | link
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