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Why do we need
outsourcing?
For several reasons.
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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 for outsourcing the work which does
not fall within your core competencies, you
will still be able to retain the client (everybody
knows how difficult it is to get one !) for
any such work, without increasing the capital
expenditure.
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Additionally,
since you will 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 & routine
work, you can drastically reduce your operating
expenses, provided you have carefully chosen
the 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 organisations to concentrate
on their core 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.
Why should we outsource when we ourselves can
recruit professionals to
do it internally?
You will require to hire an entire team to execute
the projects with variable needs. The size &
skill sets of such team may vary as per the project
requirements & scale.So you end up increasing
your capital as well as operating cost. Also,
for the projects with altogether different requirements
than your core competencies, the chances of abnormal
delays, frequent change requests from the client
& over all inadequate control on the execution
are always higher, adding further to your operating
costs.
The
following is a quote from an April 1999 issue
of Time by Bill Gates. "As a business manager,
you need to take a hard look at your core competencies.
Revisit the areas of your company that aren't
directly involved in those competencies, and consider
whether Web technologies can enable you to spin
off those tasks. Let another company take over
the management responsibilities for that work,
and use modern communication technology to work
closely with the people - now partners instead
of employees are doing the work. In the Web work
style, employees can push the freedom the Web
provides to its limits."
What are your other areas of expertise?
We undertake software/web development projects
primarily on Microsoft® platforms. However,
we can also offer solutions based on Unix/Linux
platforms, on case to case basis. Besides the
software development, we also offer integrated
back office management solutions & IT enabled
services. Following is a gist of solutions that
we provide.
Web
Design & development
Web
Promotion & maintenance
Portal
& Vortal development
Integrated
e-business solutions
Software
Development
AM/FM
& GIS as well as CAD solutions
Database
building & conversion
Back
office management
What is the pre-sales process?
Up on receiving your enquiry, typically, we respond
within one working day for any clarifications.
We also send you a summary of our understanding
about the project, if there is no clarifications
to seek. Up on receiving your confirmation, we,
then 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.
What is your privacy policy?
We never ever interact with your end clients,
until & unless specifically requested 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.
Who owns the code & the rights?
In most of the cases, you, of course. Upon receiving
the total payment for the project,
a document stating that the rights & code
are owned by you is provided by us.
What is the post-sales
process?
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 ourselves 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 which, 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 the onwards communication.
We also create an FTP area on a server (either
on your server or on our server, as per the mutual
convenience). The necessary data/content/copy/images
etc. is 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. Up on satisfactory completion &
acceptance of the project, we sign off & declare
the project as closed. The change requests are
handled & if required, quoted separately based
on the amount of work involved to accomplish the
change & the stage of the project.
How
do we send across the data/content/images to you?
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 is given to you. You can upload
all the necessary content/data/images etc. on
the specified directory.
The
required details can also be sent to us from your
regular e-mail id.
Alternatively,
you can opt to send it across by regular post/courier
to our London office.
What is your turn around time?
Obviously, it varies as per the size &
the complexity of the project. However, while
providing you with the ball park estimates, we
also provide a tentative time frame. Upon receiving
(or after preparing, whatever the case may be)
the design document, we provide you with the exact
time frame & the milestones. We have executed
projects of varying time frames, ranging from
5000 man-hours to 100 man-hours.
How do we keep a track of the project?
Once the project is accepted & undertaken,
we assign it to a Project Manager/Coordinator
& intimate the contact details to you for
the onwards communication. He/she, then becomes
your single point of contact for all the communication
& keeps you posted with the progress report.
Based on the complexity & the size of the
project, the progress reports are sent across
on a weekly or 'twice in a weekly' basis. The
reports are either sent across to you by e-mail
or can be viewed from the client work extranet.
How
do you handle the change requests?
The change requests are handled & if required,
quoted for on the basis of
- the stage
at which the change is requested
- the complexity
of the project & the implications of the
change
- the volume
of work involved to accomplish the change.
We prefer not to charge you extra for any
minor changes. Major changes are quoted separately
at the time of occurrence to you before the
implementation. They are implemented only
after receiving your acceptance.
How do we pay?
Payments can easily be made to our California office.
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