Intelligent Software Systems

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Choose a partner for the long haul. While it is important to ensure that the outsourcer is adequately positioned and qualified to meet your immediate requirements it is prudent to look beyond their current capabilities. Can the outsourcer scale up on technology, people and infrastructure as the needs of your company change? It is a good idea to share your company's strategy, roadmap and goals (as much as is practical) to see if there is a good match.

Price doesn't matter and SLA's (service level agreements) are only marginally important. It sounds quite dubious, and I am sure I will be hearing an earful from procurement managers vehemently condemning my statement. But having negotiated technology contracts for over 15 years with vendors across the globe - from Asia to Europe to America, I have found that traditional negotiating practices have inherent flaws and do not help in accurately calculating the ROI of a vendor engagement. Why? Because when using traditional methods - many components of the value proposition provided by the vendor does not even figure in the calculation of the ROI.

What is offshore outsourcing? It is contracting with a third-party company located in another country to provide services to design or build products that might otherwise be performed by in-house employees.

Choose an outsourcer with whom you or someone in your network has worked with in the past and has established a level of trust. Do not view the outsourcer as one who is merely providing extra bodies to staff a project. The team at the outsourcer is really an extension of your staff. They must understand your company's culture and you must understand theirs. Be ready to go native! Start with a site visit to the outsourcer's facility. Take time to meet and get to know the outsourcer's team.

Morality is based on a loose consensus on what is right or wrong and usually refers to a code of conduct that is deemed acceptable by a society. Joel Bakan in his book "The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power" surmises that corporations are completely selfish and in many cases even break the law to boost profits. In other words, unbridled greed and power have turned corporations into immoral entities. Employee welfare and societal good take a back seat to shareholder profits. This is quite evident in the "globalization" phenomenon characterized by the outflow of jobs to countries where wages are the lowest. Don't get me wrong - I am not saying that a corporation should not be competitive in the global market nor am I saying that a coproration should not make money. But at what cost? Should shareholder value come before the welfare of employees? Should a corporation be allowed to outsource scores of jobs destroying whole communities in the process? The notion that corporations in a free market will regulate themselves and behave responsibly has been proven wrong.

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