Common Outsourcing Concerns

Outsourcing is an arrangement in which one company provides services for another company that could also be or usually have been provided in-house. US companies are outsourcing their web development work to India because of the drastically lower rates and access to better technology.  Also by outsourcing the companies can concentrate on their core business.

Here we are discussing  a few common outsourcing concerns.

Time zone differences:

At 11AM here in the US its around 11PM in India. It’s not always easy to get someone on the phone. Often you have to wait 24 hours for a reply to your email.

Some companies like ours are providing the support in US timings.

Language:

While an overseas designer may be able to communicate verbally with passable English, the real problem is often the business concept and more abstract ideas. I have seen clients that were simply unable to communicate the concepts of their business with an overseas developer. I think it is more of a cultural difference than a simple language problem.

We can overcome this problem by exactly written specification document.

Missed Deadlines:

I have been approached by several clients who come to me and say. I hired a developer in India and it is been a long time and the site is still not working. Either the designer took another job or had some other issue that is keeping them from finishing your project. When you are only paying someone $6 an hour to do technical work, it’s very easy for them to find better pay or not make time for it.

It is better to hire a firm to overcome this issue.

Fraud:

I have heard some horror stories from clients who have paid deposits only to get a small portion of work done, and then the developer disappears! Luckily most designers overseas only charge once the work is delivered.