Mind the Gap!

Hi! This post has been a long while coming but i changed jobs and so i took me a while to get it out of the blocks. I have taken up working for Sapient and have liked the agility here. For the other offshore players, that are big and not as agile, i believe the market is right for niche consulting companies to come in and bridge the widening gap between the company and the customer.

Here is what I am thinking on a high level.

• It can be a group of senior people (PMPs, Technology Managers) who can come together and offer Risk Management and Strategy Planning for Software Projects done from offshore. It will be a consulting company.
• The consulting company will offer services to the customers outside India.
• They should identify risks/mitigations at each level of the engagement/project. For first time outsourcers, there are things that they do not expect. So at the initiation stage, the consultants can play a key role in identifying and mitigating all the risks that are possible.
• One of the main issues in offshore/onsite engagements is the gap between the customer and the outsourcing vendor. I think that by acting as representatives of the customer, `this gap is reduced, be it in planning, objectives , communication or requirements.
• By being representatives of the customer, a neutral and fair view will be achieved. For example, informing the customer on a fixed frequency basis of all the planning and strategic issues and their possible mitigations. This will ensure that issues are caught early in the life cycle and a corrective action will benefit everyone.
• Expectations Management - The project balancer will be able to manage the expectations of the client by keeping the client informed of outsourcing +ves as well as -ves. In some cases, this will involve helping the client deciding on the offshoring strategy or even evaluating whether outsourcing will be a good option for specific projects or not.
• Setting the Right communication plan - Most offshore projects are troubled for this cause. We do believe that there are significant benefits of creating a strong communication network.
• Avoiding Latency - By being present here in India, they can lend agility to the process.

Here are some specific questions i would like to ask you

1. Firstly, how receptive are you to this ?
2. How much you think companies that are outsourcing already will be ready to pay for this service?
3. What are the challenges that you see for this to be successful?

Leave me a comment and we can have a chat about it.