Guest post: Outsourcing your IT department overseas? Factors to be considered

IT outsourcing has been existent for nearly two decades and its popularity among firms is only growing stronger. IT outsourcing is a common practice among organisations and is a vital part of all the business strategies.

So why do companies outsource their IT department overseas?

1.     Countries like India and China have mass population of skilled IT personals ready to work at cheaper wages helping organisations save operating cost.
2. IT activities are regarded as time consuming and stressful and by outsourcing companies can save valuable time.
3. IT outsourcing helps companies focus on their other main fields of business like HR, Finance or Marketing.

The most famous IT jobs being outsourced overseas are software development, animation, technical writing and web designing. Developing countries like India, Philippines, China and Brazil are among few of the many destinations wherein businesses are outsourcing their IT jobs. Outsourcing overseas may have several benefits but it’s not as simple as it sounds. IT outsourcing involves several hurdles and complications. Several factors need to be considered before companies decide to outsource overseas.

1. Culture and language: An American Company outsourcing overseas to India must be aware about the local Indian culture and languages. For example Hindi is the most widely spoken language in India. So whilst outsourcing companies may need help of Technical translation services to translate their IT documents from English to Hindi and vice versa. Outsourcing involves merging of two different cultures. Satisfactory outcome can only be achieved once both parties are familiar with culture and behavioural patterns of each other.

1. Vendor quality: The third party vendor or the quality of the provider is one of the most crucial aspects to be considered whilst IT outsourcing overseas. Popularity of provider in the market can be an easy indictor helping company decide which vendor to choose. Asking previous clients, reviewing past performances and detailed portfolio can also help company decide on the quality of the provider. Deciding on which vendor to choose overseas is a very complicated and delicate matter since it can change the fortunes of a company.

1. Privacy and security: Losing customer’s trust and loyalty in the current recession can prove very costly for companies. Whilst outsourcing businesses need to ensure their customer’s private information is absolutely safe.  They need to ensure that their vendor implements effective privacy and data protection acts to avoid activities like hacking.

Intellectual property protection,          business structure, time zone, climate, risk management, size and vendor resources are other factors to be considered whilst outsourcing overseas.

While outsourcing it’s very important that companies gauge the risks involved well in advance and take precautionary actions. Information technology (IT) industry is booming at a very rapid rate and companies are taking full advance of this boom by IT outsourcing overseas. Above mentioned factors can help companies make better decisions while IT outsourcing and avoid fatal business decisions.

Author’s bio: Hiren Busa works at Translation Services 24.Ltd and specialises in Hindi Translation.

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