How to choose the right Software Outsourcing Partner (Part 1)

The choice to outsource is never an easy one for most R&D executives. However, due to a number of reasons that typically revolve around financial factors, outsourcing of software development and QA has become a must for many companies.

We at Galil Software are well aware of the potential challenges envisaged by those of you assigned to hiring an outsourcing partner. The outsourcing industry can be potentially tricky, and we can fully appreciate the trepidation many hiring partners initially feel.

So, when navigating those challenges, how do you know which is the right outsourcing partner for your organization?

Based on our experience, the decision matrix for choosing an outsourcing vendor depends on a number of factors, although there is no formula for a selection process.

It is therefore extremely important to analyze and understand the different considerations that will enable you to make the best decision on choosing the right outsourcing partner for your organization.

Let’s face it, when you hire a contractor for your home, you’re unlikely to pick the first number you come across in the phone book or the first one that grabs your eye on Google, and then let the contractor just do his or her thing. You’re going to ask as many questions as you feel relevant, while also ensuring that you know exactly what you require in order to minimize the risk of problems or delays.

Despite this, however, we’ve come across a number of companies who have, to cut a long story short, struggled with their outsourcing attempts in the past. Those past attempts have definitely reduced their desire to take on another outsourcing partner, regardless of the potential benefits they had to gain.

In extreme cases, we’ve seen companies maintaining work inside the R&D organization, when professionally or financially it really doesn’t make much sense. The only reason these companies are working in this way is because of the fear of failure (a failure that may very well be the result of poor planning in the past).

To eliminate this fear factor, we have grouped together a number of common factors that should be taken into consideration when choosing an outsourcing partner. In this article we will introduce them below to give you food for thought (we will explain them in more detail in Part 2, as well as provide you with some additional and crucial tips):

Why exactly are you outsourcing?

What do you need to look for when considering outsourcing companies?

What productivity setup do you require?

Of course, each of the above mentioned factors needs to be analyzed and modified for each organization to ensure that each organization gets the most out of their outsourcing.

Join us next time for more in-depth analysis behind choosing an outsourcing company…