Lancet Worldwide Outsourcing News

Selecting the right model to customize software development

John Simke, President of the Toronto-based Centre for Outsourcing Research and Education made a valid observation: Outsourcers, most of them, force their clients into what may be termed a boilerplate or template arrangement to try and fit them into a ready made solution. This one-size-fits-all approach is not compatible with a model serving the true needs of the client.

An approach tempered with flexibility, based on adapting to the needs of the client, should determine the model provided by the vendor. This, in fact, is the key element the client should look for in any outsourcing model meant to serve its peculiar needs.

The same principle ought to be used in outsourcing the development of any software whether it is an end to end product or a non-core competency.

To get satisfactory results in software outsourcing, whether near shore or offshore, the client has to be in the driver’s seat and should be able to carefully monitor the various stages of the development of the project.

Ideally a client should select a vendor who is ready to cooperate and can work closely with a fulltime and qualified programmer and employee from the client’s side. Leaving the outsourced software development cycle to take its own course without being monitored closely will compromise the true customization of the product. The end result would then be to acquiesce to the vendor’s tendency to put the client in a “template arrangement.”

If having a fulltime programmer devoted to the software outsourcing development is not feasible, and is too expensive, then the alternative is to deal with a consultant capable of assigning from its team, a qualified and experienced programmer, available to duplicate the duties of the client’s in house programmer.

This requires, on the part of the client, a careful search to get the right consultant with an outsourcing model offering the service of a dedicated programmer, with a methodology geared to serve the interest of the client. An arrangement with a consultant with a dedicated and experienced person to liaise between the client and the vendor would ensure software development that is truly customized.

Lancet Worldwide, in Ottawa, are consultants offering services with dedicated qualified personnel ensuring the designing of a software package in keeping with the unique needs of the client.

Lancet Worldwide, Akbar Burney - Technical Outsourcing Consultant

Published Wed, 01 Oct 2007 23:13:36 -0400

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