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Conquer Internal Barriers to Outsourcing
Barrier #1: Culture - Address impact to organization and
management styles
Barrier #2: Scope - Outsource to optimize strengths and weaknesses
Barrier #3: Control - Maintain control through continuous communication
Barrier #4: Risk - Expect risk and plan for mitigation
Selecting software products or projects for outsourcing
and mitigating impact to the organization is challenging for companies
large and small. Agilis Solutions recommends that companies address
barriers to outsourcing prior to identifying what to outsource.
Four issues commonly arise when a company is considering
an outsourcing strategy. They include effect on corporate culture,
determination of project scope, project control, and risk management.
Barrier #1: Culture - Include key stakeholders in
the process. People and process are commonly impacted by outsourcing.
In fact, internal groups may view outsourcing as competition rather
than an opportunity to grow the capacity of the business. Include
critical managers from the beginning in the sourcing evaluation.
Internal groups may view outsourcing as a failure rather than an
opportunity to take advantage of a new focus. Include team members
in the decision to outsource and involve critical managers from
the beginning in the outsourcing evaluation process. Evangelize
the outsourcing relationship with key employees to ensure success.
Barrier #2: Scope - Optimize for strengths and weaknesses.
It can be difficult to distinguish good outsourcing candidates from
projects that are too core to the business or too complex, and therefore
not ideal for outsourcing. Take stock of and balance strengths and
weaknesses of the internal team and the outsourcing team with the
business priorities of the company to guide scoping the outsourced
projects.
Barrier #3: Control - Clarify roles and responsibilities
up front. Managing an outsourced project is different than managing
an internal team. To maintain control, ensure a clear and continuous
communication flow is in place between internal and external members.
Support internal ownership for the business domain expertise and
external ownership of the engineering processes.
Barrier #4: Risk - Create an ongoing process for
risk management. No project is without risk. Discuss and reach understanding
of the expected risks and prepare mitigation plans to limit downside
exposure. Close collaboration, protection of intellectual property,
clear expectation setting and a disciplined approach to knowledge
transfer are just a few ways to mitigate risk.
Through a hands-on approach (see "Upfront Work
Clarifies Outsource Dilemma"), Agilis Solutions helps companies
overcome barriers common to outsourcing software engineering projects.
The key to moving ahead is identifying the nature of these barriers
within the organization and dealing with them directly.
For further information on outsourcing and overcoming
internal barriers, feel free to contact
us.
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