How to build your own Offshore Development Center in India?

How to build your own Offshore Development Center in India?

Offshore software development has always been a trendy thing, and will continue to be for a long time. In a previous article, we talked about what an Offshore Development Centre is, and how different it is from Outsourcing. 

ODC or Offshore Development Centre is actually an extended team, consisting of a dedicated team of professionals that’s located in a different country. It usually is set up in a country where the cost of living is lower, but has excellent people with various skills in different fields. The ODC can also be considered a branch of your company, but the team’s only focus would be on working on your project, and no one else’s. 

There will be an entire team consisting of developers, analysts, testers, project managers, designers, UX/UI designers and so on. The best thing about an ODC is that you get the cream of talent because there is a huge resource pool from which you can create your team. They will already be trained by the service providers, so you don’t have to train them specially.

Why India is a chosen spot for ODC

Plenty of countries offer ODC services, but India is the all-time favourite. Here are some reasons for it:

1. Access to the huge talent pool

There are Tier I, II and III cities each with their selection of a huge talent pool of software professionals. So you can easily have your pick of software professionals and from which city you need them. IT hubs like Bangalore produce more software professionals than from anywhere in the world. 

2. Much more economical 

It is much cheaper to hire a team of highly skilled software professionals from India. This is a double advantage. You get to benefit from ‘competence at low expense’.  

3. Technological advantage 

India’s software developers are highly skilled in both front-end and back-end technologies, all the top programming languages, testing tools, programming tools etc. 

4. Have your own office

Once you contact an offshore development service with your requirement, they would provide you with the necessary skills and technologies. However, you have the final say in everything, so it would be almost  like having your own office in India. There is freedom in deciding how the project should go. 

Going about the process

Here are some simple tips on how to develop an offshore development centre in India.

1. Understanding the aim behind an ODC

So, you are planning to expand your company to a different country and set up an office there with a team of software professionals to handle your specific project requirements, right? Your aim would probably be to create a unique product by a remarkably talented team that would reach the market at a lower cost.  This team would handle only your projects, so you will have the entire team to yourself. 

So, prepare a list of goals and tick them off as you select the team and set up an actual office. 

2. Your product vision

It is important to have a clear cut product vision, with the complete list of project requirements. Share this with the team that would be working with you so you all can move in the right direction. You can create a virtual image of the product, complete with the tools, screenshots, videos, images and other references to create a picture of what you need. 

3. Finding the right software development company to partner with

Once the product vision is ready, you need to find a partner with whom you can work with. This relationship is likely to be long-term so it is important to get someone who gives you good value for money. It would be good to collect references rather than trying a shot in the dark. The company you choose must have all the resources to make your product vision a reality. 

4. Choose the team

Once you have the perfect partner in your software development company, the next big task is to choose the team to do your projects. The software developer company would provide you the resumes and details of professionals depending on their certification levels, knowledge, skills and experience. 

5. Setting up a regular communication stream

Once you’ve decided which city you want to set up your office, select the service provider and decide on the team, you need to have a regular communication stream with them. This engagement would give you updates on the progress of the project. If you are not planning to stay in the country and oversee the project during its course, you can set up regular agile meetings through video conferencing tools, and be continuously updated. 

A checklist 

The checklist of things to mark and strike off while setting up an ODC

Once you have the best service provider, here are a few other things to remember too. Here they are:

1. The skills of the team

It is important to hire a dedicated team of developers who have already experienced working on your kind of project, because then, the job will be easier for you when you brief them. 

While the service provider sends you the list of prospective developers, have a short video interview with them to know more about their work approach and methodologies. 

Since the time zones are likely to be different, that’s also something you have to work beforehand. Knowledge and skills of the developers, their work culture, their openness to critical reviews are all important factors to consider. 

2. Quality standards – no compromise at all

Reliability, honesty and trust are some of the buzzwords that drive the success of the ODC. Check the quality standards of the work the team has worked for in the past, so you will know what to expect. If the team has impressive certifications and accreditations, you can expect a good work response and culture from them. 

3. Payment terms

Talk about the payment terms in detail rather than having a vague discussion. The ODC partner would also have to be transparent about the expenses so you don’t face any rude surprises later on. 

4. Having the right people on board

It is imperative that you have a dedicated and committed workforce to manage your project. So before going for the contract, make sure they are dedicated and competent. 

5. A mutually beneficial deal

A contract with the ODC partner is grounded on mutual benefit. So time consuming as it is, it is important to go through the contract in minute deal to see if all are on the same page. 

Conclusion

Just follow the tips above, and go through the checklist to make your Offshore Development Centre in India a success. It is also important to determine whether you need to develop a new project from scratch or outsource only a part of it. Once the team is ready to go, ensure that there is regular follow-up of the project on a weekly and monthly basis to review the progress. Mark the priorities that you have and share them with the company so everything goes smoothly. 

Interesting Links:

What is an Offshore Development Center (ODC)?

Setup your dedicated offshore center in India

Pictures: Canva

The author: Sascha Thattil works at Software-Developer-India.com which is a part of the YUHIRO Group. YUHIRO is a German-Indian enterprise which provides programmers to IT companies, agencies and IT departments.