A Software Development model that emphasizes on global delivery of quality software build by talented pool of professionals from a development center that is located in a foreign land at a highly economical cost is called Offshore Software Development.

India, China, and Russia are the three leading countries that currently control the offshore programming market.

Today the very promising competition of the offshore software development asks for the best of resources and innovative strategies with brilliant business intelligence. These companies into offshoring try not to leave the smallest of the details which has been overlooked by other businesses to win client interest.

Huge cost savings, time optimization: there are several benefits but these opportunities and advantages in this nascent business are also accompanied by challenges. Though the software vendor has hi-tech professionals with the best of technical skills with delivering quality output, there are few challenges faced which cannot be overlooked. These challenges are communication gaps, non-clarity of the project status, improper estimation in terms of resources and budget therefore and of course cultural hindrances.

Cost cut without compromising on quality is the key objective for this business and to achieve this objective, there has to be a smooth coordination between offshore client and the software vendor. This should start with the best possible approach by both the parties the offshore client and the software vendor.

The most important aspect in the offshore software development other than the required technical skills is the smooth communication between the two parties. Seamless communication oils the project speed. The communication in writing, video conferences along with and apart the verbal ones is more constructive. This is accomplished by implementing the work-schedules that intersect the time-frames for both the countries. Generally the offshore vendor works in accordance with the client for the later’s convenience but it is better if you as an offshore vendor also have a local presence for the client. This is like an added privilege, since this strengthens the client’s confidence into the offshore vendor. This helps the client to approach the vendor easily.

Another very important factor is the Resource and Budget forecast for the project. The Technical and Business Analysts should take the following points into consideration:

1. The risks involved in the undertaking the project and its measurement.
2. Whether the rates quoted are in accordance with the requirements of the project.
3. The terms of payment/billing: whether it should be hourly, weekly, per month or on the project completion, etc.
4. Will the quality standards set by the vendor be able to meet in carrying out the project or quality would get compromised for quoting an attractive price.
5. Double-Check for the specifications of the Project sent by client. Check whether there are any milestones in the project which has dependency on the client end. Check whether there would be any re-works or change-requests from client side.

Once the project starts, both the offshore client and the software vendor should coordinate on regular basis on the project flow. The communication has to be transparent between the both.

The offshore vendor must see that the project flow is smooth and the status is well communicated to the offshore client time to time.

This gives client a kind of satisfaction and confidence in the vendor’s work. Also, the vendor should target to complete every deliverable in the project in 80% of time committed. A buffer time of 20% of the actually committed is always good to balance if any sudden problems faced.

Also, it is better to have a single point of contact at both the ends to have a smooth and proper communication throughout the project development. But at the same time, everyone associated in the project should be aware of the communication going on between the two parties.

If you as an offshore vendor feel that any milestone in the project that puts a dependency onto client is approaching, you should intimate that to client at least 3 working days before depending on the weight of that milestone.

Though how much the project team strives to put up an error-free product, some problems or unpredictable issues may turn up and thus slow-down the project process. But these should be handled and solved with mutual cooperation and proper coordination from both the software vendor and the offshore client to achieve the objective.

Hence forth, to bring success to any offshore software development projects, it is the joint effort from both the ends that ultimately works out. But the most important factors here would be transparent and clear communication, proper forecast on resources and budget and smooth coordination on deliverables.

by: John Parker  Proliferation of Virtual world has minimized the gap among businesses in the Global village. But, the appealing factor of virtual development that is implemented in Offshore Model of “High quality, low cost endeavor” is often wrapped up with the complexity of being able to understand the other side. A weak Communication between the Offshore Client and the Vendor can lead to problems such as 

 1 Productivity Loss

 2 Mismatch of deliverables and expectations 

 3 Loss of valuable time 

4 Redundancy of tasks 

 There is more to communication than merely conveying the content. Besides the semantics, which is the key to being at the same wavelength, Attitude and Diction with which the information is shared are equally important. Software development outsourcing is the main field which mainly depends on the communication. Apart from the problems that arise from differences in culture, language and time zone, the communication could be fudged if there are multiple people communicating from the offshore vendor side to the client. Such ambiguities can be alleviated by implementing appropriate Strategies for communication, as mentioned below:  

A. Using Communication Tools: 

1 Email 

2 Instant Messenger

3 Phone calls 

4 VOIP 

5 Extranets  6 Web Meetings7 Virtual Office Cabinets8 Ticket Management System 9 Customized communication applications  B. Guidelines, Practices and Discipline  The two shores should communicate by following certain guidelines and practices Design the Discussion Document that takes into account the perspective from the both the offshore client and the vendor. The Document should outline the following:Tasks Roles assigned for the tasks  Mode of communication between the client and the vendor Mode of intra-communication between the Software Teams and the Business Teams  How to tackle or mitigate any unexpected Issues or Risks Status Reports [Daily, Weekly] To avoid any communication gap, the correspondence should take place with discipline according to the defined schedule. Risk of information loss is eliminated if both the client and the offshore vendor delegate their tasks through the Project Managers from either side, which enables smooth information relay among the client and the vendor employees.  C. Techniques  

1 Clarity of goals before any meeting or phone conversation

2 Concise to-the-point discussion3 Documents with bullets and points4 Send summary of discussion  

 Though E-Business communication tools such as e-mail, tele-conferencing, fax, chat, video–conferencing all serve as a conduit to effective and efficient means of information transfer, their usage can be more productive if used with a planned approach. An effective communication does not end with a healthy initiation, but is sustained keeping the momentum by maintaining agile response loop. Hence, a proactive approach from both the client and the Offshore Vendor is mandatory to further the business goals. 

Source: http://www.articlecity.com/articles/computers_and_internet/article_1317.shtml 

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Posted by Stephen Shankland 

Sun Microsystems’ move to make its core Java software a true open-source project may still be a project in its early stages, but on Monday the effort produced some concrete results: a partnership with long-time holdout Red Hat. 

The top Linux seller announced Monday that it’s signed an OpenJDK Community agreement, a move that gives it access to the Sun compatibility kit that can be used to ensure a Java software foundation meets requirements to properly run Java software. Although Java has caught on widely in the server market–Red Hat’s core customer base–Red Hat shied away from tight Java ties and sometimes criticized Sun for its earlier semi-proprietary Java ways. 

Now they companies are best of pals. “Red Hat fully supports Sun’s courageous decision to open source Java technology. After more than 10 years of continuous leadership, the Java technology ecosystem will enter an era of accelerated innovation and benefit from extreme pervasiveness on a wide range of environments,” said Sacha Labourey, chief technology officer of Red Hat’s JBoss division, which sells support for Java server software. 

I know, I know, it sounds like the usual sort of corporate platitude you can read in countless news releases. But its sentiment carries stronger weight and authority after you compare it to this 2004 statement from Red Hat’s then-CTO, Michael Tiemann (disclosure: Tiemann is now a blogger in the CNET blog network, too), directed at Jonathan Schwartz, now Sun chief executive: “You say that you love the open-source community, but how much? If you love the open-source community, you’d open source Java. If you won’t open source Java, it means you don’t love us, or at least you don’t trust us.

Why, then, should we trust you?”The JBoss group, which Red Hat acquired in 2006, had already participated in Sun’s Java development process, but only for the Java Enterprise Edition software for servers. Now the agreement extends to Java Standard Edition, which contains the core “runtime” software to actually execute Java programs.

Through the deal, Red Hat will eventually deliver its own Java runtime software, the company said.  “By signing the contributor agreement, we, Red Hat and JBoss, now have the mechanism in place whereby our engineers can properly work on a wide range of Sun-sponsored open-source projects, including OpenJDK,” said Shaun Connolly, vice president of product management for JBoss.

 Source::http://www.news.com/8301-13580_3-9811395-39.html 

For  for more info please visit our site: http://www.semaphore-software.com/offshore-outsourcing/offshore_outsourcing_services.htm