Whether we like it or not, hiring the best talents in the US is very, very expensive. This truth is not very encouraging for start-up companies or small scale businesses. That’s why outsourcing is very attractive for small business owners since they have to get the best with the lowest rate possible.
But there are dangers in outsourcing. For one, you can’t really see who you are working with and they are hundred of miles away from you. It’s not uncommon that they ask for an upfront fee and disappear like a puff of smoke. If such things happen, you can’t just go there or sue them as they are out of the US jurisdiction. Here are some tips to get the best out of outsourcing while preventing the worst from happening.
1. Go to professional freelance hiring websites – elance.com, getafreelancer.com and guru.com are some of the websites that offer listing of available jobs. These websites are constantly monitored by freelance software developers in different countries. So anytime you list a job request online, you will get a number of offers you anticipate. More often than not, these are legitimate companies or freelancers who will be ruined if you give out a bad word about them. Since you don’t have anything to pin on them, only the word of mouth will actually make them perform.
2. More listings - remember that these websites could have so many responses than you anticipate. That’s good. You don’t want to find yourself choosing between two companies, but rather want to have a large pool of candidates. It takes a little time, but this way you can slowly weed out what you like and you don’t like.
3. NDA – “NDA” stands for Non-Disclosure Agreement. This document will state what you asked them to work on, and by signing an NDA, they will not distribute your content or give access to your project to others without your explicit permission. Again, as a small business you really don’t have any control over what they do about your project, but this document could somehow tell the developers offshore to back away from using what they have done for you. This is a legal document so it takes a little bit of legal terms to make this document legitimate. There are lots of websites that offer free templates so you don’t need to have an attorney to draft them.
4. Negotiate – like any business transaction, negotiate. Offshore businesses could offer something really affordable. If that’s really good for you, don’t say yes immediately. Ask for additional perks for future businesses or additional support for your current software. That way, they will receive the same compensation but giving enough support for your business. It’s a win-win situation since they will have a client and you will have a reliable provider.
You can add more such as bidding, interviews and other tactics. But these four will get you the developer that you want more easily and at a better rate.
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Resources of the companies need to be focused on core business functions so the non-core functions need to be outsourced.
Comment by Glenn Forbes — January 10, 2008 @ 1:48 pm