Outsourcing to India?

[Sid_Rocks]

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Hello,

I am a free lance marketing chap from India! Was wondering outsourcing is a inn thing in lot many industries...so what all you think about outsourcing certain part of work to cheaper destinations?

Does it at all help you grow in the affiliate, online or search engine marketing?
What do you think?

I understand that most of the affiliates are one man shows but wont outsourcing help in expansion .........thats my shot....


Cheers!!

Sid

[Azam.net]

Welcome Sid and great to see you here

Everybody loves to save money, but I'm sorry to say our experience with trying out guys in India has been horrendous. I could write a fifteen paragraph essay about the stresses we've suffered through shabby, second-rate work but, to point out just one example among dozens, things like spelling and grammar seem to be unimportant among many people in that part of the world.

There's a reason why Britain leads the world in many fields and part of the reason is attention to detail. There are 'cheap' people in India but they won't care about the finer points; those finer points are what distinguish successful businesses from the also-rans.

At the same time I've heard of people who have had good luck with outsourcing and talented people will have no problems getting work anywhere in the world in our globalised world.

What's your perspective on the outsourcing trend from over there?

[Sambernard]

Hey Sid.
What kind of services do you intend to offer???????

Do you have any clientele or any kind of brochures ?

[Ste]

Don’t let Shane see this thread, its his favourite subject at the mo

And I agree with him fully, total waste of time and money, but then it maybe that the best person has not been found that can supply what is requested!

[Operandi]

And I agree with him fully, total waste of time and money, but then it maybe that the best person has not been found that can supply what is requested!

I have had a lot of experience in outsourcing to India. I've had horrendous experiences when dealing with Indian companies, however when dealing with some individuals, I have found some very talented and committed people, who do great work as long as you pay them a fair price.

I guess you have to be lucky to find these people, but when you do, you are onto a winner. Most of the fast growing Indian IT services companies are appalling - they have terrible staffing and morale problems, mainly though overwork, and all they care about is making a fast buck.

[Sambernard]

You bet man. There are many companies out there in India and every one is in a major competition to get work and earn their fast bucks, but there are very good companies as well which give you amazing work but charge a few buck more than the usual outsourcing rates.

[cool gal]

[QUOTE=Operandi;301723]I guess you have to be lucky to find these people, but when you do, you are onto a winner.[QUOTE]

I agree on that one. But that stands true all across the world.

Anyways while outsourcing, you have to make sure that people you have hired in other part of the world understand your market and consumer behaviour.

[Adeel]

i agree there is lack of understanding how UK businesses work but on the other hand, its cheaper, u can hire 4-6 experienced (marketers or designers) in India as compared one highly paid in the UK.

I was amazed to hear that there are 80million broadband connections in India n only 10m in the UK. well the potential is definitely huge both for outsourcing and for networks to work in indian industry...


there are more than 120million boradband users in India + Pakistan + Bangladesh.. well, u can do the maths..

[Monica Sanchez]

Indian outsourcing is one of the best ways to save your development and maintenance costs. Anywhere from one-half to two-thirds of all Fortune 500 companies are already outsourcing to India.

[Adi]

You are right Monika, many of the big guys are earning huge through this. Most of the big BPO units have shifted to the Indian sub-continent.
But all this really depends on how big your organization is. As itz mentioned in this thread, majority of affiliates are one man shows who wouldn't really need outsourcing.

[Call centre]

Hi All

Sid good to see this thread. I have found that a thread like this does create quite a stir with strong feelings. We have been outsourcing work to India for over 2 years now and have definitely seen the good bad and the ugly! In my opinion if you go directly you generally bump into a centre that has recently opened and who would make them out to be big shots promising the world. These companies some how advertise and are seen before the real big shots. Then you have the real big guns that won’t touch a project unless you are talking big numbers. The key to outsourcing to India is finding a category B centre who are experienced in the given field and also have the manpower to deal with the project, but not too big and not too small. If you are able to achieve this project would generally be successful.

The other key thing is to make sure your project is very clearly explained. In real terms "what you put in is what you get out". Many companies have tried India by just saying here it is and now get on with it. What you get here is a bad job done fast! Then they come back and shout about how bad it is to give work to India!

Please be in touch if I can be of more help.

Thanks

Amit

[Adi]

Hi All

Sid good to see this thread. I have found that a thread like this does create quite a stir with strong feelings. We have been outsourcing work to India for over 2 years now and have definitely seen the good bad and the ugly! In my opinion if you go directly you generally bump into a centre that has recently opened and who would make them out to be big shots promising the world. These companies some how advertise and are seen before the real big shots. Then you have the real big guns that won’t touch a project unless you are talking big numbers. The key to outsourcing to India is finding a category B centre who are experienced in the given field and also have the manpower to deal with the project, but not too big and not too small. If you are able to achieve this project would generally be successful.

The other key thing is to make sure your project is very clearly explained. In real terms "what you put in is what you get out". Many companies have tried India by just saying here it is and now get on with it. What you get here is a bad job done fast! Then they come back and shout about how bad it is to give work to India!

Please be in touch if I can be of more help.

Thanks

Amit

Amit could you tell me which process did you outsource to India and which company did you give it to.

[Call centre]

We outsourced variouse projects from Web development to SEO work. We have also handled many Tele sales camapigns ( Mobile Phones, Horse Racing membership, Web Site sales +++)

What we have now don is formed a company that deals specifically in helping small to medium sized businesses in outsourcing to India. We being a UK company are much easier to deal with and our partners are companies who we have worked with over the time we have been in business so we know what they could and could not deliver.

Please have a look at our web site www.shore-solutions.com This will give you an idea of the partners we have in place for variouse business lines. We are just doing some work on the web site but will be active in the next few hours.

Thanks

Amit

[Sid_Rocks]

Welcome Sid and great to see you here

Everybody loves to save money, but I'm sorry to say our experience with trying out guys in India has been horrendous. I could write a fifteen paragraph essay about the stresses we've suffered through shabby, second-rate work but, to point out just one example among dozens, things like spelling and grammar seem to be unimportant among many people in that part of the world.

There's a reason why Britain leads the world in many fields and part of the reason is attention to detail. There are 'cheap' people in India but they won't care about the finer points; those finer points are what distinguish successful businesses from the also-rans.

At the same time I've heard of people who have had good luck with outsourcing and talented people will have no problems getting work anywhere in the world in our globalised world.

What's your perspective on the outsourcing trend from over there?

Thanks Azam!
Well the outsourcing is definitely creating waves here.But, as always there are two sides of the story.Good and ugly. In this rush, idea is to identify the right kind of client for service providers and for clients right kind of service provider.It is a two way game.

Once the combination is right sky is the limit. Right business model and outsorcing can do wonders.Personally, i have seen one man shows of europe and US growing as big as having 1000 employees back in india.
India can be seen as a stepping stone for small time organisations which wish to expand but cannot due to resources and manpower constraints in their respective countries.It gives a chance to play in the market.

Some people in this rush of outsourcing are fairly unreasonable.It is from both sides.They ask for unreasonable prices ( I remember a guy calling from UK and asking for a 2 page science article for 1 GBP!!!) and yes they do get services providers but forget the quality.

Quality can only be good if the expectations are realistic in terms of pricing and finding the right partner is the mantra.

Key is to understand that indian services can be exploited well if you have reasonable expectations with reasonable price and the right kind of partner.


Cheers!!

Sid

[lumargin]

From my experience, I have had both good & horrid stories from outsourcing to India and Eastern Europe.
I will break down my experience into what to avoid (i.e. things to watch out for and spell trouble) and then pluses (i.e. things to look out for to identify good vendors):

Things to avoid and spell trouble

1. Vendor want email only communication
2. No IM or telephone interaction (always ask for communication working msn/sykpe/ym ids)
3. Limited ability to speak English with your project manager or primary point of contact
4. Strict opening times and inability to be flexible
5. Vendor that always want to retain anonymity
6. "One man band" (might be good initially but would be overworked eventually and de-prioritise your projects because other people would discover their talent
7. Promise that they can deliver EVERYTHING. not true, I have discovered that certain agents are quite specialised in certain skills. I have also found excellent web designers that do not have a clue about web development and at the other end of the spectrum I have found excellent SEOs that do only SEO work

Indicators of good vendors

1. Communication is key and good vendors would comfortably talk on phone or chat over an IM app
2. I have actually met up with one of my vendors in UK and am planning to make a return trip
3. Ask for references either here in the UK or the US. I would typically ask for about 5 -10 references I'll ring and have a chat with(I also give references for some really good vendors
4. Quality of their website (should be above average)
5. Follow up calls a MUST
6. Interview them like you were interviewing a candidate for a job
7. Flexible payment terms - Escrow preferred
8. Charge should not be dirt cheap - you pay peanuts, you get monkeys doing your job. At the same time not expensive
9. Good vendors would clarify every bit of your spec/scope document
10. I would have a good English speaking influential point of contact when I work with big outsourcing outfits

Outsourcing works but you can get burnt. I have lost as well as generated lots of revenue from outsourcing. I find that meeting with a contact face-to-face builds trust as well as saves a lot of time and money. I have also been to an outsourcing exhibition in London and met some interesting companies there. I however still have UK based vendors that act as a back-up when all the chips are down.