Runtime - The Software Outsourcing Newsletter
for Executives and Investors
from Accelerance and Steve MezakIn this issue: How to contact outsourcing vendors without wasting time while you pick the best one for your software development.
Making Your First Contact with Outsourcing Vendors
What do you tell a prospective outsourcing vendor during your first contact? How do you make sure you begin evaluating the vendor properly from the very start without giving away too much information? What are the right questions to ask?
Some companies make contact awkwardly. They blurt out the details of their software without qualifying the vendor first. From the vendor’s perspective, they look like a country bumpkin that has never been to the big city of outsourcing software development.
The problem is, the vendor can easily say they can do everything you need done. But you have no way of knowing if it ’s really true.
Other companies have the opposite problem: they don't divulge anything. They just want to see some resumes and get the vendor’s rate. This is also unattractive to a good vendor. It’s really ugly if you also want your poorly specified software developed for a fixed price.
It’s common to divulge too much when you find the vendor through a trusted referral. And it’s common to be overly guarded when you contact vendors you know nothing about.
The danger of stumbling like this in the beginning is that a good vendor will not take you seriously and a bad vendor will attempt to capitalize on your ignorance.
For example, a company contacted Accelerance earlier this year with a 40-page RFP. They had submitted it to 14 vendors. A few Accelerance partners responded, even though, statistically, their chances of winning the deal seemed slim. Their enthusiasm waned further when the prospect became unresponsive under the deluge of vendor responses and questions.
In another example, a company wanted software developed for a fixed-price in a two-month time-frame. The problem? No detailed specification but enough of a written overview to see that it was not a two month project. “Sorry,” most Accelerance vendors said, “This project is a train wreck about to happen.” And they declined to bid.
The solution is to identify the top criteria for selecting your vendor first. Then devise a way to quiz them on these important elements from the very start. If you have a large list of vendors, then your focus should be on quickly paring them down to a short list of vendors.
I recommend the following questions be used to pare down the list of vendors:
1. What is the target market of the vendor (by industry or company size)?
2. What is an ideal client for the vendor?
3. What types of software technology do they specialize in?
4. What is the average size of projects – number of engineers & duration?
5. Does the vendor have project management or technical staff in your country?
6. What software development methodology does the vendor use?
7. Can they help with subsidiary creation or build, operate & transfer?The last question is optional if you don’t have any interest in these kinds of services.
You need a screening process like these seven questions to review your prospective vendors and decide if you should add them to your short list. Otherwise, you can waste lots of time reviewing the detailed answers to your questions from the dozens of vendors you initially contact.
Accelerance clients do this very efficiently. The sourcing and screening process is completed for them through the Outsourcing Jumpstart services. Their focus is on the final vendor selection. See http://www.accelerance.com/services.htm for more details.
After you source your vendors and screen them down to a short list of 3 or 4, you then need to compare them to select the best fit for your situation. This third step of selection is not so scientific and objective. It is OK to go with a gut feel at this point, but one that is backed up by facts and details you can use to justify your decision.
The entire vendor selection process is described in great detail in Chapter 3 of the new book Software without Borders: A Step-By-Step Guide to Outsourcing Your Software Development. It's available now on Amazon.com.
See http://www.SoftwareWithoutBordersBook.com for a link to the Amazon.com website.
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The Runtime Bottom Line: You can waste a lot of valuable time selecting your offshore vendor unless you have a good process to follow. Ask a few questions to qualify the vendors you source to get down to a short list of just a few vendors quickly.
Until next time,
Steve Mezak
Accelerance, Inc.
Risk-Free Outsourcing
213 Garcia Avenue
Half Moon Bay, CA 94019
1-650-712-8990(c) 2006 Accelerance, Inc. All rights reserved. You are free to use material from the "Runtime" eZine in whole or in part, as long as you include complete attribution, including live web site link. Please also notify me where the material will appear.
The attribution should read:
"By Steve Mezak, CEO of Accelerance, Inc. Please visit the Accelerance web site at http://www.Accelerance.com for more information and resources on outsourcing and creating great software."
