Accelerance - Risk-Free Outsourcing: Embedded Software - Windows Outsourcing to China, India, and Thailand

Outsourcing Jumpstart Program
Frequently Asked Questions

(1) Why should I pay $497 for a list of vendors – Should't it be free?

You can easily find many offshore software development vendors online for free. But that's the problem - there are thousands of them! You can spend months finding and evaluating random vendors you find online, and still pick a loser.

In contrast, the focused list of vendors you immediately get with the OJP are pre-qualified by Accelerance. And you get personal consulting to narrow your choices to just those vendor partners that are the best fit for your situation.

You save time selecting a vendor. You save time by picking a reliable vendor. The OJP is guaranteed to save you time and money or you get a full refund.

(2) Who is on the list? Is it Infosys, Wipro and other big companies I already know?

No. Accelerance global partners vary in size from 25 to 2,000 engineers, most with an average of several hundred. They will give you a small team of awesome programmers and the personal attention you need to develop great software. Mouse over the flags on the page to see a short description of global partner.

(3) How do you qualify these partners?

Accelerance performs an extensive survey of technical skills, business experience and reference checking with their clients. About 10% of vendor applications are rejected. Many other vendors do not pass our pre-qualification process before they are allowed to apply. Accelerance global partners have a track record of technical excellence, on-time project execution and are in the custom software development business for the long haul.

(4) How much does programming cost with Accelerance global partners?

Rates vary between global locations from between $15 to $30 per hour. A good budgetary number to use is $25 per hour or $4,000 per engineer per month. By comparison, rates for programmers in the U.S. are typically in the $40 to $65 per hour range.

(5) Did you say $25 per hour? I was told paying more than $15 per hour is a rip-off !

"Body shop" vendors charging low rates are more than happy to put several junior programmers with limited experience in a room with computers, and then let you manage them from a distance. It usually takes a few months, and a few thousand dollars, to realize you are not going to get good software this way. Then you are back to looking for another vendor, and the body shop vendor is busy signing up his next victim.

Cost is just one vendor selection criteria. If it is the most important one for you then we can focus on Accelerance partners that charge less because of their global location.

(6) Isn’t it cheaper to hire freelance programmers?

Yes, the hourly rate for freelancers is often lower. Freelancers are fine for short-term needs and small projects. However, it is difficult to manage more than a few freelancers in different locations. Using freelancers does not scale easily to teams of 3 or more. Turnover and communications issues when using more freelancers cause delays and poor software quality.

(7) Don’t I need a detailed specification to do offshore outsourcing?

No. Most clients rarely have complete specifications, and even if they did, they quickly go out-of-date as new ideas and functionality come to light while the software is developed. Accelerance partners are expert in modern "agile" software development processes where collaboration with you to determine functionality and frequents changes are expected and embraced.

Detailed specifications are required if it is critical to avoid software failures. Even in this case, Accelerance partners can implement a more formal software development process for you that is strictly governed by your specifications and high ceremony CMMi processes.

close