July 7, 2014
Just as moving an entire household or company across the country can be a pain for everyone involved, moving minor and/or major projects from offshore to nearshore service providers brings numerous challenges right alongside the numerous benefits.
The bottom line is that transitioning from offshore to nearshore allows you to do more with the same resources and gives you a stronger ability to respond to the market demands that drive your business—and isn’t that the point of outsourcing in the first place?
In the exciting rush of transitioning your outsourcing projects to a service provider that is 1 or 2 time zones and a short plane ride away, it is easy to overlook details. As we have discovered over the years, the following pitfalls can really throw a monkey wrench in that move.
In this post, we are looking at the 4 common mistakes companies make during the transition. Our goal is help you make the transition as smooth as possible to avoid any disruptions to your business.
1. Not Test-Driving the Service Provider
The first step that will ensure your transition to a new service provider goes smoothly is to test-drive them with a project. You need to make sure your potentially new nearshore service provider will actually deliver better results than your existing offshore service provider. Just as you will do your research to find a potentially good fit, throw a few small projects their way before committing to the whole ride.
2. Compromising In-Process Deliverables
Your top priority is to transfer work from an offshore provider to a nearshore provider without compromising in-progress deliverables of the offshore provider. Make arrangements in advance for products currently in production to continue on a smooth course.
3. Ignoring the Bottom Line
Moving is expensive. You’ll need to budget for the additional expense of working with two service providers during the knowledge transfer and do your best to ensure continuity in your ability to support applications during and after the transition.
4. Winging It
No matter how much time you spend deciding whether or not to move, it’s all for naught if you don’t plan out each step in advance. Make sure each project’s transition is planned down to the last detail and that all the key players are aware of their parts.
Just follow these tips to ensure that your transition goes as smoothly as possible, guaranteeing that you get the most out of your decision to move nearshore.