IT Outsourcing - What has Changed, and What will Change?

Businesses, whether startups or MNCs, already have a lot on their plate. Right from generating leads, growing brand visibility, till managing budget, employee retention, vendors, and customers, the list keeps growing. Managing these activities without automating is a huge challenge, and here is where IT outsourcing comes into the picture. It acts as a way to distribute the load and focus on the growth of the business.

GoodFirms Leaders Roundtable is a series of podcast discussions that the company will have with the experts and market leaders across the globe to support the startups with the right insights.  

For this podcast episode, we bring to you Bruce Mason, Delivery Manager of a successful IT outsourcing company, QArea. Bruce is an IT expert with more than 25 years of experience in business analysis, project management, and service delivery. He balances out all delivery operations, from contract negotiations to client satisfaction records.

The Podcast discussion focuses on these key areas:

1. Changes in the IT outsourcing landscape and its future
2. Challenges in the staff augmentation model and ways to overcome them
3. Ways to build trust with the client while working on outsourced projects
4. How to keep your workforce updated to work on a variety of projects

Outsourcing has become a standard business model for both startups and multinational corporations. What has changed in the IT outsourcing industry over the last decade, and what does the future of IT Business or IT Outsourcing hold?

In today’s day and age, either company chooses the traditional outsourcing model wherein they have an entire in-house team working on various projects, or go with staff augmentation to fill in the missing expertise in respective teams with one or more engineers with narrow specialization.

Staff augmentation has been a popular approach for larger organizations. Outsourcing, on the other hand, has been the preferred option for smaller, startup-based companies that do not have large in-house teams at hand and cannot get the staff they need to do something very quickly. In scenarios like this, a third-party vendor allows startups to get an MVP to market faster and grow sooner than expected.

Also, post-Covid, more and more companies are looking to adopt the digital transformation approach, but they must meticulously base their decision on these three below-mentioned principles: 

• What is the strategic business goal that best supports their enterprises’ objectives?
• How do they expect technology to support this business goal in terms of purpose, function, security, and risk requirements?
• What will their operational and workforce impacts be on their business and technical or security decisions?

The challenges in the IT staff augmentation model are related to standard workflow and implementation. What challenges do you face, and how do you overcome them to deliver quality?

Here at QArea, we have our processes, which are tried and tested to deliver results, that we use on all outsourcing projects. On the other hand, we also encourage our employees to be inquisitive and suggest potentially better working approaches to our clients, resulting in making them feel included in important decision-making processes.

Of course, there have been cases where the client is more comfortable continuing with their approach, and it is absolutely their right to do so. Still, we would not be doing our jobs if we did not proactively try and suggest different workflows. This tends to add value for the clients, and so it’s a win-win situation for both parties.

So, QArea guarantees client’s that our resources are mature and prepared for modern development workflows, and we make sure to incorporate this into our contracts to further demonstrate our value.

As we all know, lowering overhead expenses has always been one of the top priorities for businesses, which makes outsourcing an excellent choice, but what are the other advantages that companies can gain by using the software outsourcing model?

Whilst for most businesses, reducing costs is a key reason to adopt the outsourcing model, there are other ways outsourcing can add value for clients.

Trust is vital in long-term partnerships, and the same is true when selecting the right outsourcing partner for your organization. What steps should an IT firm or startup take to gain a client's trust and provide satisfactory customer service?

A delivery manager remains in sync with both the clients and the teams to ensure that any potential issues that might arise are timely staved off. They are also open to suggesting options and approaches that are tried and tested and improve the project delivery timeline.

The people who work for you are your best bet in the software outsourcing model. And finding the best industry professionals can be challenging. What talent acquisition strategies does QArea use to manage and hire outstanding professionals?

I’ve often found people in the B2B segment repeating that it is easier to sell to existing clients than it is to find new ones, and the same implies in the case of employees. It is better to retain great people than try and find people to replace them. Therefore, just like clients, they deserve respect and to be treated fairly on a day-to-day basis.

Our recruiting staff are great at what they do and are backed by our technical experts throughout the hiring process. We use a series of pre-screening scenarios as well as quick tests to find the best people.

In terms of compensation, we monitor the global as well as the local markets to maintain an active rate card and that helps us determine fair salaries for our employees.

How do managers at QArea ensure their tech teams stay updated with the technology and remain fit to work on multiple projects for different businesses?

As a tech company, we try to use as many new technologies and approaches on projects as we can to provide more comprehensive services to our clients, as well as keep our employees interested in new emerging solutions.

We also like to create opportunities for employees within the company. When people need a chance to increase their skills, we often use internal projects or proof of concepts for potential solutions to help them grow these skills. This helps keep their spirits high while also encouraging active participation among team members. 

Being a software development company, it becomes fairly easier to communicate with other tech-based startups. But, this can prove difficult for businesses that aren’t so technically sound. How does QArea help them visualize their end goal and bring their need to reality?

We at Qarea believe that the initial meetings and discussions set the foundation for creating good experiences for our clients. 

That is why we like to prepare for these initial discussions by looking at the details we have been provided by our sales team, to ensure we bring the right experts to the meeting and add as much value as possible.

We not only help clients in understanding their vision from a technical viewpoint but also provide a detailed breakdown structure of each estimate and milestone. This ensures complete transparency and gives a roadmap of how the client’s money will be spent.

To know more about the discussion, listen to the podcast.

 What Next?

Whether a tech-based startup is looking to expand its service offering or a non-technical firm looking to develop its next best website or application, IT outsourcing is the way for every firm, be it big or small.

But, while choosing the right IT outsourcing partner for your organization, checking a company’s background is as important as checking its business goals and technical workflows. And, what better way to do it than checking the reviews on listing platforms like GoodFirms and see if they say positive things about the organization?

About GoodFirms Leaders Roundtable  

Leaders Roundtable is a campaign undertaken to discuss the pain points of budding entrepreneurs. In this campaign, we talk with representatives of successful IT companies and take their views regarding topics in technology, business strategies, and more. 

To get your company enrolled in our campaign, please drop a mail at [email protected]