As the Pandemic struck hard on the workforce in many industries, basic functions of lives are put to a sudden halt, and the most notable field affected during these days is education.
Thousands of schools are shut down to secure social distancing. Teachers are under the pressure to finish the schoolyear within a short amount of time. According to statistics, there have been 1.2 billion children locked out of the classroom after a year of Covid-19, and this number is expected to grow more due to the outbreak of the Covid Delta variant in 2021.
These alarming numbers predicted quite a gloomy outlook on the world’s education. Even in the most developed countries, there are only approximately 30% of schools are fully open. This number even goes lower for the third-world countries and overpopulated nations.
Under this circumstance, educators and policymakers have resorted to information technology for a wide range of tech applications in education system to gradually keep it running.
Versatile application of IT in education
Some might think of education and information technology as two separate industries with no overlapping. In fact, the application of IT in education has been there for quite a few years, but it was not until the outbreak of Covid-19 that the term Ed-tech became more popular.
Before digging into the term Ed-tech itself, if you take a look at the usual IT application in education, you can see a pattern of managerial software to dominate the market.
Technology in education – traditional classrooms
With educational institutions, it is the platform connecting parents and school boards that keep the communication going. These platforms act as a dashboard for updated information of school events, examination results. For some platforms, it is even possible for teachers to send private messages to parents, forming a synchronized and systematic means of communication.
These platforms do not limit themselves to just two-party communication. In fact, homework and extra curriculum activities are also notified to the parents.
With these basic functions, the implementation of information technology goes a steady way yet unimpressive in the world’s market. However, since the pandemic took it tolls on the world, the global market demands more from IT application in education, especially for effective e-learning systems.
Edtech and how we improve our education
To put it simply, Edtech is deprived of the term education technology in which we can understand it as the act of technology implementation in education to create more engaging, inclusive and individualized learning experiences.
Edtech has taken its initial steps in recent years with minor achievements and a limited reputation. It was not until the outbreak of Covid-19 that the major public realized the importance of multi-functional and tech-infused platforms for online teaching.
Technology in education – Online Teaching
Online teaching, or e-learning industry, benefited from a technology-driven marketplace in which everyone is familiar with tech presence and is willing to embrace it into their lives.
Since the pandemic, experts and researchers have posed a question of the most effective way of teaching online, the most satisfying answer lies in edtech platforms.
How edtech helps students
As students are more exposed to electronic appliances, especially smartphones, the idea of e-learning may sound more fascinating for the digital natives. Moreover, the influx of technology is of great help for the students to cope with the fast-paced learning on technology platforms.
The three major aspects that can benefit students when using edtech are:
– Around-the-clock access to learning: As lessons, worksheets, homework are stored on a server for permanent use, students can get access to the lessons’ database no matter when and where. With this feature, students become more proactive in their learning and do not limit themselves to the fixed class scheduled.
– Interactive lesson-related activities: With the help of edtech platforms, students acquire their knowledge not only from the original sources of teachers or books but also through the interactive lessons on the platforms.
– Overall student assessment: With the help of technology in assessment, students can prove their overall development through multiple metrics that are not particularly focused on the results of stress-inducing tests.
How edtech helps teachers
Another party that gains huge advantages of edtech application is the teacher. As edtech platforms are the bridge connecting students and teachers, they also are the tool for multiple class operations, including:
– Automated Grading: With the innovative adoption of technology in education, grading is no more a nuisance. With pre-programmed scripts for grading, teachers are free of the time-consuming and dragging process of grading. In fact, some recent edtech platforms started to involve machine learning and AI in grading, in which the machine will assess students’ involvement in class and their test results to give a comprehensive assessment of the overall performance.
– Paperless Classrooms: On edtech platforms, storage capacity is also a major feature that can help teachers and schools unburden themselves of the additional printing costs.
With books encrypted within the system, students can get access to this knowledge source at any time without having to buy the expensive course books (of course, the school will be responsible for buying the books online).
With classrooms going digital, paperless classrooms are the most favorable ones. This is because paperless classrooms not only help safeguard data, they also contribute to green policy in the classroom.
With the booming application of information technology in education, both students and teachers can benefit greatly from this innovation.
To understand more about edtech and related services in IT, contact us for more information:
Offshore Development Center is a common work model that is gaining more recognition from IT leaders and enterprises. This is considered an effective way of cost reduction and talent pool access.
Eastern Europe and Eastern Asia countries are the leading destinations for Offshore Development Center to thrive. Still, due to the technical preferences and regulations, this model no longer thrives in these regions. Besides, labor costs in these countries have exponentially increased in the past five years, leading to their clients having to look for ODC services somewhere else.
Among the emerging countries for Offshore Development Center service providers, Vietnam has stood out as a destination of competent tech workers and competitive costs.
In fact, Vietnam is a growing IT hub and has just crossed its nascent stage in recent years. In Vietnam, the regulations are very favorable for the development of the IT industry and foreign investors in this sector.
Hence, Vietnam still has much room for potential growth in the field of Information Technology in the future. Here, you can find world-renowned technology corporations who have worked with many big clients from around the world. Moreover, this development has paved the way for the founding of other mid-size or small-size service providers for a niche market with domain-specialized capabilities.
IT Labor cost in Vietnam
The first and foremost reason why Vietnam is suitable for Offshore Development Center setup is the competitive price. When compared to the labor cost in some major fields of IT of developed countries like the US, Singapore or Japan, the salary range in Vietnam is lower by 40-50%.
For example, the base salary for Software Developer in the US is approximately $9,528, while that of Vietnam’s market is around $3,811. This price gap repeats with many other IT positions such as Systems Architect, Cloud Engineer, Product Manager, Security Engineer, DevOps Engineer, Project Manager, etc.
Cost Reduction with Offshore Development Center
Some might wonder whether these outsourced IT staff can perform as well as the in-house team, as for the fact that many believe high price comes with high quality.
When working with an Offshore Development Center, you can access a talent pool of competent IT staff. Especially with this work model, you interview them to hand-pick the most suitable talents for your work hub.
Thanks to geographical pricing, you can get equally good results with just half a price when implementing Offshore Development Center in your operation.
How do you communicate with non-native partners?
One of the major reasons why many businesses are hesitant with Offshore Development Center is the communication barriers, aka the language.
They fear that their employees won’t be able to communicate effectively with their clients that don’t speak the same language as they do. However, this is not the thing you should be worried about. In a technology-focused company, language has gained considerable attention. Many managerial roles have identified this as the focal point for more access to clients around the world. In Vietnam, English as a global language is somewhat a standard included in recruiting IT staff.
Offshore Development Center setup – Recruitment
The communication and management platform is also applied for a more comprehensive way of keeping track of work and time.
Cloud project management tools such as Trello, or Asana is used. These tools can split your work into smaller tasks. For every task, staff can add details, deadlines, to-do lists, etc. Sharing files and calendars also can benefit employees working on the same project. This involves employees throughout the work process (better team morale) and ensures productivity (better work results).
BrSE and Comtor act as the connecting bridge between our client and us. These staff work with both parties for requirement and deadline clarifications to produce the best results.
-> Solve the problem of chaotic workspace.
Work with top-tier service provider in the field
Lotus QA stands amongst the best IT service providers in Vietnam. Lotus Quality Assurance, or Lotus QA started in October, 2016 as Vietnam’s first independent testing company, and then evolved our business into two other branches of Software Development and AI Data Processing services.
Since our establishment as a QA company, we expanded our business, officially step in Vietnam’s IT Outsourcing Market as Lotus TS in 2017, and in 2020, we opened our Japan office, marking the foundation of Lotus Japan in particular and Lotus TS’ development in general.
Our journey to provide high-quality products and the development of the QA market in Vietnam has been highlighted with our achievements.
Throughout our 162 projects, we worked with 56+ clients from 9 countries, gained customer satisfaction of 94%.
To strengthen our capabilities and our credibility, we got the certificates of ISTQB in Testing and in Management.
We also got the prestigious Sao Khue Awards for top AI Processing service, once again proving our top-tier position in IT Outsourcing in Vietnam.
If you’re looking for top-notch and client-centric IT services, Lotus QA is definitely the destination for you. We’re providing 3 main services of Quality Assurance (or you can call it Testing), Software Development and AI Data Processing.
For QA services, we cover the conventional services of Mobile App Testing, Web App Testing, Embedded Software Testing and Integration Testing, and the next-gen services of Automation Testing, Cloud Testing and Private Test Center.
Other major service we provide for the market is Software Development, covering Web App and Mobile App Development, plus the trending AI Development and Software Maintenance.
We offer professional services for Data Annotation, Data Collection and Data Validation for AI Data Processing.
We operate and partner up with clients from various countries in the world. We’ve got a strong presence in Japan, America, Europe and APEC countries, and Vietnam.
We’ve gained experience and knowledge in different domains, with Healthcare, Banking and Automotive are the highlighted ones.
What makes us stand out in this very competitive IT outsourcing market are our domain expertise, technical competencies, and people.
As we comprehensively apply cutting-edge technologies in different fields, we have imprinted the impression of professionalism on our clients. But it is not just about the technical knowledge. We also place a heavy emphasis on how we work, how we process. For a flawless and smooth operation, we follow a stringent process of international standards and strict security. Clients are well assured of quality when partnering up with us.
The core of our service has always been our clients, but when it comes to the inner operation and growth of Lotus QA, it is the people that matter.
Since I started this company 5 years ago, I’ve always known that our people are the most important factor in building a business from the ground up. In Lotus QA, we build the people, not just in numbers but personally.
To develop a talent pool of comprehensive staff with technical and communication skills, first, we start with a thorough recruitment process. Once the talent’s on-board, we go for intensive technical and process training.
Over the past few years, we’ve grown not only in numbers but also personally. In Lotus QA, we build a learning environment that can enhance the best out of our people.
As we commit to providing a young and dynamic talent pool for the global market, our people is the essence of our success.
In LQA, our motto is “Towards Perfection,” and perfection is what we strive to provide the best values for you.
Given that the world’s market is now tailored to the development of the IT industry, technology implementation and visibility stay top of the priority in the decision-making of every business, even for companies with a non-tech core value proposition.
In fact, Information Technology and digital transformation act rather as a comprehensive tool for customer engagement, communication and management.
With the application of digital advances at scale, IT outsourcing services are developing at a quick pace, and Offshore Development Center as a branch of IT outsourcing has shown some outstanding advantages.
As many businesses considering Offshore Development Center for their IT implementation, they stumble upon the significant problem of choosing a destination of their ODC.
This article will provide you with insights into the global software marketplace regarding team composition, average pay, and the most popular destinations for IT outsourcing.
Team composition
When it comes to team composition, the two dominant regions are Eastern Europe and South Asia.
In these regions, the clients can get access to a large talent pool of highly experienced engineers. The number of years working in the industry or in any particular domain is a major metric used to assess the industry maturity.
Countries for Offshore Development Center – Team composition
For a vast and demanding industry that requires fast adaption and deep knowledge as IT industry, it is very hard and challenging to call someone an expert, let alone to gain managerial and leadership skills.
Despite the brain drain situation when most experienced engineers move onto more prominent and high-paid regions, Eastern Europe and South Asia can still provide software professionals and experts to the market.
Average Pay
Pricing is one of the significant features to be considered when clients assess their vendors. Although some clients are hesitant with the price-based decision-making, a majority of them deem cost savings the core factor that makes ODC worth investing.
Regarding the average hourly rate, South Asia and Central Asia offer the least of all, with approximately $20/hour and $23/hour, respectively. In contrast, Eastern Europe and North Africa are at a relative disadvantage with an hourly rate of $39/hour, which is about 18% higher than the average price.
Countries for Offshore Development Center – Pricing & Average Pay
In the case of South Asia, the main reason why the price is kept at a relatively low rate is the geographical pricing. Together with a substantial and robust labor force and the governments’ emphasis on the development of IT training, geographical pricing keeps it slow for the labor costs.
In Southern Asia countries, perhaps the most common issue reported by clients from the US and EU is the time zone gaps. In addition, nearly all clients expressed their concerns over the up-side-down working hours (both for them and the vendors). However, these concerns are not major obstacles, as many clients are willing to try and invest in the overhead required.
Remote team pricing can be divided into two groups of Asia and non-Asia. Even though the glaring gap between the price of Asia and the rest of the world has been narrowed down, there is still a fourteen-dollar difference in the average hourly rate.
Technology stack
With Eastern Europe and Asia put onto comparison, we can see distinctive traits of technical specializations.
For Eastern Europe, the talent market is bound to cutting-edge technology with a larger utility of JavaScript, Ruby, Rails and Python. In contrast, for Asia, the revenue-beneficial technologies such as Java or .Net continue to grow with a higher percentage.
With clients demanding the application of new technologies often go for service providers from Eastern European countries, those with long, protracted and complex projects go for Asia countries.
Emerging countries for Offshore Development setup
Asia and Eastern Europe are the two main competitors in the world’s market, with Asia being the more favored destination, in terms of both pricing and technical specializations.
Besides the world-renowned countries for IT outsourcing and offshore development center, there are emerging countries in this industry with a more competitive price range, including:
– Vietnam
As the top emerging destination for IT Outsourcing and Offshore Development Center setup, Vietnam has what it takes to build a fully functional and talented team of developers and tech engineers.
To make a favorable destination for software export. Vietnam is nurturing a large talent pool with 25000 eligible tech engineer graduates every year. These talents are well-trained of the technology stack and work with a competitive price range, making it the most profitable for clients when hiring their tech staff in Vietnam.
Countries for Offshore Development Center – Vietnam
– India
Despite the lowest price on the market, India continues to suffer from the bad reputation of being underqualified and tacky work. However, Japan is projected to receive technical help from Japan in the transition into the new phase of development. With a well-built and complete IT ecosystem, Indian companies will revamp their services.
– China
China is not the country with the lowest price, but the technology fulfillment in this country can satisfy any client.
The technology enhancement in China continues to grow over the past few years, with artificial intelligence and virtual reality have gained substantial success. However, despite the sheer volume of tech engineers, government involvement and subsidiary, China is still a favorite destination for some specific fields and domains.
– The Philippines
The Philippines is becoming more and more popular in the IT outsourcing and Offshore Development Market. In addition to high talent competency, the IT workforce in The Philippines uses English as their native language, which eliminates the language barriers in communication.
As the global market witnesses the sudden halt sowed by the pandemic, many enterprises and businesses have contemplated digital transformation and started to implement it. With this switch bringing the incremental plan for IT spending in the future, many businesses and corporations seek a more viable and cost-effective solution – Offshore Development Center service.
Nevertheless, Offshore Development Center is not a one-size-fits-all work model for any business and enterprise. On the one hand, this model brings excellent benefits in cost-saving, but on the other hand, it also poses a large deal of challenges to be tackled.
These chronic problems have shown how they can negatively affect the outlook of one business’ digital transformation, even with large and resourceful enterprises. To avoid the pitfalls and further streamline your Offshore Development Center, here are the seven most common issues that you might stumble upon.
1. Less-than-desirable outcomes
Offshore Development Center stands among the most cost-effective work models for businesses that want to lower the cost barrier. Working with an ODC, the vendee expects to yield similar work results as they could with an in-house or domestic IT Outsourcingteam. However, this is just the ideal scenario. In contrast, many ODC projects have failed or come short of expectations. These failed scenarios can come in two forms:
Poor programming quality: The incompatibility in technical competencies is not uncommon when you partner up with an ODC service provider. In fact, within the talent pool provided, the diversity in experience and professional expertise is present, and team formation is quite a challenge. Additionally, the poor technical performance of one staff can lead to additional cost of maintenance, which is the last thing any vendee wants with their Offshore Development Center.
Problems offshore development center – Coding quality
To advent an ODC with personnel who can work harmoniously in communicational and technical skills requires the vendee to virtually “paint the picture” of what they expect from the team member. As detailed as it can go, they need to vest out, for example, what programming language, what framework, or even what soft skills are required with this job.
The more you can save with additional tasks and maintenance, the more you can save your overall expenses.
Solution for this: – Build an accurate and well-designed plan for your businesses that is tailored to your future plans. Instead of a plan with details and a fixed budget, leave the gaps or alternative options in case of any changes in the future.
Shortcomings in cost-saving: Although Offshore Development Center can assure you a large amount of cost can be reduced, there are still possibilities of unaccountable expenses to be added to the final expenses. These costs could be the additional infrastructure cost or managerial cost. For some software development processes, this could be the cost for a device lab enlargement.
Any changes at scale can result in shortcomings in cost-saving, which will eventually affect the hiring party’s value proposition and financial plans.
Solution for this:
– Recruit with the help of an expert in talent acquisition field. Please be noted that any detailed requirements of programming languages and other technical aspects are of great necessity. A team leader with managerial skills should be closely involved in the recruitment process to hand-pick the team for your Offshore Development team.
2. Time-zone difference
Working with a contractor in an offshore location where there is a significant difference in time zone may make email communication difficult and phone communication almost impossible. If you are in a development environment where regular, ongoing communication is essential between onshore and offshore team members, working with an offshore team located within a U.S. time zone may be advisable.
Problems offshore development center – Time zone
Solution for this:
Time management within your ODC is one of the most vital features for an efficient digital transformation. In order to deal with time-zone-related issues, enterprises should have a fixed schedule agreed with the vendors. This schedule should include periodical checkpoint and meetings of what have been accomplished and what to be accomplished.
3. Poor communication
The issue of poor communication is one top-of-the-mind factor that should be included in the assessment of ODC service provider’s competencies. This problem can be accounted to:
Language barriers: Language barriers are a common challenge at any ODC, as this work model deals with many international clients. Due to heavy language barriers, many tech engineers struggle to interpret and understand the project’s requirements, leading to a higher chance of miscommunication. Under this circumstance, extra clarification sessions are bound to happen, hence the extra time and cost for the overall operation. With a team of two out of five tech engineers in need of extra clarification like this, the whole project can be derailed with a surprisingly high amount of unwanted additional cost.
Solution for this: – The most effective solution for the language barrier in an IT environment is the utility of plain language. It is highly required for any tech engineer to have a solid foundation of industry-specialized glossary – for the IT, it would be in English. Besides these, tech engineers are expected to communicate using plain language, meaning the minimum usage of jargon and esoteric vocabulary. With this being, the whole situation of miscommunication will be reduced to its smallest.
Problems offshore development center – Communication
Another way to tackle the problem of language barriers is to clarify the requirement of language proficiency. For many enterprises implementing Offshore Development Center, they have set a “must-have” English proficiency certificate as the initial requirement of their ODC team. If too out-of-hand, an interview or quick test of candidates’ capabilities is conducted to ensure language proficiency.
– The “last resort” to eliminate any miscommunication due to language barriers can be the use of visual methods in daily information exchange. For example, pictures or diagrams speak more directly than normal conversation, saving time and effort in detailed explanation.
Cultural differences: Cultural differences are not always the main topic in ODC-related miscommunication, but it has shown an increasingly negative effect on the communication between the vendors and the vendees. Given the distinctive traits in how people draw their expectations and communication methods, many businesses have been cognizant of the fact that these traits can derail the team’s project and affect work morale.
Solution for this: Research the market, living standard of the country you are aiming to have your ODC in Plan the facilities Register to the local government as a legal entity Find and rent an office Design and decorate the office Install furniture accordingly Prepare and connect workstations to the internet Set up the security system Set up workplace equipment such as a printer, scanner Plan for pantry area, water, coffee machine, medicine box Buy and install hardware and software tools Purchase other office supplies.
4.Unclear goals and unrealistic expectations
Missed deadlines, or a higher rate of burnout and turnover, etc., are the typical signs of unrealistic expectations. Especially with the IT industry in which workload is exponentially increasing, the stress burdened on employees is more severe than ever, with a higher frequency of overtime and work hours.
Problems offshore development center – Security
In the IT industry, unclear goals result from poor leadership and communication, leading to vague objectives and strategies.
Stress is the last thing that we ever want to happen to our employees. However, a stressed employee can lay a detrimental effect on the company, not only failing the project’s objectives but also decreasing morale.
Solutions for this:
Set specific goals: Set goals that are specific and measurable. Measurable goals break down your achievement and checkpoint with numbers and metrics, making it easier for team managers to keep track of the operational work. If any problem occurs at any task, the person in charge can be identified immediately for a timely solution.
Set deadlines for your goals
By setting specific goals for individual tasks, you have to simultaneously set a deadline to achieve with those goals. Both the vendors and vendors should be involved in this decision-making process to define the most suitable timeframe and schedule for every release.
5. Weak Security
The intangible fear over the security of an Offshore Development Center has always existed. Allocating your essential IT development to a third party is risky enough, let alone to a foreign party in the case of Offshore Development Center.
Many case studies of ODC in the past have pinpointed the poor or even lack of security with ODC, especially noted the legal features and physical protection of intellectual property.
Problems offshore development center – Goals
However, as the service in this minor field develops with the universal recognition of big clients, poor security has been fixed at a surprisingly quick pace. Almost every vendor of ODC services, clients are promised to be provided with stringent physical security layers, along with legal confidentiality and intelligence property paper terms.
Solution for this: Weak security is still a significant threat for any of the vendees of Offshore Development Center. The best way to avoid this is to seek help from prominent and experienced vendors in the field. With this being done, your project is protected from not only intruders but also legal barriers. A legal consultant from the hosting country should be included in the negotiating process to be sure about this.
6. Process discipline
Work overload happens regularly, especially in a high-pressured and demanding industry of Information Technology. Sometimes, any cog in the machine is derailed, leading to desynchronization, and that is when process discipline comes in action.
A process discipline is of paramount importance for a well-oiled machine and is required on both a personal and organizational scale.
Solution for this: The need for a Project Manager or BrSE to be the “bridge” connecting the vendor and the vendee. This staff acts as the flagship that leads the way for people to follow, including the rules and disciplines.
Having an offshore development center to take care of your IT tasks at a reasonable cost is juicy. Still, every step, challenge, and viable solution of offshore development center setup must be considered carefully, no matter whether you have an ODC partner or set up an ODC business on your own.
There is no fixed way to successfully set up an offshore development center, but here come 8 typical and vital steps:
Clarifying your visions & requirements
Choosing an ODC model
Deciding an ODC destination
Selecting a service provider
Forming an ODC team
Establishing communication protocol
Defining project management practices
Clarifying security management standards
Let’s go into detail!
How To Set Up Offshore Development Center
8 Steps of Offshore Development Center Setup
1. Clarify Vision & Requirement
For a business, clarifying vision and requirements before initiating dedicated offshore development center implementation is of great importance. This prerequisite helps ensure that the ODC setup is the best option to go with, clarifies what you need in your ODC, and sets out a path for you to follow.
For example, if you prefer cultural and time zone alignment, onshore development is a good option. But in case you prioritize cost saving and extended IT human resources, offshore software development can benefit your business both financially and technically.
Here come the major aspects to clarify upfront:
Business objectives. E.g., whether you want to complete a one-time project or set up an offshore operation.
Your available resources, including budget and time frame.
Security restrictions.
Expected outcome.
When you’re done with clarification and grasp a big picture of the project, the next step should be choosing an ODC model.
2. Choose an ODC Model
So, what are the most common ODC models, and when to use them?
Managed ODC
If you want to save money and focus on core business activities rather than IT operations, managed ODC will be a suitable option.
In the managed ODC model, the client joins the ODC service provider during recruitment and team formation process. After that, during the project, the vendor handles the ODC facilities and HR administrative stuff while the client manages the team’s work directly.
The common pricing model for managed ODC is Time & Material (T&M), which uses a pay-as-you-go approach based on the actual time and effort of the development team.
Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT)
In case you want to establish a long-term offshore presence but lack the resources and understanding of the local market to set up the offshore team, the BOT model is for you.
A typical BOT scheme consists of three phases:
Build: The vendor conducts necessary research and discussion with stakeholders to finalize the plan, and subsequently set up the ODC resources and facilities.
Operate: The vendor puts the team into operations and runs the operations for an agreed-upon period.
Transfer: The vendor transfers ownership of the ODC team to the client.
The BOT model involves the expenditures of ODC resources and facilities and the service fees.
With an offshore development center, you know for sure that it is located in a foreign country, but the real question is what country it is.
When it comes to offshore destination decisions, typical deciding factors include price, HR competency, time zone, and business environment.
As of 2023, the most popular destinations for IT outsourcing are South and Southeast Asia, the U.S., Latin America, and Central & Eastern Europe. Among them, the Asia-Pacific region is expected to grow at the highest CAGR, at 8.3% in IT services revenue in the coming years.
Top IT Outsourcing Countries
Certainly, India has been the largest IT outsourcing vendor with a large IT HR pool, but the price has increased significantly as the country primarily serves US clients. On the other hand, emerging nations for ODC like Vietnamcan offer satisfactory results with a competitive price, vibrant IT talents, and a favorable business environment.
For instance, LTS Group as a Vietnamese ODC vendor offers dedicated offshore developers of all seniority levels for less than $25/hour. Since 2016, we have supported big brands from South Korea, the US, Japan and other developed countries to establish dedicated development centers in Vietnam.
IT outsourcing is developing at an unsurprisingly high rate, and software development offshoring is not an exception in this case. Businesses now are spoilt for choices with plenty of service providers to evaluate and consider.
So, here come the popular criteria to choose the most suitable offshore development center setup partner:
Transparency
Deep understanding of your project
Strong and relevant portfolio
Skillful software engineers
Clear and frequent communication
Cost-effectiveness
Timeline guarantee
Clear security standards
Finding a suitable ODC partner to accompany you on your journey is not an easy task. You might have to go over dozens of vendor portfolios, reviews, pilots, case studies, etc.
5. Form The ODC Team
Offshore development center setup is different from IT outsourcing in the sense that ODC involves the vendees in the recruitment process. Since the vendees’ approval of the candidates is the top priority, it is a must to provide the vendors with a detailed job description for the positions needed in the projects.
With this clarified, both client and service provider parties can come clear of the must-have technical competencies and other soft skill requirements.
For the technical aspect: A list of tech engineer interviewing questions can determine the candidates’ capabilities and programming proficiency.
For the non-tech aspect: “Knock-out” questions putting the candidates in actual scenarios and situations should show their personalities and work attitudes.
Also, remember not to underestimate the language and cultural behaviors aspects to steer clear of potential misleading, inefficiency, or poor final work results.
6. Establish Communication Protocol
Communication is the key to effective offshore businesses. The initial communication process in which you clarify your goals, product concepts, project ideas, and expected results plays the foundation stones of what to be included in meetings and reports later on.
With this being clarified, your offshore development team can get a better grip on your business goals. Any adaptation and redirection will be of need for the overall resonation of both parties.
Clear and daily communication via emails, messages, and online meetings can help you build and develop active and long-lasting relationships. It also creates a habit of frequently updating information from your ODC team, which is of great advantage for better management.
At LQA, we employ the most popular channels and platforms for task and communication management such as Jira, Slack, Zoom, Google Meet, Trello, etc. Depending on your preference and business needs, we will propose the best suitable tools.
7. Define Project Management Practices
The determining factor of a project’s prominence and success lies in the capability of the vendee and the vendor in project management. To initially grasp the idea of how to accomplish project management and cover the fundamental features, stakeholders should pay attention to the following aspects.
The development team
Your offshore development team is your partner, not just an IT Outsourcing provider that follows each of your orders. Once you’ve hired an ODC, you work with them as equal parties, meaning that they would receive the same benefits as your other departments.
Since the ODC specializes in IT, decision-makers should consider the team’s technical opinions. It’s a brilliant idea that you involve them in the decision-making process, then evaluate, develop and further contribute to their ideas to come up with the most well-rounded approach and solutions for the company.
Despite the lack of the offshore development team’s presence, members of ODC are still a part of your organization. Thus, to maintain high engagement and connection across departments, you should introduce and engage them in the company’s activities.
The project manager
For any offshore development project, the presence of an IT project manager can reflect on the professionalism and dedication of the service provider to your project. This manager is required to juggle between tasks and responsibilities with both managerial and technical skills.
Resources management is an imperative task of a project manager. With a detailed schedule and tasks assigned according to each member’s capabilities, businesses can take full advantage of the team’s potential.
Progress reports
Frequent meetings with a checklist of what to be updated are essential for project management. The main reason why some are still hesitant towards offshore development centers is the unclear working process.
Some enterprises prefer actual interaction and close-up supervision for comprehensive management, but when the cost reduction outweighs this problem, the optimized management solution is through meetings and reports.
Both parties are expected to be transparent about the visions, working process, methods, approaches, and resources. Therefore, predetermining the schedule for weekly or even daily reports is a must.
Offshore development center service providers sure all put down “High security” as the perk of partnering up with them. But these security features are still a hazard if you don’t get involved in the process of building them.
A plan of ODC security measurements that covers physical security layers and confidentiality will protect you from any intruders and intelligence leaks.
At LQA, we implement the following steps for data confidentiality in offshore development center setup and operation:
Legal confidentiality
Sign a Non-disclosure Agreement (NDA) on both ends before the knowledge exchange.
Well-train staff about ISO 27001 standards.
Network security
Use Virtual Private Network (VPN) for communication
Continuous risk monitoring from the QA team
Physical security
CCTV system is set up in every office area
Biometric scanners at the office entrance
Above is a quick guide to set up a dedicated offshore development center. By following our recommendations and breaking down the ODC setup process into sequential steps, you will be able to have an offshore development center that meets your requirements and powers your business growth.
Frequently Asked Questions about Offshore Development Center Setup
1. What is an Offshore Development Centre?
An offshore development center (ODC) is a software development center of a business that’s located in an oversea country. An ODC’s typical components are facilities and a development team.
2. How do you manage an Offshore Development Team effectively?
Managing an offshore development team effectively can be achieved through these practices:
Ensure that everyone is on the same page: Before starting, make sure your team knows the project’s goals and what they can do to achieve them.
Set milestones and deliverables: Setting clear and achievable milestones for your remote developers, so they know what they need to do, and you can track their progress easily.
Eliminate micromanagement: Once you’ve decided on your offshore team members, trust them to do their job and look at the big picture instead of constantly checking every little thing they do.
Treat them like your team: a dedicated offshore team is essentially an extended team of your business. Hence, avoid an “us vs them” mentality, show appreciation for their hard work, and treat them like they are a true part of your internal team.
Conclusion
Setup offshore software development center is not that complicated. For foreign investment to thrive, many countries have developed favored policies for foreign countries to partner up with domestic businesses, making it easier to enter the market. However, for the firm legal foundation, you can have a legal consultant work on the rules and regulations regarding foreign investment and other legal matters for you. This can prevent any further possible legislative obstacles in the future.
Having additional questions about the offshore development center setup? Contact LQA to consult our experts and get insights into Vietnam offshore software development center now!
