Globalization is here to stay. Those who embrace it will lead. However like any other new paradigm, globalization has its challenges. In terms of offshore software development and maintenance, the challenge starts at understanding the real benefits to your organization. You then need to shortlist and select the right vendors. This is followed by the challenges of dividing work and responsibilities. Then there is the challenge of managing the anxiety of your local staff while understanding the culture of the new virtual staff that is collaborating with them. If these nuances are managed well, the improvement to your bottom line comes easier.

Benefits
For organizations that are venturing into the offshore paradigm for the first time, or those that have tried it before but have not tasted success, active mentorship to their management on the offshore initiative is very important. Such mentorship offers a formal return on investment analysis in terms of whether, when and how the offshore venture would yield benefits. If the decision is made to go forward, the management is then mentored on all necessary vendor processes from RFI and RFP, to vendor selection. The mentor prepares the organization for business cultural amalgamation on both sides of the globe. S/he helps the organization determine who should do what and when in a project, e.g. requirements, analysis, design, coding, testing, and implementation. If it is a software maintenance or build-operate-transfer initiative, the mentor helps firm up the service level agreements with the offshore vendor. In all cases the mentor helps manage the exit criteria under normal or abnormal circumstances.

Approach
Our approach to Offshore Software Management Mentorship is based on our collaborative work experience with other organizations and our contributions to RUP in this area. The key steps are:

• Understand your project, team culture and organization.
• Prepare a model of the offshore implementation to understand the returns on your investment.
• Customize the process appropriately.
• Mentor your management through vendor selection process including RFI and RFP building. o Train and mentor the organization in relevant areas including cultural amalgamation.
• Throughout, catalyze the cultural shift towards the offshore process.
• Mentor your management to design and execute the service level agreements if it is an offshore maintenance or build-operate-transfer operation.

Engagement Model
We will work with you to determine how we could engage with your organization in the best interest of your initiative. A typical engagement model is:

• Turnkey Contract - You assign us full responsibility for the engagement for a fixed fee. We bring in a team of experts who work with you and implement the process.
• Time and Material Contract - You contract our experts on an hourly basis who work with you and mentor your management.

Our Tools Division will be pleased to offer you the services for selection, installation, and implementation of appropriate supporting tools. Our Training Division will be pleased to offer you the services for identification, customization, and delivery of appropriate staff training.