ETI Outsourcing

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Outsourcing Services

According to Nation's Business, "Outsourcing in the new Millennium has emerged as an essential growth strategy for forward-thinking small firms." Successful outsourcing companies are growing at an unprecedented rate.

What constitutes an outsourcing opportunity?

Management gurus divide business tasks into core and non-core competencies. Anything that is vital to how a company gains a competitive edge, adds value to products and services, or propels growth is a core competency. Such tasks are not candidates for outsourcing. But everything else is.

Consider software development. Creating great software presents the following requirements:

Expert research and development to keep abreast of technology changes.
Rapid specification by design teams to meet customer requirements.
Development and documentation staffing to handle peak period production demands.
Managing the quality assurance process, often a tedious effort.

Recently, a medical optical imaging company hired Elliott Tech (ET) as their outsourcing firm. Their project required ET to write specifications, design and implement a complete Windows NT-based system for use with the client’s proprietary hardware development. It required custom graphical user interface tools, ActiveX components, a relational database, image acquisition, measurement and automation, a communications layer for their hardware and expertise in Distributed COM (DCOM) technology. The project had very definite deadlines.

The project manager could have hired three developers with the requisite knowledge. He knew that the recruitment phase would be long and that he would likely have three idle developers upon completion of the project. Instead, he opted to outsource the work. ET was able to provide developers with the required expertise, eliminating spin-up time. The project deadlines were met.

At another company, an executive, in addition to his other duties, found himself wearing the hat of Project Manager for a product. The product itself was sound, but its support software, documentation and packaging needed serious attention. The due date to have everything pulled together was close -- too close. The executive decided that the critical success factor was the software; he outsourced the documentation to ET. ET handled the research, writing, phone calls, coordination, and summarized the results via brief meetings and e-mails; then turned over documentation for review. The executive was free to concentrate on the software with far fewer interruptions.

In any area where cost is high, quality can be improved, resources are not available or the work is a distraction, you should recognize a high priority outsourcing opportunity.

The advantages of outsourcing are immediately experienced in:

Controlled operating costs.
Improved business focus.
Strengthened core capabilities.

These, however, are only a few of the benefits. With the right partner, outsourcing enhances virtually all the company's operating units.

How can one gauge the quality of an outsourcing firm? First, the outsourcing company should have a proven track record of delivering high quality products on time. Second, an outsourcing company should work with its customers to improve their core competencies. The transition period from outsource to customer’s employees should be planned in advance – this step increases in-house knowledge and expertise. Finally, the outsourced work should be thoroughly documented. Any source code, schematics, and/or drawings should be well-architected and documented so as to be maintainable. The ultimate goal is for the customer to be capable of assuming full ownership of the outsourced project.

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