IT resources as bottleneck

The customer was faced with the challenge of updating his main product and adapting it to new technological requirements. As he was unable to find suitable IT specialists, he ran the risk of losing market share, falling behind his competitors in terms of technology and losing his market leadership position. 

The solution was offshoring to India via a German provider. IT specialists were provided to take over the tasks of further development and second level support. 

The scheduling of the interviews by the client's CEO repeatedly came to a standstill or had to be postponed due to the priority of day-to-day business. However, prompt communication with the applicant and the typical Indian self-image of necessary flexibility did not cause any problems.

• Job advertisements
• Cooperation with personnel service providers of all kinds and universities was tried out

The customer's business is very special. There are only a handful of competitors in Europe with expertise in their industry. Communicating and securing the specific customer know-how was an organizational challenge.

The customer needs employees with a long-term perspective for the company and precisely defined technical knowledge. Furthermore, the personnel costs should be at a level affordable for medium-sized companies. The customer has the requirement to absolutely ensure his quality requirements, which is why he had applicants interviewed personally by the customer's CEO.

• Since then, no customer project has been lost due to a shortage of resources; there is always sufficient capacity available to carry out adaptations to customer-specific requirements.
• The project margin increased considerably due to the low salaries of the Indian colleagues.
• The development capacities were quadrupled within four months by a new team in India.
• Software development was professionalized by introducing products for the software lifecycle, such as requirements capture and source code management.
• Dependence on a key resource with unique know-how was eliminated.
• Errors in the software are detected and corrected more quickly. The software is now free of detected errors.

• The client selected the provider as a provider, created a job profile and conducted interviews with pre-selected candidates. The customer provides the desired job profiles.
• Optionally, the customer creates a test that the candidate must pass.
• The provider starts the employee search in India and conducts a pre-qualification.
• The first interviews take place in India at the provider's office. The customer receives the CVs of the best candidates for an (optional) interview round.
• After the customer has made his selection, the provider hires the new employees in India who came on board the provider's Indian office after the notice period.
• The client organized the induction in Germany and discussed communication standards, reporting, software tools and responsibilities with the new team.
• After a few months, a project visit to India was carried out.
• The cost of a proactive, motivated employee with 10 years of professional experience is comparable to a German university graduate
• The fluctuation at the provider is less than 2% p.a.
• Health and pension insurance are included
• Invoices are issued in Euro without currency risk
• The invoice is issued by a German company, the value added tax is chargeable

During the staffing phase, a main contact person in the staff is needed, followed by a contact person in IT for the developers or the support team. Knowledge of the software development and maintenance process is helpful.

• Technical prerequisites such as VPNs, etc., are created.
• This is followed by the familiarization phase, ideally on site at the customer's premises in Germany. During this phase, software tools, communication processes, status reports, areas of responsibility and the procedure in general are discussed.
• Afterwards the new employees take over the work from India.

Technical facts

• There are no special requirements for technology
• Teams can be acquired at short notice for standard technologies
• Special technologies are available, but a period of notice of three months is to be expected
• Modern technologies are slightly more expensive than standard technologies, but easier to staff

Where is the data located?

• The customer's data is stored according to the customer's requirements. The desired security standards are met either by the customer directly or by a certified cloud provider.
• The bandwidth and stability of the connections are excellent and multiple redundant.
• Access is usually via a VPN with end-2-end encryption.
• The contract data is stored in a digital safe in Switzerland.