Offshoring tips and pitfalls - readers speak

Offshoring IT services to India can bring big benefits - but there are pitfalls for the unwary, according to silicon.com readers.

In response to our Inside India special report a number of readers have told us their own experiences of doing business in India.

Special Report: Inside India

In February silicon.com's Steve Ranger visited the Indian tech hotspots of Bangalore, Mumbai, Pune and Hyderabad. Click on the links below to see photo galleries of the cities and companies visited.

♦ Satyam's IT campus
♦ Hyderabad's tech parks
♦ Bringing tech to rural India
♦ High-tech on the streets of Pune
♦ Pune - the new Bangalore?
♦ Boom town Bangalore
♦ Bangalore's Electronics City
♦ SAP and Wipro in Bangalore

One reader said: "I actually believe that offshore outsourcing can work if the correct functions are involved, the benefit to the economies of those countries is fantastic and the development that it generates is superb. In truth, in the global economy in which we now live, done correctly outsourcing can assist the expansion plans of a company or organisation and produce savings whilst improving performance."

But with multi-nationals including Accenture and IBM building up a formidable presence in India alongside the staff-hungry Indian services companies, another reader pointed to the difficulties faced by smaller businesses trying to compete for staff.

He said: "Small companies also want good, well-trained staff and most Indian graduates want to work for larger companies with a name that everyone recognises.

"It is a struggle and there are many problems for the small companies that are not aware of the potential pitfalls."

As a result it's vital companies setting up in India or sending business to the sub-continent research everything fully before committing to anything, he said. For more advice, our special report offers offshoring tips from CIOs.

The reader added: "The culture is very different from Europe and this can cause many problems, you have to find out what makes the Indian employee tick!"

Other readers were impressed by the lengths to which Indian tech companies will go to keep their workforce happy - providing everything from swimming pools to private zoos - but were less impressed by the lack of similar entertainments for UK workers.

"Interesting: I don't remember UK firms ever taking such care of even the scarcest technical talent," said one reader.

"Swimming pools and tennis courts are very nice," said another. "I think the UK IT people would be happy if the company they worked for invested in them with some training from time to time, progressed their careers perhaps and stopped treating them as a disposable asset."

As well as the hard-done-by UK techie, readers also reminded us of others affected by outsourcing. As reader Nick Cole pointed out, companies that outsource often forget about a group who can make the difference between the success and failure of such projects.

He said: "Unless the customer gets the service they are paying for and expecting then no amount of outsourcing will help."