Offshore Software Outsourcing to India: Advice and Tips

One of the questions being asked about software outsourcing to India is: Is there any way to ensure that offshore teams in India will develop the required cross-cultural competency in American business culture? To find out definitively, there’s a more pertinent question: How are offshore teams in India being trained to improve their cross-cultural competency?

Currently, the approach is not particularly inspiring. Mostly in-house programs put together by a local human resources staff that is totally unfamiliar with the American work environment. Oftentimes it’s a local training vendor that carts out a cookie-cutter program focused on topics with little or no relevance.

For American companies seeking an optimum offshore outsourcing strategy in India, and Indian service providers that want to stand out from the competition by offering employees who have the appreciable skills to work successfully with American counterparts, there are six best-practice strategies to follow.

First, get executives to see this cross-cultural training as a value add. Commitment must come from the top along with buy-in that training offshore software development teams in American business culture is a precursor to more productivity. Plus, for this strategy to be executed properly, it must be assigned clear ownership from the start.

Second,teamwork is the key to successful training. Everyone in the organization must be involved, from the business units connected to the offshore endeavor to internal training and HR departments.

Third, make sure to involve outside experts. Since the topic is American and Indian culture, the training content and presenters must have intimate knowledge of and experience in this very specialized field. Cross-cultural communication acumen is a must as well.

Fourth, the training must be a two-way street. It’s incumbent upon American companies to offer coordinated training of the offshore Indian teams in American business culture. As for the onshore American teams, they must become well-versed in Indian business culture.

Fifth, new employee orientation should seamlessly integrate training. It’s seems obvious to do but more often than not, an American company with operations in India as well as Indian providers of outsourcing services will neglect to inculcate new employees in American business culture.

And finally, it’s always a good idea to reinforce the training with mentoring. Practice makes perfect so it makes sense to have both onshore and offshore business unit leaders to reinforce the training content on an ongoing basis.

Probably the biggest question is: How is it possible to justify the investment of time and money in the development of this skill-set? According to Goran Strangmark, MphasiS, Senior VP, North America, it’s a no-brainer. He has seen firsthand the importance of Indians understanding American business culture, which is the key differentiator for making software outsourcing to India and global IT and BPO services work successfully with or for American companies.

What’s more, Indian professionals and companies who adopt the practices of American business culture are more likely to become successful, thus encouraging them to out-duel their competitors who have not taken this seemingly obvious path. Obviously, this process requires a lot of effort. But the benefits are clearly worth it.