Serialization: Coordinator of the Offshore age (1)

Original: xingdisi Ai-coach limited view original

Translation: Kanji @ csdn blog

* Note: The original "coordinator" in the series is "coordinator", which can be translated into "liaison officers, coordinators, collaborators.

 

Introduction

 

Recently, we have heard the word "offshore" (hereinafter translated as "outsourcing"). While we have heard successful examples of outsourcing development, stories of failure and hard work are often ignored. What role is the "coordinator" who leads outsourcing development to succeed?

 

NThere is no choice for "China transfer"

One day, your boss gave you the following instructions:

"In this year's IT investment budget, we decided to have 20% of projects to be outsourced to China. Therefore, some of the cases you have need to send packets to China. Please be prepared ......"

In many cases, the "China outsourcing" policy has been confirmed in advance before the specific project is determined due to the company's commands. Once the guidelines are established, no matter what the IT supervisor thinks, it is not uncommon to start the operation simply by a so-called "Development Blueprint. In the future, I am afraid this situation will continue to increase until everyone deems it a "common feeling" and gets used to it.

The readers of this serialization are positioned as it directors in the "Enterprise informatization promotion project" and Se members who often fall into the trap of outsourcing development.

We don't know when we will directly deal with outsourcing in China. This serialization will take this into full consideration and add some practical information to the demand. Some successful experiences of outsourcing development often rely on specific "owners" and "enterprises" in the past. This series will try to organize these "hidden insights: I hope this content will be helpful to you.

 

NOutsourcing Development Status

Development in overseas locations

First, some readers may wonder, "What is outsourcing in China ?", What exactly does "outsourcing" mean?

Generally, outsourcing development refers to entrusting software development services in Japan to overseas enterprises. Specifically, India and China can be listed as the main outsourcing development sites. In addition, South Korea, the Philippines, Russia, and Eastern Europe have also launched software outsourcing services.

What is the biggest charm of outsourcing development? In contrast, the most anticipated is a substantial cost reduction. So far, some professional system integrators have become pioneers in outsourcing development and opened up overseas outsourcing markets. In the future, more internal information departments of enterprises may go abroad for development.

In the early days of outsourcing development, the shortage of local employees outside China is becoming increasingly apparent, and the issue of handling and quality is also constantly emerging. Even so, there are still ways to make up for various problems in outsourcing development, so the expansion of overseas development bases will continue in the future.

 

Early European and American countriesBPR/BPOExploration

In the early days of outsourcing development, it was the first in the United States-centered countries in Europe and the United States. What is the situation in Japan? In the IT industry, although the technological development and changes in the economic situation have brought about various trends one after another, outsourcing development is still in India and China.

In recent years, under the role of the IT industry revitalization strategy (Note: In recent years, the development of the software outsourcing business in Japan has been remarkable, the IT outsourcing business is growing rapidly. In Okinawa, "software distributed development" between Tokyo <--> Okinawa is also called Offshore.

There are a lot of interesting topics in the Process of outsourcing software development in China, India, or Okinawa, from project filing to completion.

"Outsourcing development is not just a subject of the Development Department"

"To modify outdated development standards in the past, we should review the use of the UML Spiral development model"

"If you cannot guarantee the quality, you will not be recognized as the project owner to send packets overseas"

"We shouldn't be excited about outsourcing development. As long as you stick to the correct system development method, even if the other party is a foreign company, it should be successful"

 

Recently, I have heard some "Gossip" about outsourcing development ". The history of outsourcing development in Japan is still very short, and it is still in the exploratory stage for outsourcing development in China. In the pessimism of some Chinese outsourcing, there are still some successful examples of Chinese outsourcing.

 

In view of this situation, the serialization will focus on the "China outsourcing" topic.

 

NFeasibility and problems of outsourcing in China

Feasibility of outsourcing Development in China

First, let's take a look at the overall situation of China's IT outsourcing business. In general, outsourcing businesses in China are roughly divided into two categories.

 

Technician dispatch Mode(Lab model)

Service Supply Mode (SErvice providerModel)

 

The so-called "technician dispatch mode" means that after a technician's monthly unit price is agreed, the technician can work for a period of time. Similar to the operation of the Research Office, a certain number of technical personnel are called "Laboratory Workers" within a certain period of time, "Rabo" in Japanese ").

 

Another "service supply model" refers to "commissioned development", "conservative use", and other high value-added services. Currently, many service supply models generally refer to the following business content:

1. Complete outsourcing services

2. General Services/Personnel Services

3. Technical Services

4. investigation company

5. Logistics Service

6. Call Center Service

...... And so on.

 

For Japanese enterprises, a high degree of recognition is the former "Technical dispatch model ".

However, in view of the current talent distribution in China's software industry, IT may take some time to achieve the IT outsourcing business that requires a large number of "homogeneous talents. The reason is that the coordination between individuals and teams of project members is not mature during the overall project promotion of Chinese developers.

In contrast, the charm of the service supply model is apparent. This model is composed of a combination of "leadership of a few elites" and "ordinary conservative/useful members. In fact, this model is the mainstream Method for European and American countries to implement software outsourcing in India. It can be said that, in light of the development trend of the Chinese market, this model will certainly develop practically in the future.

 

Small column:

This article briefly introduces an example of "service supply mode", "General Service/Personnel Service" mentioned above.

In July 2004, Works Applications, a well-known enterprise with the personnel and wage system, formed a partnership with an enterprise in China and established a joint venture in Dalian, focusing on Business Process Outsourcing and ASP. We often hear that when a company's production base is transferred to China, the relevant production management software companies will also enter China to carry out relevant software business. However, it is rare for software vendors in Japan to directly access China. The company's BPO business began to show up quickly in China from Dalian. The company's business target for the first year is 0.3 billion yen, and more than 10 billion yen in five years. It can be said that the expansion of this business is advanced among foreign-funded enterprises in China.

The first Japanese manufacturing company to enter China has formed a market model with "international third-party supply chain management" as the axis, finished planning in developed countries, and then produced in developing countries.

In the future, for the software industry in Japan, the "outsourcing in China" topic should not be limited to "Commission cases", but should try various possibilities, for example, you can sell mature software packages directly to China or develop together with other software products.

 

Problems in outsourcing Development in China

When you want to significantly reduce development costs for large-scale projects, outsourcing development in China has a great charm. However, outsourcing in China, which only targets cost reduction, often contradicts expectations.

 

In Japan, as the "transfer to China" topic gradually heats up, various warnings from various sources are also heard. In some rare cases of failure, the stability of Chinese employees is too low, making it difficult for the Japanese side to expand its business in China.

At present, we know several representative problems as follows:

1. Security and Intellectual Property Rights Infringement

2. Delayed period and increased budget costs

3. Emotional barriers caused by cultural differences

4. Significant low production efficiency

 

NJapanese Enterprises

Hesitate to outsource in China

Many Japanese enterprises have realized that outsourcing development in China is an important part of their business strategies. More and more enterprises are taking part in outsourcing development in China. However, the related staff have all kinds of questions about outsourcing in China, and most of them feel that they are dealing with top-level countermeasures.

 

When European and American customers entrust their software development to overseas companies, the main purpose is to allow their own software packages to enjoy the cheap advantage of Overseas Development. In addition, unlike general customized software products, the intellectual property of the software package sold in the market is always in the hands of European and American customers. It is precisely this feature that enables individual employees in European and American enterprises to have a thorough understanding of the benefits after outsourcing development, and therefore take the initiative to work.

 

However, Japanese enterprises have different opinions on this.

"How many times have we repeated our requirements, but what we made over there is always different from what we expected"

"Fixing bugs, fixing bugs, no matter how many times, the last few bugs will always be left"

"Expansion, portability, security, and so on are not considered. simply do it"

 

In fact, the truth for more IT directors is: "We also understand what software outsourcing is, but please spare me, I don't want to do this ". In some Japanese enterprises, the reason for the low enthusiasm of employees in the outsourced project team is that.

 

SEExcuse me

During the initial review, Japanese enterprises generally considered whether to outsource in China at a cross-cutting seminar composed of deployment owners in the company. However, the heads of these departments in the enterprise are rarely responsible for outsourcing business in China, and most of them are in the form of co-roles. That is to say, everyone is busy with the "China outsourcing" topic.

In this case, the participants of the outsourcing Seminar may be somewhat helpless.

"The XXX project is facing a lot of problems. Do you want to outsource? We don't have time to do an internal investigation"

"I will distribute this article in XX magazine for your reference." (next, I will distribute the materials and then do nothing)

 

Their practice may not have deliberately avoided the "China outsourcing" topic for the sake of Zhe's security. Department owners are not forced to outsource project managers in China for their own department's "Rate of Return. (Note: In Japanese enterprises, the heads of relevant departments generally do not directly participate in project planning and implementation. They are mainly responsible for the overall cost of subordinate projects and the customer's business)

 

Obviously, these department heads do not want their daily business to be affected by the question of "outsourcing". They always consider how to provide the best software services to customers. In fact, in terms of the nature of the information system department, risk awareness is indispensable while considering how to ensure the quality of its IT services. Due to lack of necessary understanding and trust, in some cases, when deciding whether to implement outsourcing, however, this "Quality First" "se spirit" will become a resistance against outsourcing.

In this case, as IT managers who have realized the importance of outsourcing in China, what should they use to persuade them? Is it just to pass the advantages of outsourcing development to them in a simple and clear way?

Have you ever heard this?

"Our company's projects have too many style changes and are not suitable for outsourcing development for the moment"

"I am also very busy. Why do I have to squeeze out extra time to look after the developers in China ?"

"As a result, China is really a world of cheap goods"

"……"

 

Changing Development System

The booming outsourcing development between the United States and India is gradually penetrating into Japan. The Chinese software industry showed new vigor in the summer of after the SARS storm.

For Japanese enterprises, the result is to change from a simple "China Transfer trend" to an important enterprise strategy that is "survival-related. This may be a bit helpless, but neither the end customer nor the Japanese system integrator should escape this fact.

With the development of management technology in outsourcing projects in China, it is foreseeable that, in the near future, development costs will be greatly reduced, and a large number of excellent technical talents will be guaranteed.

For Japanese se, which has been working for many years and only understands specific information systems and is still engaged in some outdated technology development, the era of real hardship may have begun. If you cannot update or improve your technical capabilities in a timely manner, you may have to be abandoned by the market.

As a common technician, you have come to realize how to face such a "difficult age". As an IT Information supervisor, how should you face it?

 

Cross-cultural Communication Capability

After a thorough investigation of recruitment information for all technical staff in Japan, we have mastered some requirements and expectations of today's companies for IT technicians. Let us know the result first. The job opportunities of Japanese se have not yet been greatly reduced.

Fortunately, as a technician in Japan, we have inherent advantages in understanding customer needs compared with foreign se. Moreover, in Japan's inherent culture of "being confused and breathing" (Note: it cannot be expressed exactly in the Chinese text. This phrase means that either party can describe ambiguous, the reply from the other side is also an Auxiliary Word, such as "ah" and "hmm", but both sides can communicate with each other about Japanese culture ), it is a threshold for foreign software packages and outsourcing development. Although it is often pointed out that this kind of culture is harmful, as a culture that has been developed and preserved for a long time, there is no special reason to be arrogant.

However, if foreign technicians with different cultural backgrounds maintain good communication and communication, it is a necessary capability for them to continue to engage in the IT industry in the future. For the IT supervisor and Se manager who are leaders, this is beyond doubt.

In the age of outsourcing in China2Tips for success

As the upper-level enterprise leaders and IT project managers of developers must have such a sense of crisis, as the opportunities for outsourcing in China gradually increase, if we do not review our past development techniques and habits, enterprises may not be able to survive.

We must build a "win-win situation" between users of a system, information departments of general enterprises, and Chinese developers. Otherwise, the distrust of IT investment by operators and shareholders will continue to increase, and the results of the IT industry will also follow the footsteps of the construction industry. (Note: In the bubble economy era in the Middle and Late 1980s S, the inflated Land Price has made the construction and real estate industry a hit. After the collapse of the bubble, these industries have been adjusted for a long time and have a huge impact on all aspects of Japanese society. Japan regards 1990s as the "lost 10 years ').

The grim facts brought about by the economic stagnation after the collapse of the bubble economy are clearly placed in front of Japanese enterprises. What kind of attitude should we take for outsourcing Development in China in the future? Perhaps the following two conditions must be observed.

 

1Upper-layer decision-making clear cost reduction goals andITProject Supervisor's mission(Translator's note: the original article is "sense of justice ")

2Including system users, information authorities, and business partners, to train dedicated personnel for outsourcing business in China("Outsourcing developers in China ")

 

Before implementing outsourcing projects in China, we must first set "What kind of outsourcing to be done" as a career goal. At this point, the enterprise must have a "strong push mechanism" from top to bottom and a "commitment" from the IT project director ".

The second important thing is to determine the standard policy of "how to do", and relevant personnel must reach an agreement. In this regard, we need to build a business foundation centered on "dedicated outsourcing developers in China. Specifically, the content to be implemented is:

1. Construction of a standard platform for outsourcing Development in China

2. Construction of project management techniques

3. Construction of Change Management techniques (Translator's note: Change Management is the original term)

4. quotation evaluation system

5. component/base disk active support system

 

The cultivation of such new IT technicians is not only an information authority, but also a system development system on the premise of Improving the interests of end users through communication with business partners and professional consulting companies.

 

Outsourcing development as a "Strategic Implementation"

General enterprises' concern for outsourcing development in China has evolved from simple interest to secondary strategic plans. In the future, IT directors in general enterprises, as an important part of the performance of the company, should cooperate with the department in charge of Overseas Development with a strategic vision. Therefore, it is no longer possible to send a package to a large software integrator.

IT directors in general enterprises, while recognizing the outsourcing model in China, lack of relevant experience, perhaps more often, I am still worried about "where to start" and "how to train relevant personnel. As the future Supervisor of outsourcing projects in China, it is very important to fully recognize the anxiety and dissatisfaction of its employees and customers with outsourcing projects in China.

With the introduction of outsourcing development in China, great changes will be made to enterprises.

Isn't it the best time to change facts in the changing world? To this end, we need to simplify the process of change as much as possible. In the course of changes, some people will gain new benefits, while others will lose some vested interests. There are even some people, not to mention "Gains and Losses". Even the meaning of the change itself cannot be understood.

Therefore, an important topic is how to maintain a concept, even if it is just like the step-by-step process of the little monk's reading "South China Amitabha. I hope this serialized content can help you achieve this goal.