Customer Reviews

Offshoring Secrets: Building and Running a Successful India Operation

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In recent years I have read a number of books about offshoring, outsourcing, offshoring to specific geographical locations, etc. Offshoring Secrets falls in to the latter category, with the emphasis on setting up operations in India. This is the first book that I have read where the author specifically states that one of the primary targets for the books are Indian's (and others outside of India) who are tasked with setting up Indian operations for multinationals or other firms coming in to India. There are probably other books out there, but I have just not read them yet.

Keeping the intended targets in mind I set out to see if anyone involved with outsourcing could learn from this book and how much a person would learn concretely about setting up operations in India.

To start off in the Preface of the book, the author lists the types of questions which can be answered by reading this book, questions such as: "My manager has asked me to setup an India center to save costs, but I am not achieving any remarkable savings within the stipulated timeframe. What am I doing wrong?" I like the structure of all of the questions and most of the questions that are listed are very specific rather than general. But as I went through the nine questions that this book is supposed to answer, I found myself putting them in to two categories; 1 - Those that would apply to any project any where and 2 - those that would apply to any offshore location. Out of the nine questions I put 3 in the any project category and 6 in the any location (or country) category.

I found more specifics that can be applied to any offshore location, with a few specifics for India only, such as the following:

* The section on choosing the location of the facility; - the smaller your operations will be, the better it is to be located in the city center or to have a central location so that the average commute time is less, thus giving an advantage in hiring. Where as larger operations can be located outside the city since larger operations can afford to finance transportation for their staff to help people get to/from work. This is true in many other offshore locations as well.

* The formation of the support team is also relevant irregardless of which offshore country, as is choosing the right work to start with, both of these areas are critical to the success of any offshore venture, with which I wholeheartedly agree.

* No one will disagree that India certainly has some nuances currently with recruitment; receiving 1000 to 10000+ resumes from a single advertisement certainly does not happen every where, but the ideas of how to and where to source can be applied in almost any offshore location. Different types of interview processes described, are standard interview processes used most everywhere (in the west as well, so this is relevant just to those new to the hiring process and how to conduct it).

* Chapter 5 is dedicated to culture. Some of the issues discussed can be seen in other offshore locations, such as the issues of sharing salary information and benefits. The fact that people join companies for social reasons as well as for salary, etc., is also not associated only with India. The fact that it is a culture which values "seniority" to the extent that it does is probably more unique to India than other offshore locations, but can be seen to some extent in other offshore locations as well. The description of India as a "Difficult to say No" culture, is also one of those traits more unique to India than other locations, but also can be seen to some extent in other offshore locations as well.

* Issues of how the parent company deals with the offshore company or the team in India, this can be true irregardless of the offshore location. The discussion is useful since it gives suggestions on how to mitigate these issues.

* The chapter on People Management, chapter 6, I did not find unique, most of the discussion dealt with issues that one would have to deal with anywhere, so this chapter is most relevant for the new manager.

Chapter 7 brought up something which I thought was a bit ironic for a book about offshoring and therefore about distributed work. A situation was described around what to do to make the execution of work successful. Per the author's suggestion, the development team and the test departments should be co-located together in an open environment in order to facilitate interaction; otherwise there could be problems between the two groups. Well most likely for any manager anywhere, who is reading this book and is charged with setting up facilities, this would be an ideal situation. But most managers are also realists and the nature of offshoring and outsourcing work tends to mean you work with distributed teams. In many instances the testing team may be located in one country and the development team in another and the testing department just may motivate themselves by sending an email to everyone in all teams talking about a big bug they just found right before the "go live" date. This may be seen as de-motivating or like the test department is rubbing it in their faces, to the development team, but this situation may occur and it just may be out of your hands if you are the manager of the development team. You can only worry about your team and how to keep them motivated and you have to be able to deal with these situations that arise in distributed teams. If you can't deal with these situations then it is reminiscent of the reasons for not offshoring such as; "we can't offshore software development, we need everyone in the same location", and this is obviously not true. So any new manager reading this book will have to be able to deal with the fact that they may not have a choice as to having the test and development teams co-located, and they may just have to learn to deal with it in this global world.

For both Indians and others reading this book, it is good to keep in mind that many of the specifics which are talked about; details to look for in rental agreements or what type of legal documents you will need to establish the Indian entity, can be expected to change in India as laws change. As in most of the developing countries, laws change rapidly; exact documents needed change frequently, etc., that is just to be expected.

If you are Indian or from another country and you would like to eventually be able to set up operations for a foreign firm in India, and you are new to the outsourcing industry and all of the administrative and people management issues, this book is a must read. If you are an experienced Indian manager or an experienced manager from another country and you are charged with setting operations for your company in India; chapters 3, 4, and 5 will most likely still be interesting for you. If you are a new manager and you are going to be managing for the first time, a team for a foreign firm in India or in another offshore location, you will find parts of chapter 4 and 5 relevant and chapters 6 and 7 (which will help in dealing with the parent company and in setting up the projects for success) relevant.

This book was just OK (3 stars). I didn't particularly like (4 stars) it. And I certainly didn't love (5 stars) it. This book covers a special kind of project management: offshoring. Global companies (parent companies headquartered in a country other than India) have started openning operations in India (offshore counterparts) with hopes of saving labor costs when providing their services and manufacturing their products.

The author has significant experience openning and running offshore operations for various global companies. He has worked in India, Germany, and the US. His background has been as an IT professional. And he has written the instant book or booklet (it is only 100 or so small pages long) covering the issues he has found to be important when doing his work.

The problems that arise when leading and managing an offshore project depend on whether the leader of the project is a foreigner or a native to India. They depend on whether the leader has technical skills and/or management skills. They depend on whether she has knowledge of the culture in India. And they depend on whether she has knowledge of India itself (cities, regions, states, or whatever). Nobody is good at all of these things. And this book covers in general terms how people with a different mix of these traits perform as project managers when leading an offshoring project.

I hate to say this, but the writing of this booklet hit me as if it had been written using the native language of India and translated using a computer program that could translate it to English. Clearly someone had edited it after the computer translated it, but it still just did not flow for me as I read it.

In my humble opinion, this book could easily have been a 350-page tome of larger pages if it had been better outlined, developed, and written. The quality of the writing does not surprise me. Techies are not known for their writing and communications skills. I must give the author credit, though. By writing this book he has prepared the first draft of a future revised edition that could be a really good book. And I suspect he will eventually write that book. The author was clearly trying to be helpful in giving us the instant book. And I do feel bad not being able to rate it higher than the star rating I gave it.

The topics included in this book involve: (1) project management, (2) leadership, (3) people skills, (4) communication skills, (5) strategic planning, and (6) understanding cross cultures. And there are many books written about all six of these topics. So why was this book only 100 pages? And why was this 100-page book worth the $19.95 price tag? I didn't see any groundbreaking information provided here. 3 stars!

Utkarsh has written a terrific guide to setting-up and operating a business in India. He highlights the most important factors to be aware of, such as government regulations, culture and recruitment. His advise is very practical and designed to ensure you successfully execute your plan.

I spent a decade building the business for Viacom in the Asia-Pacific region. Offshoring Secrets captures the most important things you need to know when launching a business in India.

Utkarsh Rai, the author of Offshoring Secrets: Building and Running a Successful India Operation, contacted me and asked if I would be interested in reviewing this title. Being that I'm in the Information Technology field (which experiences its fair share of offshoring), I thought it would be a good look to see what's really involved in that process. Rai uses his first-hand knowledge of the subject to share the perils and pitfalls that one must account for when trying to start up an operation in India.

Contents:
A Brief History; Choosing the Right Leader; Setting up the Operation; Recruitment Challenges; Culture & Policies; People Management; Execution is Everything; Conclusion; Terms and Terminology; List of Vendors; Policies to Address; Solutions to Case Studies; About the Author

The offshoring that is discussed in this book is more in line with your company wanting to actually establish a presence in India. It's not so much for the company that is outsourcing part of their process with an offshore firm. But in either case, you'll be exposed to the reality of the situation when it comes to reducing costs by offshoring. Since so many companies are moving or establishing operations in India, the pressure to pay higher wages to recruit the top talent is very real. Therefore, it's not *as cheap* to hire an Indian workforce as it may have been a few years back. Yes, it's still cheaper than American wages, but the gap is getting smaller. On top of trying to hire good talent in a hot job market, you also have to account for cultural, legal, and time zone differences. The time gap means that one side or the other is going to have to be available at some inconvenient hours for meetings. Tax and regulations are also quite different, so you'll need to make sure you have local resources to guide you through that process. And of course, treating a foreign workforce as though they were brought up with American culture and values is a sure way to alienate everyone quickly. By the time all these things are taken into account, the hype about massive savings with offshoring operations becomes less rosy, and you realize that it'll take time, money, and a lot of effort to realize those benefits.

It doesn't take a lot of time to read through this short volume, and you'll take away a realistic look at what makes up the success and failure of an offshore operation. The net result is that you'll be able to estimate the true costs and value of taking that route.

Title: Offshoring Secrets; Building & Running a Successful India Operation
Author: Utkarsh Rai
ISBN: 1600050611 (978-1-60005-061-9)
Publisher: Happy About Publishing
Reviewer: Diana Rohini LaVigne, Indian Life & Style Magazine

Offshoring Secrets; Building & Running a Successful India Operation is an important book to add to the shelves of not only those who are interested in the prospective of off shoring but also for business men and women who want to learn more about managing with a multinational company. Utkarsh Rai expertly delivered a well-written book that engages the reader using his own professional and personal knowledge but also case studies. He isn't reinventing the process but instead building on the existing foundation of off shoring and adding his suggested enhancements. It's brilliantly delivered.

Learning about what makes a good leader, the importance of getting the right staffing in place and how to finally execute a plan of action are the chapters that jump out in the book and scream `I am important'. And Rai doesn't hesitate to spend time making the reader know their importance. Off shoring has changes a lot in recent years and the author does a great job keeping note of those changes in motion. A list of vendors, terms and terminology and solutions to case studies make the book an extremely valuable resource for everyone thinking about off shoring. I'd highly recommend it and hope that educators find ways of incorporating Offshoring Secrets; Building & Running a Successful India Operation into their relevant course curriculum.

An intelligent guide to offsoring. A must read for all those who are about to get involved in an offshoring type arrangement in their organization. It gives a very objective and first-hand view of all the issues that come up when a company decides to ship work to India. I think this book can serve as a practical guide to individuals who will be managing the offshore centre remotely and who have very little experience in dealing with a multi-cultural environment.

Divya Devpriya
IT Audit Consultant

This is a very practical book. I used to work in China to establish a US company's R&D center over there for 3 years. Even the culture is different between China and India, but the relationship between a offshore in-house R&D center and its headquarter is in almost the same situation. Even if you want to deal with an offshore outsourcing vendor in China for your company, you may benefit from this book.

As a VP HR in the technology field, I have previous experience of interacting with Indian offshore development organizations and experience shows that establishing the operation is only half the battle. Mananging the cultural differences between US and Indian organizations is a key element and Utkarsh successfully covers both operational and cultural aspects extremely well. This is a practitioners handbook and contains many practical tips and messages - as per other reviewers, the case studies are excellent and Utkarsh's direct experience in this area shines through

This book would be very useful for anyone that is part of a team spread across the world.

Utkarsh has shared his first hand experience and outlined best practices that should demystify working across the continents and improve the effectiveness of global teams.

Utkarsh knows what he is doing here ! I recommend this book for anyone considering an offshoring venture.

For anyone looking to manage operations in a high-tech gig, the book is a must read. The examples/case-studies are helpful and clearly demonstrates the author's expertise. You can't go wrong with this one !