We looked at misunderstood or under-understood requirements yesterday and so enough said on that. Now on to the 2nd reason for the lack of quality in outsourcing; lower skilled resources.
 
Let me start by saying that there are many, many, many (see, I can’t emphasize that enough) skilled resources in India and other offshore countries. No question about it.  However, there are also many, many, many not so skilled resources. 
 
I know for a fact that in India, anyone who knows anything about IT has hung a shingle and opened an IT company. Similarly other companies have sprung up offering everything from financial consultation to helpdesk support at “low cost”. And that’s where the dilution of the talent pool has happened. 
 
Having been a Corporate America slave for more than two decades, the best thing I achieved was acquiring skills that are hard to come by if you have never worked in Corporate America (let me just say that General Motors is a training ground of the highest order).
 
In India, given the need for employees due to the demand from the West, it is no wonder that anyone who has taken even a three month crash course in technology is considered a viable employee at a technology firm.
 
High attrition rates and equally high demand for offshore services have forced offshore vendors to not be as discriminatory when hiring people.  Here’s a great example of what I’m talking about:

And that is why problems arise when the first complexity arises. Since no one wants to share their inexperience or lack of skill, many times these problems are not easily diagnosed until the project reaches a critical point, and boom, the project is dead in the water or delayed.

So you as a client, how would you be able to prevent this from happening to you? Make sure you let your suppliers know, in no uncertain terms, the minimum skill and experience level required for the people who will need to be assigned to your work. OR if you want to not worry about the people but want the supplier to take that responsibility and all you care about is the end product, make sure you have good Service Level Agreements (SLA’s) in place; with penalty and termination clauses clearly spelled out.  And be willing to execute the penalty or termination when it becomes necessary.  Of couse daily communication, spot checks, visits to supplier facilities, and other measures are always recommended to ensure that you are getting what you paid for.

And for suppliers, it’s simple. Know that if you do bring in a “fresher”, that it will take them a good year to be effective in their role when dealing with an offshore company.  That means that training, job shadowing, mentoring, and incentives to retain an employee are important strategies to implement in your work force. Long-term benefit and increased work will come from focusing on the “quality” of your resources.

Tomorrow, we look at lack of “depth of experience”…..