See
Video- Click here: -
True Story
(Note:
Next page, click small picture two times to see on
full screen)
Culture Difference - A Challenge
in Offshore Outsourcing
Offshore outsourcing has become a hottest and attractive
practice these days. But off shoring is a mix blessing
of gains as well as risks. Besides the cost benefits
and easily accessible resources of other developing
countries there is some apprehension in off shoring
IT Services. And language difference is just one aspect
of moving the IT operations offshore. Most of the
apprehension in offshore outsourcing is due to cultural
difference of software Development Company and the
client. The integrated system of learned patterns
of ideas, values, and behavior of a society is culture.
And cultures differ greatly from one country to another.
When a company decides to outsource a portion of their
IT operation to an offshore provider , cultural differences
is a major concern on their mind. Reason being off
shore outsourcing is a phenomenon, which does not
take place only on individual level but on cultural
level as well. Cultural difference between client
and software development team can lead to problems
such as
Confusion and lack of clarity
Cultural difference could create confusion and misunderstanding.
One can get into cultural nuances where the offshore
team is not always comfortable taking instructions
from client and if the onsite manager might not know
how to manage and motivate the team.
American usually says "yes" to confirm
his acceptance of the statement, while an average
Indian might say "yes" to confirm an understanding
of what the speaker is saying, not necessarily his
arguments or statements.
Lack of trust
Lack of trust is the biggest impediment to cross-cultural
enterprises. Trust can only be developed through continuous
personalized interaction. However, in off shore outsourcing
most meetings take place virtually or on the phone.
Therefore, client cannot be sure of quality and on
time delivery without knowing the offshore development
party very well.
An unclear or inadequate communication
Proper communication is the key to successful off
shore outsource service model. Communication defines
and clarifies requirements of parties involved. However,
cultural differences can be a communicator barrier.
. For example in the west people are not afraid to
ask questions from their peers or their team leaders,
but in the eastern culture they tend to be quiet and
try to figure things out on their own. Accents and
dialects vary greatly from one country, so negative
reaction to accents sometimes results into different
meaning. Americans may consider raised voices to be
a sign that a fight of arguments is on, while Indians
feel that an increase in pitch is a sign of an exciting
conversation among friends. Email communication also
can be ineffective at times.
Therefore, insufficient communication can create
problems such as loss of valuable time and mismatch
of deliverables and expectation.
Less Productivity
Transferring knowledge to the vendor at different
culture is costly and time-consuming affair. Moreover,
Conflicts may arise due to miscommunication and unfamiliarity
with local customs, which can result into less productivity.
Different time zones
To deal with someone who is living at an eight- or
nine-hour time difference offshore is very tough proposition.
It could take one business day to receive response
to an e-mail. Moreover, this problem could proliferate
if the questions in the email are not answered correctly.
Advantage HyTech
How we mitigate cultural problems?
Outsourcing is like a marriage, the two sides have
to match up culturally to provide customized offshore
services and develop personal relationship.
Remote elicitation is costly and risky. Non-verbal
communication is a key to elicitation, but phone,
e-mail, and even video conferencing will never be
as effective for such activities as a personal face-to-face
interaction. HyTech is an Offshore Outsourcing IT
services provider based in the US with an offshore
development center in India . And we overcome cultural
differences through our localized process
Our U.S office adds a multitude of value to our clients.
They can directly talk to the project managers and
engineers in the local office and in doing so they
do not have to cross a language barrier or worry about
accents and dialects. Our support system is in the
U.S.
Communication
Our high-speed communication tools such as e-mail,
instant messenger, phone calls enable us to stay on
top of things.
We have professionally qualified and highly motivated
software professionals at our software development
office in Noida , India who are well proficient in
English language. Therefore, language is not a barrier
for the whole team.
Exploit the Time Zone Advantage and reap the
benefits of 24-hour development cycle
We at HyTech Professionals provides the benefit of
24/7 services in a true globalize manner. We take
advantage of time zone difference. It works as added
advantage to teams at different geographical locations.
For example, U.S. engineer can work out the design
level details of the software being produced, and
then pass it overnight to our developer in India who
can write the code and pass it back for review the
next morning.
Confidence among client
Culture awareness helps us to develop and maintain
trust among customers. Our continuous and personalized
meetings give assurance of quality and on time delivery.
Increase in Productivity
Our U.S team is well acquainted with the customs
and beliefs of the American culture and this reduces
the chances of conflicts & miscommunication. Less
cost and less time involved in knowledge transfer
results into more returns.
Brief account of benefits of local support
Local accountability and in-person contact
cannot be replaced by any other means.
No accent/language problems, which lead to
miscommunication.
Personal relationships can be developed with
customers that help to boost the trust and morale
of the involved parties.
Our customers can always be sure that there
is someone who understands their beliefs and culture.
They can be surer of quality and on time delivery.
In case any issue crops up in future, customers
can contact us easily.