Searce: Information Technology Cosourcing

Solutions > Information Technology > Cosourcing

What is Cosourcing?

Cosourcing, in our context, entails hiring dedicated staff for your use. In a larger context, it is based on a long-term relationship and emphasizes values traditionally associated with partnering rather than with vending. We short list candidates and present them to you for interviewing and approval. Upon your approval, we present them with offer letters. They become our employees and are dedicated entirely to your company’s needs. We provide the required office space and facilities, dedicated and/or shared, for them to conduct their work in. Further, we manage these resources on your behalf and provide additional functions such as HR.

Cosourcing is a fairly recent trend that has evolved due to the shortcomings of traditional outsourcing, which is transactional and ephemeral in nature. Traditional outsourcing addresses efficiency and performance improvement. Cosourcing, in addition, is directed toward business performance. The current trend toward globalization and the evolving challenges raised by highly competitive environments demand flexibility, continuous improvement and unwavering focus on core competencies.

You should consider Cosourcing if …

You want direct control of your outsourced business functions.
You want to retain and leverage corporate knowledge within the company.
You want a win-win relationship with a competent partner that adds value to your firm.
You want real time and exact knowledge about performance.
You don’t want constant price renegotiations due to scope changes, which are bound to occur in a fast changing business environment.
You want effective and quick corrective actions commensurate with your strategic directions.
Your outsourcing needs are continuous rather than one-time requirements.
You wish to create competitive advantages by creating a global-minded strategic organization.
You want predictable fixed costs.

Cosourcing v/s Project Based Outsourcing

	Co-Sourcing	Project Based Outsourcing
Direct Control	Dedicated team under your direct control and direction.	No direct team commitment to you. Vendor manages and controls team members.
Quality	Control over quality of resources leads to improved predictability of work quality and timeliness.	Resource quality is unknown and cannot be controlled. There is no predictability of project quality or timeliness.
Standards & Procedures	Your unique standards, methodologies and procedures can be conveyed and followed.	Difficult to implement and enforce your standardizations, procedures and methodologies.
Ownership & Accountability	Team members gain a sense of ownership and are accountable for successes as well as failures.	No ownership and nominal accountability, which gets transferred to vendor in general.
Business Value	Dedicated team builds up a knowledge base specific to your business operations, software tools & products or services. Maintains valuable relationships formed between remote and local resources within your organization.	No prior knowledge available or expected. For every new project, there is an associated learning curve and a significant time lag before the team can become productive.
Organizational Knowledge	Learnings and knowledge is gathered first hand. It is retained and leveraged within your organization.	Vendor is the main recipient of your organizational knowledge. While knowledge transfers are possible, tacit knowledge is forever lost.
Confidentiality	Team members are an extension of your employee base. Preserves your business confidentiality.	Resources could potentially be shared with competitors on a different or subsequent project.
Learning Curve	No ramp-up time required for new projects and initiatives. Team retains learnings, understands your products & services and is already aligned with your strategic direction and vision.	Need to provide copious background information and company vision to achieve team alignment for every new project.

Is cosourcing for me ?

Clearly, cosourcing has several advantages over the traditional outsourcing approach and will reward forward thinking enterprises with sustained competitive advantages. Large corporations have adopted the cosourcing model and are reaping the benefits. Small and medium enterprises now have the opportunity to do the same.

Having said that, it is important to point out that project based outsourcing does have merit under certain circumstances and it is not our intention to discount it entirely. For instance, if you have a need to develop a custom software application for your internal company use and you don’t envision the need to develop more than a single software application, then project based outsourcing should indeed be considered. However, if the software application is large and complex and requires ongoing maintenance along with occasional enhancements, then it might be better to cosource the resources to both, develop as well as to subsequently maintain the application. In this case, your cosourced resources will retain the knowledge gained during the software development process and will be better able to maintain the application once it has been developed. All the other advantages, as described above also come into play.

In Searce you will find a partner that will strive to be continuously aligned with your strategic direction and vision and that will be nimble and fluid enough to accommodate your directional changes. We aim to build long-term relationships with you and grow with you. If we can help you to succeed, then it follows that we too must succeed. Your interests are therefore our interests.