Opinion: The Offshore IT Outsourcing Sky is Not Falling

There may be a lot of hype in the market about offshore IT outsourcing, but the fact remains that keeping things stateside is more cost- and time-effective

The current rage over tech outsourcing, to places such as India and Russia, has caused a number of information technology (IT) professionals to wait for the proverbial sky to fall. However, while some good paying IT jobs are going overseas, the sky isn't really falling. Let me explain further.

The software development landscape today, where much of the offshore outsourcing concerns lie, is much different than it was 20, or even 10, years ago. Skilled software development labor shortages a few years ago, during the Internet boom days and Year 2000 scramble, jump-started the offshore phenomenon. Developers with only a few years of experience were commanding high salary and benefits packages, causing human resources and IT managers to look for cheaper alternatives.

In addition, the software development tools today have become much more powerful and easier to use. Thus, many more people the world over have instantly become eligible programmers. Combine that with improved worldwide communications, and just about anyone on the planet with a PC, Visual Basic and an Internet connection can put out their programming shingle. Besides, the precedent for outsourcing overseas has already been set in the manufacturing sector; it was really only a matter of time before the doors would open for overseas programmers.

It's not that the Indians or the Russians are smarter than we are; it's primarily an issue of availability and economics. We've made it too easy for anyone to join the software development party we've kept to ourselves for so long, and people in many countries are able to work for far less than the average U.S. programmer. I realize that up to this point I've made some good arguments in support of the sky is falling theory, so let's dig a little deeper.

A closer look at offshore outsourcing reveals some interesting trends; many of the offshore projects have not been successful, or at least not as successful as expected. Many accomplished their primary task, but at a higher than anticipated cost. Others did not deliver what the business unit really needed, and some offshore projects were not even completed.

SWAT Solutions has been involved in client projects where organizations outsourcing software development and testing overseas have walked away with nothing. And while this is certainly the exception, there are undoubtedly more of these cases when offshore outsourcing is involved, especially for first-time endeavors.

Many of the software projects outsourced are for maintenance or relatively straight-forward applications, such as those in established industries. It is quite rare to see a critical application for a new industry going offshore. However, it's not because the offshore programmers do not have the talent to succeed, but rather it's the risks involved with logistics and team communications that essentially force vital development activities to remain here in the United States.

The key to successful offshore development is the proper packaging of requirements in such a complete manner that all the offshore programmers need to do is connect the dots, so to speak. Historically though, the primary ingredient in great software development has been teamwork. It's quite rare when a great software product is completely specified prior to programming. Typically, the product evolves as developers come up with new ideas that the designers didn't foresee, better ways of accomplishing the same tasks or altogether new extensions to the product. This really is an iterative process that occurs over the life of the project and may substantially improve the product by the time it is finished.