Tuesday, October 31, 2017

MANAGEMENT SPECIAL...... Do It Yourself Oceaneering

Do It Yourself Oceaneering

INSEAD professors W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne deliver the navigation chart needed to reach blue oceans.

Blue Ocean Shift: Beyond Competing — Proven Steps to Inspire Confidence and Seize New Growth
by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne, Hachette Books, 2017
INSEAD professors W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne hit the thought leadership lottery with the idea of blue oceans. Their 2005 book, Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant Harvard Business School Press, which described the advantages of setting sail for new “blue ocean” markets devoid of competitors versus battling for percentage points of share in mature, commoditized “red ocean” markets, sold more than 3.5 million copies. The two professors, having found their own blue ocean, quickly ascended to the pinnacle of strategic consulting: INSEAD presented them with an institute and built blue ocean strategy into its MBA curriculum. Given all this success, the only truly surprising thing is that it took 12 years for Kim and Mauborgne to publish a follow-up.
For the most part, Blue Ocean Shift proves to be worth the wait. It is a practical, well-written guide to finding and exploiting blue ocean markets, informed by the experiences of companies and other organizations that have chosen to seek them out rather than compete toe-to-toe in established markets.

Kimberly-Clark Brazil (KCB), for example, sought a blue ocean for one of the most commoditized consumer products: toilet tissue. Competing in the US$1.5 billion market against 50 other companies and 200 brands, KCB needed to break out of the pack. It discovered a way by investigating how Brazilian shoppers took toilet tissue home — most of them lugged it a long way on foot or via public transportation. This led to the idea of significantly compressing the rolls in a vacuum pack, which had the added benefit of lowering shipping costs and reducing the amount of retail shelf space needed. KCB added a handy plastic carrying strap, patented the whole deal, and set sail on a competition-free blue ocean.
Experiences such as KCB’s provided Kim and Mauborgne with the fodder they needed to codify the journey to blue ocean markets. “While achieving a blue ocean shift may seem like magic, it is not,” they write. “There is actually a systematic process that is accessible to everyone, whether you see yourself as particularly creative or not.” This process, named in accordance with the rules of consultantese the “Blue Ocean Shift Process,” has five steps:
1. Get started by choosing the most promising place to focus your initiative and creating a team for it.
2. Understand where you are now by mapping the current state of play in your industry and making a compelling case for change.
3. Imagine where you could be by identifying customer pain points and the total demand landscape for your product.
4. Find how you get there by discovering the paths to reconstructing market boundaries and the strategic moves needed to travel those paths.
5. Make your move by selecting and executing the most promising option.
If this sounds like a generic change management process, well, that’s because a blue ocean shift typically entails organizational change, with all of its implications. And some of the authors’ advice is generic, too: Put together a cross-functional team of people with skin in the game and appoint a champion who has the power to help them over internal hurdles.
But Kim and Mauborgne also offer less familiar and obvious insights. One of them involves the idea of noncustomers, which they introduced in their first book. “For the past 25 years the business mantra has been ‘customer first,’” they now write. “The blue ocean strategist’s mantra is ‘noncustomers first.’”
The authors identify three tiers of noncustomers who have the potential to be converted into customers. In ascending order of potential market size, they are: soon-to-be noncustomers, who are buying only because they have no choice; refusing noncustomers, who have thought about buying, but have rejected it; and unexplored noncustomers, who have never been — and have never been considered as — customers. What’s the demand potential of noncustomers? Ask Apple how many noncustomers there were for an MP3 player.
Another intriguing idea is the “six paths” framework the authors offer for reaching blue oceans. These paths expand the conventional search for market opportunities. For instance, instead of analyzing your own industry, Kim and Mauborgne suggest looking across alternative industries. “The objective in this path is to identify the problem or needs your offering currently solves,” they write, “and then to generate a list of other solutions or industries noncustomers use to address the same problems or satisfy the same needs.”
Ideas like these make Blue Ocean Shift a useful and compelling read for leaders, whether they are seeking new markets or just trying to paddle ahead of the competition.


by Theodore Kinni
https://www.strategy-business.com/article/Do-It-Yourself-Oceaneering?gko=de52f&utm_source=itw&utm_medium=20171026&utm_campaign=resp

BOOK SUMMARY 409 Oversubscribed

BOOK SUMMARY 409
Oversubscribed

·         Summary written by: Fern Chang
"People don’t buy what others want to sell. They buy what others want to buy."
- Oversubscribed, page 43
Being oversubscribed means there are more buyers than the capacity a business owner can provide.
In every industry, there are many businesses struggling to get enough customers and yet there are those with customers lining up, joining the waiting list and paying a premium to buy from them. They are so successful that they have to turn away some customers because they are oversubscribed.
With the current search technologies and the abundance of choices, why do people decide to wait for a product or pay a premium rather than to select other available or cheaper ones? Over a period of two years, Daniel Priestley studied all types of oversubscribed businesses, from hairdressers, fashion brands, restaurants and nightclubs to consultants and luxury cars to find out what they have in common. The result is Oversubscribed: How to Get People Lining Up to Do Business with You.
He observed that oversubscribed businesses have remarkable qualities and are very good at running promotions and campaigns.
This book describes the principles, mindset and methods to become oversubscribed.

The Big Idea
The engine of the oversubscribed business
"Becoming oversubscribed isn’t something you can do on the fly; it takes preparation and strategy executed with precision."- Oversubscribed, page 91
A campaign driven enterprise is the identity businesses need to adopt in order to become oversubscribed.
While most businesses are set up to win and service clients one at a time, the campaign driven approach encourages many people to engage with the business at one time. This creates synergistic buzz and excitement, and avoids boredom and burnout of the one to one approach.
There are five phases in a campaign:
1. Planning – Know your capacity, who it is for and when you can deliver it.
2. Build-up – Signal to the market what you are planning and get them to signal back their intention to buy.
3. Release the products when oversubscribed, in stages, in the form of different price points and special editions to maintain momentum and energy.
4. Remarkable delivery – under-promise, over-deliver.
5. Innovate and celebrate – Share the success stories publicly, analyse the data for future improvement, reward the team and have some downtime.
Apple campaigns are powerful because of the way they are launched. Curiosity is built-up before the event. After the launch, people are asked to pre-order to signal their interests. Steve Jobs thought it was ok to make people wait for information, the release date and even wait outside physical stores before they could buy. Apple devices were released in stages, to selected countries. This allowed the company to manage its capacity and ensure that quality did not suffer because of large demand. As a result, happy customers felt that they were part of something special.
A Campaign Driven Enterprise has four key members, each with a specific role:
1. Key person of influence – A leader who is known, liked and trusted within the industry, so as to bring the team together.
2. Head of sales and marketing – Manages leads, close sales and follow up with referrals.
3. Head of operations and production – Focuses on improving processes and delivering values consistently.\
4. Head of finance, logistics and reporting – Helps to steer the campaign towards a profitable result. Actively seeks access to investments, loans, grants and discounts.
The team members must work together to create a high performance culture.

Insight #1
Word of mouth is powerful marketing
"The old adage of ‘Sell the sizzle not the steak’ is over. Today, your job is to ‘cook great steak’ and let your customers create ‘the sizzle’."- Oversubscribed, page 153
In this age of social media, negative reviews spread rapidly among thousands of Facebook friends and Twitter followers, and become indexed on Google to haunt a business for years.
On the other hand, if people talk about a business in a positive way, its marketing budget reduces to zero.
Daniel states that the most powerful way to become oversubscribed is to be utterly remarkable in everything you do. That means having products or services that are worth talking about, offering genuine benefits and a superior experience.
Oversubscribed businesses often talk about something bigger than what they do. They talk about the lifestyle of their customers, philosophy, a big problem they want to solve or the transformation they want to see in the world.
For example, Chipotle is a Mexican fast food restaurant but if it talks about Mexican fast food it becomes commoditized, dull and adds to a noisy marketplace. Instead, Chipotle talks about ‘cultivating a better world’. In a Nike campaign, Michael Jordan talks about his failures, which are a big part of his success.
Most businesses make the mistake of chasing after people who are not their customers instead of nurturing existing ones. Oversubscribed businesses treat their clients like celebrities and let them pull a crowd.
For example, Daniel built his business by sharing client success stories and attracting people who aspire to be the next successful client.
A business can be remarkable for its innovative approach or its remarkably fair deals. In either case, if the name of a business comes up in response to the question, ‘who should I buy from?’, then that is a remarkable business.

Insight #2
Leverage technology
"No matter what your business is, you are also a media and technology business. It’s nearly impossible to become oversubscribed at any scale without the use of media and technology."- Oversubscribed, page 128
Daniel observed that big purchasing decisions will take about seven hours, when you add up all the time you spend researching and thinking about it.
Google looks at these as touch points (Zero Moments of Truth – ZMOT) where people find out about a business as they are making a purchasing decision. Their research indicates that it takes an average of 11 touch points or ‘ZMOTs’ in order to build up trust with someone. They also advocate that a lot of these touch points can be found online as digital content.
Businesses can leverage social media and digital technology to create and distribute 7 hours or 11 touch points of relationship building content. The goal is to entertain and educate the audience using articles, podcasts, videos, apps, questionnaires, reports, illustrations, books, case studies, and events.
Be generous with relevant ideas and information for building relationship. People will then trust the business for implementation.
To be effective as a Campaign Driven Enterprise, a business will need to be fast at building web pages, collecting meaningful data, using that data powerfully to optimise the business online.
In particular, a business needs systems to keep track of client interactions, to manage delivery of products, and to set up follow-up reminders and notifications. Without such automation, it would not be possible to scale remarkable delivery. It is necessary to know which technologies are worth paying for, or can be built in-house, or obtained at a low cost.
Oversubscribed reminds us that the purpose of a business should always be to serve its best clients within its capacity so as not to dilute its effort and disappoint everyone.

ET ROUNDTABLE - Managing Disruption

Managing Disruption


At the Economic Times Roundtable held at Nasscom's BPM Strategy event, top executives of Indian business process management companies talked about how they have managed the disruption that automation brings and what the IT industry could learn from them. Rohit Kapoor, CEO of EXL Services; Keshav Murugesh, CEO of WNS; Raman Roy, CMD at Quatrro BPO Solutions and chairman of Nasscom; Mohit Thukral, SVP and Business Leader of BFSI at Genpact; Navneet Kapoor, head of global business at Maersk GSC; and Michel Janssen, Chief Research Guru at consultancy Everest Research; talked about the need to reskill and make the industry take a more global perspective
ET: The BPM industry has been doing well in the past year judging by this growth we have seen. What's changed?

Murugesh:

A few years ago, I remember the cover of a magazine said, `Is India's BPO industry dead?' And they had a skull with a headset on it on the cover. I remember as a council we sat down and asked, `How do we help people appreciate and understand actually what we stand for? What are the core programs we must run?' I think there is clarity today from a customer's point of view that we have all leveraged the model so well, invested in terms of our long-term journeys that the trust factor is high.

Thukral:

I think the trajectory of growth that all of us are seeing is predicated on, and most companies which have BPM, have a pivot on digital now. It's because of some of the deep domain expertise that we've all built over the years. I think the technology companies didn't build that kind of a business level deep expertise. So, I think clubbing the deep domain expertise and the digital capability that we've built is actually helping us accelerate some of the growth that we are seeing out there. In a typical IT company, you wouldn't know who 80% of the people you work with are, because they work completely at the backend. But in a BPM digital environment, 80% of the people are facing the customer or are touching the end-customer in some form or fashion.

ET: The industry has often talked about taking steps to make educational institutions understand the kind of talent that the sector needs. What more needs to be done?

Roy:

The big challenge is that there are colleges today that aren't teaching what's relevant, and then they come back and say, why aren't you hiring my output? So as NASSCOM we actively work with academia to help design their courses, we actively work with them to train their professors so that they have the cutting-edge technology. You add to that the challenge that 30 40% of our workforce, which is 4 million people today, over the next three to four years need to be retrained. A lot of them will not gain the competencies. A lot of them think that the job is their right ­ and therefore, why retrain? We are not a notfor-profit organization, we are not there for philanthropic reasons, we are there for profit and we have to make commercial decisions. So, what we are trying to architect over the next three to five years is playing a big role in the skilling part.

Janssen:

I come from 30-some years of experience in this industry, not necessarily from India, but I would challenge NASSCOM to think of itself not as an India domain conversation, but as global leaders. I want to get ready to name you guys as not as global leaders not of India, but of planet earth. So, what does NASSCOM think about developing talent, not for India, but for the support of the entire sourcing and service providers, regardless of whether it's the US, Europe, or Australia. Because I think that's what the challenge is, if you guys want to be the players, you've got to stop thinking India. You've got to start thinking global ­ the winners are going to be global, truly global.

Murugesh:

I think most of us run global companies, and really operate out of 10-15 countries, and we're also members therefore of similar forums in each one of these countries, and therefore as individual companies, we're influencing the thinking there. I think what we have to appreciate is the fact that this business, to some extent, was scaled from India. And I like that to use the analogy that India actually has extended its borders to all of the other countries.

Navneet Kapoor:

I think the lines between BPM and IT in my mind are going to blur, because the world is technology-driven going forward. So, I have just joined a company, Maersk, which has over 10,000 people in India and we do a lot of business process, customer service kind of work, but our overall business is going to be technology-driven or is already technologydriven. We need to transform our business, digital transformation has to happen, and our processes need to bring technology within themselves or we need to bring the technology closer to the processes. So, we are hiring technologists, data scientists, engineers, within what's historically been called as a service centre here.

Rohit Kapoor:

You asked in the beginning of this conversation as to what is it that the IT companies can learn from the BPM industry?

The BPM industry participants underwrite and deliver the business outcome for their clients, and that is why we succeed. The reason we are able to deliver that is because of the domain knowledge.If the IT industry wants to do this, they better start delivering on the business outcome, and I don't mean fixed price contracts ­ offering a fixed price just means that you are going to contain the cost to an X level, but it does not guarantee that they will be a ROI on that investment. So, the biggest learning is, I think, they need to deliver on the business outcome and take responsibility for that.

ET: Michel, what should the BPM industry be doing differently to succeed in the new digital age?

Janssen:

The challenge I'm giving to you guys, is that you guys are, in some respects global leaders, in different metrics and different things. I look at NASSCOM and say `stop being India, start being global,' and think about what it means to India in that context, and the talent is global. So yes, you need to worry about the Indian universities but you need to worry about the US universities just as much, so that you have that context.

Thukral:

All of us are global companies, 35% of our revenue sits in different countries and we service only markets outside of India, actually we don't serve markets in India. So, we are really pushing the global agenda in a big way. We are doing some big amount of work with Rutgers right now, and building a real analytics talent in the US. And look, the world is pivoting, right.Everything won't happen in India, a lot of the stuff will happen in global geographies, so talent need is an issue. The U.S. needs 300 thousand data scientists today.
Oct 27 2017 : The Economic Times (Mumbai)


TRAVEL SPECIAL.... OFF BEAT ADVENTURE - Let's go Dutch

OFF BEAT ADVENTURE - Let's go Dutch


Away from the hustle-and-bustle of Amsterdam, the dutch villages of Volendam and Marken showcase a quaint countryside charm

Amsterdam offers a variety of interesting places nearby . In the previous article we learned about the Dutch village of Zaanse Schans, this time we are going to tell you about an excursion to Volendam and Marken towards North-East of the Dutch capital.
If there was ever a perfect day's outing for the family, it is a trip to Volendam-Marken. There is so much to do for everyone that include a breathtaking ferry ride, stunning landscapes, ancient alleys and host of activities like seeing how wooden shoes are made and visiting a cheese factory. There is a light house to see and the place also offers a great seafood-scene.
A bus from Amsterdam Central brings you to Volendam; stroll through the village and then take a ferry to the gorgeous Marken. Both places are connected by public transport to Amsterdam. Since I was staying near the Amsterdam central, I took a 4.5 bus trip that takes you into the charming Dutch countryside in about 45 minutes.
First thing that strikes you here are the colourful wooden houses with doors sporting art decorations in the front yard. As you walk towards the harbour to board the ferry, there is a small market that has several souvenir shops where you can buy things from fridge magnets of windmills to wooden shoes or even traditional costumes.
The harbour front is always buzzing with tourist activity. There are many triangular architectured cafes where you can sip a drink and enjoy a meal.Since it is a fisherman's village, there is an amazing variety of seafood. Freshly caught and cooked fish is mostly served with local butter and vinegar sauce.Many stalls sell kibbeling, salted herring or smoked eel. One thing that you must try is Poffertjes that are a Dutch version of pancakes made with yeast and buckwheat flour. It is served with powdered sugar and a variety of fresh fruits.
You can spend some time watching the lake with countless sails and fish boats, many of which have interesting fronts.
Before you board the ferry, remember to visit the Cheese Factory that not only has an outlet selling several varieties of Dutch cheese, but also has other interesting experiences to offer. There is a museum in the basement that tells the history and evolution of Cheese over thousands of years. You can attend a demonstration session of how cheese is made from fresh milk. Kids will surely love the tasting session that also teaches how to recognise cheese on the basis of smell and taste.
Every 30-45 minutes, there is a ferry plying between Marken village.The boat-ride itself is mesmerising and you get bowled over by the quiet charm as you approach Marken. At Marken, you can stroll through the beautiful lanes or take a bike to go around.
The gorgeous village has gardens, canals and beautiful houses that give a mesmerising experience.
A must-have experience at Marken is the visit to wooden shoe factory. The Dutch factory workers, farmers and fishermen are said to have been wearing wooden shoes or `clogs' for hundreds of years to protect their feet. This factory shop has a variety of them. There is also a demo session to show how these shoes are made. The man who gives the demos makes it extremely funny and interesting.
Nowadays, these are bought more as souvenir, but the variety in terms of shapes, sizes, designs and colours is pretty interesting.
You can also get yourself photographed in traditional costume to preserve the memory of your visit.
If you love to walk or cycle through the countryside, a visit to the light house is what you will enjoy for sure. It takes you through vast agricultural greens where you can also see adorable black and white cows grazing lazily . The cylindrical brick tower is called Paard van Marken, meaning horse of Marken, which replaces its early 18th century, primitive counterpart.
A visit to both the places is a day's trip. Since these are villages, things shut down in the evening but if you still have energy you can head back to Amsterdam and put on your party shoes for a late evening outing.
Naveen Soni is a Mumbai based travel enthusiast                Oct 26 2017 : The Economic Times (Mumbai)



Monday, October 30, 2017

APPS SPECIAL..... Simplify your digital life with these utility apps

Simplify your digital life with these utility apps

Harness the power of your Android phone to make your life simple with these apps

Memory Helper Free + $0.99
If you fe el to do lists and calendar reminders are not enough at all times, Memory Helper can help. It appears whenever you wake up your phone, which you are probably doing about 2,000 times a day. It displays a simple list of tasks or reminders, which you can swipe away once you've completed. You can also customise the colours and layout.

Desygner Free + $7.49 subscription
Desygner lets you unleash the graphic designer in you on your phone or tablet. With an intuitive interface and thousands of templates, it's simple to use. You can combine text, shapes, images, stickers, backgrounds etc, to create logos, posters, adverts, presentations, postcards or any other things where images and typography are important.

Pause $1.99£1.49
We all need a little help relieving stress sometimes, and Pause promises that assistance by making you follow a dot around the mobile screen with your finger. As you do so, soothing sounds play, and a coloured blob gradually grows around the dot. Within a few minutes, the app promises to lessen your stress and increase your focus.

Drivvo Free + IAP
While there are many general purpose apps for monitoring expenses, Drivvo is designed to monitor the costs of running your vehicle. You can track fuel costs, mileage, gas consumption, maintenance costs and more, and build charts of your fuel efficiency.

8Bit Photo Lab Free + IAP
It is a photo filter app that takes you back to simpler times of the '80s. Simply snap or import a picture and pick a colour palette from over 40 options. Your photo will then instantly transform into something you might have seen on a screen from that era.

Talon for Twitter $2.99
Talon for Twitter isn't new, but it's recently been over hauled. It's a good-looking app, but more importantly, the amount of control it gives you is great. It adds stunning layouts, animations, and takes the ads out of Twitter. It also has powerful mute options, tweet filtering on profiles as well as `do not disturb' and night modes.

NordVPN From $5.75 per month
There are any number of reasons you might want to use a VPN, but whatever your reason, NordVPN is a strong option. You can use it not only on Android, but also Windows, iOS and Mac, all with a single subscription, and the app is nicely designed, with a world map from which you can tap on the country you want to access a server from.

IF by IFTTT Free
IF was formerly known as IFTTT, which stands for `if this then that', concisely summing up what this app does. It powers up your Android device in all new ways, letting you automate various functions. You can create simple statements such as `if my location is home, turn on WiFi', or `if I snap a screenshot email it to me'.
techradar.com



BOOK SUMMARY 408 Outsource or Else!

BOOK SUMMARY 408
Outsource or Else!

·         Summary written by: Fern Chang
"Everything you invest in hiring a good outsourcing team will return to you threefold."
- Outsource or Else!, page 160
Software developers will be familiar with this scenario: a request for major features in a reduced time frame (e.g. food image recognition with nutrition analysis in 6 months instead of 10).
With a shortage of skilled developers and very tight deadlines, the promise of an outsource team coming to the rescue throws a lifeline to keep a business afloat. However, it is not without complexities and challenges every step of the way.
Outsource or Else!: How a VP of Software Saved His Company, a business parable, tells the story of how Jason, a VP of software development, managed against all odds to complete a project successfully. This was achieved with the guidance of an eccentric consultant, Patrick.
Running in parallel to the business project is Jason’s own backyard landscaping project. Jason had entrusted the project to Mike, who made all the mistakes in outsourcing, with disastrous outcomes. The contrast in the two projects, though different in nature, serve to demonstrate how proper outsourcing management greatly enhances the chances of success.
Through this entertaining story, the authors Steve Mezak and Andy Hilliard effectively explained the 7 keys of outsourcing:
1. Great developers are everywhere.
2. Focus on your vision.
3. In-person investigation is critical.
4. Quality matters as much as price.
5. Think like a partner and embrace cultural differences.
6. The relationship is as important as technical requirements and capabilities.
7. Everything you invest in hiring a good outsourcing team will return to you threefold.
Key #7 is the ultimate reward of outsourcing. By investing time, money and relationship building efforts, a good outsourcing team can become a collaborative partner which grows with the company as it expands.

The Big Idea
Relationships are critical
"You're not buying widgets, you are partnering with people."- Outsource or Else!, page 155
This idea is supported by the two keys:
Key #5 – Think like a partner and embrace cultural differences.
Key #6 – The relationship is as important as technical requirements and capabilities.
There is a difference between ‘outsourcing’ and ‘out-tasking’. Out-tasking consists of task-specific, one-off jobs while outsourcing aims at completing longer term business functions.
Software development is an art. It is not something that can be systematically automated and out-tasked. It takes creative people to make it happen—and when there are many people working together, it also requires true partnership.
Do not enter an outsourcing agreement with a “command and control” mentality. Outsourcing teams are chosen for their expertise—which you do not have—and they should not be restricted from contributing their best knowledge. They should also be able to support you beyond the initial basic tasks.
There will inevitably be cultural differences. In Asia it is impolite to say no. Instead, “no” may be expressed as “it will be difficult”. In contrast, Eastern Europeans can be so straightforward as to give an impression of being offensive.
It’s important to have the ability to collaborate effectively as a team. The offshore team is best managed as an extension of the onsite team. By learning from each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and overcoming cultural variations, bonds can be strengthened for better communication and results.
Despite all best efforts, sometimes there can still be “people” challenges and these are best resolved face to face. For longer term engagements, in-person meetings between key team members are recommended every quarter.

Insight #1
Great developers are everywhere
"You just have to know where to look."- Outsource or Else!, page 47
Keys supporting this insight are:
Key #1 – Great developers are everywhere.
Key #3 – In-person investigation is critical.
It’s a misconception that off-shore programmers are less skilled than local talent. Many countries have people who are highly trained, and have advanced knowledge in the latest technologies. Many have attended top global universities.
Generally, different parts of the world excel in different kinds of software development. For example, Eastern European developers have great expertise in mathematical algorithms. India and Pakistan have many smart developers. South America is good for agile development.
During your preliminary research, look for:
·         References from the company’s clients.
·         Cost proposals.
It is difficult to get a true feel for human connection by video calls. An in-person investigation is the best way to learn whether you will be able to build a strong working relationship with your outsource team.
While visiting the outsource team, look for:
·         Technical knowledge and evidence that the team has recently done similar work.
·         Personality, IQ and EQ.
·         Company cultural fit.
·         Leadership and processes – the company is guided by qualified, intelligent leaders who are setting high standards for hiring, training and retaining quality developers.
Tour the facility to observe that:
·         The quality of the facilities are appropriate by the standards of the country.
·         There are security measures for the protection of intellectual property (e.g. soundproof rooms and doors with security access codes).
·         There is collaboration and good rapport.
·         There is reliable internet access and a stable power supply.

Insight #2
What to focus on
"Your job is to focus on your vision."- Outsource or Else!, page 48
Keys supporting this insight are:
Key #2 – Focus on your vision.
Key #4 – Quality matters as much as price.
For many companies, the vision for outsourcing is not entirely clear. Common dilemmas include:
·         Loss of control.
·         Cultural barriers.
·         Unclear certifications.
·         Communication challenges.
·         Protection of intellectual property.
·         Reluctance to export jobs offshore.
However, there are many potential benefits:
·         Lower costs.
·         Ability to engage good people fast.
·         Resource flexibility – ability to ramp up or reduce headcount depending on business needs.
·         Knowledge and innovation – having worked with multiple clients, the outsource team will have experience of what works.
·         Expanded and enriched cultural experiences.
Trustworthy teams can be identified with meticulous research and verification.
Communication plays a major role in achieving the vision. Learn to communicate and work around time zone differences to avoid wasted time waiting for updates. If language issues are causing misunderstanding and lost productivity, a bilingual team member can facilitate discussions.
Focusing on the vision means not micro-managing or getting hung up on the superficial stuff. Be flexible with the cultural differences. The balance between talent and cost is the vision to focus on.
Do not allow pricing factors to interfere with quality. Beware of lower charges due to cutting corners, for example, dodging basic overhead costs and having unqualified developers. The risk of rework and lost time will end up costing more.
Quality is more than just technical skills and experience. A smart, collaborative team provides a solution that is stable and cost effective, requiring low maintenance.
As a company grows, it will be able to create more jobs for the local workforce, leading to a win-win situation.
Selection and assessment of a suitable team involves hard work and experience. In the parable, Patrick the consultant has a database of pre-vetted companies whom he had personally visited and evaluated. This gave Jason a head start in shortlisting five companies within a weekend for further consideration.
Similarly, specialised global outsourcing companies such as Accelerance have databases of outsource partners.