India + One
Why China Should Be Your "Plus One" for IT Services

What to Look for in an Alternative Destination Vendo

When looking at alternative destinations, choosing the right vendor can help you to mitigate the specific country risks. The key is to pick a vendor that has incorporated the best-in-class capabilities of the Indian vendors while leveraging their own specific company and country strengths. For example, how mature is the potential vendor's global delivery model? Is the company focused on a particular market? Do they have best in class certifications such as CMMI and ISO 27001?

In addition, site visits are an integral part conducting due diligence. Many companies skip this step only to be surprised when the content on the company website did not match actual capabilities. ‘Kicking the tires' is especially important when engaging with less established companies in emerging outsourcing destinations because the variance of quality between vendors is high.

Below is a high level description of areas enterprises should conduct due diligence on prior to engaging an alternative destination IT vendor. Tier 1 & 2 Indian vendor capabilities have been used as guidelines for criterion. 

  • Process – Where are they on the process maturity cycle? Have they adopted world class certifications such as CMMI? What level are they certified at? Is this at all locations or just for certain locations and projects?
  • Quality – What metrics do they use to measure quality? What is their defect rate on development? What is their first time resolution rate on ASM? Do clients have access to these metrics? Can these metrics be customized for each client?
  • Security – How does the vendor protect their customers' data? What are the physical controls in place? How is the data transferred? Is the vendor certified in the latest world class security standards such as ISO27001? Does the vendor conduct background checks on all of its employees? Has there ever been a security breach? How did the vendor handle the breach? Is security and data protection built into the corporate culture?
  • Cultural Fit – Does the vendor focus on your enterprise's particular geography? How attune is the senior management to your company's culture? Do they answer your questions in an open and honest manner or do they only seem to highlight the positive? Is this a company you would like to do business with? How are they to deal with during negotiations?
  • English Capability – How does the vendor ensure adequate English communication? How do they train and test English capability on an ongoing basis? Do they have an accredited English teacher as an integral part of their staff? Do they have real English curriculum? How many hours of English training are required on an ongoing basis? 
  • Ability to Recruit and Retain Talent – What is the ability of the vendor to recruit the best talent? What measures do they have in place to retain talent? What is the actual retention rate for engagements?
  • Governance – How does the vendor manage relationships? How does the vendor monitor engagement performance at all levels of the relationship? Do you have access to top leadership?
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