Based on our survey with our customers and potential customer’s worldwide, these are some of the pain points identified in an onshore-offshore model of development. They may or may not be applicable to all clients, but every offshore implementation would want to improve some aspects as mentioned in this article. TAlso mentioned are the solutions which The Digital Group provided in each of these scenarios.

1. Whitepapers
ONSHORE-OFFSHORE
MODEL
PAIN POINTS
Based on our survey with our customers and
potential customers worldwide, here are some of the
pain points identified in an onshore-offshore model
of development. They may or may not be applicable
to all clients, but every offshore implementation
would want to improve some aspects as mentioned
in this article.
Also mentioned are the solutions which The Digital
Group provided in each of these scenarios.
We try to engage more in a project/deliverable based model
rather than number of resources. This way we own the
deliverable and the client team interacts mainly with the
onsite tech lead and the business analyst. The core
development work is performed offshore, but getting it
delivered to the client still lies with the onsite tech lead and
delivery lead. There is interaction between the client and the
offshore team but on an as needed basis. This way there is a
SINGLE POINT of delivery and quality for the client to
interact with for any given project.
Providing quality deliverables to the client is of utmost
importance for The Digital Group. Hence, we are building a
team which is centered around knowledge. The quality of
resources depends on the experience, knowledge, industry
exposure, variety in past implementations, communication
and logical abilities, etc. These are some of the guiding
principles we take into account while hiring each of our team
members.
The understanding of the business processes/functional
knowledge by both the onsite and offshore teams is key
to providing sound solutions. An effort is made to
conduct business process workshops before the
commencement of projects to ensure seamlessness
between the groups on both shores.
The team composition is such that any onsite tech lead
has an equivalent person on the offshore side. A
common platform is created for the requirements and
design phase of the project. Both shore leads are
responsible for the delivery of design and
implementation back and forth. An internal SLA guides
both leads to provide quality output.
The quality of the offshore resources has
not been up to par
1.
SERVICE
DELIVERY
EXCELLENCE

2. WhitepapersONSHORE-OFFSHORE MODEL PAIN POINTS
The realization of cost savings is
very slow
Cost should not be the sole purpose of offshoring.
Cost savings should be a byproduct of the
relationship with a vendor/partner who is capable
enough to provide the services and solutions to
the client at a mutually desirable price. Offshoring
is just one component of cost savings. Bad quality
work leading to rework can cost more than the
upfront price tag on an implementation.
The Digital Group intends to be a partner to the
client in its ERP initiatives and deliver turnkey
projects. Some components of the project will be
performed offshore thereby providing cost benefits
to the client on the overall project.
Inconsistency in standards of development
We mitigate this risk by providing our own method-
ology to the development lifecycle. This can be
merged with the client side development cycle to
obtain a best fit. Standards of development have to
be developed. Documentation (Design, Test Scripts)
has to be created in a detailed manner yet not too
verbose to lose its meaning.
The single point delivery manager (onsite) will be
responsible for the quality of the product delivered
and ensuring that the standards are conformed to.
Any work product ready for UAT has to undergo
T/DG’s testing requirements and the offshore QA
will have to attest to the functionality.
Code walkthroughs are part of the normal delivery
cycle for a technical supervisor.
Internal SLAs between onshore and offshore teams
to ensure code and standards quality.
High offshore turnover rate leads to
paying for ramp up time for new
resources
High job turnover is a byproduct of a global
competitive marketplace. The Digital Group is
able to harbor long term relationships with the
employees by being competitive and providing a
nurturing and team oriented environment in all
its locations. We keep our team challenged
enough to grow professionally. This is true for all
successful companies worldwide and purely
depends on the culture promoted within a
company. T/DG has been successful in the past
and hopes to continue the trend.
2.
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4.
Lack of Domain knowledge in the
offshore team
This is a key avenue to improve the quality of the
final deliverable. Any new person assigned to an
offshore team goes through a domain workshop
either by the offshore or onshore team lead. The
client business processes, enhancements and
nuances in the client system are all discussed
with the team members. This is all done upfront
before the actual project work starts. Also, during
the hiring process one of the criteria is to hire
people with a combined technical and functional
expertise. This way they understand the software
integrity better than a pure technical person.
This is a very important need for ERP software
implementation.
Cultural Co-ordination
This is a very important aspect in building
synergy between The Digital Group’s teams as
well as the relationship between the client and
The Digital Group’s offshore team members.
Along with general cultural training, whenever
time and budget allows, the offshore team
members visit the client site. This helps them
understand the client working environment
better than conference calls alone.
5.
6.

3. WhitepapersONSHORE-OFFSHORE MODEL PAIN POINTS
Productivity
This is handled by creating client/project centric
teams on the offshore side. The Digital Group has
always tried to engage in a deliverable based
model. The project teams are decided based on the
nature and the size of the project. The work
allocation ensures that an offshore team member is
providing full time commitment to the project. For
example, teams who are specific to certain big
enhancement projects will not be associated to
other support related work.
The project management style is a daily deliverable
base approach. At a root level, every day of work
should produce some tangible output which may
take the project further to meet its deadline.
It could be a research document, concept, design
document, report, piece of working code, test plan;
any deliverable which is a tangible piece of work is
expected from the offshore members.
Disaster Recovery and Backup Resources
The Digital Group truly believes in a global presence
and has substantial presence of the ERP teams both
onsite and offshore. In case of any emergencies, if
the need arises, we are quite capable of ramping up
the required teams from a different office onsite or
other locations. Also, our capabilities of working
with our partner companies also keep the resource
pool available if the need arises.
Efficient schedule management of
resources
We have divided the timings between our
resources to adjust to the onsite and offshore
teams. When it comes to client meetings, they are
always held during normal business hours at a
client site. The onshore-offshore teams co-ordinate
at different hours of the day. The leads on both
sides are responsible for their teams and their
schedules. The client is never involved in schedule
conflicts between the two regions
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4. THE DIGITAL GROUP INC.
121 Village Boulevard
Princeton Forrestal Village
Princeton NJ 08540 USA
Phone: +1.609.524.2441
Fax: +1.609.228.4844
Email: info@thedigitalgroup.com
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ABOUT US
The Digital Group (T/DG) is a trusted Information Technology partner for businesses
across the globe. Our comprehensive IT services include a full spectrum of Product
Engineering and Development services, Software and Data solutions as well as
Enterprise Information Management solutions that help organizations optimize
productivity, enhance operational capabilities, boost revenues, drive innovations and
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With a focus on building long-term client relationships, we provide a range of
services from Concept-To-Complete spanning Product Development, Maintenance,
Support and Operations. Our commitment to innovation coupled with decades of
experience delivering excellence for our customers, vital technology partnerships
and global delivery centers across the US and Asia Pacific, make T/DG an ideal
choice for next-generation initiatives.
T/DG is a CMMi Level 5 ver1.3 Dev and Service Appraised company along with
certifications in ISO 9001:2008, ISO 20000-1:2011, ISO 27001:2013, ISO 22301:2012
and SSAE 16, Type II. For more information, visit www.thedigitalgroup.com
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