Presented by: Barry Saiff, founder and CEO of Saiff Solutions, Inc., and Scott Abel, The Content Wrangler & technical communication management strategist.

9. AGENDA I
• What is outsourcing? How common is it?
• Why do companies outsource?
• How much money can we save, really?
• When does TWO make sense?
• How can tech-comm professionals influence
TWO decisions?
• What are the options, and the pros/cons?

10. AGENDA II
• What do process maturity and content
strategy have to do with TWO?
• Is outsourcing hurting the profession?
• What are the major risks involved in TWO?
• What are the key success factors for TWO?
• What is the impact on existing teams?

11. QUESTIONS & COMMENTS!

12. What is Outsourcing?
Out-sourcing:
Separate company (usually offshore)
Widely used to mean offshore/outsourced
Offshoring:
Other country, distant (usually outsourced)

13. What is Outsourcing?
In-house offshoring:
Other country, distant, same company
Near-shoring:
Other country, close (same continent)

14. What is Outsourcing?
Global Sourcing:
Procuring different services and job
functions in different places

15. How Widespread?
Some partial/related examples:
• By 2003 77 global software development
firms had R&D operations in India
• By a recent estimate, there are 80,000
software developers in the Philippines.

16. How Widespread?
Some partial/related examples:
• It is fairly easy to find tech writers with 10-
15 years experience in the Philippines.
• Many tech writers in the Philippines have
years of experience in topic-based
authoring.

17. Why Outsource?
Underlying causes – the drive to:
 Reduce costs
 Improve quality
 Increase sales - reach – footprint

18. Economic drivers of outsourcing:
 Labor cost differentials
 Labor availability – growth of global
labor market
 Communications cost reductions
 Global market growth
Why outsource?

19. Why outsource?
Cultural - political drivers of outsourcing:
 Increased ease of doing business globally
 Convergence of global business culture
 Global economic liberalization

20. Why outsource?- Potential Benefits
 Cost savings
 Productivity increases
 Process improvements
 Increased innovation
 Increased speed, agility, flexibility
 Increased revenues

21. Why outsource?
Productivity is a powerful, historical force:
Productivity rises, and everything
changes to facilitate rising productivity.

22. Why outsource?
When we operate out of fear,
opposing productivity advances
because we feel threatened,
we are less effective, for our
organizations and our careers.

23. Why outsource?
To succeed in a changing world,
we must embrace change.
Not blindly, but wisely.

24. Why outsource?
For smaller companies:
Focus on what you do best
Outsource the rest

25. How much money can we save, really?
Wage differentials can be 80% or greater.
Wage differentials are not true savings, due
to hidden costs.
Including all costs: savings of 15% to 45%.

26. How much money can we save, really?
More evidence for savings of 15-25%
Costs decrease over time. 15+% savings
typically achieved after 3-5 years
Savings of 15% can be significant
$$$

27. Why aren’t savings higher?
Hidden costs:
– Search, contract, program development
– Restructuring
– Knowledge transfer (travel?)
– Overhead, management
– Governance
– Risk mitigation, disaster recovery
– Ongoing travel, training
– Infrastructure

28. Technical Writing – When?
You may benefit from outsourcing whether:
–Budgets are tight or abundant
–Product release timelines are short or long
–The company is small, large, local, or global
–Documentation is/is not translated
–You have/don’t have tech writers

29. Technical Writing – When?
Even if your engineers are great writers:
–There are better uses of their time.
–Good documentation requires more than:
good writing skills + product knowledge.
–http://saiffsolutions.com/home/goodtws

30. Technical Writing – When?
Even if you have a robust writing staff
and experienced management:
– As work grows, you can expand capacity at
lower cost via outsourcing.
– By outsourcing simpler tasks, reserving
advanced tasks for in-house, you can improve
morale and cost-effectiveness.

31. Tech Writing When: Lessons
• In-house staff may be replaced/or not
• Work lives of local writers may improve
To determine if TWO is right for YOU:
– No one-size-fits-all formula
– No simple rule to follow
– Deeper analysis is required
– Quality varies everywhere

32. Influencing Outsourcing
How can technical communications professionals
effectively influence outsourcing decisions?
By moving from WHETHER to HOW.
Instead of focusing on:
Should we outsource technical writing?
Focus on:
How could we effectively outsource technical writing?

33. Influencing Outsourcing
Technical communicators typically have
more influence over the answer to HOW.
Yet, we often waste our own power by
focusing on the answer to WHETHER.
Consider these two scenarios:

34. Influencing Outsourcing: Scenario I
Background:
Division of large US company, global customers,
product development centers in US and Asia.
Outsourcing Event:
Executive outsources all documentation, to
large Indian IT firm.
US tech writing staff laid off. No prior
consultation with TechPubs leaders.

35. Influencing Outsourcing: Scenario I
Results:
– 2-3 years later, executives unhappy
– Total loss of US-based expertise makes
recovery from quality impacts difficult
– Plans to use cost savings to fund new
languages derailed by quality problems
– Prognosis unclear — given enough time, will
the new structure work?

36. Influencing Outsourcing: Scenario I
Question: Why was the TechPubs group
not consulted?
– They fought the idea of outsourcing?
– They were not forward-thinking in exploring
outsourcing alternatives and strategies?
– They focused on the wrong question –
Whether vs. How?

37. Influencing Outsourcing: Scenario II
Background:
Division of large US company, global customers,
product development centers in US and Asia
Outsourcing Event, Round 1:
Product development & QA split US/Asia
– Management not supportive of US staff morale
– Repeated rounds of layoffs, some stealth, some too
large to go unnoticed

38. Influencing Outsourcing: Scenario II
Outsourcing Event, Round 2:
Seeing the writing on the wall, TechPubs
leaders begin to:
– Explore how offshoring some work could
benefit the company
– Train staff to adapt to global sourcing
– Experiment with pilot offshore projects
– Develop a unified content strategy

39. Influencing Outsourcing: Scenario II
- Results
• Within 2 years, 60% attrition in US
• India: less advanced tasks; US team’s morale up
• Writers learn to work cross-Pacific, cross-culturally.
• Systems redesigned to support global sourcing.
• Cost reductions allow for more languages
• Indian writing team improves

40. Influencing Outsourcing: Lessons
Regardless of WHETHER you outsource,
processes and quality can benefit from an
examination of the HOW question.
Example: Executive mandates a specific
outsourcing provider for the entire product team

41. Influencing Outsourcing: Lessons
TechPubs leadership has:
– Found evidence that the provider had
documentation quality issues on other
projects
– Established a relationship with a provider
that specializes in documentation
TWO may now have a much greater
chance of success.

42. How: What are the options?
Location Outsourced or
In-House
General or Specialized
Offshore Outsourced IT Generalist Firm
Offshore Outsourced Technical Writing Specialist Firm
Near-shore Outsourced IT Generalist Firm
Near-shore Outsourced Technical Writing Specialist Firm
Onshore Outsourced IT Generalist Firm
Onshore Outsourced Technical Writing Specialist Firm
Offshore In-House Technical Writing Team
Also: Provider/Client Hybrids (General)

43. Process and Strategy
What do process maturity and content
strategy have to do with TWO?
– If technical writers struggle to discover design
changes when co-located with engineers…
– If redundant, inconsistent content is produced
& information design is within writers’ heads…
– Outsourcing can magnify problems.

44. Process and Strategy
Mature processes & unified content strategy:
– Can make outsourcing easier and more effective
– Are valuable investments whether or not
outsourcing is pursued
– Can lead to significant cost savings on their own

45. Process and Strategy
Outsourcing success is often based
on a clear, detailed analysis of
business processes and roles
A Good Content Strategist Can Help

46. Outsourcing Controversy
Why is outsourcing controversial?
– Poor outsourcing decisions & management
– Misconceptions re: reasons for outsourcing
– Misconceptions re: impacts of outsourcing
– Scapegoating, resistance to change: blaming
outsourcing for the impacts of other factors
– Real impacts of outsourcing

47. Outsourcing Controversy
When outsourcing goes wrong, it can be due to
any of the following issues:
– Location
– Function
– Inclusion
– Language
– Experience level
– Culture
– Competency
– Management

48. Outsourcing Controversy
In many cases, outsourcing is blamed for
issues that exist with or without outsourcing
For example, location issues: When staff are
not co-located, whether due to outsourcing or
not, four kinds of breakdowns can occur:
• Communication
• Coordination
• Control
• Group Cohesion

49. Outsourcing Controversy
Example: language issues –
• Language issues also occur
onshore/in-house.
• They can often be addressed by
process changes.
Not all outsourcing issues are
outsourcing issues.

50. Bad management, outsourced!
Outsourcing Math
Bad management + outsourcing =

51. Outsourcing Math
Poor process or lack of process + outsourcing =
Expanded dysfunction!
Example:
– Writers achieve accuracy due to physical proximity to
other teams, despite process breakdowns.
– With new writers thousands of miles away, the
documentation is now inaccurate!
– The cause is not outsourcing per se.
– The cause is a lack of awareness of your process
maturity level and why it matters.

52. Outsourcing Controversy: II
Is outsourcing damaging the technical
communications profession?
Let’s unpack the assumptions:
• Only technical writers in wealthy countries
are a part of the profession.
– There are now tech writers with 15+ years of
experience in developing countries.

53. Outsourcing Controversy: II
• The impacts of outsourcing are uniformly
negative on tech writers and on quality.
– Outsourcing can improve local staff morale.
– Many writers in developing countries started
out doing topic-based authoring.
– Quality problems can be fixed via process
improvements.
• Only tech writers in wealthy countries
contribute to the profession.
– Really?

54. Outsourcing Controversy: II
• Only tech writers in wealthy countries
matter.
– TWO brings opportunity to thousands of
people. People who can now feed their
children, and send them to college.
• Imagine that we only had male tech writers.
Would adding women damage the profession?
– “Pin money”

55. Outsourcing Controversy: II
What is missed in the fight against
outsourcing?
– Potential benefits to the organization
– Potential benefits to teams
– Potential benefits to individuals
For example:
– Outsourcing can enable affordable team expansion,
lessening the workload on existing writers.
– Onshore writers can focus on more rewarding
advanced tasks.
– Global collaboration can increase learning and skill
development for everyone.

56. Outsourcing Controversy: II
Is outsourcing damaging the technical
communications profession?
• The question misses a world of transformation.
• The changes in people’s lives due to the
globalization of content development are
breathtaking and inspiring.
• Our profession is spreading across the globe.
• We are at the dawn of our golden age.

57. Outsourcing Controversy: Lessons
• Focus where you can have an impact
• Prepare yourself for change.
• Focus on the success of your enterprise.
• Focus on improving quality.
• Be careful about scarcity thinking and
scapegoating.

58. Outsourcing Controversy: Lessons
For management:
• Start with process improvement and content strategy.
• Focus on morale and effectiveness. Don’t ignore the
need to sell change effectively.
• Use inclusive planning.
• Be aware of potential cultural pitfalls.

59. Risks = Uncertainties
• Country (political, financial, regulatory)
• Intellectual Property
• Loss of proprietary knowledge
• Security (data, system)
• Corruption
• Contractual
• Infrastructure
• Home country regulatory change

60. Risks = Uncertainties
• Loss of onshore expertise due to attrition
• Reductions in quality, customer satisfaction
• Increases in customer support costs
• Failure to realize anticipated savings
• Inability to hire and retain needed staff
• Management failures

61. Key Success Factors for TWO
Assess process maturity and content
strategy first, and improve if needed
Research, planning, inclusion, vision:
– Include TechPubs in planning
– Ensure a realistic financial analysis
– Identify & communicate vision & benefits
– Incorporate staff feedback
– Focus on career development

62. Key Success Factors for TWO
Carefully choose country
– Consider English, infrastructure, labor pool
– #1 country in business English: Philippines
http://www.globalenglish.com/business_english_index
Carefully choose provider
Start with a low-risk pilot project

63. Key Success Factors for TWO
Carefully mitigate and manage risks
Carefully manage the differences:
–Time zone
–Language
–Culture
–Expertise
–Background, context

64. Key Success Factors: Culture
Collaborating across cultures is a whole field
of study – learn, learn, learn!
All cultures are valuable and capable.
Be aware of differences in communication
and work styles.
Management must be very aware of
potential problems.

65. Key Success Factors: Culture
Tips re: Asian/US cultural differences:
– Higher: respect/deference to authority
– Lower: Questions, Help?, Challenges
– Silence or Yes =/= Agreement
– Never criticize someone publicly.
– Be careful with accusations.
– Don’t expect overnight cultural change.

66. Include tech writers in meetings, reviews, scrums, defect
tracking, wiki/intranet, email lists, etc.
Documentation testing = key part of the project schedule
Document review = performance review factor
Key Success Factors: Tech Writing

67. Impact on Existing Teams
What impact will outsourcing have on
existing teams?
– Entirely up to the people involved
– Potential impacts:
• Annihilation
• Decimation
• Loss of morale and motivation
• Fruitful collaboration and career advancement
• Quality and process improvements
• Re-invigorated flourishing

68. Conclusion
TWO is here to stay. Powerful economic forces
drive the expansion of outsourcing.
Many varied scenarios.
Wide range of competency in:
– Decisions to outsource
– Management of outsourcing engagements
Wide range of impacts on companies, teams, and
individuals.

69. Conclusion
The process of deciding how to outsource can lead to
productivity and quality improvements.
By focusing on the HOW question, technical
communicators can gain greater influence.
The jury is still out on the competency of large offshore IT
companies to manage technical writing.
Firms specializing in technical writing are a better bet.
The Philippines is uniquely positioned to excel in
technical writing.
With careful planning, excellent results are possible.
Threat or opportunity: You choose.

70. Conclusion
Outsourcing, poorly conceived,
planned, and executed, can spread,
expand, and increase the worst
qualities of an organization.
Outsourcing, done well, can promote
the growth of a thriving organization
and contribute to continual
improvement.

71. Invitation
Do you want to:
Reduce technical writing costs and
ease writing management woes,
while maintaining or improving content quality?
Then contact Barry Saiff:
barrysaiff@saiffsolutions.com
Skype: SaiffSolutions
US #: 415 350 2959
+63 917 872 0929
http://www.saiffsolutions.com

72. Sources
• Offshoring Information Technology: Sourcing and
Outsourcing to a Global Workforce, Erran Carmel and
Paul Tjia, Cambridge University Press, 2005
• The Services Shift: Seizing the Ultimate Offshore
Opportunity, Robert E. Kennedy with Ajay Sharma, FT
Press, 2009
• Outsourcing Technical Communication: Issues, Policies,
and Practices, Edited by Barry Thatcher and Carlos
Evia, Baywood Publishing, 2008