Making any offshore outsourcing engagement work is a challenge in itself. The task may look daunting, but if one looks at it with objectivity and a will to make it succeed, the challenges start to mitigate. Bottomline - Bridge the cultural gaps and over-communicate with your offshore partner.

We share below some of the learnings from our past experience and numerous instances of failed relationships we have come across during our journey on this path.

• Communication styles
• Formal versus informal styles
• Process orientation
• Values and ethics

India Overview

• Located in Southeast Asia and shares characteristics with Asian Culture

  • Conflict avoidance
  • Respect of family
  • Strong belief in hierarchy
  • Traditional gender roles

• Indians
  • Are highly educated; highly technical
  • Speak British English
  • Use titles when addressing colleagues
  • Expect punctuality, though they may not practice it themselves
  • Like to be polite; “No” is impolite
  • Overall are socially conservative

• Before engaging in cross-cultural exchange, create a meta-language for information communication
  • Modes of communication vary in different cultures and different professions
  • Create a construct to allow people to express decisions about communication and context of communication
• Discuss openly what works best

• High Context Cultures - India
  • Reliance upon friends, associates, family
  • No communication is considered in isolation
  • Reliance upon protocol and structure for meaning
  • Low velocity decision-making

• Low Context Cultures – Europe
  • Reliance upon facts, independent of source
  • “Context” is the message
  • Concise, almost cryptic phrasing
  • High velocity messages with little interference

• If possible, establish face-to-face meetings
  • Video conferencing
  • Travel initially and meet your vendor

• Exchange personal information
  • Indians talk about families, religion, politics at work
  • Exchange photographs (‘snaps’)
  • Find what you have in common and talk about it every time

• Make small talk before you start to talk about work

• Building the relationship establishes trust
  • Sometimes considered more important than professional experience
  • Opinionated and well-informed discussions build bridges faster

• E-mail
  • When everything is written comprehension improves
  • Follow up to ensure the e-mail was received and understood

• Instant messaging
  • Great for quick questions
  • Use for 1-2 sentence answers or quick clarification

• Phone (cell phone)
  • Use to talk through issues or discuss approaches
  • Accents can be difficult to understand
  • Land lines can drop the connection

• Video conferencing

• Faxes are considered unimportant and passé

• Internal kickoff call
  • Get to know each other
  • Establish roles and responsibilities
  • Set expectations for collaboration and project

• Regular meetings
  • Discuss progress and issues
  • Give the India team direct contact with the client if it makes sense

• People exchange
  • Travel as schedule and project costs allow
  • For critical projects

• Others – explore what else suits best to collaborate for your unique situation.

• Provide instructions to ensure success
  • Be specific and detailed
  • Use style guides, standards, and guidelines
  • Format instructions clearly, using bullets, headings, etc.
    • Format instructions like a checklist
  • Send examples or screenshots
  • Do not assume anything or leave anything unsaid
  • Explain abbreviations and avoid jargon

• Over communicate
  • Over communicate in both written and verbal modes
  • Respond to received communications within a time frame
  • It is not spamming, it is THE key to success of the engagement
• Touch base often
  • Avoid yes/no questions; use probing questions instead
  • Example: “Tell me what the obstacles were on the assignment to convert the files to XML” rather than “How did the job go for you?”
• Provide written feedback
  It remains on record & improves comprehension Over communicate

There are few wrongs for outsourcing jobs, there are bad models to follow and wrong vendors to choose. OUTSOURCING DEMANDS MAXIMUM FLEXIBILITY FROM A VENDOR AND MAXIMUM CLARITY FROM A CLIENT