Abstract :
Offshoring has sustained much criticism, mainly over the issue of whether shipping IT work abroad is good for the US as a whole. Does it benefit a US firm to offshore its IT work - specifically software development and maintenance? This paper discusses several reasons for firms to be wary of this practice. For some managers, these considerations might tip the balance against offshoring. For those who wish to offshore anyway, this article can serve as a map of the pitfalls to try to avoid.
Keywords :
DP management; outsourcing; offshoring; Collaborative software; Collaborative tools; Collaborative work; Cultural differences; Humans; Information technology; Programming profession; Software development management; Software maintenance; Software tools; Capability Maturity Model (CMM); GUI; India; Linux; Software Engineering Institute (SEI); The Information Technology Association (ITAA); cultural differences; infrastructure costs; language problems; offshoring; onsite managers; physical proximity; the bottom line; the quality gap; vendor markup;
