The decision to source software development to an overseas firm (offshoring) is looked at frequently in simple economic terms - it's cheaper, and skilled labor is easier to find. In practice, however, offshoring is fraught with difficulties. As well as the considerable challenge of controlling projects at a distance, there are differences in culture, language, business methods, politics, and many other issues to contend with. Nevertheless, as many firms have discovered, the benefits of getting it right are too great to ignore. This book explains everything you need to know to put offshoring into practice, avoid the pitfalls, and develop effective working relationships. It covers a comprehensive range of the important offshoring issues: from ROI to strategy, from SLA to culture, from country comparisons to provider marketing. Written for CTOs, CIOs, consultants, and other IT executives, this book is also an excellent introduction to sourcing for business students.

‘… there are some fascinating insights here for IT executives … The superb content isn't surprising once you realize that co-author Erran Carmel … was a leading expert on globally dispersed software teams long before CNN‘s Lou Dobbs ever heard of offshore outsourcing. … As you‘d expect, the book has country sketches and thoroughly covers subjects such as managing contractors, risks and legal issues. But for me, the richest sections deal with ‘soft‘ topics like cross-cultural issues and overcoming the problems of distance, time zones and language. For example. there‘s a great danger of miscommunication with Indian IT workers if Americans use slang, business code words or too-subtle hints. An American who says, ‘I was a bit disappointed that …‘ may actually be upset, but the Indian may interpret that statement as ‘It doesn't really matter‘. And while American IT workers use the word contractor as a business term, in India, the term could mean one who cleans toilets. Don't fly to Bangalore without reading this book.‘

Source: Computerworld