Creation of an Offshore development center

European Company used us to set up its own development centre in India using the Build-Operate-Transfer approach. European Company provides data services solutions for enterprise customers. It is recognized worldwide for its unique competency and patented technology in object management, virtual memory architectures, high-performance caching, and data distribution technologies.

The European Company wanted to expand its R&D operations in India. While its top management wanted to reap the benefits of offshore development, its Engineering Team was not entirely convinced. This was because the European Company had a technologically complex product. Moreover, it had no experience in outsourcing development, even locally in the US. The European Company was looking for a risk free way to set up an initial team in India, convince some of its own management about the feasibility and benefits, and then go ahead and expand India operations.

European Company leveraged our Build-Operate-Transfer service, BuildODC, to quickly set up a team in India. The initial team consisted of experienced developers (all IIT/REC graduates) hired specifically for European Company as per its requirements. The offshore team adopted the product development methodology followed by European Company's development team in the USA. Access to the source code and bug system was provided through a secure infrastructure. Communications were mainly through scheduled weekly status calls for each product team as well as daily informal discussions between the two teams on design and implementation issues. Although bulk of the communication was through e-mail, members of both the teams also used voice and internet messenger services as needed. Quarterly visits by European Company Product Managers & Engineering Managers to India ensured that the offshore team always had a clear vision of the product roadmap. Once the European Company was convinced that the Offshore Model worked for them, they set up their own subsidiary in India and exercised the transfer option. All our Employees working for European Companies were transferred to European Company India. Even after the transfer was completed, we helped Company Stevens transition the management. A risk free way to set up a subsidiary in India. The European Company could defer capital investment for setting up its own subsidiary in India till it was convinced of its success. It also learned a lot about hiring and retention of people in India and processes required for successful dual shore product development. Since the transfer option was priced in the initial contract itself, there were no valuation surprises.