Category Archives: Inshoring

Ten IT Skills on the Brink of Extinction worldwide

IT is constantly changing with regard to skills, infrastructure, and service delivery. So much so that IT skills gained two years ago may well be obsolete today. That means the skills college students learn in their freshman and sophomore years can easily be irrelevant by graduation. Keeping up can be a challenge. There are way too many mission-critical projects needing completion. Only people with the right knowledge, experience, and skills will be moving up instead of moving on.

This still poses a challenge to the outsourcing vendors. while clients struggle to retire systems with these outdated technology, it is often not easy for various reasons from cost of re-write, need to support some clients, retain data just to name a few. When clients turn to their outsourcing partner for these skills to support them till these applications are finally retired, it becomes a problem to find suitable resources. Most of the outsourcing resources are young and would like to work on cutting edge technologies often removing rom their resumes legacy technologies. They are afraid to be tagged as legacy specialists and want to move on quick.

To help you stay ahead of the game, here are ten IT skills that are on the brink of extinction.

1. COBOL, Fortran, and Other Mainframe Programming Languages
They were popular and commonly used for years. Now, the majority of programming work has transitioned to object-oriented languages like Objective C, Java, C++, and C#, pushing COBOL and Fortran to the back shelf. Sure having these skills means you can support older applications. But as businesses drop these older programs for modern applications written in newer languages, these types of programmers will have fewer opportunities to put their skills to work.

2. Windows XP, Vista, and Windows Server 2003
This year, Microsoft will end its support of Windows XP and Vista. Next year will see the end of support for Windows Server 2003. If bugs, exploits, etc., are found in them, they will go unpatched. Many new applications no longer support them and drivers are getting harder to find. Though there are still many IT staff who know these operating systems, the demand for these skills is rapidly shrinking.

3. PBX Systems and Public Switched Telephone Networks (PSTNs)
Traditional PBX systems and PSTNs are gradually being replaced by servers with the same and more functionality in software. Modern communications software does much more than route voice calls to desktop telephones. These days unified communications combines voice, voicemail, fax, and data to the desktop, along with other features and functions, all offered in software configuration.

4. Silverlight
Microsoft introduced Silverlight to compete with Adobe Flash. They promoted it to develop desktop widgets and web pages in Vista. Windows 8 will still run Silverlight, but Silverlight fails to work with the new Windows Store (a.k.a. Metro) apps or on Windows Phone. It is very much a Windows-only technology and fading in favor of HTML5.

5. Middleware Support
With operating systems taking up the functions of many middleware packages, middleware has become a means of supporting legacy solutions. By their definition, legacy systems are older solutions being used until they can be replaced, which removes the need for the middleware.

6. Adobe Flash
Flash is widely used, but Adobe dropped support for all mobile platforms back in 2011. Like Silverlight, Flash is being replaced with HTML5. So, most websites are moving to HTML5, which works on mobile and desktop operating systems, including iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, and Linux.

7. Software Installation and Support
The move to the cloud is expanding. Software as a service is becoming normal. This reduces the need for software installers and those who support software. Instead of patching and upgrading on the local computer, the work is done on the cloud.

8. Hardware Repair
In today’s world, instead of repairing a failed hardware part or peripheral device, users most often replace them. With lower prices and upgraded components, it’s cheaper to replace parts than it is to repair them.

9. Server Administrator Skills
With virtualization becoming the way of the future, fewer servers are being deployed as the number virtual servers increases. That means there is a big drop in demand for server administrators who only know server administration.

10. Massive CRM, ERP, and SCM Applications Support
Many customer relationship management (CRM) applications like PeopleSoft and Siebel are going away in favor of cloud-hosted apps that accomplish the same functions. The same is true for enterprise resource planning and supply chain management, according to our annual IT Skills and Salary Report.
Conclusion

Making a list like this is often a great challenge as it is usually a moving target. For example, there are more lines of COBOL programming written than any other language. Someone will have to maintain all that as long as there are any systems still running with those programs. At the same time, the chance of finding a job with that as a major skill requirement is becoming very slim. That suggests that people wanting to build a career in IT should consider more recent programming languages like HTML5.

In any case, if you are relying on one of the skills above as your key strength, it is time to look at supplementing your skill set. Respondents to our 2014 IT Skills and Salary Survey identified these growth areas for 2014:

• Programming and application development
• Help desk and technical support
• Networking
• Mobile applications and device management
• Project management
• Database administration
• Security
• Business intelligence and business analytics
• Cloud

Backsourcing..

Backsourcing as definied by Wikipedia is the process of bringing jobs previously outsourced back under the roof of the company to be performed internally.

Backsourcing has been increasingly discussed as companies decide to cease outsourcing operations, whether because of the issues outsourcing agreements encounter, because of pressure to bring jobs back to their home country, or simply because it has stopped being efficient to outsource a given task outside of a company. Backsourcing is sometimes substituted and confused with “in-sourcing”, however in-sourcing simply refers to conducting certain activities in-house (whether or not by a third party),while backsourcing refers to bringing previously outsourced activities back in-house.

There is a phenomenon called the “paradox of choice.” It argues that though we want many options, in the face of a large number of possibilities we tend to make decisions more impulsively, or not at all. In other words, too much choice prompts us to be reactive rather than strategic. And that can be the case when faced with the decision to outsource, in-house, or contract for some tasks while outsourcing others, and everything in between.

According to recent reports, backsourcing — also known as insourcing — has been increasing over the last four years. The best-known examples include such companies such as General Motors, JP Morgan Chase and American Airlines.
Computer Economics recently released its survey report, “IT Outsourcing Statistics: 2013/2014” which shows a trend towards a decline in outsourcing.
According to these statistics, outsourcing is down from an average 11.9% in 2012 to 10.6% in 2013. http://www.computereconomics.com

There was a time when outsourcing was the standard go-to answer. For about 15 years, 90% of businesses in North America favoured outsourcing first and foremost — albeit, it was its perceived cost-saving factor that drove the trend.

But as every technologist knows, in our industry change is the only constant. Today, outsourcing is no longer the obvious or simple solution. It has become far more complex given the explosion of mixed sourcing models, such as staff augmentation, managed services, out-tasking, project-based consulting and cloud service providers. Some firms felt the total lose of control which held them ransom to business and exposed them in front of their competitors. E.g. a large company in mid west could not launch their life saving production platform due to delays by their outsourcing provider and went into bankruptcy while their competitor had insourcing arrangement to fill the gap.

That said, outsourcing of IT is still predicted to continue to be a major part of IT budgets. Certainly, outsourcing can be a magic bullet in some cases. But in others –not so much. every firm needs a different type of outsourcing model, this is perhaps the bane, many firms make the mistake of choosing a wrong model or going with just single model merely looking at the cost savings.

More and more IT leaders say they are learning this fact the hard way – hence, the rise in backsourcing. A Forrester study conducted last year shows 32% of 1,000 IT professionals who had been using third-party service providers plan on ending the relationships and bringing the work back in-house.
The main reasons listed for their change of heart include:

1.Poor quality of service.
2.Savings were not as high as expected.
3.Geo political disturbances
4.Outsourcers were lagging behind in technology.
5.Their companies had grown to the point where in-house made more sense
6.Poor management by outsourced partner or decline in performance use to M&A activity

Interestingly, a 2012 Deloitte survey of 111 decision-makers shows 79% of those who backsourced were “happy” with the results. The rest were neutral – adding up to a dissatisfaction rate of zero, which is rare. Also note that back sourcing has strong leadership given the stakes are high in bringing it back.

Reversing the decision to outsource can be professionally uncomfortable for the sourcing initiative’s leaders, and the dismantling of relevant in-house capabilities often makes in-sourcing infeasible in many cases and cost prohibitive as well. Their point drives home the need to think strategically, and long-term, in the face of an elastic list of options. Flexibility for IT is now as critical a factor as cost. Certainly, in the short term, outsourcing may appear more affordable but the key question in our hyper-competitive fast-changing market must be, Does it make business performance better?’ Does it make you a better competitor?

Again, the need for agility for and within business are driving the IT trends whether it involves insourcing, the development of “rogue applications” by the business without governance or building an in-house IT service bureau for the organization.

Lately companies are realizing how the cost factor has moved up from where they started earlier. rapid outsourcing meant the hubs had to deal with high cost of wages besides geo-political situations that hindered its growth. Competitors also meant dropping quality in the outsourcing hubs which in turn reflected in performance for the clients.

Backsourcing starts where failure of outsourcing begins mostly. while some companies have selectively backsourced others have gone for 100%. The situation is not dire but there is a possibility it can come become if the same trend continues with lack of adequate ROI on outsourcing besides of course all the hindrances it poses.

Improving productivity – the vital tips

Improving productivity is one of major challenges that leaders face today. This is more so in a outsourced environment with challenges of remote workforce puts pressure on the clients to get their money’s worth. This is a wonderful compilation to utilize.

Here are the top 11 tips — from CIOs, IT executives, productivity and leadership experts and project managers — for getting the most out of your IT team.

1. Set goals — and be “Agile.” “Be Agile in your goal setting,” says Zubin Irani, cofounder & CEO, cPrime, a project management consulting company. “Have the team set goals for the quarter — and break the work into smaller chunks that they can then self-assign and manage.”

2. Communicate goals, expectations and roles from the get-go. “Provide your team with background information and the strategic vision behind [each] project, activity, task, etc.,” says Hussein Yahfoufi vice president, Technology & Corporate Services, OneRoof Energy, a solar finance provider. “Not only does providing more background and information motivate employees more, [it makes them] feel more engaged.”
“Everyone on the team should know what the target is that they are shooting for and what success looks like at the end of their journey,” adds Tony McClain, executive partner and client advisor, Geneca, a custom software developer.

“They must be crystal clear on the part they play in [the project] and how they will help the team get to the finish line,” McClain says. “It is critically important that every member of the team know and understand what they are a part of and why they exist as it relates to your organization.”
3. Provide tools and and infrastructure that promote collaboration and efficiency. “This is basically the cardinal rule for any IT manager,” says Wes Wright, CIO, Seattle Children’s Hospital. “Even the best team is only as effective as its resources and systems that they use day to day,” he says. “If you want to get the most out of your IT team, invest in the proper tools. Deploy incredibly secure, yet user-intuitive solutions that will cut down on manual hours and improve accuracy in identifying network problems.”
“Implement a structure that gives shared visibility and metrics to development and IT teams, so the health of an application [or project] is easily viewed by both teams once operational, and issues can be resolved more rapidly,” says Andi Gutmans, CEO, Zend, which helps companies develop and deliver mobile and Web apps rapidly.

“Having technology resources that allow communication across branch offices/locations when working on a cross-office project is a must,” adds Aaron Weiss, director of Marketing, HP LaserJet and Enterprise Solutions. “IT managers and CIOs [should be able to easily] share project status reports or information updates … via cloud document management systems that allow teams to easily provide updates to the status document.”

Furthermore, “CIOs can improve the organization’s efficiency by implementing a platform-agnostic solution to let users sync important work files and access them from any device, anywhere, anytime,” notes Ross Piper, vice president of Enterprise Strategy at Dropbox.

4. Streamline workflow — and reduce unnecessary tasks. “Teams want to deliver big things and sometimes we just need to eliminate the barriers,” says Charles Galda, CIO, IT Technology Centers and Services, GE Capital. “We have a program called TAP (Technology Accelerating Productivity) that gives simple tips on how to use technology better, from finding the best time for a global meeting across time zones, to getting travel logistics to Outlook seamlessly,” he says.

“We have another initiative to continually review manager approvals, notifications, etc., so we know when they no longer add value and can be eliminated. Eliminating unnecessary steps keeps employee momentum moving forward, making us faster and more agile in responding to customers,”
Furthermore, ask yourself — and have your department heads ask themselves, “Is every form, report, status update, email, memo and meeting really necessary?” says Steven A. Lowe, Founder/CEO, Innovator LLC, which provides custom software development, IT consulting and IT staffing.

“If a task to be done does not obviously and directly contribute to the goal at hand, see if it can be simplified or omitted,” Lowe says. And “ask the team for suggestions on ways to streamline the processes and what still-necessary tasks could be done by others.”

5. Hold regular team meetings — but beware the excessive meeting trap. “This is an opportunity to share the departmental vision with the team and get everyone on the same page,” notes Mazin Abou-Seido, director of Information Technology at Halogen Software. “We’ve found that by sharing the big picture [at monthly and quarterly meetings] it gives the entire team a better understanding of what we’re trying to accomplish and encourages everyone to work together to achieve common goals.”
Just be careful about falling into the excessive meeting trap. Schedule regular team or department meetings for either once a week or once a month, and make sure that the day and time are reserved on everyone’s calendar.

6. Reduce reporting and don’t micromanage. “You hired smart, talented people because they could get the job done. Now let them do it,” says Jonathan Bruskin, principal consultant and program management lead, Excella Consulting. “Micromanagement and oversight can kill creativity and morale,” he notes. “CIOs, execs and PMs [can] increase their teams’ productivity by communicating goals and clearing administrative obstacles.”
Also, “reduce the amount of reporting they need to do, so that they can focus on getting work done,” advises Christian Buckley, director of Product Evangelism at Metalogix, which provides content infrastructure software. “If more than 10 percent of their day is spent reporting on the work they are doing, something is fundamentally wrong,” he says. “Constantly review and refine reporting to keep your metrics optimized.”

7. Provide real-time feedback — both positive and negative. “Immediately and publicly recognize team members for accomplishments,” says Halley Bock, CEO and president of Fierce, Inc., which provides leadership development and training. “Conversely, address issues or areas that need improvement privately, and immediately. Real-time performance feedback empowers individuals to take ownership of their work, builds trust and lets them know where they stand at all times.”

8. Turn off distractions. “Block out working times department-wide where instant messenger is turned off and meetings are avoided,” says Nathan Gilmore, cofounder, TeamGantt, a provider of Web-based Gantt chart software. “Having hours at a time of uninterrupted work can cause team productivity to soar.”
9. Implement a smart pay-for-performance program. “At Halogen our employees set goals every quarter that tie into larger company objectives,” says Abou-Seido. “As part of our pay-for-performance program, individual employee goals are tied to our Management by Objectives (MBO) program, which offers quarterly bonuses for achieving the set goals,” he says.

“In addition to individual goals, team members also have shared goals, which encourage collaboration and teamwork. Employees work with their managers to set their goals, and, as such, are engaged in the process and highly motivated to achieve them,” says Abou-Seido.

10. Offer development opportunities. “Give employees a chance to step up and take on a new challenge or increased responsibilities,” says Bock. “Not only does the individual benefit from the development opportunity, it shows the entire team that there are learning and advancement opportunities available,” she says. It also illustrates that as a leader, you’re willing to take chances, and that you trust employees will try their best to be successful.”

11. Nourish them. Literally. There’s a reason companies like Google offer employees free food. “Make sure to keep your team well snacked,” says Ginny Hunter, happiness trailblazer at Groopt, a provider of Seb design and communication tools.

“Sometimes we all just need a little snack break, whether it’s a piece of fruit or an espresso, to keep us going through the day,” Hunter says. And “it is much more convenient [and productive] to be able to grab something in the office instead of walking down the street.

SCAM – the new buzz in Indian IT industry growth

Wait its not a bad word after all.

SCAM – a acronym for Social Networking, Cloud, Analytics and Mobile computing is emerging as new sectors fueling growth.

The realms of social networking, cloud, analytics, and mobile computing are converging, and will present growth opportunities for market players in India as well as change the way computing is carried out in 2014. The four market segments will account for 89 percent of growth in global technology spend next year, predicted research firm IDC, which said IT expenditure will climb 5 percent to US$2.1 trillion in 2014.

Collectively dubbed SCAM among India’s ICT community, social networking, cloud, analytics, and mobile computing will be a big focus area for organizations next year. Consumers are accessing personal and work information via mobile devices, and companies are looking for tools function across the SCAM areas, noted The Economic Times.

Gartner’s India research director, Naveen Mishra says that “Companies will rejig portfolios around SCAM…the business opportunity [in this space] is becoming real and bigger due to adoption of smartphones and mobile Internet usage.” The market researcher forecast the SCAM sectors to worth US$104 billion worldwide, accounting for 25 percent of overall business software revenue by 2017.

Both large and smaller enterprises would look to outsource IT services providers to help them extract value from the convergence of mobile, cloud, social media, data analytics.

The anticipated demand will present opportunities for Indian market players which are buying stake with Western firms to create industry-specific big data analytics tools and help its customers better tap data analytics.

Specifically Large companies are in a better position to seize the opportunity. The small companies are too focused on old models [and] can look at partnerships with analytics or cloud firms to tap into the opportunity.”

Can Indian outsourcing hit $300 Billion by 2020?

Indian IT’s ambition to hit $300 billion in revenues by 2020 could be a tad over-ambitious, analysts and industry consultants believe, as for one it entails an average growth rate that is higher than the upper end of the range Nasscom’s forecast.

As global firms undergo rapid changes, with accelerated adoption of emerging technologies and business models, the Indian companies’ preponderance on IT outsourcing means they need to ramp up offerings in the new areas while continuing to keep their bread-and-butter work. Vendor executives, industry analysts and customers indicate a better spending environment in CY14 as reflected in Nasscom’s higher IT services and BPO exports growth estimate of 13-15 %. Most of this growth acceleration is likely to come from application modernization and emerging technologies (also called digital technologies). While 13-15 % growth in FY15 appears realistic, the sustainable growth rate over FY14-20 is likely to be somewhere closer to the lower end of the range. In other words, the industry is unlikely to hit the $300-billion mark in that time frame, unless it accelerates significantly.

IT has potential to reach $221 billion

The core of the business, services , is unlikely to look the same in the next seven years, and a focus on intellectual property, especially in digital technologies, could be the key to success. Indian companies in general are widely believed to invest a lot less in their R&D in comparison with those in the West, even within the services business. KPMG estimated that the industry could potentially reach $221 billion in revenue by 2020, a gap of $79 billion to the Nasscom target.

Not everyone agrees that the target is unachievable, Nasscom has been getting it predictions right for the last many years. So given their track record, the IT industry should be able to achieve $300 billion revenues by 2020. In the near term, buffeted by two years of very slow growth, the Indian IT industry is concentrating on winning re-bid contracts, as global corporations continue to look for cost-cutting options and offshore more work. The Indian companies are also adding business in managing computer systems and storage networks, called infrastructure management in the industry.

They run the risk of not investing enough in digital technologies and high-end consulting, an area where companies such as Accenture are more self-assured. The Indian services industry being still ill-equipped for the digital transformation wave that is about to be unleashed on organizations as they try to fulfill the customer engagement lifecycle. The rise of Big data, social media, and other emerging digital initiatives need a good look to capitalize.

Most Indian centric service providers are still focused on back-end services around F&A and HR and ERP services. There is huge need to make changes to their business model and invest in things like building consulting, there is such an opportunity open, but it is not easy for India pure play firms, some have failed in this endeavor earlier. If they can compete with the Big 3 in US and in Europe crossing 300B by 2020 is not a huge milestone.

The are some headwinds like political instability, threat of taxation, inflation, rising wages, Visa issues, upgrading education system to get more employable variety of IT pros which pose bottlenecks as well to achieve this ambitious growth.

Outsourcing analytics

Outsourcing analytics can offer huge benefits for client — but requires a carefully constructed relationship. The last decade has seen large amounts of data gathering in various forms be it loyalty programs or otherwise and companies are looking to monetize this huge data store via various means. Data is money and in most cases has a shelf life. The companies that have data are looking for various means to run analytics, help disseminate data either for themselves or for their clients. Selling insights instead of just selling data is another big emerging business with top dollars. Companies have invested hiring resources just to run their analytics 24/7 and in order to reduce costs are looking for outsourcing partners. There are lots of good examples of front-runners that have been doing this for a while but the big surge seems to be around the corner.

The surge of interest in big data has led to growing demand for analytics teams. Having big data capabilities can help companies become more efficient and improve overall competitiveness. Companies with superior data analytics capabilities have found ways to build long-term advantages. FedEx Corp., for example, has for years used its team of analytics professionals to create and maintain a competitive advantage through enhanced revenues and lower costs. One of the factors that has helped Wal-Mart Stores Inc. become one of the world’s largest and most successful retailers is the strength of its analytics. The ability to cross sell or up-sell is ably aided by analytics.

Assembling analytics teams, however, is difficult. For one thing, many companies lack the in-house knowledge and experience needed to put together an analytics team. Technologies are still emerging. What’s more, the labor market for analytics professionals has grown increasingly tight. The shortage of analysts — particularly those capable of developing and leading world-class teams that can enable a company to create a competitive advantage from its data and analytics — is driving organizations to consider outsourcing their analytics activities. However, choosing analytics providers and structuring effective working relationships that deliver value require managers to have a clear understanding of what they’re looking for and the potential risks involved.

Analytics is the latest in a string of activities companies are outsourcing to business process organizations (BPOs). As the telecommunications boom that began in the late 1990s led to improving communications with emerging markets, Fortune 500 companies began shifting call centers offshore to locations such as India and the Philippines to take advantage of less expensive labor. India, Philippines and some more Latin American countries are especially attractive because of its large English-speaking population and highly educated labor force. Once call centers were established to handle customer service and telesales, companies began identifying other activities that might be suitable for outsourcing or offshoring: IT services, computer programming, legal research, application processing and accounting.

Analytics was a late arrival to the business-process-outsourcing menu of services; companies that tasted success with other areas of outsourcing have been more successful in moving analytics offshore slowly and steadily.

This isn’t to say outsourcing analytics isn’t done at all today. “A number of well-known Fortune 500 companies outsource and offshore at least some of their analytics. It’s safe to say that outsourcing analytics will grow in the future. The shortage of analytics talent — “particularly those capable of developing and leading world-class teams that can enable a company to create a competitive advantage from its data and analytics” — is putting outsourcing on the agenda. The enormous cost advantage will eventually accelerate

Outsourcing analytics can be a wise strategy, too, as long as managers “have a clear understanding of what they’re looking for and the potential risks involved. For the MIT SMR report, Bell and Fogarty studied four multinational companies that used one or more offshore analytics outsourcers, as well as four analytics outsourcers operating in India. Through their research, they discovered differences in how analytically challenged and analytically sophisticated companies approach outsourcing. Regardless, care and management of the relationship with the selected analytics outsourcer will determine success or failure. “Outsourcing analytics requires a carefully constructed relationship, and the negotiation and evolution of this relationship needs to clarify who does what, who owns what and how each party can use the information it has,” they said.

In conclusion, future looks bright for outsourcing companies to tap into this market. From today’s smaller margins mainly due to early adopters playing carefully and outsourcers trying to grab market and entrench they, this market is poised to change. With heavy investments into Big data there is a market share for everyone that is ready to dive in with his or her credentials. Outsourcing companies investing in people, process and technology stand to gain the biggest in this sphere.

Understanding Indian culture – Quick tips

You perhaps cannot escape being tied to outsourced environment in some form or fashion, and for those that are fully engaged with outsourcing partners dealing with resources with multiple vendors in various countries it makes it pertinent to learn and understand the culture of the country where your resources are.

I will provide some insights and collateral on some of the outsourcing hubs in my next series of blog. lets start with Indian sub continent which happens to be one of the largest outsourcing hubs today.

handshake

To be inter-culturally competent doesn’t mean you are an authority in the values and beliefs of every culture. What it means is that you hold a deep respect for cultural differences and are eager to learn, and willing to accept that there are many ways of viewing the world.

Consider these tips while working in a Multi-Cultural Team:

Be Flexible (“blessed are the flexible for they cannot be bent out of shape!”)
Understand & Respect Different Cultures
Build Working Relationships Based on Different Work Values.
Beware of Generalizations – Cultures are Changing/Globalizing
Equal/Fair Treatment for all Team Members
Convey Your Desire to Be Sensitive to Another’s Culture – Early in the Relationship
Do Not Impose Your Own Values/Expectations on Others
Culture Cannot Be An Excuse for Poor Communication/Misunderstanding

Here are some good guides to learn more on this subject.

Internet: Centre for Intercultural Learning, An excellent site providing a local perspective on most issues.

http://www.intercultures.ca/cil-cai/country_insights-en.asp

An interesting publication produced by the United States Peace Corps that is a mix of personal experiences, cross-cultural training, and a host of ideas to help in establishing and expanding a global mindset. You may download this 256 page book (3.7Mb) for free, or download just the chapters you want.
Culture Shock Guides A well written book series (each on a different region or country).

Culture Matters http://www.peacecorps.gov/wws/publications/culture

Read: The World is Flat Thomas L. Friedman – provides in depth understanding of globalization in the 21st century.

Read a Local Newspaper or Magazine Many of these are available at no cost on the internet.

Dealing with Conflicts in outsourced environs

Working with virtual teams is very common in an outsourced environment. A virtual team is one where the team members are based in a number of different locations spread across multiple geographies and they communicate through communication tools and over the phone. It can be harder to manage conflict in virtual teams because you can’t see people when they are speaking and therefore you can’t pick up on their body language. As a result, conflicts can be quite far advanced before you even realize that there is a problem.

When your team all works in the same building it is easy to bring them together for meetings and discussions to help resolve conflict. But when they are scattered all over the country and beyond, it can be much harder to spot issues and deal with them.

Here are 5 tips to help you manage conflict on your virtual team.

1. Respect diversity

Everyone is different – you know that already! It really helps to have in mind the basic principle of respecting diversity. Don’t expect everyone to have the same approach, dealing with risk or even reporting status as you do. The more you learn about the culture of the people on your team, the easier you will find it to recognize that how they do things is down to their individual traits and working styles, and not a desire to create conflict in the team.

2. Learn a few words in their language

When you work with international teams, it can be a good icebreaker to learn a few words in their language. How about Ciao, ‘Hello’, ‘Goodbye’ and ‘Thank you?’ You can include these in emails or instant messages too.

This shows that you are willing to learn about their country and language, and that you are trying to make an effort. If you show that you are prepared to learn and try to understand their culture, they will hopefully be more willing to understand yours. This can also help stop conflicts before they start because it builds a better team environment and a more friendly, trusting team.

3. Deal with conflict early

As soon as you spot a conflict situation, deal with it. Because virtual teams don’t have the opportunity to chat informally over lunch or in the elevator, they miss out on many of the small social interactions that help build strong, trusting teams.

This can mean that by the time you hear about a potential conflict, it is already much further advanced than it would be if your team members were all working in the same building. So you need to act quickly to stop the situation getting worse. Call up the people involved or ask for clarification of the issue. Convene a meeting or send out a bulletin stating what is being done about the problem. You can use the same conflict management techniques that you would use on a team where the team members all work in the same office, but the key is to get in there as soon as you can and get the conflict sorted out before it escalates into something more serious. Look for conflict that could potentially be swept under the carpet. This happens more so on the remote locations.

4. Know when to stop using online tools

Online collaboration tools are great. They allow you to communicate in real-time, and they help team members who don’t have English as their first language understand the issues more effectively, because they rely on written communication (which is often easier for non-native speakers to understand) instead of verbal communication (as non-native speakers can get lost in a fast-moving conversation with a number of different accents).

They let you use instant messaging, wikis, discussion groups and other features that promote collaboration within the team. In fact, they can minimize the risk of conflict because everyone has access to the same data and a single version of everything. But there is a time to stop using online tools and start talking to people over the phone or in person – and that time is when there is a severe conflict situation.

However good you are at getting your message across in writing, nothing beats a face-to-face meeting, and sometimes you need one to sort out the problem once and for all. So if you can, get the relevant parties together to discuss what the issue is, how to resolve it and the next steps for moving forward. Although this may seem expensive, sometimes it is the only way.

Consider using web video conferencing if you can’t stretch to bringing people together in person, as that is a suitable alternative. The important thing is that you are speaking to each other and that you can see each other.

5. Try different communication styles

Online tools give you the chance to use a variety of communication techniques. You can produce formal reports, send emails and instant messages, or start discussion threads. You can share presentations, videos and documents, like minutes from team meetings. Try each of these and see which ones work best with different team members. You may find that one team member prefers instant messaging and another prefers emails – try to tailor the way you communicate with them to their preferences.

Good communication is one of the ways to prevent conflict arising in the first place and to deal with it when it does arise, so knowing how your team members communicate and how best to get your message across is an important skill in building a successful team.

Conflict on virtual teams, like conflict on any team, is inevitable. You can do what you can to minimize the risk, for example by using good communication skills and being respectful of language and cultural differences in the team, but it isn’t something that you can avoid completely. You can guarantee that it is going to happen at some point, but the skill is in identifying the situation as soon as possible and dealing with it using appropriate techniques. If you are professional, respectful and courteous, and recognize and deal with conflict early, you’ll be well on your way to managing disagreements in the team effectively.

6. Have an ambassador : Sometimes it helps to send someone either as decoy or on purpose to deal with the conflict. Someone who has dealt with conflicts before and has a knack of dealing with all parties. Listening skills are important. Knowing the old age adage of praising in public and criticizing in private is a clue as well.

Global IT Spending on the rise in 2014 – will Outsourcing inch up

Outsourcing is posed to get a boost with the global IT spending slated to rise in 2014 and further in 2015.

After few years of stagnant growth, Global spending on technology will rise 6.2 percent in U.S. dollars to US$2.22 trillion in 2014, helped by an improving economy and growing interest in areas such as mobility and cloud computing, according to new data from Forrester Research. If the prediction bears out, it will be an improvement: IT spending grew only 1.6 percent in U.S. dollars during 2013. Growth will quicken in 2015, rising 8.1 percent in U.S. dollars, but will remain “well below the double-digit growth rates of the late 1990s and 2000 times.

The U.S. dollar is expected to be weaker compared to many currencies next year, and IT spending will rise only 5.5 percent in local currencies, a percentage point less than previous projections, according to the full Forrester report. U.S. buyers are setting the pace, being responsible for 40 percent of all tech spending, while the nation’s economy has continued to grow. This is despite some political turmoil. But economies in Western Europe are only now beginning to recover while Brazil, China, India and Russia are going through a period of sluggish and uneven growth looking at big brother at times in US.

Software will account for the largest share of tech spending in 2014, at $568 billion, followed by IT outsourcing at $442 billion, IT consulting and integration services at $421 billion, computer equipment with $416 billion and communications equipment at $373 billion, according to Forrester’s report.

Software’s leading position is not a surprise, because it is the focal point for tech innovation today, whether that innovation takes the form of cloud computing and adoption of software-as-a service (SaaS) and platform-as-a-service (PaaS); smart computing and big data, real-time predictive analytics, and smart process apps; or mobile computing and mobile apps and enterprise app stores. IT consulting and outsourcing firms “ride behind software purchases,” helping customers implement and use it.

10 Stories That Shaped Tech Policy in 2013

See the link below, if you missed this story here it is…atleast two of them caught my attention hat will have a forbearing on Outsourcing.

1. Immigration reforms. This has been in a sort of stalemate for sometime now with no promise of anything happening anytime soon. Immigration reform into which this is bundled sort of took a backseat due to the President’s signature law “Obamacare” that hogged much of the limelight, the fact that it was rocky meant more time spent on bringing it back on rails while important topics like these took a backseat. if nothing gets done in 2014 due to lack of political will and consensus, this will most likely become a election issue and won’t see the light of its day till much later.

2. Cyber security
Not a single week passes without hearing some level of breach, we have seen some of the biggest heist of personal information besides financial information. All this will step up the trend to increase focus on cyber security

3. Mobile and social media
Unlocking of this sector and steady growth will mean some big dollars flowing into the outsourcing sector.

http://www.cio.com/article/745019/10_Stories_That_Shaped_Tech_Policy_in_2013?page=3&taxonomyId=3146