Frequently Asked Questions
BASIC QUESTIONS
- What is offshore development?
- Why should my business use outsourcing?
- How can I build strong outsourcing relationships?
- Is outsourcing right for my company?
BUSINESS-RELATED QUESTIONS
- Can OSD provide the types of services I’m looking for?
- Where in the world is OSD's Offshore Development Center?
- When does OSD work?
- How does OSD communicate with its clients?
- Will OSD re-subcontract my services?
- Who works for OSD?
- How does OSD operate?
- Where does OSD’s expertise lie?
- What will happen after OSD develops my software?
- Will my competitors have access to my new software?
- How do I know that OSD will do the work well?
- Can you protect my company’s confidential information?
- May I speak with some of your past clients?
- Can OSD meet my company’s quality standards?
- Is OSD willing to adapt its development practices to meet my business’s needs?
- How does OSD determine its prices?
- Will OSD accept the projects that my business is completing for other clients?
OPERATIONAL QUESTIONS
- How long will it take for OSD to respond to my inquiry?
- Will OSD give me a budget estimate and proposed timeline before the project begins?
- What happens if we need to change the project’s scope?
- How will you test the new software you’re developing?
- If OSD staff changes, will anyone understand my software’s coding?
- What happens if there’s a bug in my company’s new custom software?
- How much information will you need from my company before getting started?
- How can I know that OSD will deliver the project as promised?
- Can OSD handle multiple changes during the project?
- Does OSD have a lot of staff turnover?
- How does OSD recruit new talent?
TECHNOLOGICAL QUESTIONS
- How does OSD manage projects?
- How do you track different versions?
- Can you develop complex software programs?
- Who will have the rights to the coding for the completed software?
- Will my company have access to the development files?
- Does OSD have the right mix of technical experience for my project?
- What language is the code written in?
- Does OSD document its codes?
BASIC QUESTIONS
1. What is offshore development?
Offshore development is the same all over the world, regardless of where it’s done. At Orient Software Development Corporation (OSD), we set the industry standard for offshore development. When you work with our teams, the project manager will communicate with you directly about our progress in each and ever step of the project. This includes the initial project development, a thorough analysis of your needs, documentation of all the requirements, prototype creation, product development and testing, market release, integration with your existing business practices, and ongoing technical support. Even though our work is performed offshore, it will seem as if we’re working at your side, thanks to our exceptional communication and the use of the Internet.
2. Why should my business use outsourcing?
Modern businesses are under significant pressure to reduce their expenses, raise productivity, recruit and retain top talent, gain recognition for their business practices, use diversification to manage risks, and bring new products to the market quickly. Offshore outsourcing is one way that businesses are meeting many of these goals while enjoying four main benefits.
Reduced costs: Highly educated and experienced information-technology professionals who live overseas earn less than do their counterparts in Europe and North America. The savings on labor costs mean that your business can do more with less.
Talented workers: There are many well qualified professionals in the IT industry in Vietnam, and they have years of experience in the areas your company needs help with. Using their vast knowledge base and raw talent, they can deliver IT services of the highest quality, at a fraction of the price you would pay be doing things in-house, or even using local or national contractors.
The best in the business: Good offshore development centers are obsessed with continuously improving their processes and offering the highest-quality services. When you choose to use an offshore development center that is reliable, predictable, and efficient, you can minimize the risk of having a project fail or not be delivered on time. Most of the IT vendors in Vietnam are renowned for its culture that constantly strives for perfection.
24/7 service: When you choose to use offshore development in Vietnam, you’ll find that the time difference works in your favor. When you’re staff members are getting the rest they need at night, our IT professionals are hard at work, developing customized software solutions for your IT needs and other projects so that you can get your products and services to market faster than you ever thought possible.
3. How can I build strong outsourcing relationships?
Many studies have shown that more than 90% of the Fortune 500 companies use outsourcing to meet at least some of their IT needs. Most of these companies have ongoing budget lines for these outsourced functions year after year, because they know that outsourcing yields significant cost-reduction benefits. These companies also know how important it is to select the right vendor, and they tend to prefer using an offshore outsourcing center that has an onshore office that responds promptly to questions or problems that may arise. Finally, these companies fully understand the importance of maintaining good communication with the chosen contractors so that they can monitor the project as it advances and make the most of the business relationship.
4. Is outsourcing right for my company?
Outsourcing can improve the performance and profitability of virtually any company, but some businesses are more prepared to benefit from offshore outsourcing more than others. Consider the statements listed below. If some or all of them apply to your business, then you should seriously consider beginning to outsource some of your work.
- You often wonder whether you’re making optimal use of your existing resources.
- You’d like to find ways for your IT staff to improve the efficiency of your business.* You’re concerned about how your company can keep up with rapidly changing technologies.
- You ask yourself whether your company’s IT department could handle things more quickly and more effectively.
- You’re interested in offshore outsourcing and want to learn more.
- You’re concerned about your employees’ reactions to outsourcing and want to know more about what options they’ll have.
BUSINESS-RELATED QUESTIONS
1.Can OSD provide the types of services I’m looking for?
OSD provides services and solutions to industry leaders all over the world. Our specialty lies in helping our clients create offshore development centers and staff them with the best IT teams that are fully committed to the clients’ projects. Most of our services can be grouped into one of two categories:
- Development and Maintenance of Applications
- SEO and Internet Marketing
2. Where in the world is OSD's Offshore Development Center?
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam is the home of Orient Software offshore development center.
3. When does OSD work?
We normally operate 8 hours a day, 5 days a week.
4. How does OSD communicate with its clients?
We use the power of the Internet to regularly communicate through VOIP calling, email, and instant messaging programs.
5. Will OSD re-subcontract my services?
OSD has its own full development center in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, and we never subcontract our client’s work. This lets us retain control over the projects, including the way in which they’re completed and who completes them. And it’s a decision that reflects our commitment to making our clients’ business interests as our highest priority.
6. Who works for OSD?
Most OSD team members are college graduates with degrees in computing technologies or computer engineering. We pride ourselves on recruiting and retaining the best and brightest individuals who are talented in IT and fostering their professional growth in a work environment that’s always seeking perfection. Our bright and enthusiastic employees have years of experience working on projects for multinational companies just like yours.
7. How does OSD operate?
To be able to consistently deliver top-notch products and services, OSD has created processes and methodologies that are the best in the business. Our quality-assurance processes guarantee that our products and services are error-free, and our project management experience and techniques keep projects on time and within your budget constraints. We also have extensive communication tools at our disposal to make sure that our clients always know the status of their outsourced projects.
Here’s a short list of some of the processes we use to maximize our clients’ satisfaction:
- Weekly reports about the status of your projects
- Configuration management programs
- Extensive bug-management and software-checking systems
- A comprehensive knowledge management system
- Multi-staged deliveries of prototypes
8. Where does OSD’s expertise lie?
We have many strengths, with three core competencies:
- Microsoft .NET expertise
- Professional relationships with leading software companies around the world
- Recruitment and retention of the best IT experts
9. What will happen after OSD develops my software?
After we have finished designing and delivering your new software, we are always willing to offer the post-development support and maintenance that you need. We engage in a variety of support and/or maintenance contracts that include identifying and correcting any software bugs, tracking maintenance requests, and developing new features and add-ons. We can also provide support and maintenance for your other software programs, even if we didn’t develop them.
10. Will my competitors have access to my new software?
We never misuse our clients’ software coding. Each and every member of our IT teams has signed a comprehensive non-disclosure agreement and the confidentiality of your company’s information is fully protected by law. Our software developers are professionals who value their professional integrity and fully know the importance of not divulging your company’s trade secrets.
11. How do I know that OSD will do the work well?
All of the software we develop comes with a one-month warranty for working out any bugs and helping you get the program up and running in your office. If you’d like to extend the warranty beyond that period, we have a variety of monthly and quarterly contracts for the support and/or maintenance that you need.
12. Can you protect my company’s confidential information?
Before you turn your project over to OSD, we’ll enter into a binding Project Confidentiality Agreement and a Non-Disclosure Agreement that legally require us to hold all of your business information in the strictest confidence. In addition, each of our employees has signed similar agreements with OSD. We never share the details of our clients’ projects or use them as references without getting their explicit approval in advance.
13. May I speak with some of your past clients?
Yes! OSD maintains lists of previous and current clients who are willing to speak with our potential clients about our services. We are proud to have such strong working relationships with multinational companies that are ready to vouch for our services and our ability to consistently exceed expectations.
14. Can OSD meet my company’s quality standards?
At OSD, we’re continually striving to improve the quality of our services at every level within the organization. In addition to our quality-oriented workplace culture, we use methodologies that are derived from the types of quality-control models used in CCM Level 3 and CCM Level 4 organizations. We have taken the best practices in the industry and modified them for the specific requirements of offshore software development.
15. Is OSD willing to adapt its development practices to meet my business’s needs?
OSD is extremely flexible and willing to adapt its standards and methodologies as needed to deliver the custom software that you want and need. We’re willing to work with you every step of the way to make offshore outsourcing a cost-effective and high-quality solution for your software needs.
16. How does OSD determine its prices?
We have a diverse client base and we recognize that their needs differ, so we offer multiple engagement models to our clients. Most of our clients choose one of the following models, or some combination of them:
- Pricing for each project
- Pricing based on the OSD resources and staff time required to complete the project
- A development facility created for and dedicated to your company’s needs
17. Will OSD accept the projects that my business is completing for other clients?
Yes! We value partnerships at all levels and we often work with consulting companies all over the world to help them use outsourcing as a way to benefit their own clients. No matter what reason you have to use offshore delivery, OSD is ready to provide the reliable offshore services that you need.
OPERATIONAL QUESTIONS
1. How long will it take for OSD to respond to my inquiry?
When you send OSD an email, we respond within a few minutes. If you want even faster communication, we’re available to chat via instant messaging programs, too.
2. Will OSD give me a budget estimate and proposed timeline before the project begins?
We have developed specialized tools to help us obtain an accurate and thorough understanding of any project’s scope of work, budget, and timeline. Our in-house talent includes experienced project management exerts who use analytical tools to create accurate estimates of the time and other resources needed to complete your project.Once we fully understand the resource requirements, we offer your business a comprehensive estimate and schedule, and then Microsoft Project, Dwins Netoffice, and Mantis help us keep our teams on-track and monitor the project as it progresses.
3. What happens if we need to change the project’s scope?
At OSD, we understand that projects sometimes change mid-stream, and we’re experienced in managing those changes and addressing scope creep. For a relatively minor change, your company should speak with the appropriate OSD project manager to implement it as soon as possible. Depending on the size and nature of the change, we may need to submit a revised budget and/or timeline for your company’s approval before we can implement the change.
4. How will you test the new software you’re developing?
The OSD team working on your project will include experts in quality assurance who follow time-tested processes for extensively testing any new software system. Our quality-assurance processes have a solid foundation in the industry’s best practices, but they have also been customized to meet the specific needs of offshore development. Here are just a few of the key components of our quality initiatives:
- We perform tests at each and every phase of the Software Development Life Cycle
- Our project management methodology is closely intertwined with our quality assessment procedures
- Every OSD team includes experts in quality assurance for your software
- We use a software program known as Mantis, which records all types of quality concerns related to our custom software development
5. If OSD staff changes, will anyone understand my software’s coding?
Staff inevitably come and go, so it is critical for organization such as OSD to retain their project-specific knowledge over time. To that end, we always make sure to have a “shadow resource” for every 5-6 IT experts who are working on your project. That way, even if those software developers leave, we’ll always have someone on staff who knows the ins and outs of your new software program. We also have high standards for developing and maintaining detailed documentation for each project. In the future, we can always return to those documents as a source of information about your software.
6. What happens if there’s a bug in my company’s new custom software?
We have software tools that help us identify software bugs, prioritize them, and track our progress in fixing those bugs. Our support teams respond immediately to software bugs that are categorized as being urgent.
7. How much information will you need from my company before getting started?
Before accepting a project, we must thoroughly understand the scope of work, and that requires working together with our clients to gather all the details. If your company does not have any specs worked out, we’ll ask you to describe the desired system in one or two pages. Based on that document, our team of IT experts will develop the formal, technical requirements of the software program that needs to be created. We pass the document back and forth with our clients for review to make sure that we’re on the same page. Depending on the size of the project, developing a detailed scope of work can take a few days, weeks, or months. Once all the specific requirements (which we refer to as the project’s “Bible”) have been reviewed and approved, we ask the client to sign a document to that effect and then begin developing the custom software.
8. How can I know that OSD will deliver the project as promised?
At OSD, we pride ourselves on our use of project management tools and methodologies that let us deliver new software programs on time and within your budget requirements. When the project begins, we work with our clients to identify appropriate deadlines and milestones, and then we have a sign-off process for each deliverable as the project proceeds.
9. Can OSD handle multiple changes during the project?
In an ideal world, the scope of work would never change, but we understand that this simply isn’t realistic for many of our clients. So our processes rely on “XP” Extreme Programming, which is designed to handle these kinds of changes. Approximately half of our time on any project is spent in design, building the architecture, creating prototypes, and developing documentation. This happens before we begin any of the coding. This maximizes our flexibility in accommodating our clients’ changing needs. Clients are able to give their screen-by-screen approval of our prototype, and through this process we’re usually able to identify most or all needed changes before the complex coding process begins. Our entire process is designed to accommodate iterative, interactive changes from our clients.
10. Does OSD have a lot of staff turnover?
Our HR policies and procedures are designed to recruit and retain the best and brightest minds in IT. We foster a work environment with ongoing professional development opportunities, continuous learning, healthy competition among our staff, and dynamic collaboration. We offer competitive compensation packages for the local economy, as well as performance-based incentives. Consequently, OSD’s attrition rate is low, and this employee retention lets us give your projects the continuity that they need.
11. How does OSD recruit new talent?
Our human resources team includes recruiting experts who know where, when, and how to find the most highly qualified experts in C#, PHP, Java, Oracle, .NET and related software-development fields. Potential team members are invited to participate in an initial interview. This launches our rigorous selection process, which includes a test of technical knowledge, communication skills, and proficiency in English, as well as a discussion with an OSD group and another interview. Occasionally we invite our clients to interview the job candidates as well.
TECHNOLOGICAL QUESTIONS
1. How does OSD manage projects?
No matter what size a project is, OSD always assigns one project manager with the responsibility for delivering the final custom software solution that meets all the project specs and is presented to the client on budget and on time. Our clients have regular and direct communication with the project manager, who serves as s single point of contact and provides updates about the project’s progress. The project manager uses Microsoft Project and Dwins Netoffice to assign all internal resources to the project and to assign specific tasks to team members. This simplifies the process of measuring and monitoring the project’s progress.
2. How do you track different versions?
At OSD, our chosen version control system is Subversion.
3. Can you develop complex software programs?
We have completed a variety of custom software programs for our clients. The largest involve millions of lines of code, but the smallest may have just a few thousand lines. Many of our complicated projects have teams of 6-10 members developing software for three months or longer. We’re always ready to discuss the complexity of the type of software that will be able to meet your specific business needs.
4. Who will have the rights to the coding for the completed software?
Per our contracts, the client always has full proprietary ownership of the conceptual ideas, design, documentation, and coding for the software that we develop.
5. Will my company have access to the development files?
Throughout the software-development process, our clients continuously receive copies of the relevant files in order to encourage their involvement and interaction in the development process. Documentation, design, and code is regularly exchanged between OSD and the client for review and revision, and sometimes this happens even daily. This high volume of deliverables lets our clients rest assured that their projects are moving forward quickly and smoothly.
6. Does OSD have the right mix of technical experience for my project?
OSD team members are experts in many technology platforms. Our knowledge and experience lets us create exceptional custom software programs for our clients. Specifically, we have completed offshore software development in the following areas:
- Application packing services
- Client/server applications
- Legacy migration applications
- Web services
- Online applications
7. What language is the code written in?
Our offshore programmers are all proficient in English and they use the same software tools and programming languages that are used around the world. This means that your code development is in English, as is our project managers’ communication with clients.
8. Does OSD document its codes?
OSD has mandatory policies and procedures that require our programmers to adhere to standard coding practices and always document their coding work. This not only helps our clients understand our work, but also allows us to update and maintain the code during the warranty period after delivery of the completed custom software.