Working with an Indian Strategic Partner - The Inside Story

 A strategic partner in India creates intellectual capital in human resources and a predictable process for excellence in IT projects delivery.  Having a strategic partner outside one’s country may seem like a gamble if understanding & acclimatization of both teams’, is not an important factor of the exercise. A few guidelines to develop a long-term and mutually successful strategic relationship with your new Indian partner

• Pursue a partnership approach, rather than a vendor-customer relationship

It is good to have complete confidence in the new strategic partner and its consultants. They are your representatives abroad and more to the point, they are your eyes and ears on the ground.  In the end, its boils down to the relationship rather than the bumpy rides through the course of the engagement.

• Don't put price in front of trust

Make no mistake. Cost is NOT the only consideration for bringing an Indian strategic partner on board.  Forging and nurturing a relationship based on trust is the way ahead.  Cost may constitute 50% share in freezing in on an Indian strategic partner, but it’s the trust that makes you strive the extra bit to reach long term goals and objectives.

• Insulate your customers from your strategic partner

Plan every move with your strategic partner, keeping the customer interest intact. The emphasis should be on ploughing back savings into customer relationship building. Refrain from any change that could rattle this relationship.

• Let the partner work on mechanics, not vision

What do strategic partners work on? It unfolds on two levels: The conceptual process that sets vision and direction, second the nuts and bolts that make it happen. The first one is your domain while the latter can be worked out with your strategic partner. So, all you need to do now is write the specs: 'Here is the vision, the data elements, here is what the screens will look like, and here is how everything is going to function.' Send this message loud & clear to your strategic partner and they will execute it.

• Visit them. In person; over there

If you are getting into a big project or a long term relationship, it is worth getting on a plane and flying to India.  You sure are doing this for the cost savings, but a failed process is still money wasted. This will help you achieve better understanding of the day to day operations, issues and realities at ground zero. Establish a personal touch.  

• Don't underestimate the language barrier

Take advantage of the visit to chat with your strategic partner's consultants.  "In India, people have varying degrees of English speaking and writing capabilities.  Literally, everyone speaks English, but some may not communicate it as clearly.

• Seamless and secured infrastructure 

Considering the time zone differences and quantum of communication that is likely to happen, you will be depending largely on e-mail, teleconference / Skype/video conference (status calls, issue resolution calls, escalation calls, reporting calls).  The format and periodicity of the communication schedule must be put in place before the whole process begins.  It is important to protect your production data at any cost.  Data protection is the highest concern for most working with overseas partners. However, this threat has been de-risked through a stringent data security policy of strategic partners. Insist on sharing this policy and implement a good data security governance mechanism. Last but not the least, your partner should have a Disaster Recovery (DR)/Business Continuity (BC) Plan.

Your strategic partners’ consultants are a few thousand miles away. You should be able to talk to them, instantly and frequently.  Focus on having a healthy and highly secured internet band width (depending on the size and scalability in the future)

• Make compatible hours both ways

Technology helps greatly to bridge the communication gap, but there is a personal sacrifice to be made here, on account of the time zone difference.  The fact is, while the strategic partner is willing to adjust their schedule to work with you, you also need to adjust your schedule to work with them.

• Split your development teams into well-defined cells

Technology is only half the battle when it comes to communications. To make this relationship work, it is imperative to have crystal-clear lines of communication with your strategic partner.  In this case, a project manager has been assigned on that side, and you have 17 developers divided up into four teams. It is important to interact with the four team leaders on a regular basis.  The team leader gives you the right mix of overview and nitty-gritty’s. Your approach should be to manage the architecture, the project as it is being developed, by engaging the people who are leading the effort, in order to ensure desired outcomes.

• Talk to your team leaders often

If you are talking directly to the team leaders you may not be concerned about losing control over your project and engagement. One of the biggest success factors in a relationship of any kind is the level of communication. So keep close to mails, conference calls, Skype, video conference and meetings.  Once the requirements are frozen and given to the strategic partner, maintain ongoing communication with your team leaders and managers.  Don’t get into risk by providing your requirements and then waiting three months before you see something delivered. It is necessary to monitor the progress on a weekly and daily basis – be it design level, code level, functional level or data base level. This is irrespective of using waterfall, iterative or distributed agile methodologies. It is a highly iterative relationship, something you may not do with a local developer with that kind of frequency.

• Formalize the updates.

Formalize the updates with daily status report, weekly status report, monthly status report, steering committee meetings and presentations both at the engagement level and project level.

• Structured Project Management

This may be different from working with local guys, where you know you can be fluid, walk down the hall and talk to the developer, or have a conversation and make changes on the fly. Once you work with strategic partners, you have to standardize things. There documentation comes before fact& not vice versa.  

You will however find that the work culture in India is more amenable to successful software development than the work culture in many countries.

"Do your own thing" is not part of the Indian mindset, and that means you need to take a different approach than you might with your own employees. To succeed with such teams a well planned & rigorous management approach is vital.  Your strategic partners are tightly structured and regimented in project execution, where in planning and management are critical parts.

• Put your specs in a source control system

With physical distance in the way, it's easy for specs to be misunderstood or mistranslated (literally).  To be on the safe side, define and establish a process for delivering specs and ensuring they are executed appropriately.  It is important to put in place a version control system where in the project manager and team leaders get notified when there are new specs, and the first thing they do after assigning a developer is to do a spec review.  The spec is read and discussed on their side, and any questions and issues are raised before development begins.

• Quality Assurance - Check it at every stage

When you're working long distance, quality assurance cannot begin at the end of the process. Checks and inspections at every stage of the process help to ensure that your long-distance partners are moving in the right direction.  If you have decided on a development process that involves things like spec reviews, code reviews & user acceptance, there are plenty of checkpoints, reviews and plenty of opportunities to ask questions.  Don't leave it up to the strategic partner. Never step away from the engagement. A lot of people when they engage overseas partners will take the 'out of sight, out of mind' approach. But its just not that simple.

• Insist on Induction Training Programs for new joinees

It is always better to provide this training upfront, rather than during the project.  Alternatively the lead time can be used by the partner to set up the new joinee’s access for relevant information and systems. 

Request your strategic partner to design a week long induction training program for new joinees into your extended employees list.  Ensure your partner has non disclosure agreements with each of your extended employees’, focuses on training programs for information security, culture and project specific nuances, before the joinee gets into project main stream.

• Project Crisis Management

Culturally Indians avoid issues. They work hard to avoid any project crisis. While this is a good sign, it is also important to note that if an issue lingers, the partner would try to solve it till the last moment before escalating. This could sometime cost dearly as certain aspects are beyond the partner’s control. You need that sixth sense to figure these looming issues which may not surface till the last moment of truth. A good relationship with the partner will help open this can of worms early in the game & mutually resolve issues.

• You'll rarely hear "No"

India is different from other countries.  This is about more than just water-cooler etiquette. It's about fundamental business management issues.  Deep reverence for superiors and customers are ingrained in Indian culture and it is considered rude to refuse or say “no” to customers’ demands, irrespective of the feasibility. This culture could affect fundamental business management and development. It is important to pay attention to these nuances. 

• Motivate Partner employees

If you have an extended global team overseas, then your responsibility extends overseas as well. While your partners can accelerate your project vision, it becomes imperative that you consider the partner employees as your extended teams. Give them the same consideration that you would give your domestic teams, and then see the results. Nothing works like a good word of appreciation for your strategic partner. Many successful projects have got delivered from Indian shores due to this significant reason. They know that it is not Customer Vs Partner; it is Customer and Partner together working together on a common mission.

• You become the Coach

Initially, you may assume the role of a controller or an auditor ensuring project discipline. But once it is achieved shift to the role of a coach. You have the experience of your territory so leverage it to take the relationship to the next level.

Knowledge is respected in India. In fact Knowledge is Power. Hence, use your strength to guide your overseas teams to succeed in their roles and responsibilities. Success breeds only success.

• Work hard, Party harder 

It is important to break the ice early in the game. It can’t be done better than working together under extreme conditions and partying together under even extreme conditions. Culturally in India, partners would like to involve their customers in their official social gatherings. Be it a corporate get-together or an anniversary bash; make sure you enjoy the party. Ensure that on achieving all key milestones in your project, there is celebration and recognition. It goes a long way in motivating your extended team to achieve greater success.