Application maintenance outsourcing (AMO) is an important part of application outsourcing. With AMO, you can outsource all the maintenance activities, such as enhancements, corrections and patch developments.
You can get the resources that you need for the maintenance phase of your project on a contract basis. These resources include the manpower with the required technical skills, technology and other required resources.
Application development and maintenance form about 80% of the total work that is outsourced. The number of outsourcing companies is also increasing due to the huge demand.
Thus, let’s take a look at the several pros and cons it comes with.
AMO is a cost-effective solution and improves your operations and technology well.
Here are some benefits of AMO:
There are many benefits of AMO. But, if you choose the wrong partner or if you don’t take care of the basic guidelines, you could end up losing rather than gaining.
Here are some disadvantages of AMO:
You could have a conflict with the contractor about the differing workflows.
For example, you may want the contractor to use a different approach than what they usually use.
So, you should ensure that the approach that you want the contractor to follow is clear before you sign the contract.
You may not have proper communication with your outsourced team and so you may lose control over the team.
You will have to deal with extra management duties, since you also have to take up the management issues related to outsourcing.
If there is no proper project management and communication, your customers will experience a slow response time and they may be less satisfied.
Thus, you first need to choose the right partner for outsourcing. You also have to follow best practices and guidelines and you need to ensure everything goes smoothly.
Here are eight tips to help you.
You should set well-defined criteria and quantifiable goals.
You should know what you want from the outsourcing and you need to specify them as measurable objectives. You should then measure the progress of your project with these.
The activities involved in maintenance outsourcing are:
You should understand the workflow, other specifics and how the maintenance process will be carried out.
You should clarify everything with the contractor and only sign the contract once you are clear about everything. This includes the approach that the vendor will use.
You must follow a well-developed maintenance lifecycle. Each phase (the planning, transitioning, delivery and close out) should occur at the right time and you should have a proper plan for each.
You must ensure that the knowledge transfer is done properly. So, you must maintain a good documentation and keep it updated. This will also help you during training.
You must choose experienced and skilled professionals. Such employees will require less training and you can use work trials to select key personnel.
You should also set aside a budget for training. They need basic training; since they must understand the app they are working on. You can optimise your training costs by choosing employees with the required technical skills and experience and by having good documentation.
You must establish metrics to evaluate the performance and to determine whether the contractor abides by the SLA.
You can these metrics:
Verify your measurements using audits and monitor them continuously. You should also regularly hold review meetings and ensure that you are on the right path.
You must integrate your in-house team with the outsourced team. There should be good communication with your external staff to reduce misunderstandings and conflicts.
You should also understand the cultural and geographical differences of the offshore team and try to bridge these differences to work as a single team.
If you believe in productive work, then must establish a proper monitoring and reporting system as well.
You should also have a strong production management to help you smoothly carry out the joint operations. Everything should be planned and executed according to the plan.
If you have a mature infrastructure, you will achieve better results.
You should have a good communication platform, good connectivity and good technology support. Recovery features can also help you improve your efficiency.
So what’s your tip for AMO? Do you have any questions? Please feel free to leave your comments below and thanks for reading!