The economic outlook has been gloomy and most people are trying to cut costs and not putting investments in new IT projects.
Rising Inflation, Crude prices and slowdown in economy is a global concern. Organizations have started to announce layoffs and their hiring plans to increase headcount seems to be postponed.
Technology/ Software Services firms are likely to have a major impact as it will be hard for them to open new accounts. Companies are likely to cut short development budgets.
There is another side to the story. Enterprise Blogging and Web 2.0 has caught up main stream. Big or Small, no matter who you are, you must find a way to improve your Enterprise Web presence and build some of the blogging, community features. Challenge is how to do it when getting approval of any budget will have to go through rounds of scrutiny. Failure or choosing the wrong partner is also not going to be an option. Outsourcing comes with its own pains.
Here are things which organizations can do :
- Use your resources to their strengths. No point in cross training them. Sometimes, you may just have to bite the bullet and let go few positions if they are not critical and do not add significant value. This will save $$$.
- Most lethargy is there in middle management. Ensure that you have birds eye view on middle management. If they are not on top of projects, deliveries and budgets, it can create a ripple effect and your entire group’s productivity can go down. Direct them and ensure that they stay focused.
- Work up Information Architecture for your Enterprise 2.0 needs. whenever possible, seriously consider using Open Source Software. Even if you are using proprietary tools, this is the time to bring Open Source in organization. Consider using Content Management System for your Internet as well as Intranet site.
- Once you have Information Architecture, put out a RFP to find a vendor who can deliver the solution. Ensure that the Vendor has good track record. Outsourcing can be considered an option here provided you have a dedicated manager who can oversee the project delivery. When you consider outsourcing partner, make sure they have support via Phone, Chat, Email and are available 24×7. Also run through their portfolio, references and also see if they have contributed any code back to the community.
- Hire a Local Designer or work with your internal graphics designer where applicable. Graphics Design should be done local and trying to outsource it would not work.
- Make Phone calls to your customers to keep personal contact. If you haven’t called them for a long time, it is time now.
- Work Closely with Press / Media to highlight your company on anything worthwhile you do. Make sure they give you good footage.
- Work with your Outsourcing firm and engage them to push your content to Social Media Sites as well as your news articles in various Press release sites.
Slowdown is hard, the only thing you can do is cost control and some solid marketing plan and ensure that your resources stay focused and even the smallest thing does not get overlooked.
Lethargy is not an option.
If you are looking to outsource your Drupal or Ruby on Rails Development, Support or Infrastructure Monitoring, take a look at various options available with Gloscon – http://www.gloscon.com – a leading Drupal and Ruby on Rails Software Services firm.
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Roshan
Author is CEO of Gloscon Solutions Pvt Limited(http://www.gloscon.com). Gloscon specializes in Drupal and Ruby on Rails development.
