Outsourced Product development
Outsourcing "non-core" activities to gain economic advantage has now become an essential constituent of any winning business stratagem. Nevertheless, as an industry matures, what constitutes its "core activity" is undergoing change and is a constant debatable topic.
For Instance
* Nike out source's manufacturing of shoes
* Asian Paints, India's leading paint company has ancillary units providing thinners and even manufacturing season paints
* GE out source's manufacturing of F-16 engine part to an organization in Bangalore
The industry is in maturing phase of Virtual organizations, where HR, Finance, IT, operations, marketing and in some instance even idea generation is being outsourced.
The equilibrium as to what constitutes core function continues to change
Today, organizations have understood that manufacturing alone does not enable differentiation therefore, manufacturing is widely outsourced. Companies like Asian Paints have started building services around products while moving in direction to outsource the manufacturing process, as non-core activity
On similar lines, ISV have started looking at outsourcing product development, labeling the activity as " Non-core" while concentrating on product ideas, marketing, financing, customer relationship as core activity. The drive to outsource product development is further heightened by rising employee cost, rising attrition rate and reduced product life.
An outsourced software product development is principally a way of utilizing an organization’s resources and infuses new thought, skills and know-how, while plummeting time to market. Outsourced product development is the palpable therapy to the contemporary market circumstances where technology, skills and approaches are transitory.
Outsourced product development requires the offshore team to work in very close association with the client's engineering team. Partnering with an OPD service provider allows independent software vendors (ISVs) to leverage a strong value proposition, low time to market, reduced development costs and quality manpower.
Some of the top providers of OPD services are: Blue Star Infotech,Persistent , Globallogic, Symphony.
What is Outsourced Product Development?
Outsourced Product Development (OPD) is the outsourcing of detailed activities or the entire activities related to the development and maintenance of a product. OPD enables product companies to utilize the product-building know-how and worldwide talent pools on hand with OPD providers.
Outsourcing product development, unlike outsourcing the development of software applications though requires specialized skill set, standards and execution expertise and totally different development mindset.
