What is Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)?

Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is software that is deployed over the internet.

What are the advantages of SaaS?

With SaaS, you no longer have to install software on your local computer. This reduces the  maintenance efforts.

Further advantages are:

• Financial benefits - the software is subscribed and not bought

• Ubiquity – you access the applications from anywhere the internet is available
• Central data storage - data is stored centrally in a secure data centre. The data is not scattered around the world on PCs and servers
• Reliability - Server applications are hosted in a data processing centre, which guarantees far better uptime

What is the pliXos Outsourcing Advisor?

The Outsourcing Advisor is an online tool that supports you in developing your individual outsourcing strategy.

What advantages does Outsourcing Advisor provide for business calculations above what an Excel sheet can do?

The use of the Outsourcing Advisor as a widely used and accepted standard offers an informed decision base for further actions. The calculations are very complex and cost a lot of time. The online tool simplifies the calculations and further, it ensures that projects can be compared with another.

Are the input parameters already set in Outsourcing Advisor?

Above all, we offer the rules by which all underlying algorithms and calculations are validated. For some parameters we provide predefined values.

What is the Tender Manager?

The Tender Manager, like all pliXos products, is an online-tool. Unlike tender platforms, the Tender Manager optimizes the implementation of the tender process. It controls all of the process steps of a tender and simplifies and accelerates the implementation.

What is the Outsourcing Director?

The Outsourcing Director ensures that all necessary control functions of a software project, whether offshore, nearshore or with your local service provider are seamlessly provided.

With the Outsourcing Director, the customer has full transparency of the development process and so can better manage unexpected issues, e.g.: serious problems in development caused by high staff turnover at the service provider. In this way full project control can be maintained in real time for projects developed by external service providers.

Is there an example of a typical IT outsourcing project, which the Outsourcing Director can be applied to?

The Outsourcing Director can be used for all kinds of software development, configuration, integration or maintenance, when at least 5 project participants (e.g. developers, testers, project managers) are involved. Typical examples are the development of a web application or the maintenance of a specific software module. The Outsourcing Director should be used whenever external service providers or freelancers are involved in a development or maintenance project.

Why is the Outsourcing Director situated between the customer and the service provider? How can this provide an advantage?

Both the customer and the service providers work together on the same central platform. For customers, this allows them to closely collaborate with the service provider using a secure, centralized infrastructure for their requirements and programming. In this way, the customer does not need to grant external access to their own IT system. This method for collaboration is much safer.

How are IT outsourcing projects currently managed. How could the Outsourcing Director support this?

Basically, there are a variety of process models. Often, the V model is applied which is based on a sequential development: after a customer's specification (requirements specification) is collected, an architecture is designed, and this is followed by the actual implementation. Despite regular communication between customer and service provider (e.g. reporting and weekly reviews), deviations from the plan are usually detected very late (most commonly at the testing phase).

Regardless of the software development model used, the Outsourcing Director offers a continuous monitoring of project progress. At a glance, the project managers can identify problems in the development process. Through automatic task monitoring, the impartiality of both customer and service provider is guaranteed. Also, new process models (Agile Development / Scrum) are supported by the tool.

Why does the Outsourcing Director standardize and automate IT outsourcing projects?

The key parameters which are needed for control are automatically generated and shown in the tool. This results in a uniform, standardized decision base.

Which key parameters are monitored in the Outsourcing Director?

For example: team fluctuation (trends over weeks, months, quarters) and team size. The results are presented in both graphical and tabular format.

Can we say that the Outsourcing Director is a project monitoring tool?

In simple terms, yes.