Automation in outsourcing processes has become a quite familiar term in today’s IT industry, with the increase of productivity being one motivation. The losses that the outsourcers have faced over the years has led to the emergence of technologies which is about to revolutionize the world of outsourcing. One of such technology is robots. If we consider the case of Business Process Outsourcing the repetitive administrative tasks that were initially performed by humans have already been replaced by robots.
Consequently there has been a visible reduction in headcount in those firms. However, the application of Robotic Process Automation has increased the return on investment to a great extent. pliXos completely agrees with an article of Deloitte University Press by Tom Davenport which emphasizes majorly on evolution of smart automated technologies which may reduce vendor services to some extent. Outsourcing activities are vulnerable to poor co-ordination, tracking, quality testing, delivery cycle delays etc. due to which companies are sometimes considering it as a bad option provided its many benefits. According to a report by Gartner the investments in IT sector is increasing year after year. So it is important for a software company to develop on new strategies that automates software development life cycle if not totally at least at major stages or levels.
Picture 1: Worldwide IT Spending Forecast by Gartner
Business people normally use the term “automation in software development” to refer to anything that can speed up the development process and allow the company to skip most, if not all, the software development processes, jumping from a simple business-level wish list to a ready-for-the-market product. In other words “any technology/methodology that can reduce software development, from the most complicated process to things an average business person can easily understand”.
Why there should be automation in Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)?
1. Well-structured automation can help streamline the overall software development process, thus helping to properly structure customer projects and understand its status, as is important for the teams, project managers, and senior executives. If done end to end, it will also level the playing field for understanding the goals, objectives and how automation will come together with the overall product development lifecycle.
2. It establishes a good framework that explains the processes, phasing, and release cycles associated with proper automation development. This will improve planning and quality within the organization.
3. In case of using external providers or remote teams, it reduces the cost of handling those partners or teams through various vendor services, foremost but not only related to governance.
The struggles to manage multi-vendor services, device and platform fragmentation etc. have led to the development of automated technology services that reduces the risks associated with the outsourcers in accomplishing their software projects. To utilize the potential of technology, e.g. arising by the Internet of Things or and other platforms under development, we must create an easier, more fluid process to develop software.
As stated in one of the articles by pliXos about shift in online transactions it is quite obvious that companies are building on innovative platforms to add value in their vendor services. In the light of above essay, pliXos offers a set of fitting tools which can automate major parts of software outsourcing processes. These tools built on the concept of Software as a Service (SaaS) which means that customer’s needs to neither install any software nor have to worry about the updates. License and asset management are things of the past and you do not have to provide and set up a dedicated environment (hardware, OS).
Picture 2: pliXos SaaS tools as a means to provide automation in Outsourcing Application Development
pliXos might make software development process as easy like going on a holiday? The outsourcer is always connected to their offshore teams with pliXos products (Outsourcing Director). With the help of these tools pliXos provides automation in software as well as mobile application development projects with options to guarantee success, thus saving the customer’s cost as well as time. Also a customer can handle multiple projects along with the corresponding teams associated with them at the same time.
In addition, pliXos also provides superb combination of SaaS (Software as a Service) tools and expert services in the form of Sourcing Advisory as a Service – SAaaS® which helps in overcoming the challenges faced in outsourcing contracts. Challenges such as
- Short timeframes for supplier selection and implementation of projects
- Insufficient own resources, insufficient budgets
- Lack of transparency throughout the life time of outsourcing/offshoring contracts
SAaaS® can be implemented in any phase of the Sourcing-Life-Cycles and doesn’t end when budgets are used up. There is only one service charge for the usage of the Global Sourcing Platform and the integrated sourcing advisory, no matter on the specific support required at any given point of time.
In this way pliXos combines the traditional form of outsourcing with the innovative SaaS online toolchain thus providing a cognitive augmentation in software development.
With the right combination of the free online B2B Marketplace, SaaS tools and other services pliXos proves to be the right choice by the customer’s for their software development. Companies that are building on such platforms are out to make more profits than the ones relying purely on age old traditional outsourcing strategies.
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Sources:
www.cio.com
www.gartner.com
www.dupress.deloitte.com
