Abstract
Increased globalization and the consequent dispersion of IT activities across the world have driven the growth of global IT outsourcing. The share of offshore software development (OSD) in the high-cost countries has grown tremendously in the past years and this trend will continue in the coming years. Software development projects continue to experience poor performance problems because of their inherent complexities and the uncertainties involved from the start. Although OSD projects offer cost advantages, the unique risks related to cultural, linguistic and geographic differences, knowledge transfer and project management make OSD more vulnerable to failure than domestically outsourced projects. This paper explores the early warning signs (EWS) of failures in OSD projects, a concept that can be employed as an early warning system to avoid failures. Using the Delphi survey method, we intend to find out the most important EWSs specific to OSD projects. Our panelists include 23 experts primarily from the offshore client and vendor companies in Switzerland and India. We discuss four offshore-relevant EWS categories and the preliminary results of this ongoing research from the third survey phase.
Philip, T