Our August 20 event was on the topic of Outsourcing Options for Life Science Companies and featured:

• Reasons for outsourcing:
  • Cost reduction
  • Specialized Expertise
  • Avoid delays
  • Insufficient infrastructure or resources to do something internally
  • Maintain focus on core functions
• Outsourcing Examples
  • Back-office functions such as HR and IT
  • Employee leasing
  • IP-related contract R&D
  • Regulatory
  • Legal
  • Other
• Advantages
  • Access to specialized, highly-trained work force
  • Lower costs
  • Avoid or defer investments in infrastructure and personnel
  • Maintain focus on core functionality
• Disadvantages
  • Unfamiliar legal regime, particularly when working with other countries
  • IP enforcement, particularly when working with other countries
  • Language and cultural barriers
  • Time zone challenges
  • Expense of travel and communication
  • Additional project management resources

• Be strategic about your outsourcing needs. Understand first why you need to outsource, what will be outsourced, how outsourcing fits into the overall company plans, etc.,
• Create a detailed and specific project plan based on your identified needs
  • Define service provider obligations, milestones and deliverables based on your needs
  • Insist in quality results, don't just choose the most cost-effective option
  • Proactively manage the outside vendor - Garbage In Is Garbage Out (If you don't proactively manage the process, you cannot expect great results)
  • Specify client responsibilities
  • Identify fees and terms
  • Define ownership and rights issues with new, pre-existing, IP
  • Identify processes and mechanisms to manage problems and scope changes
  • Understand legal implications about independent contractor vs. employee
• Do you due diligence in evaluating providers. Have a thorough process for evaluation. Find someone you would enjoy working with, is thorough, detail-oriented and flexible.
• Relationships matter. Develop relationships with vendors and make sure chemistry is there, and track record is solid.
• Manage your risk with employment law, IP law, etc., by planning ahead, seeking legal counsel
• Have a thorough plan and manage it tightly, but also be flexible. Choose vendors who have the same mindset. (When doing early stage R&D for example, your initial plan may not work, but the process may need to another opportunity or option which would work better than the initial plan.)
• Experienced consultants help you identify issues to focus on and proactively communicate with you, collaborate with you. They are also entrepreneurial and proactive.
• Working with universities may be difficult when time is of the essence.

• Read the Nearsoft article in the Red Herring on Outsourcing in Local Time.
• Dr. Dobb's Portal, August 2, SCRUM Meets CMMi: Agility and discipline combined