Hayden Hong, the founder of Long Circle, an embedded product development outsourcing provider with offices in Boston and Pudong, published a very good list of the “Ten Things You Should Know Before Outsourcing.”  The items that Mr. Hong suggests are:

• “Outsourcing is a process that must be managed
• A good outsourcing project manager is hard to find
• What time is it over there anyway?
• The 3 C’s of communication: communicate, communicate, and communicate
• Uncover the hidden costs of outsourcing …
• … and the real benefits
• Communicate with your employees
• Take the time to identify the work to be outsourced
• Is it IT or R&D?
• Choose your outsourcing partner carefully”

Although most of these are common sense, it is well worth your time to check out the full article.  Mr. Hong’s explanations are well thought out and demonstrate a real understanding of the business.

Long Circle has been around, in its current incarnation, since 2005.  I haven’t had an opportunity to work with them, yet, but I’m glad to see another strong player entering the China software outsourcing industry.  Long Circle appears to be making a number of smart moves, including focusing on a good market segment, using smart techniques to market their services and maintaining a customer facing presence in the U.S.  If you need embedded product development services, you should give these folks a look.

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