Outsourcing work to offshore organizations has become the latest arsenal in software development over the last seven to eight years. The strongest drivers to outsourcing focus on driving down costs, increasing productivity, reducing time to market, and providing a flexible resource pool.
In the outsourcing selection decision, many organizations use the candidate suppliers' Capability Maturity Model® Integration (CMMI) maturity level as one of the decision-making criteria. Suppliers want to maximize their chances of winning business from companies that are pursuing offshore outsourcing services. Since CMMI maturity level ratings serve as a differentiator, these organizations want to position themselves among the elite. Maturity level 5 is the place to be, in CMMI terms.
What is CMMI?
Capability Maturity Model® Integration (CMMI) is a process improvement approach governed by the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) at Carnegie Mellon University. This internationally recognized measure, in turn, provides a way for organizations to have predictable and measurable quality results. Many people perceive CMMI maturity level ratings as simply a badge of honor that distinguishes one potential supplier from another. However, formal CMMI appraisal verifies that at least at this point in time, the appraised organization is performing at a determined level of process maturity within the CMMI framework. It provides assurance that the organization has incorporated a stated collection of good practices into their software engineering and project management processes.
Raghavendra Rao, a consultant in the New York office of PA Consulting, says in a process improvement initiative, the process is two-fold—and can't be entirely outsourced to guarantee success. Rao recommends the first step – process definition – must be done internally because the organization needs to understand the drivers behind the need for process change.
"The implementation is the best place to outsource by using outside help to bring in best practices, knowledge and experience of the industry to implement the change," Rao says. "There has to be collaboration between external and internal resources, with the backing of internal practitioners."
