What makes businesses outsource a software development project?

A whole complex of reasons can influence your decision to outsource your software development needs - it might be difficult for you to hire the staff you need for your projects, you might be lacking in the experience needed for your next project or you might have quality problems with your in-house staff and need to outsource to meet higher software quality requirements.

What kinds of software outsourcing development resources does CoralGrid provide?

CoralGrid is a Full-Service, Multi-Tasking and Resourceful Professional Services Company, and will be able to provide a broad spectrum of services - from helping guide your analysis of what software to build all the way through to delivery of a completed, high quality product. As a Professional Services Firm, we are able to take on larger, mission-critical development projects and provide both the expertise and manpower to achieve project goals. CoralGrid is a good fit when you are concerned about professional management of schedules and budgets, or need other services that go beyond just coding and testing.

How does CoralGrid protect our IP if we are to outsource our work to it?

High levels of integrity and respect is part of CoralGrid's core values. We recognize and respect the Intellectual Property of our clients. Contractually, and in spirit, we enter into a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) with our clients. By this, we are bound not to disclose any methodologies, data or any other proprietary information we gain from the client as part of our normal duties as a technology partner.
Moreover, we make sure that all our employees understand the importance of, and in turn respect the trust placed on CoralGrid in maintaining confidentiality of proprietary information. Moreover, all employees (even contract employees) are required to enter into a water-tight Confidentiality Agreement covering client information well as technology protection issues.
Also, as part of organizational policy, we do not move front-line staff across clients who may be competitors so that there is no risk of unintended transfer of information.

How do I know how well the project is progressing at the offshore center?

CoralGrid follows a well-tested process to keep you in sync with the development activities, so that you are able to treat our resources and expertise as an extension of your organization.
We have a scheduled weekly review over a conference call, and also milestone based reviews. Any other clarifications we require to fill in some gray area or some assumptions that need to be made at design stage are done totally in consultation with you, over emails and conference calls and through on-site Project Manager, where present.
More importantly, we set up a test server at your premises right at the start of the project, and remotely deploy our solutions at milestones for you to be in sync with the project. This also allows you to test the modules as they are rolled out, saving on total project development time.
We totally believe in our motto for offshore project management 'no surprises' - we keep you updated on any deviation from our original agreed project plan so that any course-correction can be quickly taken.

What are the typical kinds of financial contracts for software development projects that CoralGrid enters into?

Financial arrangements for software development payment usually fall into one of two Categories: fixed-bid and time & materials.

What is a fixed-bid contract?

With that type of contract, the your company agrees to pay a fixed amount of money for delivery of fixed software functionality. The positive thing about a fixed-bid contract is that you know in advance what it is going to cost you.
The negative side of a fixed-bid is that new features or change of specifications along the way may be more difficult to handle from a commercial (and therefore internal approvals for additional funds) point of view.
Such a contract helps, when you are very clear about your requirements and have a mechanism to minimize changes to requirements along project development stages.

What is a time & materials contract?

With that type of contract, you agree to pay by the hour for the effort CoralGrid puts into their project.
With this kind of project, you will not have to worry about the issues of what is included and what is not, like you do with a fixed bid. You and CoralGrid can make decisions and press ahead with the project.
The negative side of this type of contract, however, is that normally you will not know your exact cost ahead of time - At CoralGrid we will provide you with good faith estimates so you can control your budget.
If you opt for that kind of contract, we will help you keep track of what you are asking for.