Indian software professionals seem to have dominated the world in providing software development and support services. Bangalore became the highest employer of IT talent overtaking the Silicon Valley. Outsourcing has become a topic of hot debate in countries like US and therefore it should be wise to contemplate how it will fare as we move on in time. In this article we shall discuss the specialized area of architectural outsourcing.

Architectural and engineering outsourcing comprises of producing drawings where the designers are sitting in countries thousands of miles away and the drawings are produced remotely in a country like India. In this scenario the design base is called On-site and the production site is called Off-shore. As far as acceptability towards this new idea is concerned, the US seems open on condition of quality and reliability in drawing production. Markets like Europe are emerging from a rather conservative attitude. Australia seems slow in reaction but the advantages of this scheme might soon be realized in that part of the world too.

Architectural outsourcing might prove to be successful due to the following reasons:

1.More talent: Architectural/Engineering work is bound by delivery schedules set and marked by promoters of a project. The amount of work required to be done in preparation of drawings seems never enough until the last time of dispatching them. Since amount of work depends on the man-hours put into a project, there is an insatiable need for accumulating more man-hours into the project limited only by the available human resources and the financial budget for engaging them. If quality and talented human resources are available at a lesser cost, then the designers attempt to utilize them to the maximum capacity.

2.More Motivation: There is a significant difference between cost of engaging talented human resources in the onsite area (ex. US/Canada) and the offshore area where the production team is located (ex. India). Therefore, the rewards offered to architects working in the outsourcing agency are higher than those working in traditional architectural/engineering offices. This result in higher motivation levels, even as compared to theirs peers in the on-site country because the employee receive a higher remuneration relative to the local settings, resulting in higher productivity.

3.Standardization: Architectural outsourcing was unheard of before the software boom happened in India. That?s when the world got to know about the talent of Indian professional in diverse areas. With this field being in the process of attaining its due recognition, several standards of offering this service are being drawn by companies. With standardization comes higher professionalism in production and delivery. Therefore, the designers get better quality architectural drawings with a more prompt service, and at a cost which they can bargain either for more work, or for more economy.

4.Competitive pricing: There shall be an increasing trend for more international architecture in countries like India and other parts of the developing world. If we assume that a majority of internationally reputed architects are of western origin; their clientele might increasingly be also in developing countries like China, Malaysia, and India etc. Therefore, in order to be competitive in pricing that suits the region, the designers would offload work of cost at least upto the production of drawings, that is incurred by them in their own setup.

5.Transformation from Support to Design firms: The agencies providing architectural/engineering support services will eventually become development partners with the designers as their competency, nexus and synergies with them increases. Their increased exposure to international architecture will help them render not only support services but design services as well- at a cost much lesser than that charged by western architects. This shall be their transformation from Support to Design firms.

6.Attracting talent: Currently a country like India suffers from ?Brain Drain? of talented architects/engineers to the developed countries. With professional agencies that will provide outsourced services- there will be more opportunities available for architects to apply themselves on a diverse range of international projects without having to leave their mother land. The candidates will also have opportunity to travel and examine diverse architecture from all parts of the world that will add substantially to their expertise. Also, the candidates will be made upto-date (and trained) on the best engineering and design platforms/software in the world. With these advantages, the outsourcing agency will attract the best of talent.

7.Resource Management: An outsourcing agency would be able to manage the human resources better because it can dynamically shuffle them across different jobs resulting in minimum idle time of employees. Also, the infrastructure required for graphic and CAD related jobs are specialized. Wide screen color monitors, fast computers, uninterrupted power supply, broadband internet, networking etc. are features that can be maintained well by an outsourcing agency.

Architectural and engineering outsourcing- being in a nascent stage requires much to be done to achieve the vision discussed above. A few points below discuss what efforts may be put in by agencies offering these services:

1.Attracting top quality human resources and making more Leaders than Workers. Constantly upgrading the skill level of development staff to match that of the designers.

2.Team building with designers and sharing their vision. In the longer run becoming their development partners

3.Inventing better methodologies for production.

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