LTS QA

The vexed question of “Should I choose In-house software development vs. Outsourcing?” must have crossed your mind and troubled you once you stepped into the digital transformation journey. To crack this puzzle, Lotus QA will walk you through the definition and the comparison between in-house and outsourcing software development so that you can find the best approach for your business.

 

1. Software outsourcing development

Put it simply, software outsourcing development refers to the business practice of using external service providers to handle software development. Thanks to this, businesses now have more time to focus on their core functions, which could be customer engagement, business transactions, financial development, etc.

There are three types of software outsourcing that you can choose for your business:

• Offshore software outsourcing, in which you delegate your IT functions to a team from a far-away country.
• Nearshore software outsourcing, in which you outsource to a neighboring country.
• Onshore software outsourcing, in which you outsource to a service provider in the same country.

 

 

IT Outsourcing, or software outsourcing development, has been the popular choice for business leaders when they want to do digital transformation. The main reasons for this are the competitive costs, better access to the talent pool, and subject-matter expertise. With software outsourcing development, companies that don’t have any experience technology in general will receive the consultancy that they need for their digital transformation journey.

 

IT Outsourcing Pros and Cons that You Should Know About

 

2. In-house software development

In-house software development refers to the use of a homegrown increased team in your company when you want to expand and enhance your business’ technical capabilities.

 

 

With this approach, businesses need to invest many things, including time, money, human resources, etc. to form a solid team that is capable of the required skills. In turn, this approach allows your business have close-up management and communication, which can contribute greatly to the outcomes of the projects.

 

3. Comparison of in-house software development vs. outsourcing

The puzzle of choosing in-house software development vs. outsourcing requires you to investigate these two approaches carefully in different aspects: cost, flexibility, subject-matter expertise, project management and talent pool. The following table will compare these features to give you an overall look of in-house software development vs. outsourcing.

 

Factor	Software outsourcing development	In-house software development
Overall cost	Lower	High
Subject-matter expertise	High	Adequate
Talent pool	Better access	Limited access
Flexibility	High	Low
Project management	Remote	Close-up
Communication	– Remote – Cultural gaps – Language barriers – Long waiting time	– Direct – Same cultural background – Quick follow-up
Team Management	Less time spent on team management	More time spent on team management
Security	Higher risks	Lower risks

 

3.1. Overall cost

Regarding the overall cost, software outsourcing development has a lower cost than in-house software development. This overall cost includes the cost for HR, the infrastructure cost and the operational cost.

 

HR costs

Software outsourcing development comes at much lower HR costs, especially when you go for offshore or nearshore outsourcing.

– In terms of labor cost, offshore and nearshore outsourcing can give you the advantage of geographical pricing, meaning that you can hire an equivalent IT worker but with a much lower budget. For example, it would cost you about $157,570 a year, including taxes, to hire a software engineer in the US. But with an outsourcing vendor, the cost drops to $50,000 a year.

 

 

– In terms of recruitment cost, the average cost for an in-house team may exceed what you expect. To build a team, you will have to go through many steps, including employer branding, building training programs, investing in competitive salary and benefits, etc. It not only costs you a fortune to build an in-house team but also takes a lot of your time to do so.

On the other hand, software outsourcing development service providers can ramp up a fully functioning IT team for you within just two weeks. Any other costs of branding or training will no longer bother you.

 

Infrastructure cost

An in-house team will require you to lease more space, buy more equipment, etc. But with an outsourced team (either nearshore or offshore), you won’t have to worry about this.

 

Operational cost

Having more employees in your company means that you have to spend more on accounting and legal fees, office supplies cost, rent or lease payments, etc. All of these costs can be avoided with a software outsourcing team.

 

3.2. Subject-matter expertise

With software outsourcing development, you will be provided with professionals that have advanced knowledge in a specific field to help your business. The vendors for software outsourcing development also have experience working in many industries, hence you can ask them for consultancy. They will know exactly what you need, what IT workers you need, what programming languages are required, for example.

 

 

Of course, you can still hire SMEs for your in-house team but the hiring process will take a lot of time, effort and money.

 

3.3. Talent pool

The thing with software outsourcing providers is that they have a large talent pool of experts from many fields, with many technical skills that you can get access to almost immediately. There will be no long waiting time to fill in a position as with the in-house team. Especially when you request for a team ramp-up, the maximal time for this will only be 2 weeks. Hence, you can save a lot of time and start your project right when the talents are onboard.

 

 

Especially with offshore and nearshore software outsourcing, you can get access to a resourceful talent pool from other countries, hence the chance of finding suitable candidates is higher.

On the contrary, the supply of talents for an in-house team is limited to one country only, or even just one city. This leads to a long waiting time, and of course you would want to avoid it.

 

3.4. Flexibility

Partnering with a nearshore IT Services provider can also allow for quick changes on your team’s assembly if the project calls for it without affecting budget, time-to-market, or performance.

With an in-house team, unless you hire a temp staff, you cannot change your team whenever you want. The contract you made between the enterprise and the talent will be long-term (at least one year), and you are legally bound to hire the staff during the agreed time.

 

3.5. Project management

With project management, the in-house team has a significant advantage of close-up control and direct management. In addition to this, the team will be closely monitored under the supervision of a project manager. Any issues or bugs will be reported right away and there will be immediate actions to take care of them.

 

 

But with the case of IT outsourcing, the client and the team don’t work in the same premise, or even not in the same country (for the case of nearshore and offshore software outsourcing). As a result, the client cannot get a hold of everything that is going on in the project.

Maybe this information is misleading, maybe the team doesn’t actually understand the project requirements. These issues are quite common with IT Outsourcing in general. But they can be easily addressed with an in-house team.

You might wanna know: Ultimate Guide for Managing IT Outsourcing Projects

 

3.6. Communication

Basically, the in-house team works ‘under one roof’, and it is easier for the members to maintain strong communication, especially when a project involves several stages. For example, if you have a question, you can always ask your colleague and receive an answer straight away.

This makes the whole process of communication not only faster but also more effective. Of course, this point has become less valuable in 2022 and work-from-home scenarios. Still, the in-house team members know each other’s work schedules and are familiar with the project’s fundamentals which saves valuable time for work.

 

 

For the part of outsourcing, communication has always been a big problem. Even though many tools, platforms and methods have been applied to improve it, business leaders seem to struggle. Especially, software development now follows the everchanging demands of users, so the need for communication between team members increases so that they can keep up with the new changes.

Another challenge with IT outsourcing is the differences in culture and languages. Cultural norms can make it harder to meet goals and deadlines. And language barriers can easily lead to false or misleading information, which can result in unexpected outcomes.

Plus, if you want to observe and direct your outsource center, you will have to spend more time traveling, while with an in-house team, everything is said and done right away.

 

3.7. Team management

Let’s imagine you’re having an in-house team. Besides work-related matters, you will have to spend more time, effort and money to provide this team benefits, resources and many other things.

But with an in-house team, you would only have to pay for the service provider an overall fee, everything else will be taken care of. With this being said, you and your business now have more time to focus on your core business operations.

 

3.8. Security

Security has always been one of the alarming matters with IT industry in general. While an in-house team is bound to work on-premise, which can help you avoid possible security breaches, an outsourced team is under little to no supervision as they work off-site.

When there’s a lack of supervision, there will be higher risks of security breaches. You and your business will be more prone to information cyberattacks. With a software outsourcing team, the legal agreements in terms of security measures and processes should be of the top priority so that any further risks can be avoided.

 

4. Choosing between in-house and software outsourcing services

Choosing between in-house vs outsourcing is a perpetual doubt since both solutions offer their strong points. But here’s the sum up:

– You choose software outsourcing development when you are bothered with:

• Tight budget
• Lack of available talent
• Tight launch deadlines
• The need for flexibility

– You choose in-house software development when you are bothered with:

• Face-to-face communication
• Complete control of your team and activities
• Immediate support

By carefully evaluating their pros and cons, you can choose the best work approach for your IT team, whether it is In-House Software Development vs. Outsourcing.

 

 

5. Get software outsourcing services with Lotus QA

Admittedly, choosing between in-house and outsourced development is challenging. However, you can seek a suitable IT outsourcing company to work it out for you.

At Lotus QA, we always try to amplify our strengths in our prices and talent pool, and mitigate communication difficulties. Our measure is to comply with the stringent communication process, together with the daily reports so that our client can know the situation with their outsourcing vendor.

Looking for a software outsourcing provider that can help you with cost reduction and talent pool? Contact our experts for more information:

• Website: https://www.lotus-qa.com/
• Tel: (+84) 24-6660-7474
• Fanpage: https://www.facebook.com/LotusQualityAssurance

IT Outsourcing is widely recognized as a viable solution for companies that want to implement digital transformation thanks to the cost reduction and large talent pool. But to efficiently apply IT outsourcing, you need to make one important decision whether you should choose Nearshore vs. Offshore Software Outsourcing.

In this article, we will help you have an in-depth look into these two IT Outsourcing types, what they are, their differences to get the best solution for your business.

 

1. What is Nearshore Software Outsourcing?

Nearshore Software Outsourcing is a form of IT Outsourcing in which the clients hire a team of IT workers from neighboring countries. As a result, the vendors and the clients will be in similar time zones and have closer proximity.

 

 

With these features, a nearshore outsourcing center can provide you with a large talent pool but with a relatively low labor cost and effective communication.

Let’s take Vietnam and Japan as an example. Many businesses in Japan have hired nearshore software outsourcing centers in Vietnam to do the IT work. In terms of time zones, Vietnam is only two hours behind Japan, and in terms of distances, it would only take you two hours to travel.

Find out more about this: Why is Nearshore Software Outsourcing the Perfect Solution

 

2. What is Offshore Software Outsourcing?

Offshore Software Outsourcing is the most popular delivery approach of IT Outsourcing. This term refers to a software outsourcing center based in a far-away country, often from developed countries to developing countries.
Normally, offshore software outsourcing gains its popularity as it can help save a great deal of money thanks to favorable labor costs, tax policies, government policies, etc. The hourly rate of one IT worker in an offshore center ranges from 15 to 30 dollars, which is 60% lower than that of an onshore center.

 

 

For example, a business in the United States would have an offshore software outsourcing team in India, Ukraine or Vietnam. Imagine if you want to hire a software engineer in the US for a year, it would cost your business approximately $157,570 including taxes. But for a software engineer in Vietnam, it would only cost you about $50,000 a year, which is much lower than in the US (According to First Alliances). This huge gap in hiring cost is the main driving force for many businesses to choose offshore software outsourcing services.

 

Read more: Vietnam Software Outsourcing: Why is Vietnam your next destination?

 

3. A complete comparison of Nearshore vs. Offshore Software Outsourcing

Nearshore vs. Offshore Software Outsourcing seems to be only different in their locations. But this difference can lead to many other distinct features that may affect your decision of what delivery approach you would choose for your business.

The differences between nearshore vs. offshore software outsourcing can be classified into the following categories:

• Overall cost
• Communication
• Cultural Difference

 

Factor	Nearshore software outsourcing	Offshore software outsourcing
Overall cost	Medium	Low
Communication	Easy	Difficult
Cultural Differences	Small	Big

 

a. Overall cost

Cost is one of the most important features for business leaders to consider when it comes to choosing a suitable delivery approach. With IT Outsourcing, cost reduction has always been one of the reasons why you should choose it. But among the delivery approaches of nearshore vs. offshore software outsourcing, there will be some different features in terms of cost.

 

– Nearshore software outsourcing

With countries in the same region, the IT outsourcing’s cost gap is not big. Therefore, the costs saved with nearshore software outsourcing will not be as much as you expect.

Nearshore software outsourcing is often deemed the more cost-efficient way of IT outsourcing as it also emphasizes communication and cultural traits, which are the two important factors that can affect the outcome of the project.

Moreover, nearshore software outsourcing companies are often located in emerging countries in the technology market such as Vietnam or Costa Rica. Since this is a newly tapped market of talents, the talent pools are still very resourceful, making it easier and less costly to outsource.

 

– Offshore software outsourcing

Offshore software outsourcing is the cheapest delivery approach there is. It maximizes the cost advantages with low labor cost and low infra cost, giving the clients the cheapest services possible.

Offshore software outsourcing’s core focus is how to reduce spending. But sometimes, you will have to compromise the ability to communicate continuously.

 

b. Communication

 

– Nearshore software outsourcing

In terms of proximity, the clients and the vendors are closer. Therefore, in case of emergencies that require close-up management and direct check-up from the vendor, this would save up the time and traveling cost.

In terms of time zones, the clients and the vendors will be in similar time zones, which is normally just two to three hours apart. As a result, they will have similar working hours. Any feedback will receive instant reply and hence the speed of the project is fastened. Also, thanks to the similar time zones, the client can have some sort of virtual existence to manage and control the work of the outsourced team.

Nearshore software outsourcing allows both the vendors and clients to communicate continuously without any inconvenience, they can apply the Agile methodology and scrum to deliver products as quickly as possible.

 

 

– Offshore software outsourcing

Since the offshore software centers are often located in far-away countries, it would take much effort to travel. If there’s an emergency that needs direct management, it would still take 10 to 16 hours to travel.

The clients and the vendors work in opposite time zones, so one’s working hours will be the other’s resting time. Any case of emergency will have to wait, and this could lead to severe consequences for the user experience.

The work management is not as effective as expected, since the project manager can’t present while the team is working. The power he/she has over the team is not as strong as with nearshore software outsourcing.

 

You might wanna know: Ultimate Guide for Managing IT Outsourcing Projects

 

c. Cultural Difference

 

– Nearshore software outsourcing

The countries in the same region often share the same cultural background. With this cultural affinity, relationships and partnerships are of higher chance to develop. Moreover, people tend to cooperate better if they have a similar cultural background.

 

 

– Offshore software outsourcing

Countries with far proximity have different cultural traits, if not opposite. With offshore software outsourcing, cultural norms can make it harder to meet goals and deadlines.

On a final note, Nearshore software outsourcing is often deemed the more cost-efficient way of IT outsourcing as it also emphasizes communication and cultural traits, which are the two important factors that can affect the outcome of the project. On the other hand, Offshore software outsourcing’s core focus is how to reduce spending but sometimes, you will have to compromise the ability to communicate continuously.

From our comparison as above, nearshore seems to show great potential and less so with offshoring. But offshore software outsourcing can solve your biggest problem, which is the cost-cutting puzzle. If you spend more time on finding out how to choose an IT outsourcing provider, all of the risks, either nearshore or offshore, will be mitigated.

 

4. What Lotus QA can provide you

Lotus QA provides IT Outsourcing services, both nearshore software outsourcing and offshore software outsourcing.

For nearshore software outsourcing, we have experience working with Japan, China, Korea, Singapore, etc. We’re only two to three hours behind these countries, hence the communication, work management and cost efficiency are maximized. We also share the same oriental cultural background, and we understand the work cultures of each different country to optimize our working processes.

For offshore software outsourcing, Lotus QA has established a partnership with countries across the globe like the US and European countries. With these countries, we minimize the risk of opposite time zones and poor communication with a stringent communication and quality process. We also apply multiple communication methods to ensure seamless interaction between the clients and our team.

 

 

 

If you want to hear more about how we can provide you with the best services with both nearshore vs. offshore software outsourcing, contact our experts:

• Website: https://www.lotus-qa.com/
• Tel: (+84) 24-6660-7474
• Fanpage: https://www.facebook.com/LotusQualityAssurance

Nearshore Software Outsourcing is an emerging software outsourcing approach that has been going on in many businesses, bringing many benefits and advantages. So what is nearshore software development? What are the benefits of nearshore outsourcing? Let’s answer these questions with Lotus QA to know why you should apply this development approach.

Check out: A Complete Comparison of Nearshore vs. Offshore Software Outsourcing

 

What is nearshore software outsourcing?

Definition: Nearshore software outsourcing is a form of IT Outsourcing. With IT Outsourcing, the location of the IT center can be anywhere, but with nearshore outsourcing, the clients and the vendors normally have quite a close proximity. The location of one party would ideally be 2 – 3 hours ahead of the other.

 

 

For example, Businesses from Japan would often hire the offshore development center in Vietnam or the surrounding countries.

IT Outsourcing is often the solution for businesses to unburden the business’ operations or even the whole IT operations. The proven effectiveness of IT Outsourcing is cost reduction, technology expertise or faster delivery time, etc. However, there can be still some drawbacks concerning the IT Outsourcing process. 

These underlying risks can be:

• The communication issues
• The cultural differences
• The time-zone difference

 

Check out: The pros and cons of IT Outsourcing

 

To avoid these risks, many businesses have resorted to nearshore outsourcing. With nearshore outsourcing, the clients will delegate some tasks in IT, namely software development or software testing, to the neighboring companies. By doing this, the client will have more control. For nearshore software outsourcing, the clients and the vendors are likely to share a similar language, the same culture and the convenient time zone.

 

The benefits of nearshore software outsourcing

Many business leaders deem nearshore software outsourcing the optimal solution for IT Outsourcing. Although the IT Outsourcing services in general can produce many benefits to one’s business, many business leaders have admitted failed cases of it, and that they can solve most of their problems with nearshore software outsourcing.

The major benefits of nearshore software outsourcing are:

• Cost reduction
• Minor time-zone difference
• Easier communication
• Little cultural diffrences

 

1. Cost reduction

– Cost effective: The most important benefit is that outsourcing of work allows one to get the work done at a very low cost and in a much more efficient way. There is a vast difference in the wage patterns of the western developed countries and the developing companies. The kind of work which is done in the west for a very high price, can be obtained at a much cheaper rate in the developing countries like India, the difference varies to up to 60%.

– Cost cutting on training and recruitment: When a particular type of work is outsourced, then the company or organisation does not require hiring skilled people for it. There will also be no need for arranging for training programmes for the same. The work will be handed over to people who are already experts in that trade. This will also bring in efficiency and quality in the work.

 

2. Minor time zone difference

When it comes to IT Outsourcing, you can either hire a local team or the remote team (which can be offshore). But to minimalize costs, business leaders are often fascinated by offshore software outsourcing services, which have a much lower cost. In exchange for this attracting cost is the situation in which the client and the vendor are in opposite timezone.

Opposite timezone means that your working hours are their resting time, and vice versa. This huge difference in the timezone can lead to communication disruption, and this is the last thing that you want to have with an IT Outsourcing project.

 

 

On the other hand, the nearshoring software outsourcing solution can minimize this disadvantage. As the nearshoring vendor will be only 2 to 3 hours ahead, the timezone gap is bridged, and both parties can work with each other during their working hours. No one will have to work overnight with this. 

 

3. Easier communication

With your time zones are roughly similar, there will be no logistical issues. You can easily set up meetings and get answers quickly. Any problems or issues can be addressed immediately without any delay. 

Imagine you have a bug on your app that immensely affected the user experience and the app performance. But your development team is on the other side of the globe, perhaps is in their dreams. You cannot contact any of the team, and you have to wait through 6 to 8 hours to get the bug fixed. By the time the bug is fixed, the app has lost a large number of customers due to the poor experience.

 

4. Little cultural diffrences

Nearshoring IT Outsourcing can also offer you the advantage of shared perspectives and cultural understanding.

For example, the offshore development center in Vietnam will have similar work cultures as in Japan, China, Korea. The deep-rooted Oriental cultures help us have a similar perspective.

When working with a nearshoring software development team, the clients will share the same local norms, work cultures, hence making the work process smoother.

 

 

On the final note

Nearshore software outsourcing is not a new approach for IT Outsourcing, but its use has only raised in recent years, as more and more business leaders have recognized the benefits it can bring to their company. All in all, when done correctly, nearshore software outsourcing can provide some serious advantages in terms of cost, compatibility and communication.

 

Nearshoring software outsourcing with Lotus QA

Lotus QA has been the nearshoring software outsourcing partner with many countries in Asia, bringing our talented IT workers to the international market. When working with Lotus QA, we always ensure:

• On-schedule delivery. Our product will always be reviewed through multiple layers of QA processes, hence bringing the best outputs for our customers.
• We ensure continuous communication to answer your questions and problems
• We delegate comtors or BrSE staff to work with you during the project. These employees not only have the technical knowledge but also have language proficiency to communicate seamlessly with our clients.

 

 

If you have more questions about nearshore software outsourcing, you can contact Lotus QA expert for more information.

 

• Website: https://www.lotus-qa.com/
• Tel: (+84) 24-6660-7474
• Fanpage: https://www.facebook.com/LotusQualityAssurance

How can we obtain the highest quality in our Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning? The answer is high-quality training data, according to many scientists. But to ensure such high-quality work might not be that easy. So the question is “What is the data annotation best practices?”

One might think of data annotation as mundane and tedious work that requires no strategic thinking. Annotators only have to work on their data and then submit them!

However, the reality speaks differently. The process of data annotation might be lengthy and repetitive, but it has never been easy, especially for managing annotation projects. In fact, many AI projects have failed and been shut down, due to the poor quality of training data and inefficient management.

In this article, we will guide you through the Data annotation best practices to ensure data labelling quality. This guide follows the steps in a data annotation project and how to successfully and effectively manage the project:

1. Define and plan the annotation project
2. Managing timelines
3. Creating guidelines and training workforce
4. Feedback and changes

 

1. Define and plan the annotation project

Every technological project needs to start with the defining and planning step, even for a seemingly easy task like data annotation.

First off, there needs to be the clear clarification and identification of the key elements in the project, including:

• The key stakeholders
• The overall goals
• The methods of communication and reporting
• The characteristics of the data to be annotated
• How the data should be annotated

 

 

The key stakeholders

With the key stakeholders, there are mainly three of them:

• The project manager of the whole AI product: It is a must for project managers to determine are the ones to set out the practical application of the project, and how what kinds of data need to be put into the AI/ML model.
• The annotation project manager: His/her main duties include the day-to-day functions, and they will be responsible for the quality of the outputs. They will work directly with the annotators and conduct necessary training. When you have an annotation project manager, make sure that they have subject matter expertise so that they can start working on the project right away.
• The annotators: For the annotators, it is best that they are well-trained of the labeling tools (or the auto data labeling tool).

After identifying the stakeholders, you can easily set out their responsibilities. For example, the overall quality of the datasets will be the responsibility of the annotation project manager, but how the data is used in the AI/ML model will be solely on the project manager.

Each of these stakeholders has their own job, their own skill sets and their valuable perspective to achieve the best result. If your project lacks any of these stakeholders, it can be at risk of poor performance.

 

The overall goals

For any data annotation project, you need to know what you want as an output, hence developing the appropriate measures to achieve it. With the key project stakeholders, the project manager can put all of their input together and come up with the overall goals.

 

 

To come up with the overall goals, you need to answers to these:

• The desired functionality
• The intended use cases
• The targeted customers

Once the overall goals are clarified, the next step of the annotation project will be more projected and well-defined, making the working process easier.

 

The methods of communication and reporting

It is quite all over the place when it comes to communication and reporting in data annotation projects. Communication in software development seems to be much more emphasized than in data annotation, but it doesn’t mean that the communication is of less significance.

Maybe the communication among the annotators is thin but between the annotators and project manager or the annotation manager, it is not the case. In fact, they need to constantly keep track of each other’s work to ensure the overall quality.

Therefore, the use of communication platforms and reporting app is very important.

• For communication, the project manager can choose from Scrum, Kanban or the Dynamic Systems Development Method.
• For reporting, the annotation manager needs to establish a system of controlling the quality and quantity of the annotators. The simplest, yet very effective way is through Excel or Google Spreadsheet.

 

The characteristics of the data to be annotated

The stakeholders need to understand the following:

• The features
• The limitations
• The patterns

With the initial understanding of the data, the next vital step is to sample for data annotation and whether any pre-processing of the dataset is needed

With any project that has a big sum of data, the annotation manager needs to break down the project into small parts for trial. With microprojects like this, the annotators don’t necessarily need the subject matter expertise to carry out.

Check out: Data Annotation Guide

 

2. Managing timeline

The timeline is another important feature that needs to be well taken care of. Every stakeholder will have to be involved in this process to define the expectations, constraints and dependencies along the timeline. These features can have a great impact on the budget and the time spent on the project.

 

 

There are some ground rules for the team to come up with a suitable timeline:

• All stakeholders have to be involved in the process of creating a timeline
• The timelines should be clearly stated (the date, the hour, etc.)
• The timelines must also include the time for training and creating guidelines.
• If there are any issues or uncertainties related to the data and the annotation process should be communicated to all stakeholders and documented as risks, where applicable.
• In this process, the timeline will be decided as follows:
• For the product managers, they must take into account the overall requirements of the project. What are the deadlines? What are the requirements and the user experience? Since the product managers don’t directly get involved in the data annotation process, they need to know or be educated about the complexity of the project, hence setting reasonable expectations.
• For the annotation managers, they need to know the project’s complexity to allocate the annotators need to know to do the project. What is the subject matter knowledge required with this project? How many people are required to do this? How do they ensure the high-quality and follow the timeline effectively? These are the questions that they need to answer.
• For the data annotators, they need to clarify what type of data they’re working on, what types of annotation and the knowledge required to do the job. If they don’t have them, it is a must that they are trained with an expert.

Check out: Data Annotation Working Process

 

3. Creating guideline and training workforce

Before stepping into the annotation process, you must consider the guideline and the training so that the team can achieve the highest quality in their work.

 

Creating guideline

For the data annotated to be consistent, the team needs to come up with a full guideline for one particular data annotation project.

This guideline should be built based on all of the information there is about the project. If you have similar projects like this, you should also write the new guideline based on it.

 

 

Here are some ground rules for creating a guideline in data annotation:

• The annotation project manager needs to put the complexity and the length of the project in mind. Especially with the complexity of the project will affect the complexity of the guideline.
• Both tool and annotation instructions are to be included in the guideline. Introduction to the tool and how to do it must be clearly stated.
• There must be examples to illustrate each label that the annotators have to work with. This helps the annotators understand the data scenarios and the expected outputs more easily.
• Annotation project managers should consider including the end goal or downstream objective in the annotation guidelines to provide context and motivation to the workforce.
• The annotation project manager needs to make sure that the guideline is consistent with other documentation of the project so that there will be no conflict and confusion.

 

Training workforce

Based on the guideline that stakeholders have, the annotation team manager now can continue with the training easily.

Again, don’t think of the annotation as easy work. It can be repetitive but also requires much training and subject matter knowledge. Also, training for the data annotators requires attention to many matters, including:

• The nature of the project: Is the project complicated? Does the data require subject matter knowledge?
• The project’s time frame: The length of the project will define the overall time spent on training
• The resources of the individual or group managing the workforce.

After the training process, the annotators are expected to adequately understand the project and produce annotations that are both valid (accurate) and reliable (consistent).

 

 

During the training process, the annotation manager needs to make sure that:

• The training is based on one guideline to ensure consistency.
• If there is a case of new annotators joining the team when the project has already started, the training process will be done again, either through direct training or training in recorded video.
• If there is any question, all of them have to be answered before the project has started.
• If there is confusion or misunderstanding, it should be addressed right at the beginning of the project to avoid any errors later.
• The matter of quality output must be clearly defined in the training process. If there is any quality assurance method, it should be announced to the annotators.
• Written feedback is given out to the data annotators so they know what metrics they are going to work on.

 

During the annotation process, the quality of the training datasets relies on how the annotation manager drives the annotation team. To ensure the best result, you can take the following measures:

• After the requirements of the project are clarified, you need to set reasonable targets and timelines for the annotators to achieve.
• Every estimation and pilot phase needs to be done beforehand.
• You need to define the quality assurance process and which staff to be involved (possibly QA staff)
• The annotation manager needs to address the collaboration between the annotators. Who will help who? Who will cross-check whose work?
• You divide the project into smaller phases, then give feedbacks to erroneous work.
• The Annotation manager will be the one who ensures technical support for the annotation tool throughout the annotation process to prevent project delay. If there is to be any problem that can’t be solved singlehandedly, he/she needs to ask the tool provider or the project manager for viable solutions.

 

4. Feedback and changes

After the annotation is complete, it is important to assess the overall outcome and how the team did the work. By doing this, you can confirm the validity and reliability of the annotations before submitting them to another team or clients.

If there were any additional annotations, you need to take another look at the strategic adjustments to the project’s definition, training process, and workforce, so the next round of annotation collection can be more efficient.

It is also very important to implement processes to detect data drift and anomalies that may require additional annotations.

 

How Lotus QA manager our annotation projects

To ensure the high quality on your training datasets is not easy. Actually, it is quite a troublesome process to allocate the work, do the training and give feedback. Maintaining such a large team of the project manager, annotation manager and annotators can take up many resources and effort.

 

 

LQA is one of the top 10 Data labelling companies in Vietnam with a team of 6-year experience, working in multiple annotation projects and many data types. We also have a strong team of data annotation project managers and QA staff to ensure the quality of our outputs. From agriculture to fashion, from sports to automobile projects, we’ve done it all. Working with LQA, you can rest assured that your data is in the right hand. Don’t hesitate to contact us if you want to know more about managing data annotation projects.

• Website: https://www.lotus-qa.com/
• Tel: (+84) 24-6660-7474
• Fanpage: https://www.facebook.com/LotusQualityAssurance

As 2022 is coming, the IT Outsourcing market is up for remarkable development and numerous new trends. Let’s find out the upcoming IT Outsourcing trends in 2022 in this field in the following article:

• Trending technologies
• Trends in the workplace
• Trending work methodology
• Trends in IT recruitment

You might want to know: Top Industries to use IT Outsourcing

Trending technologies

Continuing the overall trends of the IT industry in 2021, 2022 is another year of technological advancements with many new features and reigning trends.

Python on the rise

Although JavaScript remains the dominant programming language for most developers, Python is gaining more and more popularity among the tech communities. According to Statista, 44% of the developers now use Python as their main programming language.

Python is used in the most trending technologies and advances such as machine learning, big data, cloud computing. With the ease of analyzing and organizing the usable data, Python became the second most popular tool in the developer community. Hence, the demand for Python programming language is higher than ever and is promised to become a trend in 2022.

Python programming language is also a vital part of automation testing. It is considered the best performance booster in automation and software testing to save time and effort to write codes.

More importantly, there are hundreds of Python libraries and frameworks available for you to learn and apply to your project.

• matplotib for plotting charts and graphs
• SciPy for engineering applications, science, and mathematics
• BeautifulSoup for HTML parsing and XML
• NumPy for scientific computing
• Django for server-side web development

Cloud technology

The Covid-19 Pandemic has inevitably forced us to search for increased scalability, business continuity and cost efficiency to keep the business running even when the employees can’t work onsite. And cloud computing is perhaps the perfect answer for this.

Cloud services are expected to expand more in the future, as they help business save their resources and help teams work remotely. The concrete evidence for the growth in the application of cloud services is shown in the increase of 6.3% of IT spending in 2020. After two years, this number is expected to reach 18%.

Overall, cloud computing can help you in:

• Data security
• Government compliance
• Flexibility
• Better focus on core activities rather than data hosting and infrastructure
• Access to up-to-date software, enhanced security, data portability for users, and cost-effectiveness.

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence plays an important role in the development of autonomous vehicles, which were very popular back in 2021. However, as we step into 2022, AI will become an even bigger part of our lives, as in the field of eCommerce. The uses of artificial intelligence in this are:

• Chatbots
• Customer shopping suggestions
• Personalized support for more growth
• Inventory Management

Trends in the workplace – Agile

With the Pandemic still going on, affecting how our workplace operates, there are some major changes in:

• The location of our “office”
• How we communicate

Remote work

According to Gartner, in 2022, 51% of all workers worldwide will be remote (a mix of hybrid and fully remote).

By 2024, organizations will be forced to bring forward digital business transformation plans by at least five years. Those plans will have to adapt to a post-COVID-19 world that involves permanently higher adoption of remote work and digital touchpoints,” said Mr. Atwal, senior research director at Gartner.

To put it into perspective, the onsite workplace is no longer safe for the employees, as there are still many pandemic outbreaks despite high rate of vaccination. The pandemic makes it very dangerous for people to get out of their houses and travel to work. As a result, many business leaders have to take remote work as a final solution. Of course, this remote work situation is not the definite answer to an effective workplace, but it is the most viable solution both for the safety of the workers and the performance of the company.

Remote Work Communication Best Practices: Mastering virtual workplace

Emphasize on Communication

With the help of the most recent technologies and applications, remote work has become more effective than ever. People can communicate seamlessly on multiple platforms and channels. And this is when we have to put on some measures to make the communication more effective.

There are many ways to make communication in a remote workplace better. The most popular is perhaps through the management platform and remote working tools. In these platforms, the tasks and targets are logged onto the management file, setting clear goals, the person in charge, datelines. With everything being so transparent, the communication is way better and more straightforward.

Another way to boost the communication is through the “Virtual water cooler”. In a normal workplace, the water cooler is where people gather around and make small talks about their life. This is proven to be a very effective way to connect people and create a friendly environment in the workplace. But in the case of remote work, as we’re having today, the virtual water cooler is like the time in which we engage with each other outside of working hours.

Trending work methodology

2022 will emphasize more on Agile methodology. Here’s the thing. The world of technology is changing every minute. The trending technologies today may become obsolete the very next day. We are becoming more and more familiar with the term technology disruptions, in which innovation can alter the way we live. And to be able to catch up with this ever-changing pace, people have to apply a methodology that can help businesses adapt quickly.

Agile is the answer for this.

Instead of working with a predefined output, Agile allows developers to make changes during their process, as long as the customer is happy. The work pace with Agile is very quick, and it also requires effective communication so that everyone can understand the requirements and the changes very well.

IT Outsourcing trends in IT recruitment

The growth in the IT industry comes together with many in-demand job positions and challenges in IT recruitment. These trends are shown in the demand for the following positions:

• Full-stack developers
• DevOps engineer
• Scrum Master

Complete Guide for 7 Strategies to overcome your burden of IT recruitment

Full-stack developers

A full-stack developer is capable of many different fields, from front-end to databases and other related technologies. With a wide understanding and in-depth knowledge of the IT industry in general, a full-stack developer is expected to take care of numerous positions as requested.

Instead of hiring individual developers with different skill sets, HR specialists now favor full-stack developers. This is because hiring a full-stack developer takes less effort and costs.

DevOps engineer

As more and more businesses are applying digital transformation, the need for a specialist who has a wide-ranging knowledge of both development and operations, including coding, infrastructure management and system administration, is higher than ever.

This is where DevOps engineers step in. A DevOps engineer has a strong understanding of common system architecture, provisioning and administration, and he/she must be able to do code reviews, unit tests and agile methodology.

With an experienced DevOps engineer, your development and testing process will be more well-managed, leading to a more effective working process.

Scrum Master

Scrum Master works with the trending Agile methodology. Since Agile is becoming more popular, the demand for Scrum Master is growing very fast.

Working in agile, Scrum Master will be responsible for:

• Coaching the team members in self-management and cross-functionality
• Helping the scrum team focus on creating high-value increments
• Causing the removal of impediments to the scrum team’s progress
• Ensuring that all scrum events take place and are positive, productive and kept within the timebox

In some cases, the Scrum Master can be involved in some tasks of the product owner such as:

• Helping find techniques for effective product goal definition and product backlog management
• Helping the scrum team understand the need for clear and concise product backlog items
• Helping establish empirical product planning for a complex environment

All in all, Scrum Master must have what it takes to ensure the success of a scrum and the desired outputs.

Without the help of a Scrum Master, it is very likely that an agile project cannot be carried out on a large scale. This is why the job of a scrum master is so important these days.

How Lotus QA adapt to these IT Outsourcing trends

Lotus QA improves itself every day to keep up with the latest IT Outsourcing trends and other revolutionary technology trends.

Firstly, we have applied remote work in the last half of 2021, mastering the communication and procedures to ensure the highest quality of our work. Since the very first day of our development, we always emphasize the importance of a stringent working process to ensure everything is in sync, and everything is following the right direction. When working with our clients, continuity and prompt response are always our high priorities in order to provide a seamless experience.

Secondly, our communication methods are optimized to effectively convey ideas and responses between our team and our clients. Necessary channels and platforms will be used as requested as long as the customers are satisfied. For each of our projects, there will be a project manager that is capable of communicating. He/she has what it takes to be the “bridge” connecting two parties: management skills and the technical mindset.

Finally, the need for more talents, especially in full-stack developers, DevOps engineers and Scrum masters, demands us to have a well-developed recruitment process. From the stage of screening CVs to hiring and retaining talents, Lotus QA pays attention to the minute details so that both the candidates and our clients can find what they are looking for.

At Lotus QA, we specialize in providing top-notch IT outsourcing services, ranging from software testing to software development. If you’re looking for a partner to help you catch up with these upcoming trends of 2022, contact Lotus for more details.

• Website: https://www.lotus-qa.com/
• Tel: (+84) 24-6660-7474
• Fanpage: https://www.facebook.com/LotusQualityAssurance

IT Outsourcing has been an approach for many businesses, whether big or small, to implement when it comes to digital transformation. However, the efficiency of IT outsourcing is not universally recognized by every business that has ever applied it. Some praise IT Outsourcing to be the cost-effective approach for their digital transformation, some show great disappointment as the approach does not come up to their expectations. So why is there such polarization? Let’s check out the IT Outsourcing pros and cons. This cross-check will help you sort out the priorities and see whether the advantages outweigh the disadvantages or the other way round.

 

The pros of IT Outsourcing – Benefits of outsourcing it services

 

1. Cost Reduction

The most important benefit is that IT outsourcing allows one to get the work done at a very low cost and in a much more efficient way. The main reasons for cost reduction in IT outsourcing are:

• Lower labor cost
• Cost-cutting on training and recruitment
• Saves on investment

 

Lower labor cost

There is a vast difference in the wage patterns of the western developed countries and the developing companies. The kind of work which is done in the west for a very high price can be obtained at a much cheaper rate in the developing countries like India, the difference varies to up to 60%.

 

 

Some might argue that lower price means lower quality, but the labor cost gap is created from geographical pricing, meaning that in different countries with different living standards lies a different level of labor cost. The overall quality of tech workers or the education in technological matters are actually on the same level.

 

Cost-cutting on training, recruitment and operation

Recruitment, training and operational costs can all add up to a huge sum of money as they are lengthy processes and sometimes, can be cumbersome. However, with IT outsourcing, you don’t have to worry about any of these costs and challenges in IT recruitment, as the vendors will take full charge of it. In this case, IT Outsourcing not only helps you save by a lot but also cuts out the non-core processes so that you can focus on what really matters to your enterprise.

 

Saves on investment

Instead of investing in recruitment and training programs (which can distract you from the essential work of yours), you can save on investment with IT Outsourcing. By saying investment, we want to focus on the investment in your time and effort.

 

 

With IT Outsourcing, you and your staff will not get bogged down with non-core activities. Let’s take recruitment as an example. To successfully recruit tech talents, you would have to invest in candidates’ data, interviews, and many more. But with a third-party team that has well-trained staff specializing in these operations, they will provide you with the high service standards that you might not have achieved with an in-house team.

In fact, it can even give your in-house team more time and energy to work on their actual job. The investment that could have been spent on recruitment or training programs now is used for other core matters such as facilities or marketing campaigns, for example.

 

2. Access To A Larger Talent Pool

The common situation in IT recruitment appears that the employer only has access to a small and local talent pool. High demand in tech talents with a low supply of such small talent pool can always lead to the situation that no employer would want: compromise.

 

 

The talent shortage is one of the alarming problems of the technology sector. In order to recruit for one simple junior tech engineer position, it might take one month to be done with the recruitment and the onboarding process.

On the other hand, according to Forbes, many companies have found that outsourcing gives them access to talents in other parts of the world. Larger talent pool means a higher chance of getting the employees that you want.

 

3. High level of expertise and delivery quality

With IT Outsourcing service vendors, there will always be a team of skilled resources across many industries and technologies, so you will never have to worry about the level of expertise or the quality of your work.

Their level of expertise is also shown in their latest technologies and the infrastructure prepared for different fields. In order to stand out among other vendors, it is a must that they are well-prepared of the trending technologies. For the clients, they don’t have to start from cratch to access to these technologies. They can tap the resources from the vendors.

 

 

Especially in IT outsourcing service providers, the training is of the utmost importance. They would spend millions of dollars to acquire and attain professional and experienced talents so that these talents can become the pillars of their services. Their expertise in various industries and technologies will ensure the best output for you – their clients.

 

The cons of IT Outsourcing – Possible drawbacks of IT Outsourcing

Alluring as it might appear to be, not every company can benefit from IT Outsourcing. There are several IT Outsourcing disadvantages that you might face working on your IT projects. Know these disadvantages to be well aware of what you might stumble upon with IT Outsourcing. The biggest disadvantages of IT Outsourcing are:

• Loss of visibility and control
• Communication issues
• High risk of security and intellectual property

 

1. Loss of visibility and control

Loss of visibility and control is one of the biggest challenges with IT Outsourcing. Your ideal work process would always be you hire the team and they deliver the expected outputs. But the real question lies in “How can they do it?”.

With IT Outsourcing, the management is not as easy as it was with an in-house team. The guy who is responsible for the project is not actually getting involved in the job physically. He manages and keeps track of the process through reports and numbers, which he receives from the vendors, not seeing it by himself.

This loss of visibility and control can lead to severe consequences in terms of additional costs. Worst case scenario, the resulting product does not perform very well, or the service provided did not achieve the results expected. In order to fix these, high costs with a sub-par product which is developed behind schedule can bring about a lot of trouble.

 

 

If it were an in-house team, the issues can be acknowledged from an early time and be fixed accordingly before they become a major problem. This can only be avoided with a detailed management plan and check-up schedule to make sure everything’s on track.

At Lotus QA, we developed a stringent process to make sure the agreed plan is carried out right on schedule. The IT outsourcing risks of control and visibility is limited to the smallest with standardized reports and direct numbers from our workboard.

 

2. Communication issues

The issue of communication is still a nagging problem that even the biggest companies are struggling with it. The problem with communication in IT outsourcing may be a result of inconsistent processes and practices across teams, making both parties more prone to communication disruptions. This is likely to happen when the product owner and team leader of both parties fail to agree on a mutual working process and timeline. Their failure to clarify how to do the project and how to report the issues can also make the communication way worse.

 

 

The time zone difference is another IT outsourcing disadvantage. With IT Outsourcing, the clients and the vendors don’t usually stay in the same continent, creating a big time-zone gap, which can eventually affect the communication of the team. Your day is their night, and your night is their day. The dissimilarity in time zone can lead to malfunctioned “machine”. What if you have questions and problems, what if the problems need to be fixed now? A team that is 12 hours away obviously cannot answer these questions, posing a higher chance of risk and financial loss.

With this problem, Lotus QA believes that the adoption of continuous communication (constant updates, information sharing, etc.) can help align work processes among teams. You also need to choose the vendors that match your working hours.

 

3. High risk of security and intellectual property

Hiring a third party working for your IT projects means that you will have to share your business information and sometimes, database with them. Either intentionally or unintentionally, the IT Outsourcing process often works with discrete data. Data breaches or intellectual property violations are of high chance to happen, especially with vendors that lack security measures.

For example, one freelancer may have low-quality data protection software so your data may be stolen someday. On a lower note, they may even intend to sell your new product feature idea to other companies before release.

 

To avoid this, one has to take serious measures in security and intellectual properties. Get to know your vendor’s security systems and clarify on the fine for any violations. Even though it doesn’t assure 100% of security, it can still be your safety net.

 

Our conclusion

IT outsourcing is a controversial matter with many pros and cons, all of which you should carefully and thoroughly consider before rushing in any direction.

Obtaining all of the great features of IT outsourcing, and are on our journey to make the process as fulfilling as possible, Lotus QA commits to bringing the best version of IT Outsourcing to you.

 

 

 

About Lotus QA

At Lotus QA, we have a flexible approach for our clients to get the most suited IT Outsourcing contract to avoid any IT outsourcing risks and strengthen its benefits. As each of the contracts has its own traits and features, Lotus QA can customize them upon requests, as long as it can help our clients successfully achieve their final goal. Flexible as it is, Lotus QA still complies with international processes and standard in how we provide you with out technology services.

 

Want to have deeper insights about IT Outsourcing pros and cons? Contact Lotus QA for further details:

• Website: https://www.lotus-qa.com/
• Tel: (+84) 24-6660-7474
• Fanpage: https://www.facebook.com/LotusQualityAssurance

IT Outsourcing Contract is perhaps the last thing one has to consider when it comes to the implementation of IT Outsourcing in their company. People often think of the cost reduction and the quality of delivery as their priorities, but little do they acknowledge that IT Outsourcing Contract plays a very important role in how these turn out.

In our last article on the IT Outsourcing model, you knew that IT Outsourcing is a multifaceted service, meaning that to finalize an optimal solution for your business, one needs to research many features, including the locations and the pricing contract.

In this article, we will continue with the details of the four most popular IT Outsourcing contracts and the must-have components that you would need in any contract.

You might want to know: Choosing IT Outsourcing Provider for your business

What is an IT Outsourcing Contract?

If you are new to all these IT Outsourcing and Outsourcing contracts, let’s just start with the basic definitions.

An IT Outsourcing contract is a legal document binding two parties in accordance with the agreed terms. In this contract, many components concerning the pricing model, the scope of work, delivery time, etc.

The two parties involved in this IT Outsourcing Contract are the vendor and the client. This contract will probably include the legal terms regarding the intellectual property, non-disclosure agreement and so on.

What are the three types of IT Outsourcing contract?

IT Outsourcing has been favored by many business leaders, thanks to many of its advantages of vendor expertise, improved quality of delivery, cost reduction, etc. But to acquire all of these, it might not be easy as you think it is.

For different kinds of projects, you would have a different approach to best achieve your goal. The same situation applies to the IT Outsourcing contract. There are three types of IT Outsourcing contracts, and they are:

• Project-based
• Time & Material
• Dedicated Team

Project-based IT Outsourcing contract

– What is it:

Project-based IT Outsourcing contract is one of the most popular kinds of contract there is. With project-based, the first and foremost thing that the client needs to clarify before rushing in finding any suitable vendor is their requirements.

The requirements must be clearly mentioned beforehand in the request for proposal. You need to answer these questions:

• What service do you want from the vendor?
• What are the expected goals from the vendor?
• What is the scope of work?

For clients who want to have full control of your spending on IT Outsourcing, the project-based contract is the answer for you. With this kind of contract, the vendor will work under specific requirements and goals. Any work that is unrelated and outside of the work scope will not be taken care of. The product will be delivered within the committed time, with a decided-upon cost.

– When should you use it:

• You know exactly what you want and how you want it from the vendor.
• The project has a small time frame.
• Requirements are clarified and no flexibility is needed.
• The project is straightforward and its directory is not affected by any cause.
• You don’t want to meddle in how the vendor does the project, as long as they can deliver the expected outcome in accordance with the initial requirements.

Time & Material IT Outsourcing contract

– What is it:

Opposite to what a Project-based IT Outsourcing contract offers, Time & Material is the IT Outsourcing contract that is based on the working hours and the resources spent on the project.

Normally, Time & Material is used when the software development project is a long-term one and an estimate of the time required or costs cannot be made in advance. Even though you might start the IT project with some sort of planning, but the outsourcing cost will never be as you expect.

Time & Material IT Outsourcing contract is perhaps the most popular type of outsourcing contract. The main reason for this is that the technology world is moving at an unprecedented pace. The trending technology today might become obsolete the very next day, and the businesses’ operations revolve around the customer experience. It is the customer that decides one’s success. Client centricity is now of the utmost importance, and the client’s demand can change over time.

Especially for tech companies to survive in such a competitive market, they have to change according to the market’s demand. Under this circumstance, a Time & Material IT outsourcing contract is the best solution. With Time & Material, you don’t have to set your eyes on any particular goal, you want to figure out your desired output later, and pivot right when you feel like it.

This adds up the element of flexibility and makes it seamless to complete projects that require a long time. Time & Material contract will continue as long as the client wants to.

– When should you use it:

• Your domain/field is predicted to change in the years coming, and you need the flexibility to adjust along the way.
• Your project is complex with the raw concept, requiring you to spend a lot of time on it.
• There might be emerging technologies that might come in the way.
• When your concept and idea are too innovative to make and advance estimations.
• When you still want control over your project while having an external team work on it

Dedicated team IT Outsourcing contract

– What is it?

A dedicated team is a team of tech engineers that will work on nothing else but your project. With this IT Outsourcing contract, the client would hire with the help of the vendor. Basically, the vendor will provide a talent pool of the most suitable personnel, and the client will do interviews, tests, etc. to select the team member for their project.

With a Dedicated team IT Outsourcing model, development tasks and the outsourcing contract should have clear specifications on any type of goals or details in advance. The dedicated will function as an in-house team, just that they might be located on a different site. The tech workers now are basically your employees, and you can assign them whatever task you want it to.

You can choose various engagement models to build and collaborate with the team so that the communication is smooth and clear.

– When you should use it?

• When you want total control of the human resources.
• When your project is complex and requires constant iteration and modifications.
• When you want to build a long-term connection and relationship with your outsourced team.
• When you are planning to expand and need an expert team of developers working solely for your project

The 3 IT Outsourcing contracts as above can be adjusted as your request. Remember that there is no exact contract that can suit your company right away. Before deciding on how your contract will be, you should negotiate with the vendors. Then create a skeleton contract of the must-have components such as:

• Detailed project scope
• Service level agreements
• Transfer of assets
• Warranty of the product
• Ownership of the product
• IP protection
• Cost & payment structure
• Dispute resolution
• Subcontracting
• Indemnification
• Exit strategy

Once you have included these terms in your contract, you basically don’t have to add anything else. If yes, perhaps just some other minor negotiations.

When you are done with negotiations, you will produce the first draft for post-reading, or the vendor will prepare this for you. Either way, the IT Outsourcing contract should include minute detail to avoid any misunderstanding.

In Conclusion

Each IT Outsourcing contract has its own features, and is only suitable for particular objectives and approaches. Drafting out a contract might be the last thing you think of when outsourcing your IT operations, but it can have major impact on how your team and your whole operation will turn out. A contract is the legal binding between the clients and the vendors, and you need to be very careful when deciding on what contracts you would apply.

Project-based	Time & Material	Dedicated Team
•   Tailor-made for small to mid-size projects •   Entails fixed budget and solid requirements	•   Focused on value and productivity •   Designed for long-term, frequent, scheduled, or day-to-day functions	•   Designed for large-scale projects •   Prepares dedicated team for management and operation
•   Predefined project requirements •   Short time frame •   Fixed budget	•   Complicated and not predefined requirements •   Periodic order •   Need for flexibility	•   Companies that want long-term operation •   Full control of team members •   Flexible transfer

Already know what contract is for you? Get to know How Managing IT Outsourcing works with a detailed guide from Lotus experts.

About Lotus QA

At Lotus QA, we have a flexible approach for our clients to get the most suited IT Outsourcing contract. As each of the contracts has its own traits and features, Lotus QA can customize them upon requests, as long as it can help our clients successfully achieve their final goal. Flexible as it is, Lotus QA still complies with international processes and standard in how we provide you with out technology services.

Have you decided what IT Outsourcing contract to follow? If you are still unclear, contact Lotus QA for further support on this matter:

• Website: https://www.lotus-qa.com/
• Tel: (+84) 24-6660-7474
• Fanpage: https://www.facebook.com/LotusQualityAssurance

IT is among the top 4 outsourcing industries by Deloitte 2021 Global Survey. Business owners choose IT outsourcing services to handle new technologies and functions without spending a lot on training or hiring. Still, many IT outsourcing working models that meet different criteria may confuse you with choosing the most suitable outsourcing model for your business. 

In this article, let’s dig deeper into the most common types of IT Outsourcing based on how you pay and involve with the process, their pros and cons, and what to consider to choose the right IT outsourcing working model for your company.

1. Quick Review On IT Outsourcing Models

Three IT Outsourcing Types

• Onshoring – Domestic vendors.
• Nearshoring – Neighboring vendors.
• Offshoring – Overseas vendors.

Four IT Outsourcing Pricing Models

• Project-based – Pay per project.
• Time and material – Pay per time and effort.
• Dedicated team – Pay monthly salary.
• Staff augmentation – Pay monthly salary.

Also read: What to do when choosing an IT outsourcing provider?

2. Types Of IT Outsourcing

The simplest way to categorize the IT Outsourcing models is to divide them by geological locations. Here are 3 major IT outsourcing types widely adopted by IT companies worldwide.

• Onshoring IT outsourcing: You will delegate your IT operations to an outsourced company located in your country. You won’t face language or timezone barriers but you won’t be able to utilize the advantage of geological pricing. Since a major feature why people want to outsource is to reduce cost, onshoring is not the most favorable IT outsourcing model.   
• Nearshoring IT outsourcing: You will outsource your IT services to a partner in a neighboring country, such as a company in Singapore outsourcing their work in software development and software testing to a vendor in Vietnam. This is an ideal solution to achieve cost-effectiveness while maintaining communication in remote work.
• Offshoring IT outsourcing: You will hand over your IT services to an overseas software development company. This is the most popular IT outsourcing model as you have more chances to utilize high-skilled labor at lower prices. Still, it requires more effort to have effective communication with vendors with large timezone barriers. 

Just with these simple definitions of IT outsourcing models, you can easily their pros and cons. Perhaps you have already found a suitable model for your business.

All in all, regarding communication, onshoring is seemingly the most effective, as both parties of vendors and clients share many features, including the language and the time. With onshoring, any feedback and reviews will receive equivalent feedback right away. In case of emergencies, the clients can contact the vendors via phone numbers, which are accessible anywhere, anytime.

However, in terms of cost-cutting, nearshoring and offshoring are favored more. Due to geological pricing, one can save up to 90% of the overall cost when working with nearshoring and offshoring vendors.

People often say that the price comes with quality, but in the case of nearshoring and offshoring, you can get the equivalent high-quality work at a much more reasonable price. Perhaps the only obstacle here is how to communicate effectively.

The reason why people prefer offshoring and nearshoring IT outsourcing models is that they prioritize cost-effectiveness more than anything. If your utmost priority is to reduce the cost to the lowest, you can consider an offshore development center in Vietnam.

 

3. The four IT outsourcing pricing models

With IT outsourcing pricing models, you will know the basics of how you can run your outsourcing projects and what models fit your financial situations and plan the most. You should look into these IT outsourcing pricing models before signing any contract with an international technology outsourcing company. By knowing how you are going to collaborate, you will have better plans for streamlining your visions and your goals.

Project-based IT outsourcing model

The project-based IT outsourcing model means delegating the entire process to a third-party IT firm. The projects have crystal-clear requirements of what the outputs are. Tailor-made for projects with fixed budgets, project-based outsourcing model is the most suitable when you already know what to expect from this project.

Project-based models work with an individual project, and these projects, quite often, are short-term. Operating in such a short time frame, project-based IT outsourcing model is suitable for businesses looking for vendors to work for new features of a project, or something that has a predefined goal.

 

In regards to the financial matter, you will have to pay a fixed amount of money for what you want. Knowing how much you have to pay for the work, you can have better control of your budget and spending plan.
But what if you want something out of the original work scope? Project-based works if you are following the waterfall method but not the agile method.

To conclude, the project-based model is for clients who know exactly what they want and how they want it. To come up with this final information, business might have to go through multiple steps of business analysis and market research. With the firm information on what the market needs and predefined routes, project-based is the best IT outsourcing model.

Pros:

• Fixed-budget.
• Minimal engagement and management efforts required.
• Clients take minimal responsibility for failures and risks.

Cons:

• You will lack flexibility and be hard to change any aspects if the market changes. 
• Your company and your IT team won’t get much experience in handling and managing these kinds of projects.

Suitable for:

• One-time projects and short-term projects.
• Small-size or mid-size projects.
• Predefined projects.
• Projects with stable market conditions and customers’ needs.

Time & Material IT outsourcing model

In Time & Material (or T&M), you pay for the hourly wage and material costs of your project. While project-based is a pay-upfront model, in Time and Material, you pay for what you get from the vendors. Time & Material contract is another popular IT Outsourcing model that is being applied in many companies and projects in the world.

The T&M is one of the most common models of IT outsourcing if you prefer an agile method. The business company can adjust the process on the way according to the market changes or customers’ reviews. Hence, this is the best IT outsourcing model if you are on a long-term project without precise requirements, a fixed timeline and some aspects may be subject to change.

 

 

Time & Material is the opposite of what a project-based outsourcing model can offer you. With T&M, you focus on the value and productivity of the whole process. Time & Material are deemed the viable solution for businesses that are working on complicated and not predefined requirements. However, there are periodic orders and frequent schedules.

Usually, Time & material contract model often goes with businesses working in rather new fields of the IT world. New markets and new experiences require changes by the minute, and only Time and Material can offer the flexibility that you need to thrive in a new sector.

Pros:

• Cost transparency and worthy.
• Lots of flexibility to handle changes and create user-approved products.
• Best for new technologies or changeable fields in the IT industry that are hard to predict.

Cons:

• Difficulty in tracking time and materials costs.
• Overboard the expected budget if initial estimates go wrong.
• Resource-consuming to work with your vendor.

Suitable for:

• Long-term projects.
• Agile, flexibility-preferred projects.
• Projects with unclear paths or requirements.

Dedicated Team IT outsourcing contract

A dedicated team has a similar way of operation as Time and Material, but the difference lies in how the recruitment goes. Normally, for project-based and T&M projects, the clients only clarify the outputs of the project. The matter of who does it and their skillsets is minor in their focus.

The team-based model is when you deeply care about who does the task and their skills. Your IT outsourcing partner will suggest a pool of engineers alongside their talents and you will choose specific specialists to form a team.

In terms of payment, the pricing system is quite transparent, the clients will pay monthly in accordance with the team size. The pay includes members’ salaries, service providers’ fees and any other additional fees that have been agreed upon before.

The scope of a dedicated team is quite big, and they will work on projects that are not strictly predefined, with requirements that can change over time. Since they are technically vendor’s employees, the vendors can give them multiple tasks of multiple projects. This feature can be further addressed in the contract between the vendors and the clients.

Pros:

• Your outsource team can work as your in-house IT team.
• Lots of flexibility during the development process to handle changes.
• You’re able to choose the best specialists for your projects.
• You’re in control of the project development process.

Cons:

• You need to understand the project’s field to choose the right engineers with the right skills.
• Resource-consuming to manage the outsourced team.

Suitable for:

• High-standard projects.
• Flexibility-preferred projects.

Staff Augmentation

Staff Augmentation is a dedicated team but in a smaller scope. Staff augmentation is basically hiring tech engineers from vendors and having them work as your full-time employees. Payments for staff augmentation are the same as in dedicated team IT outsourcing models, meaning that the staff should be paid monthly.

The highest risk of staff augmentation is that the employees working for you might not want to work for that project anymore, you might have to do the hiring process again, including the onboarding and training phase. The sustainability plan for staff augmentation is not very ideal. But for a short-term and mid-length project, staff augmentation is the perfect answer, even better if you are only looking for one or two employees.

 

Pros:

• Easy to scale up and down the team according to business changes.
• Cost-effective as you don’t need to hire a big team.
• Your IT team may learn some skills from outsourced engineers.

Cons:

• Resource-consuming to onboard and manage outsourced professionals.
• Conflicts and communication gaps may be created when merging outsourced professionals with your in-house team.

Suitable for:

• Short-team and mid-length projects.
• New or advanced skills and technologies.

4. How to choose the most suitable IT outsourcing models

Now you understand different types of IT outsourcing working models. The next step should be understanding your needs and circumstances, right? 

There are a lot of factors to consider to find out the suitable IT outsourcing model that fits your business. Consider the following factors:

• The goal of your project, whether it is clear or still in the fog.
• The frequency of the project: Is this project one-time or repeatedly?
• The scope of your project. From the goals of the whole project, you can estimate how much labor will it cost you to complete the goal.
• Your preferred project management methodology. For example, if you want to follow the Agile or Scrum methodology, project-based is definitely not your ideal way to go.
• How do you expect the scalability from your outsourcing team?
• What technical skills and level of experience do you expect from your team members.

5. On the final note

Now you know all the IT outsourcing working models, their pros and cons, and your requirements. Simply go to any vendors and discuss your “order” to find the best team to work for you.

With an IT outsourcing model in your mind, you can determine how you can manage your team and how to allocate budgets during your project. The aforementioned models all have their pros and cons, and their use is just for some particular kinds of projects. One must know how they want the project to be carried out and the expected output (or at least what trajectory they are trying to pursue) of the outsourcing process to effectively work with vendors. If the requirements are not clear enough or the feelings of urgency make them rush into hasty decisions, they might fall into many outsourcing pitfalls instead of cutting costs and improving competencies.

About Lotus QA

At Lotus QA, we have a flexible approach for our clients to get the most suited IT Outsourcing model. As each of the models has its own traits and features, Lotus QA can customize them upon request, as long as it can help our clients successfully achieve their final goal. Flexible as it is, Lotus QA still complies with international processes and standards in how we provide you with our technology services.

Struggling with finding the best engagement model for you? Get free consultancy from our experts of Lotus QA. We will give you 24/7 support to find the perfect solution for you. Contact us:

• Website: https://www.lotus-qa.com/
• Tel: (+84) 24-6660-7474
• Fanpage: https://www.facebook.com/LotusQualityAssurance

 

The matter of Data Labeling Quality has been a major topic of concern in AI/ML communities. Perhaps the most common “principle” that you might come across solving this puzzle is “Garbage in, garbage out”.

By saying this, we want to emphasize the fundamental law with training data for artificial intelligence and machine learning development projects. Poor-quality training datasets fed to the AI/ML model can lead to numerous errors in operation.

For example, training data for autonomous vehicles is the deciding factor for whether the vehicles can function on the roads. Provided with poor-quality training data, the AI model can easily mistake humans for an object or the other way round. Either way, the poor training datasets can result in high risks of accidents, which is the last thing that autonomous vehicle manufacturers would want in their projects.

For high-quality training data, we need to involve data labeling quality assurance in the data processing procedure. At Lotus Group and Lotus QA, we take the three following actions to ensure high-quality training datasets. Take a look at this fundamental guide to provide your AI/ML model with the best training data.

Don’t know where to start in AI data processing? Check out our Data Annotation Guide.

 

1. Clarify requirements to optimize data labeling quality

The precision of annotations

High data labeling quality doesn’t simply mean the most carefully annotated data or the training data of the highest quality. For strategic data annotation projects, we need to clarify the requirements of the training datasets. The questions that annotation team leaders should answer are how high-quality the data needs to be, the acceptable precision of data annotation, and how detailed the output should be.

As a vendor of data annotation quality, one thing that we always ask our clients is the requirements. “How tedious do you want us to work with the datasets?”, “How would you want the precision of our annotations?”. By answering these questions, you will have ahead of you a benchmark for your entire projects later on.

 

 

Skillful levels of the annotators

Keep in mind that the implementations of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are very broad. Besides the common applications in autonomous vehicles and transportation, AI and ML made their debut in healthcare and medical, agriculture, fashion, etc. For each and every industry, there are hundreds of different projects, working on different kinds of objects, hence different skills and knowledge are required to ensure data annotation quality.

Take road annotation vs. medical data annotation for example.

• For roads annotation, the work is quite straightforward, and you only need annotators who are capable of common knowledge to do the work. For this annotation project, the number of datasets that need annotating can add up to millions of videos or pictures, and the annotators have to keep the productivity high in an acceptable level of quality.
• Medical data requires annotators who work in the medical field with particular knowledge. For the case of diabetic retinopathy, trained doctors are asked to grade the severity of diabetic retinopathy from photographs so that deep learning can be applied in this particular field.

 

 

Even for well-trained doctors, not all of their annotations agree with one another. To have a consistent outcome, one annotation team might have to annotate each file multiple times to eventually come to a correlation.

It is a matter of how complicated the given data is and how detailed the clients want the data output to be. Once these things are clarified, the team leader can work on the allocation of resources for the required outcomes. Metrics and the relevant Quality Assurance process will be defined after this.

Example of an ideal output

We also encourage the clients to provide example sets to act as the “benchmark” for every dataset to be annotated. This is the most straightforward technique for the quality assurance of data annotation that one might employ. With the example of the perfectly annotated data, your annotators now are trained and presented to the baseline of their work.

With the benchmark as the ideal outcome, you can calculate agreement metrics to evaluate each annotator’s accuracy and performance. In case of uncertainty in both the annotation and review process, the QA staff can work with these sample datasets to define which are qualified and which are not.

 

2. Multi-layered QA process

The QA process in data labeling projects varies within different companies. At LQA, we adhere to the international standardized quality assurance process. The predetermined preferences will always be clarified right at the beginning of the project. These preferences will be compiled into one “benchmark” which will, later on, act as the “golden standard” of every label and annotation.

The steps of this multi-layered QA process are: Self-check, Cross-check, and Manager-check.

 

Self-check

In this step, annotators are asked to do the review on their own work. With self-assessment, annotators now have the time to look back at the data annotation tool, annotation, and labeling from the start of the project.

Normally, annotators have to work under great pressure in terms of time and workload, which can possibly lead to potential deviations in their work. The quality assurance starting with the self-check step will be the time for annotators to slow down and take a thorough look at how they’ve done. By acknowledging the mistakes and possible deviations, annotators can fix them themselves and avoid any of those in the future.

 

 

Cross-check

In data science in general and data annotation in particular, you might have heard about the term “bias”. Annotation bias refers to the situation in which annotators have their own habit to label the data, which can lead to biased opinions upon the provided data. In some cases, annotator bias can influence the model performance. For a more robust AI and ML model, we have to take some effective measures to eliminate the biased annotations, and one simple way to do this is to cross-check.

 

 

By carrying out cross-checking in your annotation process, the whole work is viewed differently, hence the annotators can identify the mistakes and errors in their colleagues’ work. Again, with this different view, the reviewer can point out the biased annotations and the team leader can take further actions. They can rework or give another round of assessment to see whether the annotations are really biased.

 

Manager’s review

An annotation project manager is usually responsible for the day-to-day oversight of the annotation project. Their main tasks include selecting/managing the workforce and ensuring data quality and consistency.
The manager will be the one that receives the data sampling from clients and work on the required metrics and carries out training for the annotators. Once the cross-checking is done, the manager can randomly check the output to see whether they adhere to the clients’ requirements.

Prior to all these checks, the annotation project manager also has to draw a “benchmark line” for quality assurance. To ensure annotation consistency and accuracy, any work that is under the predefined quality must be reworked.

 

 

 

3. Quality Assurance staff involvement

Data labeling quality control cannot rely only on the annotation team. In fact, the involvement of professional and experienced quality assurance staff is a must. To ensure the highest quality of your annotation work, a team of quality assurance staff is a must. They will work as an independent department, outside of the annotation team, and not under the management of the annotation project manager.

The ideal percentage of quality staff over the entire number of data annotation staff doesn’t go beyond 10%. The QA staff cannot and will not review every single annotated data in your project. In fact, they will randomly take out datasets and once again, review the annotations.

 

 

These QA staffs are well-trained with the data sample and will have their metrics to evaluate the quality of the annotated data. These metrics must be agreed upon between the QA team leader and the annotation project manager beforehand.

In addition to the three-step of review of self-check, cross-check and manager’s review, the involvement of QA staff in your annotation projects will sure adhere your data output to the predefined benchmark, which eventually ensures the highest level possible for your training data.

Want to hear more from professionals to enhance your data labeling quality? Contact LQA for more information:

• Website: https://www.lotus-qa.com/
• Tel: (+84) 24-6660-7474
• Fanpage: https://www.facebook.com/LotusQualityAssurance

Vietnam is amongst the top destinations for AI data processing services, providing top-notch data labeling, data collecting and data annotation work. With many favorable traits that can help businesses reduce costs as much as possible, we now have a whole ecosystem of the top Data Labeling companies in Vietnam.

If you are looking for a reliable AI data processing service provider in Vietnam, you can consider our list of top 10 data annotation companies.

You might want to know: Why is Auto Data Labeling the future?

 

Overview of data labeling companies in Vietnam

The demands for AI data processing services hit a record-high number as the world’s technology is revolving around AI-related technologies. To operate an AI model, one business might need thousands of training datasets. The increasing need for AI development and training data leads to the increasing needs for data collection, data annotation and data validation.

Since the dawn of AI and ML, there have been hundreds of companies founded just to handle data processing services (because the number needed is very high). The most mature market in this particular field is the US and China. However, as these countries move further towards AI development, the cost for operating an AI data processing hub gets higher and higher. In these countries, the workforce once dedicated to AI processing services now switch to other AI-related technologies.

To maintain a reliable and stable source of training datasets, AI development companies have to come to other countries for a better cost, and Vietnam is one of the most reasonably-priced destinations.

In Vietnam, the price for hiring and retaining talents is lower than that of China or the US. We also have a young and abundant workforce that can cover your needs for training data.

Our AI data processing services started to boom 6 years ago. And in only 6 years, a whole new ecosystem of the most prestigious and renowned AI data annotation companies are founded and still operating with great prospects:

• Lotus Quality Assurance
• DIGI-TEXX VIETNAM
• Sibai
• SANEI HYTECHS VIETNAM Co., Ltd.
• BEETSOFT Co., Ltd
• MP.BPO
• Vietnam Smart BPO (VSBPO)
• Kotwel
• OkLabel
• Vie-Partner

 

 

Details about top data labeling companies in Vietnam

Top data labeling companies in Vietnam can provide you with an array of different services to fulfill your needs in AI development and AI data processing.

 

Lotus Quality Assurance

Lotus Quality Assurance, as part of Lotus Group, was founded in 2016 with the start of a Testing and Quality Assurance company. As the company moves towards the newest technologies there are in the market, our BOD has come to the realization that AI data processing service holds great potential and prospects for further development. Indeed, since its foundation, Lotus QA has continuously worked with international clients in different data annotation, data annotation and data validation projects. Besides project-based work, Lotus QA has been a long-term partner of multiple clients, mostly in the automotive sector.

 

 

Especially, our annotators and QA engineers assure high-quality training data and annotated data with an average error rate of only 0.02%, which is very ideal for any annotation project.

Since the foundation of Lotus QA, data annotation has always been the key service offering for our clients. As we thrive in this area, we have been working with many kinds of data, ranging from image, text, voice from different sectors. These sectors are automotive, agriculture, construction, fashion, finance, etc.

 

DIGI-TEXX VIETNAM

DIGI-TEXX is a German IT- BPO company headquartered in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam since 2002, with 3 branches in Ho Chi Minh City and one office in Fukuoka, Japan. With 100% FDI from Germany, DIGI- TEXX is one of the pioneers in the Business Processing Outsourcing (BPO) industry in Vietnam. As a digital solution provider with a solid BPO background, we empower clients around the world from various industries to achieve business transformation and gain competitive advantages.

With more than 1000 employees, providing round-the-clock services, they guarantee service delivery excellence while ensuring compliance with industry-followed quality and security standards.

They have been consistently providing Outsourced Services and Digital Solutions for more than 19 years to international clients in various industries, that require:

• Document processing to save time and optimize cost.
• Digital solutions to replace paperwork with automation processes, such as Banking, Insurance, and Healthcare.

Besides, they also provide Customer Helpdesk services in fluent Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, and English for many E-commerce and trading platforms.

 

SIBAI VIETNAM

SIBAI VIETNAM was founded in 2020 with a dedicated team of more than 200 experienced annotators who can handle your most unstructured datasets. With competent staff who have worked on multiple projects, SIBAI VIETNAM can now carry out your data annotation project on multiple platforms with different data annotation tool, across all content types.

With the combination of human talents and AI, SIBAI VIETNAM thrives as one of the most successful data labeling companies in Vietnam. Our customers’ most complex labeling needs can be well handled and addressed.

 

 

 

With high-quality data labeling and data annotation services, SIBAI is to elevate your business growth. SIBAI VIETNAM has developed a talent pool of more than 200 well-trained annotators in diverse areas. With all combined, we can provide the most suitable solutions that you are looking for, anytime you need them.

Besides the usual data annotation service, SIBAI VIETNAM also focuses on content moderation solutions. SIBAI provides human-level accuracy that significantly moderates community-generated threats in image, video, text, and audio. SIBAI can help brands limit risk exposure and safeguard their online platforms from content that has been flagged as inappropriate or violating community guidelines.

 

SANEI HYTECHS VIETNAM Co., Ltd.

Established on 19th June 2015, SANEI HYTECHS VIETNAM Co., Ltd. is currently one of the best data labeling companies in Vietnam. With the association with Japanese branches and companies, Sanei has strong resources and a foundation for top-notch services. Their service offering includes:

• Software Development (Embedded software, third-party unit verification, software application on Windows, Android, iOS and Bluetooth, etc.)
• LSI Design (FPGA Design/Verification, Logic Dedsign/Verification), Ip Design/Verification)
• Annotation Center (Create, analyze and provide design/evaluation data toward Big Data processing, deep learning data creation of the Artificial intelligence development, BPO service)

SANEI HYTECHS VIETNAM Co., Ltd. is currently operating with small number of employees but it can stretch in scale if requested.

 

 

 

BEETSOFT Co., Ltd

Beetsoft is another stand-out name among the data labeling companies in Vietnam. With more than 5 years of experience working in IT Consultancy and outsourcing services, Beetsoft knows how to play a stellar role in honing the skills of professionals, assisting companies to achieve success in their operating fields. Based in Vietnam and Japan, Beetsoft focuses on providing services to these two markets. Especially in the data labeling and data annotation fields, Beetsoft stands out as it can provide high-quality projects thanks to international standards and a multi-layered QA system.

Beetsoft offers high-end services at competitive rates as our development and annotator team is based in Vietnam. The competitive price of Beetsoft is always accompanied by the best work there is, so their customers can rest assured of the quality.

 

MP.BPO

BPO.MP Co., Ltd. is the first BPO enterprise with the Vietnam-Japan joint venture model to provide Business Process Outsourcing services, including document digitization, data entry & processing data management, financial and accounting processing, content writing, translation-interpretation, image processing, document labeling, etc.

With the motto “Successful cooperation to overcome limits”, the company’s development goal is to combine the advantages of the two cultures of Vietnam – Japan, take advantage of the strengths of businesses of the two countries to provide the best services. MP.BPO promises to bring services of international quality for customers in Vietnam and around the world.

 

Vietnam Smart BPO (VSBPO)

Vietnam Smart BPO (VSBPO) is a brand under Free’t Planning Vietnam, a joint venture between Vietnam, Free’t Planning Japan and I-Corporation Japan. VSBPO takes pride in being a pioneer in the industry, and a leader in providing business process outsourcing (BPO) services in Vietnam. Their partner, Free’t Planning Japan, has 20+ years of experience in IT & BPO industries. Today, the total number of employees is 200+ across 3 countries (Japan, Vietnam, China).

With the vision of becoming the leading BPO company in Vietnam, VSBPO is to provide the best quality services at optimal cost to clients.

 

Kotwel

Kotwel is the emerging data service provider for artificial intelligence. Relying on its own data resources, technical advantages and rich data processing experience, since its establishment, Kotwel has provided high-quality data services to many technology companies and scientific research institutions worldwide.

 

 

Kotwel is committed to total customer satisfaction by providing consistently high-quality data & services that meet or exceed the expectations of our worldwide customers.

Their purpose remains to embrace the power of human ingenuity and technology to create value for your AI & Business Initiatives. Kotwel wants to enable enterprises globally with stellar quality data services by using the combination of advanced tools and human intelligence. Benefitting and creating an optimistic social change through employment.

By supporting the development of game-changing AI & Technology applications with cutting edge workforce solutions, Kotwel wants to become a global leader when it comes to solving your data needs.

 

Ikorn Solutions

As a leader in contemporary online trends, Ikorn Solutions has grown as a highly respected IT company and become a trusted partner of many large Korean firms since entering the IT outsourcing market in 2007. They specialize in software development and I.T. outsourcing services such as data labeling services that are comprehensive, integrated, and customized to suit individual business needs across industries.

Driven by a passion for technology, Ikorn strongly believes that quality integration and technological development are at the center of their business. Ikorn´s competitive advantages are a force to be proud of as an excellent pool of skilled resources recruited from the finest professional education institutions in the industry. In 2017, following 10 years of operation and great persistence in development, Ikorn Solutions took a consistent and rigorous approach to expand our outsourcing services into the automotive industry and began to seek new partners for the next phase of business. This move served to affirm, step by step, the company’s strong position in the software technology market.

 

Vie-Partner

In 2016, VP Studio was founded by a team of computer graphics artists, providing graphic and 2D/3D designs for movies and games productions.

After observing the similarities of working methods and logic between Computer Graphics and Data Annotation, they found that experienced graphic designers achieve a 30% higher annotation speed and accuracy than average.

With years of experience in graphics training, they founded Vie-Partner specializing in Data Annotation. The goal of Vie-Partner is to provide organizations with trustworthy labeling solutions while creating work chances for underprivileged youngsters in Vietnam, minimalize costs without compromising quality.

 

If you are looking for the high-quality data labeling services in Vietnam, contact Lotus QA for more information from experts:

• Website: https://www.lotus-qa.com/
• Tel: (+84) 24-6660-7474
• Fanpage: https://www.facebook.com/LotusQualityAssurance