Industry Perspectives & Insights

Technology labor continues to be the most costly factor of IT budgets and so the importance of driving employee satisfaction and focusing on the team is underlined to deliver on the demands of quickly changing consumer needs.

We sat down with SMC Squared Co-founder and SVP of Global Services Steven Stephan to shed light on what to consider as you source IT talent and how to drive the “true India costs” that so many US firms are looking to take advantage of now.

One of the fun parts of my role is that it comes with few preconceived notions of what it should be.

As Client Director for SMC Squared, I work to ensure that global enablement is successful for our clients who are implementing digital Global Insourcing Centers (GICs) and manage the GIC Project Management Office (PMO).

See what I mean? Reading that, the average person isn’t going to have any idea what I do.

Let’s focus on the GIC PMO: I help clients build their GIC, build their team, and ensure quality in all aspects. Based on my experience, here are three key considerations every CIO should keep in mind as you look to building a successful offshore team.

Are you fully optimizing your technology budget?  Does your spending continue to deliver on the promise that it once had pre-Covid-19?
As technology costs continue to rise and consumer expectations change, CIOs are challenged to ensure that the outcomes of their technology initiatives drive value while minimizing costs.

Many IT leaders are familiar with the traditional services model that focuses on obtaining Indian engineering talent as commoditized labor.  But the services model poses many challenges for corporations as they often discover that delivery doesn’t always meet expectations.

This is an interview published by HMG Strategy, the world’s leading digital platform for connecting technology executives to reimagine the enterprise and reshape the business world.

On a normal day, you might find Chief Information Officer at Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Karl Lowe, meeting with teams to figure out how to better use technology to tackle unusual problems, such as efficiently delivering 85 million bed nets to protect families in Africa from malaria, or getting handheld technology into the hands of field workers in some of the most remote corners of Nigeria.