The Value of Certifications in Outsourcing

The International Association of Outsourcing Professionals held a three-part Webcast last week on "SME Global Sourcing."

All topics were interesting, but the one I want to blog about covered, "Vendor selection for Software Outsourcing: What To Expect from Certified Companies," presented by Oliver Houck with Kevinson Paige.

Service providers invest a great deal in these certifications -- whether it’s ITIL, CMMi, or one of the many others offered by companies, organizations and educational institutions. And for their part, clients tend to rank certifications high -- up there with industry experience -- according to recent survey work by the organization, Offshoring Outsourcing Best Practices.

The question is, do they serve a true purpose?

According to Houck, they’re certainly not a "cure-all." As he (Power)pointed out:

• Certifications do not guarantee quality results.
• Certifications do not reduce or eliminate the evaluation process or due diligence.
• Vendors without certification may not be an indication of a failure to achieve certification. Certification is voluntary.

So what do certifications bring to the equation? When they’ve been achieved legitimately and from a body that knew how to develop a certification program and had the resources for doing so, certifications increase the probability, says Houck, that your software project will follow a "predictable schedule, cost and quality." It’ll probably have "faster delivery" and a "lower cost of ownership."

In other words, the organization with which you’re dealing has gone through some form of education and testing/evaluation to prove that they know what they say they know.

As he concluded, "Certification does not remove the need for due diligence or a strong evaluation process. It’s very important that you look at certification as something that enhances, not just eliminates."

You can read through the archived slides here.